Budget Tower Speaker Suggestion.

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lillimon04

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Hey everyone, I was wondering what tower speakers would be the best bang for my buck. These will be for my dads living room because he needs new ones, the room is quiet large 20x20 at least and very open, thats not including the kitchen that its also open to. He listens to music sometimes while cleaning or just chilling, and watch's all sorts of tv and a ton of action movies. I am also looking for something that looks elegant and not an eye sore or my mother will kill me. I might be picking him up a new receiver, center channel and subwoofer after these so if someone could suggest these too that would be great.

He might also be interested in in-wall speakers, if there are some that could almost sound like tower speakers that would be great too.

Thanks in advance! Right now my max budget is 300 for the tower or in wall speakers.
 
I like the Sony SS-F6000 or SS-F7000, they are built pretty nicely, sound fantastic for the price, and look pretty spiffy (especially with the covers off).

There should also be something from Polk in that price range...
 
$300 is a hard budget for tower speakers....add to that you want ones that look nice/small profile etc....

pioneers Tch0rT listed are best bang for buck, great at even $200 or $250, but not necessarily the best you can do for $300 and not to mention, ugly.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TS...id=1339855862&sr=8-25&keywords=tower+speakers

$320 shipped.

they are quite small on the front and look decently good....

dont go in wall if you listen to music. if its for HT use only you can get L/R and surrounds in wall.

post your total budget for all reccomendations.
 
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Pioneer SP-FS51-LR is the absolute best bang for the buck at $140 a pair! Damn that is good for new towers. They are going to sound as good or within 3-5% as good as any speaker under $300. Plus you can add a center and rear surrounds without spending much at all. Polk is fine and all but the only real difference is looks. They sound about the same. I would look to the polk audio forums for used gear. Usually a ton of good speakers for cheap. Audiogon is great too. Craigslist sometimes is but that depends on where you live. aka my area sucks.

For in wall, I would strongly suggest the BIC Formula FH8-W. On super sale now and a pair of these with a BIC Formula F-12 subwoofer would be all you need for some time. Killer sounding 2.1 for around $400 total. So easy to attain. The speakers themselves provide a full enough range to not miss a sub too much but adding one would add a solid feel to the sound for movies especially.
 
Blue Falcon said:
I like the Sony SS-F6000 or SS-F7000, they are built pretty nicely, sound fantastic for the price, and look pretty spiffy (especially with the covers off).

There should also be something from Polk in that price range...
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Those look pretty nice, would you recommend the f7000s over the f6000s?
|Tch0rT| said:
Pioneer SP-FS51-LR (Andrew Jones designed these)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882117403

I haven't heard them but they get rave reviews over at AVSforum for their price. They're normally around $200 but they're on sale at Newegg.
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I was actually looking at these before because they were on sale, but I saw them at best buy and they are very, unique looking haha. Not really sure how to say it, they aren't horribly ugly but they aren't very good looking. Do you think these would sound good in a big living room? I was thinking of getting these to put in my room, but I'm moving to a dorm this fall so there's no point. :(
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Yamaha NS-777's

/thread
Click to expand...
Man thats what Im talking about, haha those are beautiful! Do you own these? If so how do they sound? They are out of my price range right now though. :(
Procyon12 said:
$300 is a hard budget for tower speakers....add to that you want ones that look nice/small profile etc....

pioneers Tch0rT listed are best bang for buck, great at even $200 or $250, but not necessarily the best you can do for $300 and not to mention, ugly.

http://www.amazon.com/Polk-Audio-TS...id=1339855862&sr=8-25&keywords=tower+speakers

$320 shipped.

they are quite small on the front and look decently good....

dont go in wall if you listen to music. if its for HT use only you can get L/R and surrounds in wall.

post your total budget for all reccomendations.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know its a tight budget but its all I got right now to spend, plus I don't have a very good job with being a college student still haha. I was actually just looking at those Polks earlier and really like the look of those also. Have you heard them before?
Also the budget for the receiver would probably be another 300 in a like 6 months probably, his currently doesn't even have HDMI. Sounds great but its a few years old.
Then probably another 400 for the center and subwoofer. I'm really liking BIC subs, but I don't know what is also a good choice at that price.

Thanks for everyone's replies! Really appreciate it!
 
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spaceman said:
Pioneer SP-FS51-LR is the absolute best bang for the buck at $140 a pair! Damn that is good for new towers. They are going to sound as good or within 3-5% as good as any speaker under $300. Plus you can add a center and rear surrounds without spending much at all. Polk is fine and all but the only real difference is looks. They sound about the same. I would look to the polk audio forums for used gear. Usually a ton of good speakers for cheap. Audiogon is great too. Craigslist sometimes is but that depends on where you live. aka my area sucks.

For in wall, I would strongly suggest the BIC Formula FH8-W. On super sale now and a pair of these with a BIC Formula F-12 subwoofer would be all you need for some time. Killer sounding 2.1 for around $400 total. So easy to attain. The speakers themselves provide a full enough range to not miss a sub too much but adding one would add a solid feel to the sound for movies especially.
Click to expand...
Man those in walls look very nice and great reviews. I will have to ask him if he wants the in walls or just towers because those are at a great price right now.
 
lillimon04 said:
Man those in walls look very nice and great reviews. I will have to ask him if he wants the in walls or just towers because those are at a great price right now.
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ehh in wall speakers that arent enclosed arent going to sound anything like towers or standmounts...

those will do fine for HT...but i would avoid for music...

lillimon04 said:
I was also looking at this receiver, http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-NR1403-Slim-Line-Receiver/dp/B0081N916M/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
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i like that reciever.
 
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If you have a Fry's nearby, they have those Infinity's on sale quite often for $99 each. They also have the jbl es80's on sale for $277 a pair right now. They seem to review pretty well.

http://www.amazon.com/JBL-ES80BK-3-Way-Floorstanding-Speaker/dp/B00166ZFXO

96redformula said:
If you can strech a bit to $400, or I think you can use coupon codes on different orders to get them down to $350 or so.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P363BK/Infinity-Primus-P363.html

Infinity Primus are well known for bang for your buck value at under $200/speaker.
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As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Spend less on the receiver and more on the speakers.

Something like this refurb Denon AVR-1712 would work fine and you can get it for around $250 shipped. http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...NON-AVR-1712-7.1-A/V-Surround-Receiver/1.html

If you want to stay with the smaller one, that site also has the previous model Marantz NR1402 refurb for $260ish shipped: http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...line-5.1ch-AV-Receiver-w/HDMI-3D-ready/1.html

Speakers:
Those Pioneers mentioned already are a steal for the price and would leave you room to get a BIC F12 now.

Newegg currently has the Polk Monitor 60 Series II for $119ea http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290206 The Monitor Series II line is the older version of the current Tsi line but acoustically should be the same as they use the same drivers and cabinets. 50s = Tsi300, 60s = Tsi400, 70s = Tsi500.

If you make it by Frys and they have those Infinity P363(or the P362, older version of same speaker w/ different color) for $99ea or even $180ea. You probably won't find a better tower speaker in the price range. The P253/252 is not as good and I would not pay more than $99ea for them.
 
lillimon04 said:
Those look pretty nice, would you recommend the f7000s over the f6000s?
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Depends on how much you like bass and, maybe, whether you are going to be using a subwoofer or not. If you can afford the F7000 I totally recommend them... but the F6000 are quite nice and put out some amazing sound. Clean highs, bass that isn't overpowering but present nonetheless. I actually use the SS-F6000 without a sub and the bass is quite nice... so. I've heard someone say that Sony uses an inferior crossover design in their speakers, but I haven't bothered to have a look inside to see. I don't care if there's a little hamster doing a tapdance in there as long as they sound good, and they do.


lillimon04 said:
I was actually looking at these before because they were on sale, but I saw them at best buy and they are very, unique looking haha. Not really sure how to say it, they aren't horribly ugly but they aren't very good looking. Do you think these would sound good in a big living room? I was thinking of getting these to put in my room, but I'm moving to a dorm this fall so there's no point. :(
Click to expand...

My problem with the Pioneers is twofold:

1. They are fucking ugly as sin. No way around it - they look like they should be on a boat or outside attached to someone's deck.
2. They sound.... muddy. You can get them to sound pretty good with some creative equalization, but you shouldn't have to work that hard for decent sound.
 
The pioneers floorstanders are a good starting point. He can add the pioneers bookshelfs later as surrounds. I don't think the pioneers look that great through.


What exactly is the budget?
 
I forgot to update this, bought him a Denon AVR 1612 and JBL ES80BK. They sound awesome! Now need to get the matching Center and Sub.
 
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