Philharmonic Audio has dropped the price for its Affordable Accuracy monitors! They now sell for $200 per pair. Shipping cost has also dropped to no more than $30, depending on a buyer's location. So the maximum price (shipping to the west coast) drops to $230 per pair. The old price was $210 and shipping was no more than $50.
The lower price seems to be due to a switch to crossover boards fully assembled by Bennic in Taiwan. The crossover parts in the boards are identical to those previously used, but perhaps the large number (?) of assembled boards has led to the lower price.
I learned of this the other day as I was talking to a new neighbor who had recently bought a townhouse nearby. The subject of loudspeakers came up. Like many new homeowners, he now has space for a better audio or HT system, but he’s kind of short on cash. He wants an inexpensive system and wondered if I knew of anything.
! He had already spent some time at large retail store, but he walked out before settling for anything, admitting that “talking to the salesman kind of made his skin crawl”. He also shopped online, but came away confused.
That’s when I mentioned Affordable Accuracy monitors, saying they are probably the best low priced speakers available. What price? I wasn’t sure, remembering something like $250 a pair. He checked right away on his phone. The price had dropped!
If you want an inexpensive pair of speaker, I think these are the ones to get. I can see using them for all the speakers in a low priced HT system, as rear channel speakers in any HT system, or as bookshelf speakers for modestly priced 2-channel stereo system.
