$1k speakers / Audio Refinement Complete

Hi. Boy, thats a tough question! Do you want floorstanders, or a monitor on stands? I have had some experience buying speakers with out hearing them first, it can lead to frustration. There is nothing like kearing a set of speakers in your own system, working in the acoustics of your own listening area. I had owned the Audio Refinement Complete a few years ago, its a great piece, smooth, extended, with excellent bass, but it can run out of steam if not mated with an appropriate load, or speaker. When I had the Complete, I used the B&W 804, 803, and a Monitor Audio PCM 702, which was a great match, but needed speaker stands. Another excellent monitor is the Acoustic Energy Aegis One, which I have in a second system, but again, you will need stands. Its really a tough question, probably why you may not get too many responses, one could really go on and on. But, the Complete is smooth, so a speaker that leans a bit towards brightness would be ok, probably. The Acoustic Energy Aegis series is really great, and they have a couple floorstanders for under a grand, and they have great bass! I do not think you could go wrong with the Aegis series, and oh, B&W has incorporated some of thier Nautilus technology into thier less expensive designs. Finally, you could go to www.audioreview.com and check out the speaker reviews. Once again, you should really listen first to a speaker system in your own system. I hope it works out. Regards, Bill M.

There is a place in Arizona called Speaker Ect. they sell YBA and audio refinment, Pass Labs. They also make there own speakers. And let me tell you they are just awesome. There all hand made. I would call them for a bourcher, there number is 602-272-6696. Ask for Bill (actually there is only 2 of them)so I guess the other would be ok. This place is not a big fancy place it's just 2 guys that know High End. It's easy the say that there Hand MadeSpeaker they sell at $1100 would be a $3000.00 dollar speaker if it went through all the Distribution Channels. They only reason I say that is I was just took a friend over to listen to some high end equipment. And we listen to PASS, YBA, with all kinds of speaker, but magic happened when he played the Audio Refinement on a pair of there hand made Speakers. For the price it easily equaled stuff twice as much. Regards, I hope it helps

I have an ARC with a pair of Aegis 1 and I'm not very happy. If you like your music very laidback I guess it would be good, but I prefer forward and detailed. When I had the Aegius hooked to an Acurus rl-11 and A80 they sounded very good indeed, but the ARC is just a bad mix. I don't think the speakers or the amp are in themselves the problem. I think it's the combination. Silk dome tweeter and 'tube' like SS are a bad mix(at least in this price range). I decided to go with a Sim I-5080(I guess I love the Aegis too much to sell), but if I were to keep the ARC I'd prob go with B&W CDM1 SE(good price now that matirx series is out), Triangle Zephir(#1 choice for $1000), NHT 2.5i($800 on ebay new) or any other good quality speaker with a metal tweeter. The ARC is just too laidback, although very smooth and grain free, for speakers that attempt the same. Just MHO.

The Vienna Acoustics haydn would be a good match for $995.00

Perhaps too numerous to count. I would lean towards buying used - should be able to buy in great shape at 50-70% of list. For around 1000, with some patience, you could/should find Vandersteen 2C, Maggie 1.6 (not sure the amp can handle these), ProAc Studio 125/150 or Response 1, and many others. If you can go a little higher, there is a pair of Soliloquoy 5.3 on this site now for 1300. Happy hunting.