SVS prime satellite vs....?

[Segismundo Lopez]

Hi everybody,

Im new to all this audio thing and I want to buy my first decent pair of speakers for my bedroom to listen to music but heres the catch...I have a really tight budget. From all that Ive been reading Im almost decided on the SVS prime satellites because of all the good reviews, but recently I watched a video of a guy bashing the Prime Series saying they are harsh, sibilant blah blah blah and that there are better speakers out there for the money (some viewers agreed with this in the comments) so now Im considering other options. One benefit I see on the SVS is that I can buy one speaker now and the other in a few weeks for example so its more pocket friendly. My question is, which are those better speakers for the same price?

Thank you in advance

Ps: Im planning on getting a little sub too.

 

[markw]

They do require a sub to make for a full range sound.

Finding speakers that are sold singly is a rarity and if you can get past that, here's some suggestions. ...but they are only sold in pairs I believe.

You might also want to consider, in descending price order, Wharfedale Diamond 220, Elac B5 (or 5), or the Philharmonic Affordable Audio Monitor

Since you're going by what you read and other (unknown) peoples opinions, there are many reviews of these on the interweb.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

I would get AA monitors for budget system: http://philharmonicaudio.com/aa.html

What is your budge for sub? And do you already have amp/receiver?

 

[lsiberian]

You could always send them back if you don't like them. I think you'll probably love them to the average person they are ridiculously good speakers.

 

[Segismundo Lopez]

Thank you all.
Just today I found the HSU HB-1 MK-2 at $139 each. Im reading they are great. how they compare to the other options you gave and the SVSs?

I would get AA monitors for budget system: http://philharmonicaudio.com/aa.html

What is your budge for sub? And do you already have amp/receiver?

The sub budget is whatever less than $200. I think Ill get a sub from Dayton and yes I have a Denon AVR-2803 courtesy of my father from his old system.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd add some Ascend 170SEs to the suggestions so far and the somewhat related Wavecrest HVL-1s. I haven't heard the Hsu but it gets good reviews on the forums generally from what I've read.

ps You might go listen to some commercially available speakers, if that's possible, to report back on what speaker might appeal to you in general....but that SVS free shipping both ways for an in home trial might be the best way to start...

 

[choombak]

Please do consider Ascend CBM-170SE pair or HTM-200SE pair from Ascend Acoustics. To my ears, they sound much better than SVS prime satellites (I actually sold my SVS prime system recently and setup an Ascend system).

 

[Segismundo Lopez]

Im starting to consider the Ascend HTM-200. I contacted them to see if they can sell one speaker at a time becasuse the pair costs $322 including the shipping and that is out of my budget.

A concern that popped in my head yesterday is for what Ive read good speakers are supposed to be flat, neutral and dont add any sort of color to the source material. So I started searching about that and found some people commenting there are some speaker that are soo flat that they sound "meh" or lifeless. I understand this works for producing or analyzing music but obviously thats not my case...I just want to enjoy my music (most of them of questionable quality). Do the speakers you suggested suffer from this "too good to the inexperienced" phenomenon?

Sorry for all the questions but I dont want to buy something and then be disappointed.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

When speaker produces flat responce it is a good thing, this means that the sounds are kind of even and nothing is taking over other sounds. When you have speakers like that it is the recordings that matter. If the record is bad it will sound bad but good records will sound good.

 

[zhimbo]

A concern that popped in my head yesterday is for what Ive read good speakers are supposed to be flat, neutral and dont add any sort of color to the source material. So I started searching about that and found some people commenting there are some speaker that are soo flat that they sound "meh" or lifeless.

If you're used to speakers that have a treble peak and/or bass "hump", a flat speaker might not sound right to you, at least at first. That's fine; preferences are preferences. But if flat sounds "lifeless", that means reality is lifeless. That doesn't make sense. You can always use equalization if you want to color the sound to your liking.

I love my Ascend system, BTW. Lifeless? No way.

 

[Segismundo Lopez]

Dont misinterpret me. Im not saying flat and real is bad but if I have to have all my music in .flac for the speakers to sound good then unfortunately they are not for me. Lately Im trying to buy quality formats but I have tons of files from the "mp3 era" when Napster, Kazaa and Limewire where around. I dont have a clue how audiphile equipment sounds. The best Ive heard is Bose Acoustimass cubes. Sometimes I think whatever I get is going to be a loot better than the Bose and I just have to pull the trigger on anything from a good brand and thats it.

 

[choombak]

Dont misinterpret me. Im not saying flat and real is bad but if I have to have all my music in .flac for the speakers to sound good then unfortunately they are not for me. Lately Im trying to buy quality formats but I have tons of files from the "mp3 era" when Napster, Kazaa and Limewire where around. I dont have a clue how audiphile equipment sounds. The best Ive heard is Bose Acoustimass cubes. Sometimes I think whatever I get is going to be a loot better than the Bose and I just have to pull the trigger on anything from a good brand and thats it.

You won't be disappointed with the HTM-200s', and Ascend is currently having a B-stock sale which has both HTM-200. Yes, the Ascends' are neutral, but that's not just it - the sound has crisp highs, better instrument separation, good 3D soundstage, and overall very pleasing output. IMO, you'd rather have an accurate speaker so instruments sound as they should, and not how the speaker manufacturer wants you to think they should. Other way of putting this: I'd rather have a choice of applying EQ, than the speaker manufacturer define a fixed EQ for me.

 

[Segismundo Lopez]

Thats a good point

 

[zhimbo]

...but if I have to have all my music in .flac for the speakers to sound good then unfortunately they are not for me. Lately Im trying to buy quality formats but I have tons of files from the "mp3 era" when Napster, Kazaa and Limewire where around.

Don't let the poor quality part of your collection limit your enjoyment of the good quality stuff!

Poor quality mp3s still won't sound good with a non-flat response. The difference between good quality source material vs. poor quality mp3s may not be discernible with bad equipment (say, cheap earbuds or computer speakers), however any reasonably good equipment will start to show the difference, but there's nothing to do about that if you want decent sound. By the way, Good quality mp3s (say 256kbps or a good VBR) are very difficult indeed to distinguish from lossless in the vast majority of circumstances. It's often impossible under blind test conditions.

Don't let the poor quality part of your collection limit your enjoyment of the good quality stuff!