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Need bookshelf speaker recommendations


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I'm looking for a pair of bookshelf speakers that I'll be using to listen to a ProJect Carbon TT with an SEII preamp and a nice receiver (haven't picked one)

I'm hoping to stay below 300 but I will increase a bit if I have to for a SIGNIFICANT increase in quality and soundstage

Not going to be in a huge room so my main criteria:

Needs to be timbre matched and expandable to a 5.1 setup (will eventually become the surround left and right)

Great soundstage is probably most important, that's my biggest thing

Clear and crisp quality

Ability to get a bit louder without distortion (not too loud)

Good value

I will be listening to literally everything from hardcore to indie to orchestral to rap. I listen to a lot of acoustic which is why clarity and soundstage are super important to me, I love being able to pick out subtleties (as a musician myself)

Thanks for any help you guys can give me!

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I'll reply here instead of the PM since its the same. You're asking for a lot of big terms for a small price. Now there are some nice bookshelves out there, but covering all of your wants at $300 is going to be tough. I might have mentioned before that you could look into used. Its one of the less risky routes in used audio. In my opinion, there's a lot less that can go wrong in a speaker than in a receiver/amp.

You're in a dorm right? Hence looking into the bookshelves instead of floor standings? A lot of people have been recommending the BP8s ($310) from Def Tech for floor standings, that make a great 5.1, but their surrounds would not make a good 2 channe listening setup.

Boston Acoustic used to make the VRM-50/VRM-60 bookshelves that are insanely good. I've seen them recently on eBay for $200ish. Or look into B&W.

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I'll reply here instead of the PM since its the same. You're asking for a lot of big terms for a small price. Now there are some nice bookshelves out there, but covering all of your wants at $300 is going to be tough. I might have mentioned before that you could look into used. Its one of the less risky routes in used audio. In my opinion, there's a lot less that can go wrong in a speaker than in a receiver/amp.

You're in a dorm right? Hence looking into the bookshelves instead of floor standings? A lot of people have been recommending the BP8s ($310) from Def Tech for floor standings, that make a great 5.1, but their surrounds would not make a good 2 channe listening setup.

Boston Acoustic used to make the VRM-50/VRM-60 bookshelves that are insanely good. I've seen them recently on eBay for $200ish. Or look into B&W.

For used: What do I look for, how do I determine a good price, how can I make sure the speakers are quality, etc. I'm lost with used...

For the BA speakers, how can I pick used ones of these that will be good (same questions as above) and how do I know when speakers will be part of a solid 5.1 with a timbre matched front 3?

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This is a tough one for what you're asking next to the budget unless you are eBaying and keeping bids low.

These Denon speakers can be built upon

http://www.brookstone.com/denon-speaker-system-sc-n7?bkeid=compare%7cmercent%7cgooglebaseads%7csearch&mr:trackingCode=B823B33F-0E78-E111-B2BE-001B21A69EB0&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=13456052124&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=41288099004&gclid=CI6zjdqvgbQCFYF7Qgodj0sAvg

You can even match a receiver to it. But my honest opinion is since you're not going to be in a large room anytime soon, go with powered bookshelf speakers. Get some really good quality ones and keep them in nice condition, when you move out, sell them. Then go for the whole receiver, passive speaker enchilada.

On another note to strengthen my case for you going powered bookshelf: You can still hear a whole lot from 2.1 speakers especially through pop music. 5.1 might benefit the orchestra music a bit more and then also film since film is where typically audio engineers throw sounds out of left field. Generally audio engineers in music want to bring out all sounds that are important in the first place, to the front. So 5.1 with music is more of a luxury and in a small space, 2.1 will be very proficient for your listening pleasure.

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My recommendation would be to look at the Promonitor 1000's and the matching line of speakers and subs from Definitive Technology. The quality for price is amazing, and because Best Buy stocks them in the Magnolia Dept. most people can check them out. You can easily move them to rears once you match them with a nice center and some floorstanding speakers.

The 1000's are over your budget, but the 800's won't be great stand alone's because they are a lot smaller and lack low mids and bass. Look for used or catch them on sale to fit them into your budget.

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Used: Look at completed listing prices. Find MSRPs. Compare that way.

Re-read some of our messages from before to answer your second question. You might be getting lost throughout the 234,762,787,345 messages we've had.

I reread the message you sent about the series from boston acoustics but it's hard to find those because they're not made anymore right?

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i use a pair of klipsch rb-61's. They are phenomenal and i got them for right around 300 bucks 2 years ago. my friend worked at a futureshop in town and got em on staff discount for me. if you can find a pair of those for a good price i'd recommend them. they can get loud...louder than my marantz could ever pump em. and they are super crisp and would be great in a 5.1 setup when you upgrade.

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Google search is a much better bet than waiting for answers around here. Many better audio boards than the one that goes crazy over Blink - 182 and Thrice albums.

http://forums.steveh...he-price.97363/

http://www.head-fi.o...-week-onix-x-ls

Here you go, even cheaper with the black finish, free shipping

http://www.ebay.com/...d=320658144648

Are they part of a 5.1 set? That was one of my specifications.

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I'll consider it but the 5.1 was originally meant to be for film, I would only ever play my records on 2.1 so I don't distort the sound by pulling L and R into the C speaker (see Ajxd I pay attention sometimes :P )

damn... I'm so glad I have read this. I'm currently using a 5.1 sound system because really all I have been spinning is Converge and other DW bands. I just wanted something inexpensive that I could blast at obnoxiously loud volumes and have it surround me. it's doing exactly what I want it to, but ANY time I play a lighter band, I have to disconnect the center speaker otherwise it just farts all over the place. it sounds fucking terrible, to be honest. but with bands like converge, rise and fall, loma, etc... the distortion just adds to the ferocity of the record. totally makes sense to me know

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There's really no need to buy speakers that are part of a 5.1 set. When you decide to go from stereo to surround, just add more speakers :)

You can easily buy a pair of these for fronts, a pair for rear channels, even a pair for the center channel. Or split a pair (if there's no option to buy these individually) and use one for a front center and one for a rear center. You can add a sub (or even better, a pair of them) at any point.

Once the HT room is done, I'll go for a 3.2 setup. Fronts L and R, center (most likely a pair) and two subs. I've listened to enough setups to know where it really counts.

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But I have to argue with you here Slinch. The LCR needs to be timbre matched. If anything, the surrounds could not match since its so little of the sound... but LCR.... must match.

 

 

I didn't mean to say he can add just any speaker for the center channel, but to add exact same speakers for the center channel (the Onix x-ls mentioned on the previous page). There's no need to look for speakers that are part of a 5.1 set, very often the dedicated center speaker of a budget set  like that is actually inferior to using exact same speakers for L, R and C. Here's a great example of what I mean:

 

9925trioqv9.jpg

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