Upgrade path for speakers

[connta]

Currently i own an entry lvl Jamo S506 HCS3 5.0 speaker system hooked to Onkyo 646 and supplemented with PB1000. Everything was bought at a store close like 5 years ago and the price was very good, ~1200e for everything. While everything but the PB1000 screams entry lvl it actually performs quite well. How well i only now realize since i wanted to upgrade the speakers and went to listen some of the mid range best buys today (Borea BR08, Wharfdale 12.3 and 3050i based systems) and found them all to be absolutely nothing special or better said these Jamos seem to punch well above their price tag (they were about 320e for the set). The center and the satelites are a bit poor in this set, thats a given, but towers seem to be excellent.

The question is, at what price point should i expect something to be substantially diferent since from this "entry" to "midrange" lvl the differences are really not there. I know everyone recommends against mix matching your surround gear at this price lvl but is it really that bad? Could i possibly change out only the center and satelites for something a bit better and leave the towers. It just dont make sense to shell out a grand and get basically nothing, if i need to shell out more that i can do but i want some gains and this "jump" doesnt seem to provide any. Any other 5.0 sets to recommend (pref. front ported since i got near wall placements so the wife doesnt kill me)?

 

[lovinthehd]

Price doesn't always tell the story. There's also the concept of diminishing returns. Depends somewhat on your use in terms of spl needed at what distance, and perhaps just how critically you listen as well. A good sub and modest speaker set can do quite well, tho.

Pre-packaged speaker sets IMO aren't usually a partiularly good way to go, but can come at a low price point. I think you should concentrate on at least the L/R speakers first, and perhaps a good quality center (altho would prefer another of the same L/R if you can fit them), but you might try a phantom center too. Surrounds don't do a lot in many soundtracks, altho I find them more important for multich music so do prefer my surrounds to be fairly close in capability to the mains. I don't have any particular recommendations for what's available to you in europe let alone the pricing, tho....

 

[j_garcia]

Concentrate on the front 3, not just the mains, however I agree the mains should drive the selections. I've used phantom and not a fan of it, I would rather just do stereo than phantom. I also very much agree to avoid packaged sets.

I've heard the Wharfedale Diamonds and thought they were pretty good, but maybe not a big enough jump from your Jamos. Jamo is a solid brand, so that wouldn't entirely surprise me. You will likely have to look for likely more expensive lines of speakers than what you listened to in order to get a real step up in sound.

You might look at Mordaunt Short, a British manufacturer. I've owned some of them in the past and always liked them. Again, might be a lateral move in a similar price range.

 

[MalVeauX]

Hi,

It depends on a lot of variables, but ultimately the question you're asking is that most things are not going to be substantially better, ever, from the budget standpoint speaker. If you consider that even a cheap $25 speaker is able to perform pretty frigg'n good for that $25, how on Earth do you get massive returns on something that is $500? $1000? More? You start to see massive diminishing returns. Everyone will have their argument for a price point as a break point where you have a sharper drop in return for the cost. But really, the decent budget stuff is about as good as it gets for the money and everything is a massive massive diminishing return for cost as you increase cost.

So more variables become part of this to help differentiate it for you. It's not the same for everyone. Your preferences. Your true needs. Your room. Your source content. All this stuff matters and plays a role in this.

Could you upgrade those Jamos? Sure. Would it be way better? Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to define way better. From a metric standpoint, it wouldn't be difficult to beat them. But from a psychoacoutic standpoint, it could be possible to enjoy them better than a $100,000 set of speakers. We really are not that great at hearing and we're fairly bass deaf. Few people have exceptional hearing that allows them to accurately and precisely and consistently pick apart something, without education and experience and still will be beaten by metrics.

Your room matters. Your purpose matters. Your content matters.

The best thing is what you did. You auditioned more speakers. Unless you're into metrics, the best way to find something to spend your money on is to listen to it on well known content to you. If it sounds better, then you're set. There are so many luxury ways to get your hands on so many different speakers for near nothing, you buy, the ship to your door free, you audition, and you send them back if you want, no questions asked, for free or a small fee, to audition most speakers. Use these luxuries. Lots of companies do this. You can try it out yourself. Keep the one that wins over the rest. Do a shoot out.

Instead of focusing on price, start focusing on speaker design and some specific performance metrics. There are excellent speakers that are inexpensive. And there are expensive speakers that have poor performance.

Very best,

 

[connta]

Thanks all for the replays!

So basically front 3 and surr 2 should be matched, thats the consensus i have been hearing mostly. That makes things a bit easier i guess. From the 3 packages i heard, Triangle Borea sounded the best, certainly doesnt justify the price compared to Jamos but yeah, if i'd get any of the three it would be BR08 (or 07). 3050i just seem "not for me" with their tweeter at ~70cm height, im almost 2m tall and my seating positions are also a bit higher, 70cm is basically just above my knee lvl when i sit at home. At the store where i listened to them the seating was way lower than i would ever find comfortable. Wharfdale 12.3 were about the same as Jamos, give or take room differences.

I tried out phantom center and it actually works great on Jamos. Im not sure if its them specifically or positioning (i certainly didnt "go for it") but the sound dispersion is impressive even in 2.0 sources (no center rerouting by AVR), on a blind test there is no way for me to tell where the speakers are positioned, it almost sounds like im sitting in front of one massive speaker that makes a 180 degree field in front of me. When listening to music its almost like youre in front of the stage with the band being few meters in front. This effect i'd very much like to preserve but i have no idea how i achieved it.

Im thinking of doing Borea BR07/8 for towers, Borea BRC1 as center and Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 for surrounds. They are all front ported and all of em i can get on discounts right now. Could also do 5x Debut 2.0 B5.2 for all channels. The store that carries Elac dont offer a listening but they do get solid reviews all around.

The best thing is what you did. You auditioned more speakers. Unless you're into metrics, the best way to find something to spend your money on is to listen to it on well known content to you. If it sounds better, then you're set. There are so many luxury ways to get your hands on so many different speakers for near nothing, you buy, the ship to your door free, you audition, and you send them back if you want, no questions asked, for free or a small fee, to audition most speakers. Use these luxuries. Lots of companies do this. You can try it out yourself. Keep the one that wins over the rest. Do a shoot out.

Instead of focusing on price, start focusing on speaker design and some specific performance metrics. There are excellent speakers that are inexpensive. And there are expensive speakers that have poor performance.

Yeah, im trying to avoid a shoot out for the sake of hassle but it seems thats what i need to do, on my terms. I did focus on specific design (front ported speakers) since my room and placement needs it, currently i have one of Jamos bunged up with foam since it is near a corner and cant tame it any other way basically, front ports should help with that.

 

[connta]

After a lot of listening and walking around town i found a place where i listened and bought 5 Elac DBR62 for all channels and these speakers are amazing for the price! There are just a few shortcomings on these but overall they are incredibly precise and balanced, they sound good almost at any position in the room, even in a corner. They arent the loudest or the easiest to drive but outside of that i really cant say anything negative. Any port resonance or a bit of "brightness" is very easy to EQ out but even without EQ their frequency response is incredibly pleasing to my ears, no fatigue whatsoever. Multichannel music came alive with all channels being the same, really glad i went this route!

If you hate paying for overpriced gear but still want decent level of performance i recommend to check out Elacs DBR62.

 

[MrBoat]

Half the battle is deciding how much of the cost is the cabinet work. Many designs have $2-3k worth of cabinet, on an otherwise $1-2k performance set of speakers. Another thing to look out for is a sort of rebadging of the same drivers we see in other brands. As a speaker kit builder, some of these jump out at me that I recognize instantly. Peerless, for example, make drivers for a lot of brands. Scanspeak, SEAS, Tang Band, Aurum Cantus etc., are others that are easily recognizable. That typically begs the question of, "how does $400 worth of drivers and crossover parts end up costing $4k in a wood box?

At what I am willing to spend on audio, just about everything would be a lateral move from where I am at, and I would have to start over with the tuning and figuring out what they hate about my room. As such, I end up not fixing what is not broken. The other thing is, getting used to a system. Sometimes that causes a bit of taking things for granted, once novelties have worn off.