Question about Speaker brands

[cnjax]

Hi, new here, I need some input on which brands of speakers to buy and who to avoid. I can not afford high end like B&W. I looking to purchase L&R Main, Center, Rear L&R, and sub. I have been looking on ebay and see a multitude of brands out there, so which brands are good and which should I avoid? Thanks in advance for your input. I will be using a Yamaha RX-V1000 receiver.

 

[JoeE SP9]

Hi, new here, I need some input on which brands of speakers to buy and who to avoid. I can not afford high end like B&W. I looking to purchase L&R Main, Center, Rear L&R, and sub. I have been looking on ebay and see a multitude of brands out there, so which brands are good and which should I avoid? Thanks in advance for your input. I will be using a Yamaha RX-V1000 receiver.

Brand names are not all that important. Any well known speaker can be good or not. The only way to tell if a speaker or brand is any good to you is to actually listen to the speaker. Talk to your friends. Listen to their speakers. Go to A/V stores and listen to their speakers. Talk to other A/V philes and get there opinions. Above all listen to some speakers. Buy what sounds good to you. Even if what you like turns out to be "BLOSE" they will be what you like. Don't buy any speaker unless you have heard that particular model first. By the way all B&W speakers are not expensive. Virtually all speaker manufacturers make a variety of speakers in a variety of price ranges. Buying from ebay implies used. Used speakers allow you to save a substantial amount of money when buying. Above all listen to a sample from the brand you select. Using B&W as an example; hearing an inexpensive pair would give you an idea what a pair of more expensive but used B&W's would sound like. If you like the less expensive ones the chances are very high you would like the more expensive ones even more, although the more expensive ones were purchased used at a considerable saving. By making careful purchases one can get very good stuff on the used market and save a bundle.

 

[pretzel logic]

There are so many verables in the answer to your question. What is you budget; room size; how much stereo listering versus ht; prefer tower or book shelf???......

 

[cnjax]

My budget is tight, that is why I was looking to go the used route, I plan on using it 75% HT 25% Music, I'm looking for primarily bookshelf.

 

[Nick250]

Define "tight". Under $250?, under $500$ under $750?

 

[cnjax]

Under 500 for them

 

[Tom Andry]

My budget is tight

Tight?

Tight-Bill-Gates-Tight

or

Tight-Living-in-a-Cardboard-Box-Tight?

It's not like we are asking you for your SSN - give us a round figure to work from. Used speakers run from free (gifts from friends) to pennies (garage sales) to beaucoup bucks (hi-end horn-loaded gold-plated weighs more than my car from someone with a near terminal case of upgraditis and a very rich daddy).

 

[Tom Andry]

Doh! Took too long looking up the spelling of "beaucoup."

 

[cnjax]

I'm hoping to find a good deal on ebay

 

[Tom Andry]

From the thread titled Speaker Choice Help

A set of 62's all around (and the matching 62 center)

As far as the BIC's go, try the 800# on the site, or go to yahoo shopping.com; shopzilla.com, or google/ebay for pricing. You'll find the center is going for around $120 shipped, and each set of bookshelves for around $100 shipped. $330 is what you'll pay with a 7 year warranty and 5 speakers. Not too bad.

Comes in under 5 c-notes. Never heard them myself.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I'm hoping to find a good deal on ebay

$500 isn't a great deal to spend on a 5.1 setup, but it can be done. It may be tough to get a matching set used on ebay. The sub can be purchased separately. I told Jaxvon to look in to 4 BIC DV62 bookshelves for $200, and 1 BIC CLRS62 center for $120. You can pick up the BIC 12" sub for under $200 - I think it's the 1220 model. There's lots of other brands you can have for the price, but getting 6.5" woofers in all your bookshelves, as well as two of them in the center channel (the most important piece in the mix) may be more difficult to do. 7 yr warranty versus no warranty is good piece of mind if you're dropping $500. Try shopzilla.com or yahoo shopping for the best prices. You can mount the bookshelves on the walls, or build some temporary stands out of 3 dowell rods (or 2 1x4's at a 90 degree angle) and MDF for the top and bottom base, then paint them gloss black until you save for some custom stands. Lowes even cuts the wood for you if you ask. I can show you how to build them if you're interested.

 

[Takeereasy]

Entire system for $558 shipped. BIC 62 HT

Entire system for $345 shipped Micra 6

There are a couple of options. I tried to find the Athena .5 speaker set on sale for you but they are backordered everywhere in the US, or are out of your price range. That .5 package plus the Bic sub in the first package is a killer deal. Onecall.com has a waiting list for the .5 series two if you are willing to go that way. If you did get on the list the speakers are $200 + $40 shipping. You can get that Bic sub for about $200 shipped. That's a nice setup. Good luck with your hunt.

Darn that Buckeye, always a step ahead of me.

 

[jaxvon]

Well, not including a subwoofer, you can get the 4 satellites (bookshelves) and a matching center for $342 online, shipped (two different vendors). The 12" Bic sub is $200.04 online, shipped. These are USD of course.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Entire system for $558 shipped. BIC 62 HT

Entire system for $345 shipped Micra 6

There are a couple of options. I tried to find the Athena .5 speaker set on sale for you but they are backordered everywhere in the US, or are out of your price range. That .5 package plus the Bic sub in the first package is a killer deal. Onecall.com has a waiting list for the .5 series two if you are willing to go that way. If you did get on the list the speakers are $200 + $40 shipping. You can get that Bic sub for about $200 shipped. That's a nice setup. Good luck with your hunt.

Darn that Buckeye, always a step ahead of me.

Take,

I keep forgetting about Onecall.com. I really like the Athena packages, but those tiny 3.5" woofers scare me. Remember, I went in and demo'd them a few weeks back at BB. They were horrible! I think the .5 may be better, but like you said, they're out of stock. I'd really want to audition them to make sure they put out enough bass with their 4" drivers. I still like the sound of the Athena Auditions, especially when they were on closeout.

Here's those lousy Athena WS-100 towers.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7035102&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03044&id=1099395865333

Then I demo'd the Yamaha's since they were sitting next to the Athena's. So many of us bash Yamaha speakers, but my jaw dropped when I heard them. No, they aren't the BIC DV62's, but for slim speakers to pair up next to a flat screen, wow. I was on my knees looking for a little 8" powered sub. Nothing doin'. Where is that bass coming from???
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7034611&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03044&id=1099395730320

 

[Takeereasy]

I've gotta say, as far as 3.5" woofers go this setups not too shabby. I've heard the Micra system set up correctly, and I've got to say, it wan't that bad. Not fantastic, but for $350 shipped it's a killer. I've never heard the Bics (that's about to change pretty soon by the way) but I'm 100% behind you about 6.5" drivers being the way to go if it's possible. I just wanted to give an option at well under $500 just in case.

Another option by the way is to go with an HSU ventriloquist 12 setup with an stf-2. That would come to about $475 including shipping. Again, small drivers (which I'm against unless you have to go that way) but this setup uses the center channel to combat the brawbacks associated with smaller size drivers. The STF-2 sub is a killer, and the ventriloquest speaker set is a real deal. I have heard this exact setup (a long time ago though) and thought it was a fantastic deal, and it was $300 CDN more up North in Canada.

 

[Afro_GT]

I think the .5 may be better, but like you said, they're out of stock.

I just checked the onecall site and the Point 5 is in stock. Great price too. You could pair it with the BIC or Dayton sub and get a nice system for cheap. I myself would prefer 3 pairs of AS-B1's plus one of the subs but it might be next to impossible to find them. Also the BIC bookshelves look good but I've never heard them.

 

[Takeereasy]

Those just came into stock at onecall. Those were the first speakers I looked at and there was a waiting list earlier today. I would go for those .5's and the Bic 1220 sub. Including shipping you could do it for about $450. Pretty sweet deal.

Nice post Afro_Gt

 

[MacManNM]

I just checked the onecall site and the Point 5 is in stock. Great price too. You could pair it with the BIC or Dayton sub and get a nice system for cheap. I myself would prefer 3 pairs of AS-B1's plus one of the subs but it might be next to impossible to find them. Also the BIC bookshelves look good but I've never heard them.

The BIC DV62si's will blow the cones out of the .5's. Simply put the 62si's with the Ed frias mods are the best sounding bookshelf you are going to find for under $400/pr.

You can do a 6.1 setup with the BIC V1220 sub shipped for $575. You will need to spend 2-3x as much to get anything close sonically. IMO.

 

[Takeereasy]

I'm not arguing against the merits of the Bic's, merely giving options at under $500. That's what the original poster wants. I did post a link to a whole Bic setup for $558, and I do think it's a great deal, but it is more than $500. I am looking forward to getting a demo of these guys just to see if they can live up to the hype McMann and Buckeye give them. They had better .

 

[ryb007]

i need to know something

my car got robbed of my speakers and i have no clue what kid they are. they had a light blue design on top and the rest of it was black, they were 12 inch in a 2 speaker enclosed box i gotta find out what kind they are because cops are bein messed up i already looked up millions of speakers and cant find them someone please help me somehow