Need Help! JBL or Infinity?

[Mingus09]

I'm on a budget and I'm trying to decide between a set of these floorstanding speakers...

JBL Northridge E60

or

Infinity Primus 250

Thnx.

 

[gregz]

Hi Mingus,

Instead of being an upstanding kind of guy and answering the question you asked, I'm going to ask you for more information:

What is your budget, and what system is this going in?

The reason I ask is that for a given budget, I've found that you frequently get MUCH better sound from bookshelf speakers than floor speakers of the same cost. And if you're doing home theatre, you'll have a subwoofer to take care of the low notes anyway.

I heard an Infinity system at Best Buy yesterday, and the booshelf speakers were WAY better sounding than the towers... I wish I could remember the series. I hate sloppy bass, and too many low cost towers have a thumpy wet-towel bass sound.

For what it's worth, this month's issue of "Absolute Sound" rated Paradigm Atom as the best sounding budget bookshelf speaker ($189). "Stereophile" also rated the Paradigm Atoms highly, along with the Inifinity Primus 150 ($198).

Let us know some more details as to your setup and price range, and we can help you more.

 

[Mingus09]

I'm building a home stereo system, but I'm trying to get the most out of my money.

The reason I asked about those specific speakers is that I can get them at a decent deal.

Infinity is having a special where for $400 I can get the two Primus 250's along with 2 Infinity Primus 150 bookshelf speakers.

While the JBLs i mentioned are going for something around $300 for a pair. I dont need anything super powerful, just enough to get good overall sound for music and DVDs.

The receiver I have is the Yamaha RX-V550.

 

[gregz]

The best thing to do would be to take a bunch of music you listen to and see which system sounds best to you. A lot comes down to personal taste, especially when we're not spending a gazillion dollars on speakers we need to pick the ones that sound the best in ways that are most important to us.

That being said, I'd consider four Infinity Primus bookshelf speakers at $400 (full retail) coupled with a good subwoofer before I'd consider the 2 towers + 2 bookshelfs you're considering at the same cost. I know you're getting "more" with the towers in your deal, but for home theatre you'll really want a sub anyway so those towers aren't buying you all that much (except possibly muddy bass if they're the towers I heard yesterday).

In general I'd lean towards Infinity more than JBL, but that's on average.

 

[Rob Babcock]

You could probably also buy a pair of Infinity's + a center or 2 pairs and get the free bookshelf speakers either way. A pretty good deal.

I have a pair of older JBLs that I use with my PC, but I don't much care for the sound of the newer models from that company. Naturally YMMV, but they sounded a little "overhyped" and edgy to me. Probably acceptable for HT, but not a great choice for music. At least in the cheaper end of the price range.

 

[Leprkon]

if you take Rob's advice...

swing by Crutchfield.com. If you stack their specials, you can get a really good deal. They have the Primus 250's for $ 399.98. That also gets you the the Primus 150 surrounds. Thta's over $ 300, so you get free shipping. Then... you throw in the Primus 25 center channel at $ 180, triggerring more goodness. Any 2 or more home theater pieces take 10 % off. So your $ 399.98 mains are now $ 359.99 and the center goes from $ 179.99 to $ 161.98. Just remember to get some good mounts for the surrounds, as the 150's are pretty hefty for smaller speakers.

For about $ 120 over your initial purchase, you get the center plus free shipping (and that usually only takes 3 days).

If you already have a center... uhhh... this was all Rob's idea....

 

[Mingus09]

Thanks for all the great advice.

I cruised by Crutchfield.com and saw what you were talking about. That does sound like a great deal.

Thanks!