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Have Receiver, need help with speakers...

D

duder1234

n00b
Joined
Jan 1, 2010
Messages
34
Hey guys,

I just bought the NEC Ea231wmi monitor after much research and a little help (ok alot) from this forum (THANKS!).

Anyways, I'm the recent recipient of a hand-me-down Denon AVR-2803 receiver, a subwoofer, and some speakers. Unfortunately, the speakers aren't as nice. So, I would like to get my mits on some more up-to-date speakers for no more than $200. I don't have the room (or the money) for a full surround system, so I'm just looking for a pair of nice speakers that would fit on my desk and be used for music and movies. They would probably be sitting about 3-4 feet from my ears FYI.

Any input is appreciated!

Thanks!
 
If you want to stay under $200 (I'm guessing you mean under $200 shipped, which would be a $150+tax+shipping speakers), I hear good things about Aperion. It also helps that its PIANO BLACK!!!!~~~1111

26-261-SkuDetailsImage.jpeg


http://www.aperionaudio.com/product/Intimus-4B-Satellite-Speaker,113,20,261.aspx

I would recommend the Fluance bookshelves but they are always out of stock.

Alternatively you can scour Audiogon.com for some used speakers; Audiogon is a source of great deals and I've purchased many speakers over the years from them with no issues whatsoever. I see a pair of Paradigm Titans for $150 available right now. Additionally, you don't have to accept the price that the seller gives and make an offer. I've always managed to shave off about 15% the sellers list price with some aggressive bartering; I'm sure others have done better.
 
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Ok, so "bookshelf speakers" are probably my best option.?

As far as the $200 goes, the speakers can be 199.99 for the pair. Shipping is usually free at this price (hopefully) and sometimes you can get lucky with tax! I just want something thats going to sound nice from 3-4ft and not interfere with my monitors picture (rainbow).

Yeah, Black is ALWAYS nice! Don't want anything distracting (i.e. WHITE!).
 
DOH!

I thought the price was too good, I just realized they were $130/ea, lol.

Well there were many good $200 and under bookshelves as little as 2 years ago but inflation has sort of caught up...most speakers have increased in price. I think the "golden age" of affordable bookshelves was probably around 2004-2006, but a lot of brands got eaten up (hostile takeovers) or just weren't household brands.

The most commercially available bookshelf in your price range is probably the Polk Rti4 which alot of major retailers and etailers carry; it goes for $150 on Amazon (free shipping, no tax).

If you are hardcore about quality I would seriously consider buying used on Audiogon.

For example, this seller is offering the SVS SBS-01 for $125 on Audiogon (they go for $225 on SVS's website). This is a fantastic bookshelf and has very high reviews.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1268343787&/SVS-SBS-01-Pair-in-Black

A few years ago I would have suggested Tweakcityaudio's WAF-1 which uses fantastic parts but its now $229; it used to be $169 once upon a time. Many other lines are now defunct ($200 AV123 X-LS)...its just not a very profitable industry at this price range as its mostly swallowed up by cheap HT satellite packages. Most $200 of the quality speakers from 2004-2006 are now $300-400 speakers...just the economy I guess. You get less value for your dollar today.
 
haha. Ya, I just noticed that today too! But I did some research and I was starting to get comfortable with those speakers price. So I guess $2-300 would be OK.

I was looking at the polk Rti4's a few days ago as well. Probably have to do more research on them before I consider buying though.

As far as quality goes, I'd definitely rather have it than not. I'm not into spending my money on less than quality stuff (which means my budget usually goes up...and then down hehehe).

Thanks for the link. I'm pretty skittish when it comes to used components, especially speakers. So, I'll probably just buy new and bend over ;).

I emailed Aperion, to get there input on these speakers and how they might match with my set-up/ room space. So, we'll see what they have to say.

Thanks for your help thus far astrallite!
 
Hmmm if it was a few weeks ago, I would have suggested The Speaker Company since they were having their going out of business sale. But I think this is over and you can no longer buy from them. Bummers too since they had decent products.

You might want to check out the Jamo C401 on sale at Vanns.

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/542471827/jamo-c401

Also the Klipsch B-3 on sale at Vanns

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/543645744/klipsch-b3

The Behringer 2030p @ zzounds

http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHB20...ID=3260944021&OVADGRPID=4122647409&OVNDID=ND1

Some posts about the 2030p on Audioholics
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48705

BIC Venturi Speakers at parts express
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=303-402

KEF Cresta speakers on Accessories4less
http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-2-2-way-Bookshelf-Speakers-Pair-Black/1.html

Probably none of these will blow anyone away in super high fidelity but for $200 pair or less, these will probably sound much better than PC speakers.

Of course if used is ok, go to Audiogon. Maybe you will luck out on finding a SBS-01 on SVS's b-stock list or some RTi's at the eBay Polk store. Also if you can go up to $300 then you have a lot more choices including Hsu Research's Hb-1 Mkii and some nice Energy RC10's and possibly something in the b-stock from Axiom or AV123 and Ascend.

ie.
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/Merc...Product_Code=9CB17SBM2BS&Category_Code=BSTOCK

Edit: At $300 range, you may want to go listen to a speaker store that carries Paradigm Atoms since they fall into that catergory (especially if you can negotiate a good deal).
 
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I'm not sure anything stands out performance wise in the $200 range. The WAF-1 that tweakcityaudio sells might be the best performer (at $229). It was personally designed by Danny Richie, who is very well known in the audiophile community for working on the Usher Be-718 beryllium "Tiny Dancer", GR Research DIY kits, and AV123's X-LS and line source speakers.

From an asthetics perspective though, it's a pretty ugly speaker and I'm not sure I'd ever put something like that in my room.

I think you have to weight asthetics vs performance here, but in all honesty, I don't think you'd be giving up much performance if you focused on asthetics. That's why I like Aperion in this price range. They look gorgeous.

Aperion has free shipping AND return shipping so if you don't like them, just send them back for full credit.
 
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