Newbie looking for front floorstanding speakers for around $500

[Exterous]

All right, I've spent some time looking around and reading and I think I've narrowed them down to:

TST2s for $449
PSB T45s $499
Klipsch RF-52 (B stock) for $520

I have a 18x12 room and it will be mostly for movies. I already have an infinity 8" sub but it lacks the lower frequency so it will most likely have to be replaced down the road.

Sadly, my wife mandates they be black (but shes willing to let me buy them so....)

I was pretty sure about the TST2s from the limited reviews I have seen of them, but I am new to all this so any help would be helpful!

Any thoughts?
(I know they are subjective but I can't find anyone around that has any of these speakers available for listening to other than the PSB 45s that I will be going to later this week. And anything has to be better than what I have now since my fronts are BA CR57Bs)

 

[zeuiax]

Go with T45s and you wont regret. I love mine

 

[Exterous]

Go with T45s and you wont regret. I love mine

How long have you had them and what other speakers have you had - if you dont mind my asking?

 

[zeuiax]

How long have you had them and what other speakers have you had - if you dont mind my asking?

I got them around 5 months ago. I have a 2 channel setup driven by rx 663.

 

[GomGom]

Try to look at KEF iQ5 or iQ7 for $100 more on vanns.com KEF speakers amazingly sound great and I'm even comparing it with B&W 684 and 683

 

[3db]

All right, I've spent some time looking around and reading and I think I've narrowed them down to:

TST2s for $449
PSB T45s $499
Klipsch RF-52 (B stock) for $520

I have a 18x12 room and it will be mostly for movies. I already have an infinity 8" sub but it lacks the lower frequency so it will most likely have to be replaced down the road.

Sadly, my wife mandates they be black (but shes willing to let me buy them so....)

I was pretty sure about the TST2s from the limited reviews I have seen of them, but I am new to all this so any help would be helpful!

Any thoughts?
(I know they are subjective but I can't find anyone around that has any of these speakers available for listening to other than the PSB 45s that I will be going to later this week. And anything has to be better than what I have now since my fronts are BA CR57Bs)

Being a biased onwer of the PSB T45s, I'd go with them. They really are great speaker and I've had mine for 5 years and I'm still very pleased with mine. They are equally adept with HT and music presentation offering a nice detialed and deep soindstage, good fast and fairly deep bass, likfe liek ids and smooth highs. I haven't heard the TSTs you are referring to. Klipch is great for home theater but I tire of them easily with music. The horn is nor for me but that just boils down to personal preference.

A review on the PSBT45s

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/psb_image_t45.htm

 

[Exterous]

Being a biased onwer of the PSB T45s, I'd go with them. They really are great speaker and I've had mine for 5 years and I'm still very pleased with mine. They are equally adept with HT and music presentation offering a nice detialed and deep soindstage, good fast and fairly deep bass, likfe liek ids and smooth highs. I haven't heard the TSTs you are referring to. Klipch is great for home theater but I tire of them easily with music. The horn is nor for me but that just boils down to personal preference.

A review on the PSBT45s

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/psb_image_t45.htm

Yeah, I think I will replace the Klipsch with the KEFs although I think the price range might exceed the WAF - she won't exactly be happy with any new speakers

Later this week sometimes I will be going to listen to teh T45s

 

[zeuiax]

Yeah, I think I will replace the Klipsch with the KEFs although I think the price range might exceed the WAF - she won't exactly be happy with any new speakers

Later this week sometimes I will be going to listen to teh T45s

I auditioned IQ5 and IQ7 before T45s and I have to say T45>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>IQ5/7

 

[krzywica]

Yeah I would go with the PSB's. I love my bookshelves and am look forward to getting the towers to match.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

What about Aperion Intimus 5T w/ 30-Day Trial Free Both-Way Shipping?

http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-5T-Tower-Speaker,107,28,248.aspx

Or go for the flagship for a little more:

http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-6T-Tower-Speaker,110,28,255.aspx

Gotta love the 10 YEAR Warranty & the free Shipping both ways!

 

[Exterous]

What about Aperion Intimus 5T w/ 30-Day Trial Free Both-Way Shipping?

http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-5T-Tower-Speaker,107,28,248.aspx

Unless I'm mistaken those are $500 each which takes me from the 'Wife is angry at me' category and moves me into 'Wife cuts off my left foot and then takes off with my dog for the hills' category

Edit to your Edit: Now you are just out to get me killed

 

[Exterous]

I auditioned IQ5 and IQ7 before T45s and I have to say T45>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>IQ5/7

I am definately leaning that way as everyone seems to live their T45s

 

[zeuiax]

I am definately leaning that way as everyone seems to live their T45s

Do you live around Chicago? I will let you audition at my place.

 

[Exterous]

Thats an awesome offer, but it would be a bit of a hike There are a couple of stores within 45minutes of where I live that have them available for listening to. No offense but I will go there instead of the 7 hour trip to you

 

[zeuiax]

I wouldnt take a 7 hrs trip either . If your leaning towards PSBs, you should check ===> http://www.saturdayaudio.com/

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Unless I'm mistaken those are $500 each which takes me from the 'Wife is angry at me' category and moves me into 'Wife cuts off my left foot and then takes off with my dog for the hills' category

Edit to your Edit: Now you are just out to get me killed

****LOL*****

My bad.

 

[Exterous]

After talking with Andy from Saturday audio I had decided to go with the T45s. Due to a mix up in stock they didn't have them so Andy offered me an attractive offer on the T55s so I took the plunge

I got my PSB speakers yesterday and here is my mini review of the T55:

Both boxes had some minor dings in them (Thanks UPS) but one in particular exposed a weakness in the way PSB packages their tower speakers. The top has the standard Styrofoam packing protecting the top of the speakers and side runners that leave about 3/4" between the outside of the box and the speakers. The bottom is a different story. The holders for the leveling screws protrude about 3/4" below the bottom of the speaker enclosure itself, making them almost flush against with the bottom of the protective Styrofoam - which had holes cut in it to fit around the holders. If there is an impact in this area the result is this:





which leads to this result:



Now, on to the speakers themselves:

Keep in mind that I only have a boston VR series, Klipsch F3 and center series and a set of Bose triport headphones to compare them to. This being said I was impressed with their tonal quality and responsiveness - so much so that I had to cannibalize better source equipment from my other set up as it exposed weaknesses in them that I had not realized before.

The T55s and C40 easily filled my room and over all I was very pleased with them. It took a couple of songs, but I realized something was missing. I couldn't quite put my finder on it until I listened to Prodigy's High Roller. On certain low frequency sounds the punch at the lower levels wasn't there. The sound still came through but it was weaker than at higher frequencies. As I listened through many many more songs I realized that it was moderately noticeable during only a few songs - say 15%. Only during about 5% of the songs was it very noticeable. I also want to note that my VR2 towers from Boston and IMO the KLP F3 cannot produce as much bass as the T55s and their weakness at lower frequencies is much much more pronounced

That being said - I believe a subwoofer of suitable performance would easily take care of that issue. I say suitable performance because these speakers completely drowned out my Infinity 8" subwoofer. That poor guy could have been on fire for all I knew. I wanted to get my Velodyne VRP-1200 down there and see what happened then, but undoing that cable management is a job best left for the weekend.

All in all I do not regret my decision on the T55s in the slightest

 

[3db]

After talking with Andy from Saturday audio I had decided to go with the T45s. Due to a mix up in stock they didn't have them so Andy offered me an attractive offer on the T55s so I took the plunge

I got my PSB speakers yesterday and here is my mini review of the T55:

Both boxes had some minor dings in them (Thanks UPS) but one in particular exposed a weakness in the way PSB packages their tower speakers. The top has the standard Styrofoam packing protecting the top of the speakers and side runners that leave about 3/4" between the outside of the box and the speakers. The bottom is a different story. The holders for the leveling screws protrude about 3/4" below the bottom of the speaker enclosure itself, making them almost flush against with the bottom of the protective Styrofoam - which had holes cut in it to fit around the holders. If there is an impact in this area the result is this:





which leads to this result:



Now, on to the speakers themselves:

Keep in mind that I only have a boston VR series, Klipsch F3 and center series and a set of Bose triport headphones to compare them to. This being said I was impressed with their tonal quality and responsiveness - so much so that I had to cannibalize better source equipment from my other set up as it exposed weaknesses in them that I had not realized before.

The T55s and C40 easily filled my room and over all I was very pleased with them. It took a couple of songs, but I realized something was missing. I couldn't quite put my finder on it until I listened to Prodigy's High Roller. On certain low frequency sounds the punch at the lower levels wasn't there. The sound still came through but it was weaker than at higher frequencies. As I listened through many many more songs I realized that it was moderately noticeable during only a few songs - say 15%. Only during about 5% of the songs was it very noticeable. I also want to note that my VR2 towers from Boston and IMO the KLP F3 cannot produce as much bass as the T55s and their weakness at lower frequencies is much much more pronounced

That being said - I believe a subwoofer of suitable performance would easily take care of that issue. I say suitable performance because these speakers completely drowned out my Infinity 8" subwoofer. That poor guy could have been on fire for all I knew. I wanted to get my Velodyne VRP-1200 down there and see what happened then, but undoing that cable management is a job best left for the weekend.

All in all I do not regret my decision on the T55s in the slightest

Congrats. The Image series is an incredable bang for the buck speaker series if you can get over the ugly duckling look.