Best bookshelf speakers for ~$150?

T

TheLordsServant

Gawd
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Sep 29, 2005
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Greetings all,
I am currently using a pair of Cerwin Vega XD3 speakers for music purposes. I do a little bit of gaming, and the occasional movie on my rig, but essentially I'm just looking for clean, high quality audio. The problem is that I listen to a very wide variety of music, so I need some fairly versatile speakers. I'm in a fairly small dorm room, so I really don't want floorstanding speakers if that can be avoided. The options I've considered so far:
JBL ES20
JBl ES30BK
Sony SS-B1000
Infinity Primus P163BK

As a side note, I'm planning on purchasing a Dayton DTA-100a amplifier, but am open to recommendations on that front as well. Not really looking to spend more than $250-$300 for an amp/speaker combination.


Thanks in advance!
 
Pioneer SP-BS22-LR get my vote at that price. They go on sale fairly often as well.
 
Wow. So many great options here. I'm leaning toward the Mordaunts. Seem like they're highly versatile, which will be good for my musical taste.
 
atarione said:
having listened to the pioneers and owning these

polk m30 II speakers

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monitor-30-...55?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item53f81bc5d7

going to suggest them especially for $90 w/ free shipping... I prefer these to those pioneer's myself.
Click to expand...

+1. Very good value speakers. The new monitor line that just came out should be just as good as those but the 35B is 1 1/8" shallower in depth than its predecessor. I don't know why they did that, but they did.
 
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Wow I haven't been looking at SVS speakers for awhile and during that time they came out with an affordable set. Those look pretty nice. Kind of looks like the Super Zeros that NHT sells.

Edit: Hmm looking at the specs they have 6" woofers. So they are bigger than the super zeros I think. Probably about the same size as the RS621s that I have. They are sealed as well so I think they will give nice tight sound but may lack a bit in the bass department. This is just a guess though from looking at the units. At this price, it is almost tempting to get a pair for my wife.
 
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Depends on the music but they should sound fine in the bass department. My current speakers have three 6" drivers and while I do have a sub, just the speakers by themselves put out good bass down to around 60-70 hz.

SVS is a good brand. Those might be an old model though? They are 50% off atm.
 
Used...I have my moved my JBL L1s to the sides of my monitors (granting they are somewhat large) but the cost $40 and I also have my B&W V202's on the other side (elan z660(120WPC) driving the JBL's and a Pioneer SA-710 (65WPC) driving the B&W's the B&W's are actually even bigger they cost $20 for the pair.

pic.



both of these sets of speakers will pretty much murder any $150 new bookshelf speaker.... ..but in fairness you need a willingness to be crowded :D or more deskspace and less... I need to move to from the former to the latter pretty dang soon here...


some pretty solid new speakers of value nature have been suggest and you could do way worse than the Polk Monitor series or the Carnival 1's i suggested early

but with luck and patience you might look like you've lost your mind with your desk over run with receivers and amps and speakers...lol
 
For $150 your only choices for getting anything decent is second hand or DIY - and even with DIY small boxes components are going to cost more than 150 bucks.

So go second hand like starione suggested.
 
There is a lot of value to be found in used speakers.

It can get overwhelming looking at 30 to 40 years of different brands and models but if you take a bit of time to look around and do some research there are some real gems out there.

Something like these Paradigm 3SE standmounts for $125 are great speakers but may be a bit larger than you would like.

Just giving you a bit more to think about, there is nothing wrong with wanting brand new gear but there is plenty of gear sitting around in the thrifts and classifieds that deserve to be loved.

Some of the older stuff you find in thrifts may need to have stuff like capacitors replaced in the crossovers or the woofers refoamed but if you stick to the audio classifieds like audiogon and canuck/usaudiomart you can find a lot of gear that has been well taken care of.

Good luck in your search and let us know what you end up with.
 
Man, we really need to get you a camera. Go grab a used Rebel or Nikon 3000 with a kit lens in the FS/FT forum :-p
 
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