Streem Speakers?

[shackleford]

Are these the decent, moderately priced speakers they appear to be or are they overpriced junk? I've seen a few reviews...but nothing to convice me. Anyone have experience/knowledge of Streem?

http://www.streemspeakers.com/index.asp


Thanks.

 

[sjdgpt]

"reviews" are only valuable if the party that wrote the review is:

A. Known to you. A friend or relative

B. Comparative/analytical reviewer with a broad history.

No, I don't mean that the reviewer compares the product to other products, what I mean is that you can compare the reviewers current reviews to his/her's previous works.

Why is comparative reviews important? Simple. I could absolutely rave about a product, which to a reader may sound as a wonderful endorsement. And it would be a wonderful endorsement, until you read some of my other reviews and found that I made the identical remarks about those other products.

There are tacky phrases regarding such a person.

And that is assuming the reviewer is honest.

What happens when you can only find only one posted review by that person? My assumption is that they receive their pay check from that manufacturer.




I did a google search.

I can not find a single comparative review of these speakers produced by one of the online magazine reviewers.


That doesn't mean they are good or bad. Just maybe that big name "rag" hasnt bothered to give the company a listen.


I did find several postings on audio boards by people with a very limited number of posts and highly glowing review of the brand.

Those postings make me suspect.


I searched several other audio boards. I find several references to this brand of speakers, but absolutely no responder that makes any supportive remarks about the brand. When somebody remains with a board for months, even years, and compares brand A speakers to brand B speakers that they heard in their friends systems, I tend to at least read their comments.

It makes me think that nobody has really heard these speakers, or is willing to admit to hearing these speakers.



Again, it doesn't make the product good or bad.



I am just very suspect of the product line.

 

[shackleford]

thanks

Thanks - in my attempted research I found the same type of thing. Lots of "people" saying they are great, but no experts/pros saying anything. It didn't seem to good to be true...but it did seem really good...
I'll continue my search for my budget-oriented starter speakers...thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated.

 

[sjdgpt]

My suggestion for a starter speaker is one of those big box audio stores.

Others will disagree, but in my opinion, the big box are a good source of products for the beginner. Why? Simple, the big box store are typically quite aggressive in pricing, have a long term business goal, and will generally service the product that they sell. All important considerations for any person.

Circuit City, Best Buy are the two largest audio stores, and if you can avoid the sales pitch for the extended warranty or audio cables that cost half the price of your equipment, can represent a good source for basic audio/ theater speakers.

They will have a fair selection of well established brands of speakers. Doesn't mean that these are best speakers on the market, just that the brand will be well established or have a wide appeal, and will be generally of decent quality.


There are better speakers which are not readily available through the big box stores. Some of those brands, are sold only through the internet, while other brands, will only be sold through the finer audio stores and/or a few select mail order firms. The common thing about these other brands of speakers is that they will be frequently mentioned on this and other boards.

Remember, just because something is highly advertised, readily available, or highly touted, doesn't mean that it is a great product, or even the right product for you.

Let your ears do your shopping and buying. It is a lot of fun, and in the end, it is your ears that have to listen to what they have bought.

And if you must buy an internet speaker brand, may I suggest Axiom. Even the audio "rags" like Axiom. And the members of the audio boards are absolutely raving about the product line.

 

[Leprkon]

My suggestion for a starter speaker is one of those big box audio stores.

Others will disagree, but in my opinion, the big box are a good source of products for the beginner. Why? Simple, the big box store are typically quite aggressive in pricing, have a long term business goal, and will generally service the product that they sell. All important considerations for any person.

Circuit City, Best Buy are the two largest audio stores, and if you can avoid the sales pitch for the extended warranty or audio cables that cost half the price of your equipment, can represent a good source for basic audio/ theater speakers.

They will have a fair selection of well established brands of speakers. Doesn't mean that these are best speakers on the market, just that the brand will be well established or have a wide appeal, and will be generally of decent quality.

the only real caveat to the big box guys is that you sometimes have to watch their presentation. the stores will use minor tricks like poorly lighting the areas near the "box sets" and placing them near high-noise areas within the store to make the more expensive sets sound better. as long as you do your research up front and then take the time to listen to what's around the system as well as the system itself, you'll do ok. the CC website generally has very honest and unedited customer reviews of products as well.

as far as the streems, I've never heard of them, but running through the specs leave me a little confused. I'm not sure why "gold plated front carpet spikes" would be a major selling point. I'm also very confused as to why their sets seem to be mached weird.

In their 500 set, for example, the fronts have a 90 dB signal to noise, the rears 85 and the center 84. I would think the center and mains would be alot more closely matched in terms of efficiency. I don;t think you'd want your dialog speaker to have four times as much noise as the mains...

they don't describe if their "gorgeous black piano gloss finish" is vinyl or veneer (although one of the sets does call out "faux leather"). granted, a quality vinyl job will look very good, but they should at least tell you what it is.

on the plus side, they appear to use quality materials (5/8 and 3/4 inch MDF, for example) and should be very sturdy, given the weight of their cabinets. the prices look great, the warranty is competitive with the mainline industry and the speakers are visually appealing.

 

[johnpaulwynn]

I have a set of Streem HT-808's and an extra pair of SR-280's for 7.X. I'm using a Onkyo TX-SR602 and it sounds great (to me). I am no audiophile but I am not deaf either. In my opinion they can easily compete with anything that CC or Best Buy has to offer. I don't have a subwoofer yet, but so far they have handled any metal, rap, or movie I throw at them without any problems and sounded great. Mind you they won't go super low like a good sub will and won't rattle your teeth, but I plan on adding a SVS 25-31PCi or PB10-ISD after New Years to handle the LFE's anyways.

The reviews on www.audioreview.com seem to be accurate: They come packaged extremely well, are very attractive IMO, and seem to be of a quality that is not found in speakers in this price range. I can't really technically say anything about Leprkon's reply about matched signal to noise, but I will add that the package does seem to meld together nicely and they don't seem to overpower one another. In addition I really have no good comparison as all of my friends have HTIB's and my system just blows them out of the water (again even without a sub). But then your comparing apples to oranges so no help there. As mentioned above they sounded just as good to anything that was being sold in CC or Best Buy, but to be fair hearing it in the showroom is not equal to hearing it in your living room.

If I had any complaint it wouldn't be with the speakers but more with the reciever as they seem to want a little more juice than my Onkyo can push. Maybe later I will play with bi-amping the fronts, but for now I'm happy (even without the sub).

I guess the bottom line is that my ears are happy with the Streem's and I don't feel like I got ripped off. In the end that's all that really matters anyways. Hope this helps, and if you all have any other questions let me know. Cheers.

 

[pebrooks]

The jury is still out on the Streem speakers

Okay, I saw the Streem speakers on ebay and was curious. They appeared to be a value, had good quality and looked really nice. So I did some research:there is not one valid, documented, reliable piece of evidence-only reviews that seem as if they came from the same source. I contacted the sole distributor of Streem products, Station Street, and asked several questions such as: who makes Streem, where is the plant and why hasn't anyone heard of them? I was told they have been selling for over fifteen years and have "hundreds of satisfied customers"...and not to waste their time. Fifteen years!!! on the market and nobody knows anything? I am pretty gullible and almost, almost went for them. After all, they advertise a unconditional 30 days return policy, but common sense prevailed. There isn't even an address for this company! Be careful of these and do homework before sending payment. As for me, I'll save up for IQ7 or IQ9 Kef speakers, dark apple to match my center and rears surround. What the HELL was I thinking about in the first place? Well, maybe I saved someone from making a mistake. I also asked ebay these questions but haven't heard back yet
pebrooks

 

[TLS Guy]

Are these the decent, moderately priced speakers they appear to be or are they overpriced junk? I've seen a few reviews...but nothing to convice me. Anyone have experience/knowledge of Streem?

http://www.streemspeakers.com/index.asp


Thanks.

To me they look like under priced junk. I think they are far too cheap to be any good.

 

[CraigV]

A lot of people who buy speakers on a whim & slim budget will rave about their speakers, because they want to justify buying them in the first place.

I’ve seen a lot of review “shoot-outs” (even here) comparing several models of, say for instance, bookshelf speakers. These are usually well know brands, and offer a good head-to-head comparison. I would really like to see a “Is this speaker for real?” comparison of these lesser known brands. I don’t think anyone here would buy Theater Research speakers, but aren’t you even curious how they sound in a real world home theater setup? This would help clear the air, and answer all those un-answered questions.

 

[tom67]

The BP 200s

are the real gem....20lb solid bookshelf units that compare favorably to my Paradigm Studio 20s for half the price....the others in the line are garden variety ported speakers in price points where you might as well buy brand names locally...ironically the 200s probably hard to sell at their price point from obscure maker....

 

[calnbs]

Streem speakers have been getting mix reviews depends on who you talk too. Some feels they are entry lvl speakers. Others feel they are just another white van speaker. Atleast they don't go around claiming to be $10K speakers like Di Vinci and Theater Logic.

Based on their price point. You are simple better off hitting well known brands such as Polk, Infinity, KEF, and even JBL. Many of these brands are on clearance on older models and can be had for very, very cheap. I built my Infinity Primus 362 5.0 system for under $650. I take my Infinity Primus system over any of these Streem speakers based on name recognition alone.
My .02 cents.

Nothing wrong with non mass market speakers but I preferred better known brand from Ascend, Axiom, AV123, Salk, etc.