Which do you recommend?

[witchdoctor]

No idea on the next Yamaha AVP.

Gotta be soon. Better be soon.

Too bad Yamaha isn't currently really into speakers in the US market. I would love to see a Yamaha bi-amp tower of power with dual 10" woofers. Then I could see myself with an all Yamaha-system.

Their Studio Monitors are fantastic, and not just for the money. Get down to Guitar Center and audition the HS series. Typically active speakers have MUCH better bass extension than passive speakers of the same size. You have an active crossover, BI-amplification so both drivers have their own amp, and you get room controls with hi and low frequency trims on the back. These are very useful if you have speakers in less than optimal locations.
PLUS you save money on amps (can you imagine the stack of amps you would otherwise need to bi-amp 7 bed channels and 4 height channels, plus the yards of speaker wires, it wouldn't be practical). Look at the specs for the HS8:

HS Series - Overview - Yamaha - United States

Powered nearfield monitor speakers built on the success of its legendary predeccesors that have become a genuine industry standard for their accuracy.

usa.yamaha.com

2-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield studio monitor with 8" cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter. Mounting points on 4 surfaces are available.

• 2-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield studio monitor with 8" cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter
• 38Hz - 30kHz (-10dB), 47Hz - 24kHz (-3dB) frequency response
• 75W LF plus 45W HF bi-amp system for high-performance 120W power amplification
• ROOM CONTROL and HIGH TRIM response controls
• XLR and TRS phone jack inputs accept balanced or unbalanced signals
• Mounting points on 4 surfaces
• Packaging single

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Their Studio Monitors are fantastic, and not just for the money. Get down to Guitar Center and audition the HS series. Typically active speakers have MUCH better bass extension than passive speakers of the same size. You have an active crossover, BI-amplification so both drivers have their own amp, and you get room controls with hi and low frequency trims on the back. These are very useful if you have speakers in less than optimal locations.
PLUS you save money on amps (can you imagine the stack of amps you would otherwise need to bi-amp 7 bed channels and 4 height channels, plus the yards of speaker wires, it wouldn't be practical). Look at the specs for the HS8:

HS Series - Overview - Yamaha - United States

Powered nearfield monitor speakers built on the success of its legendary predeccesors that have become a genuine industry standard for their accuracy.

usa.yamaha.com

2-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield studio monitor with 8" cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter. Mounting points on 4 surfaces are available.

• 2-way bass-reflex bi-amplified nearfield studio monitor with 8" cone woofer and 1" dome tweeter
• 38Hz - 30kHz (-10dB), 47Hz - 24kHz (-3dB) frequency response
• 75W LF plus 45W HF bi-amp system for high-performance 120W power amplification
• ROOM CONTROL and HIGH TRIM response controls
• XLR and TRS phone jack inputs accept balanced or unbalanced signals
• Mounting points on 4 surfaces
• Packaging single

Well, that's just not my STYLE.

We all have our own style.

If you see the speakers I own (RBH 61" SVT towers, RBH SX-T2 61" towers), you can see that my style is TOWERS of POWER, not little speakers.

 

[witchdoctor]

Well, that's just not my STYLE.

We all have our own style.

If you see the speakers I own (RBH 61" SVT towers, RBH SX-T2 61" towers), you can see that my style is TOWERS of POWER, not little speakers.

All good

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

At one point, McIntosh was owned by Clarion, which was owned by Nissan- I can only imagine someone wanting all equipment from one company and using a Clarion head unit in their stereo system.

It would have been funny if Nissan had changed the McIntosh brand to "NISSAN". Then someone could own a Nissan car + Nissan HT Speakers + Nissan AVP + Nissan Amps.

But, yeah, it seems like these companies get sold around all the time. So just because McIntosh, Paradigm, Anthem, etc. are part of a certain company now does not mean it will be the same in a few years.

 

[highfigh]

It would have been funny if Nissan had changed the McIntosh brand to "NISSAN". Then someone could own a Nissan car + Nissan HT Speakers + Nissan AVP + Nissan Amps.

But, yeah, it seems like these companies get sold around all the time. So just because McIntosh, Paradigm, Anthem, etc. are part of a certain company now does not mean it will be the same in a few years.

Clarion had power amps with 'Designed by McIntosh' and the logo on them.

I don't care if companies are bought & sold, but I really hate when the new owners decide that they:

-Need to change how people will contact customer & tech support.
-End training that is needed, in order for their dealers to know enough when trying to sell those brands.
- Remove extremely useful features and don't find a way to put them back. IP control of Denon AVRs is one of those.
- Discontinue extremely useful models and other items that have no competition, don't effing understand how they're used, why they should remain available and look ahead to see that they'll continue to be useful, rather than count the beans and decide that they didn't sell enough, with 'enough' being defined arbirtraily, by some pinhead with an MBA.
- WHEN THEY HIRE NEW PEOPLE FOR CUSTOMER AND TECH SUPPORT, BUT THE NEW HIRES DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They could, at least, hire people who have some experience in the business, but I guess they think someone who used to drive a beer truck is good enough (actual example, from a local electronics distributor).

 

[Trunksleo]

And what about klipsch rp600m vs polk es20? Sounds different? The polks are good for movies?