Need opinion...

[calimed]

I'm needing many opinions before I spend money that I don't need to....

I currently have two JBL Northridge ND310 (big floorstanding speakers). I was thinking of purchasing some new (smaller) speakers of higher quality like Definitive Tech Promonitor 1000 speakers. Will the new speakers be at least as good (if not better) than the old JBL's? Salesman (at best buy) says they will sound better, but it's hard to believe that given the difference of size (floorstanding vs bookshelf).

Thanks everyone....

 

[markw]

"Better" is a very, very subjective term. Be careful here.

All, well most, speakers do some things "better" than others. The same speakers may do some things "worse" than others. Good speakers are designed to do as much good as possible within price constraints.

Now, which way a speaker sonically tips the balance towards better or worse is a very personal opinion, one which a another's may or may not be shared by you.

The only opinion that matters here is yours, not the salesman's.

With speakers, I would go for the one that does the most good and the least poorly or, to put it simply, the one that sounds best to you. That one is "better".

Then again, "better" might apply to other non-audio related areas, such as meeting a sales quota.

Check out the store's return policy before buying and save all receipts and packaging should you decide they are not, in fact, better.

 

[AVRat]

The JBLs will go deeper, the DTs probably a little cleaner. If you're looking to downsize, you may want to consider the Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 instead (my preference over the PM1000s). http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html

 

[zieglj01]

Look at the Definitive Tech SM350 or SM450 bookshelves, over the
ProMonitor 1000. I prefer Definitive over the the JBL.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Salesman (at best buy) says they will sound better

What's wrong with this picture?

Ask him that if you don't like the speakers, can you get a full 100% refund?

If he says "Yes", then you can give it a try.

Like someone already mentioned it, if you are looking to downsize and you want DefTech, I would go for the StudioMonitor 450, which has been favorably compared to the B&W 800 Matrix towers in terms of midrange & tweeter by The Audio Critic.

Another option is the NHT Absolute Zero, which was recently reviewed by Home Theater Magazine. The measurements were quite impressive. I believe an average FR on & off axis from 200 Hz - 10 kHz was around +/- 0.9dB, which is extremely accurate.

With all bookshelf speakers, you will need a subwoofer.