looking for a pair of floorstanders... where to start?

[jmvdude]

Hi all, i'm new here.

I've got a Denon 2311 reciever, which right now is set up with some old sansui SP-X9 speakers because thats what I had. I want to get a good pair of floorstanding speakers, and eventually expand to have a full 5.1 setup. I went to my local bjorns and spent some time listening, and had a hard time deciding which brand's "sound" fit what I was looking for. I mostly listened to Klipsch, B&W, and Definitive Technology. There were parts of each that I liked but none stood out. I didn't like the klipsch aggresive high end in the store, although my dad just picked up some RF-62 II's on sale, and when I listened to them at his house I liked them a lot.

I don't really want to spend more than $800 for the pair. I've read a lot of great things about SVS, and they have their new floorstanders that come in at $800... the thing that really concerns me is the frequency range is 60-18K, which doesn't extend very low. Probably when its paired with a great SVS sub, thats not a huge issue, but I won't be able to afford a sub at the same time, and even if I could I live in an apartment right now so a hard-hitting sub isn't the best idea for me. Would I be better of grabbing the klipsch rf-62's on sale for $600? Or are there other brands I should look for?

I imagine I'll be impressed with the sound of any speaker in that price range, however I do have a pretty decent ear (I'm a music teacher for a living) and want to make a sound investment, without qualities that will distract me from my music or my movies.

BTW, aesthetics are not really important to me at all, so long as I can get them in black.

Thanks all for the help!

 

[sholling]

A nice inexpensive option might be a pair of Infinity Primus P363 towers. You can find them in some brick & mortar stores and give them a listen. Or you can find them online for about $250ea. Later when you're ready for the rest of the set you'd add the matching PC351 center and P152 bookshelves as surrounds.

Another (internet only) option. A pair of Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE bookshelves combined with a Emotiva Ultra 12 subwoofer. The emo is more of a music sub than a movie sub but it's prefect for an apartment because it's very accurate yet doesn't hit very hard below 30hz. That's a good compromise for an apartment, especially if you set it on a SubDude. If you shop b-stock and sales you're looking at about $760 for a nice 2.1 set. Your upgrade path down the road is another pair of CBM-170SEs as surrounds (or move your 170s to surround duty and add a pair of CBT340SE as mains) and a CMT-340SE center.

 

[zieglj01]

I know you are looking at towers however, I would look at the
NHT Classic Three as an option.
http://www.nhthifi.com/Three?sc=12&category=3772

A review
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/nht_classic_three.htm

 

[FirstReflection]

Towers for an $800 budget? You're not going to do better than the EMP Tek E55Ti towers for $795, I can pretty much promise you that! They're available through the Audioholics Store too, so that's a nice plus

Filling them out to a full 5.1 system in the future is easy and affordable too with the rest of the EMP Impression Series lineup. Although, I'd personally upgrade to a better subwoofer from the likes of SVSound, HSU or Rythmik. You expressed concerns about using a sub that can play really deep and really loud in your apartment. The loudness will always be an issue, but the biggest problem can actually be addressed by using a decoupling device like the Auralex GRAMMA or SubDude. What bothers your neighbors is structure-borne transmission. Your subwoofer shakes and vibrates when it makes sound. When you have it sitting directly on the floor, those vibrations transfer right into the floor and literally shake the whole building! That is the reason why your neighbors can hear bass thumping away, even when they cannot hear the higher frequencies. Decoupling greatly reduces that structure-borne transmission of sound. You will still have air-borne sound. And at the resonant frequencies of your building's materials, you will still get structure-borne transmission - that is unavoidable. But you can greatly cut down on the complaints and also glean "tighter" bass with less distortion in your own theater by using a decoupling device. Consider an Auralex GRAMMA the best $50 you'll ever spend on your apartment home theater!

You also mentioned that you don't care about looks. Not for nothing, but the EMP Impression Series speakers are gorgeous! So even though looks are not a priority, it's still a nice bonus that you can really show off both the sound and the sight of your new speakers with them

 

[3db]

Try auditioning some PSB Image series speakers. I own the prevoius generation towewrs and love them. They are very verstaile speaker being equally adept in doing Home Theater and two channel music. Their bass is deep enough for most 2 channel and I run mine full range. For HT, I set them to small and let the sub handle the bass.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Image-Series/Image-T5-Tower


What I would do is to take a pad of paper with you, write down the make and
model of each speaker you audition and what you liked and disliked about the
speakers you were auditioning. Was the bass tight and deep or was it boomy and loose sounding? Were the mids life like or were they hollow or just too pronounced? Was the treble irritating and harsh or were they dark and not revealing or were they smooththat made you want to listen for more? How was the imaging?

Bring music with you that you are very familiar with and know quite well. To
make it easier to audition HT speaker systems, listen to the main speakers in 2
channel mode with music. Music is much harder to reproduce accurately then a
movie soundtrack so if the speakers do well with music, then they will do well
with HT. Speakers that do HT well may not do well with music.

I would go to speciality stores first and start auditioning speakers first
instead of going to the internet first. Once your likes are determined, you can
mention them here and fellow members can make internet brand recommendations based on your likes/dislikes. The specality stores are better setup acousticaly then the big box stores which will make auditioning a little easier. It will give you an idea of what you like in a speaker.

Keep track of what amp or receiver is powering the speakers you're auditioning. Try to get a receiver/amp that closest resembles what you have or want to get. It just reduces another variable when audtioning speakers.


One thing to keep note off. When auditioning speakers, make sure the volume
levels are matched between the diiferent speaker pairs because the louder
speaker pair will always sound better. Listen to levels that you think you
would listen to most of the time because thats how you are going to be using
them most of the time.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

For $800/pr, I vouch for the Infinity P362 or P363.

P362 for $170 + $40 shipping each = $420 total:

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Primus-P362-Floor-Individually/dp/B000LKC372/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1301316277&sr=8-1

Or go to the Electronics-Expo and get the P363 using the coupon code DEALZON and the price is $312 for 2 speakers after the coupon ($344 off) + shipping is $30 each or $60 for 2 speakers = $372. You may have to call their customer support if their online shipping calculation is wrong.

https://www.electronics-expo.com/index.php?page=item&id=INFP363&extra=a:2:{i:0;s:40:"03823345592a403b2f4a37a59384e7ab28f02be1";i:1;N;}

Here is the Stereophile review and measurements of the Infinity P360s:

http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/605infinity/index.html