Research results - best speakers under $350!

[twochordcool]

I posted the same thread at 4 different stereo message boards about the most recommended speakers under $350, in order to gather as much information as I could.

The following is what I found:

The highest recommended speaker was the Epos ELS-3.

But that speaker has a 4 Ohm impedance and would probably pose a problem to me while shopping for a budget receiver.

Very close seconds were:

Paradigm Performance Atom and Titan (though I do not know why the Focus wasn't mentioned more because it is higher in the line of the previous 2 and still fell under my price range),

Ascend Acoustics CBM-170,

NHT SB2 and SB3,

Axiom M3ti (and I saw the M22ti's at their website, which impressed me a lot and made me think about bumping up my price range another $90 or so!),

and then various speakers by Tannoy,

the Monitor Audio Bronze B2,

and the Energy C-3's

Please discuss further, as I am getting ready to make a decision in the next week or 2!

Again, average room, various music and movies -

6 identical speakers all the way around for a Dolby 6.1 system.

 

[Takeereasy]

I still wouldn't do 6 identical speakers. I'd want a dedicated center channel and a 7.1 setup. Never heard those Epos speakers but I have heard Paradigm Titans driven off of a $200 panasonic receiver and they sounded fantastic. I've also heard the titans driven off of anthem seperates, guess what, they sounded fantastic. It is very easy to forget how much those guys cost. No one mentions the Focus because its sales lag the Titans by about a million miles. Many dealers will opt not to cary both Titans and Focuses because they are close together and the Titan is more of a value buy. My local dealer happened to have a pair on hand by mistake, and he sold them pretty quickly. You should audition them both and see what you like better.

Those Monitor Audio's blew me away when I heard them. I honestly thought they were from the gold series. Ok sue me, the lighting sucked and the driver looked gold. I literally looked around for a hidden 8" sub somewhere. Fantastic bass for such a small enclosure. I've never heard them for movies but I can't imagine they'd dissapoint. They are also by far the sexiest of the speakers you have mentioned IMO. Those tweeters are just plain good looking.