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I am college student. What are the best monitor type speakers for under $750?
Look into PSB, a Canadian speaker. Maybe difficult to find a dealer where you can audition. Generally regarded as a quality product at a bargain price. I liked the Magnepan suggestion too, but placement is fussy with these speakers.
I compared the Dynaudio Audience 40s and Soliloquy 5.0s both hooked
up to Sim Audio amp and Cambridge Audio player. The Soliloquys
sounded clearly better in most if not all aspects. More natural,
more bass, beautiful soundstage.
Order a pair of Klipsch Reference Series RB5'sMy friend - who has been listening to DQ10's for the last two decades finally made it over last weekend to give them a listen. He made three comments:
1) "They certainly sound open"
An unbelievable compliment coming from him.
2) "Man."
We were listening to "Welcome to the Machine" by Pink Floyd. Another compliment by one of the most critical people I have ever known.
3) "How much did you say these were?"
The implication here is obvious.
As far as the post below where the comment is made regarding the quality of the components in this price range? Well...normally it is true - but when you sell thousands instead of hundreds you can do the following:
All metal drivers: horn loaded titanium dome and aluminum woofers
glass-filled, vented, cast-polymer frames
Very heavy, large magnets
high-precision solid pole pieces
air core inductors
film-type capacitors
computer-optimized bracing
huge low restriction ports96db/watt - they will get pretty loud with only 50 watts. This saves you money on the front end. They will get almost as loud with 50 watts as many speakers get with 200 watts - with lower levels of distortion. They also go down to 48HZ which covers 95% of the bass range. It covers 100% of the bass range for 95% of the music thats out there.
I call them the 'no honk no squawk horn' - open, articulate, dynamic, and not at all 'bright' as most would have you believe.
The floorstander retails for the same amount:
The RB5's and RF3's both retail for $800
With the RB5 you get real wood veneer
With the RF3 you get vinyl veneerWith the money Klipsch saves not using wood veneer on the RF3 - they give you more 'box' and an extra driver. A nice option if you cannot afford a sub. They go down to 37HZ.
The 5's do sound better because there is less 'box' to resonate and the bass is 'quicker'.
I've seen these bad boys on the net for $750 plus shipping.
Thanks for providing me the opportunity to blow my 'horn'.
http://www.klipsch.com
Dean,
Be prepared to get what you pay for: Compromises...Cheaper speaker units usually goes with cheaper, inferior quality drivers that comes with lots of problem and compromises (in general).
I've seen similar problems even with exotic designer speakers that costs several hundred times the price you are asking for.
Bottomline: GO to an audioo shop (no circuit city please!) and bring along CDs to audition what they have. Evaluate them by ears and your mind, not your wallet(if you are interested at certain speakers the shop owner od the salesguy can usually cut a deal somewhat).
That's the only way you can tell if you like the sound of your speaker or not.
REMEMBER: audio is a highly subjective subject: no 2 person's taste alike.
Jacques.
Once you have heard them you'll never go back (to a box). Oh, you'll have about $250 left over for cables or something else.
The college student info may or may not give us an idea as to some of the following questions:What size room? Intended placement (near wall, on top of milk crates)
What are you using them for? Music only or HT or computer?
What type of music do you listen to?
What playback levels are you interested in?
Desired size restrictions? (any size or small as possible)
What electronics are you hooking these up to?These questions could make our responses more focused. If not you are just going to get a large number of names of marks in which may or may not suit your needs.
But I can play that game too. SpeakerCity Scan7.
ed,
sounds like you live in LA........tr
Not monitor type exactly but the Acoustic Energy Aegis Three is an absolute killer. I went from B&W 805's to Totem Ones to the Aegis Three and I'm not missing much. Good tight bass response, warm voices and a top end thats just easy to listen to. Imaging is so-so compared to the totems but it's most definately there. The Aegis Three's won't impress most equipment fanatics but they are very Very VERY musical.The best part is, they are not equipment picky. The Aegis are 91dB sensitive, 8ohm nominal dipping to 5. They sound great with everything. I've had them hooked up to a Denon 3300 and they sounded great. They were amazing with an Electrocompaniet ECI-3. I can think of no other speaker that can beat the Aegis in the price range. It is a full range speaker thats not to big. At least give them a listen if you have the chance.
Best Regards,
Bernard
The Acoustic Energy "Aegis Three" speakers are a pleasant surprise! But, when I first plugged mine in they had a squashed soundstage that didn't go higher than the tops of the speakers and didn't go very deep... that is, until about the 30 hour of useage mark...then there was an almost immediate and DRAMATIC change in the height, width and depth of the soundstage! Can you say, "wow"?
Do not even THINK you know what these speakers sound like until you listen to a pair that has at least 30 hours of useage on them. Then you will find a reasonably sized soundstage, unfettered highs that don't hurt the ears, taut tuneful bass that gives you an good honest foundation for orchestral, rock, pop, jazz and folk music.
No the bass isn't STUNNING GUT WRENCHING BALL CRUNCHING ASS BUSTING WALL SHAKING bass like you'd get in a larger speaker. On the other hand, nor is the bass on the weak side as with the smaller brothers to this speaker, the Aegis One and Two.
Although the Aegis One and Two can be KILLER in smallish rooms.
FYI: The Aegis One needs stands, the Aegis Two is a floor stander like the Aegis Three.Both the One and Two excel in the reproduction of folk and jazz that doesn't have center of the earth volcanic eruptions of deeeeeep bass. You might find the One and Two image better than the Three, but I think that's because your mind is focused on a smaller sonic spectrum.
Just a theory as to why some people think the One and Two image a wee bit better.Regarding placement, remember that the Aegis Three's have a midrange port on the rear, like the Aegis One and Two, but the big difference is the Aegis Three has a bass driver in it's own seperate enclosure and has a port on the front baffle.
The Aegis Threes do seem to like to be a couple of feet away from a rear wall, and toed in a bit (or more) to reduce bass boom--which I got but you may not...Every room is different.
Another thing about the Aegis Three is how seamless the three drivers are at this price range. For About $699 retail, the drivers are very well integrated resulting in a top to bottom sound that really does not distract you from the music. I suppose if you have been weaned on multi-thousand dollar exotic speakers then you might find something to bitch about, but then again, you're not the person who is probably looking to drop only $699 for a credible pair of speakers.
And yes, the Aegis Three's are QUITE musical (vocals sound wonderful) and can be driven with 25 solid state watts and probably less if Tube... I can't wait to try some SET's on my Aegis Three's! I'm nearly certain the efficiency rating is 90 db.
If you like low level listening they are also very satisfying for that late night stuff... And you might want to try seperating them to about eight feet apart for a soundstage that is wide wide wide! That's the fun part of this hobby! Play around, have some fun! But remember to sit so your head isn't way above the top level of the speakers. You may need to play around with your seating height a bit to get the full sonic effect of these speakers.
So to sum up, I'm happy as a pig in you know what with my Aegis Three. If you get a chance, go give them a listen !!!
I think you'll be surprised too!ml
There was a post in another forum about the best bookshelfs under $1000 and the resounding winner in the recommendations were the audience 40s. One guy even went to the extent of saying that the Audience 40s (which has a street price of around $650) paired with a HSU sub would provide a sound very hard to beat for anything twice its price.Other people called the audience 40's the "poor man's Sonus Concertino". The Sonus doens't reach twice the price of the Dyns. It becomes obvious then that their costs are concetrated on cosmetics, such as their finish and their geniune leather wraps. As for Dyns, it is all on the sound and no bullshit. In aesthetics, they easily lose to speakers even those costing half the price. But in sound they are no pushovers. I own the Dyns and made a review of it in Audioreview.com. Go check it out.
Jick
.
nah
you certainly proved your name right with that post.
Actually I've auditioned the TC-50 three times. With cheap amplification it sounded not very good at all. But on one occasion I heard them with Audio Research Tube Monoblocks, and I was stunned at the imaging and sound stage these little speakers put out. But most people don't have thousands of dollars to shell out on good amplification. Another drawback is the limited bass output of these speakers; the bottom end is simply anemic. And at the time I auditioned these things, they were still using paper cones instead of better quality materials. TC-50s? nah ...
far and away best build quality in this price range. sounds like a much, much more expensive speaker.
..
Just be patient, find out what type of speaker suit you most or what type of music you prefer, then check your local buy and sell, I am sure you can pick up something good especially those semi vintage stuff. I have seen B&W DM7, Tannoy Cheviot, Acoustic Energy AE1, JBL 112, L3/5a, list goes on..they were all list way below $750 and they are good. Good luck.
Nice midrange and top, but complete absence of bottom end.
For $750 hard earning money, unfortunate there is not much you can expect from a pair of new speaker, I really don't know if there is any good full range speaker in this price range. My recent found is a pair of mint condition Altec 19. Good luck and keep searching.
posted to wrong slot ... meant to say LS3/5A has no bass at all
vac,
having owned a pair of these great monitors, i know htat the low bass is missing. however, they do so many other things right that that is hard ot overlook. the problem with mating them with a sub is the midbass hump they put in for compensation. i was happier with the sub but never completely satisfied. wish i had them back tho. the mids were uncannily natural. on the right radio station or recorded program material, it sounded if a person were speaking or singing in the listening room.
the spendor S3/5 is the natural descendant of the LS3/5a and it doesnt have the hump. i may end up purchasing these little boxes for primary duty in my sys. 200wpc should give at least a semblance of loud, even with their low sensitivity. we shall see after i hear them, hopefully in my room.regards..........tr
rita,
if youre willing to spend 750 then go a few bucks more and get one of the best monitors there are.......spendor S3/5s. perhaps you can get the dealer to bring it down ever so slightly toward your budget.
read the review from the absolute sound on the qs+d website provided below and realize that the rogers LS3/5A was a world class monitor licensed to manufactures by the bbc for near field monitoring. ive owned a pair and they were exceedingly natural on voice. the s3/5 is its natural descendant. i am considering buying them from generubinaudio.com,a small dealer in ventura, ca. if you dont have a local dealer, he might do mail order. hes a real nice fellow and sells other things like rega tables and cd players.good luck..........tr
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I would try and get a prototype pair of DiAural speakers from Kimber.
Stick to one moniker.Tom §.
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