Go Canadian: Get the best PSB, Paradigm, or Energy speakers you can afford.
College student stuck w/ bad speakers: advise pls
The more suggestions the better. The used market is only so large, so many I won't be able to try, but thanks in advance for your consideration of me, I truly appreciate it.
First, I'm not a seasoned pro or anything, but I appreciate good audio, especially live and have heard exceptional PA systems from Radiohead live, other bands in Millennium Park, live Chicago symphony, a pretty incredible new sound system inside my wood church (essentially a cathedral), another new system in another new church, etc.
I need a bookshelf speaker for my office to replace the wretched Paradigm Atom V3s I bought. I have an HK3480 and Polk R50s at home. No, the Polks aren't great, but I never said they were. All right, unimpressive right? I set up a MA S2 / Teac stereo for a friend last year and it was pretty incredible sounding to me.
OKOK the Paradigms are decent, but don't image or present a wide soundstage enough. They're way too laid back and I need a forward sound. Should I splurge on the Linn Tukans? I don't care if it's used, but it has to be below $375 shipped. I'm considering Energy RC-10's. Will I be completely disappointed with those? I only have a 30 WPC Teac DR-L700 with some famous Class D amp or something. It's decent and I liked a Teac CRH-227 with Monitor Audio S2s. I really don't think the problem is the amp, the speakers aren't what I'm used to. I could goto Saturday Audio in Chicago some weekend easily, and check out the MA equipment. Please advise. Thank you!
P.S. The speakers need to be able to play Radiohead. Bass doesn't matter as much as realism, soundstage, and imaging.
P.P.S. I'm a little bit skeptical of the laid-back attitude of B&W. Klipsch, Bose, Polk are out of the question. Dynaudio is way out of budget. The rest I can't easily audition here. I may bid on some Linn Tukans or else the Energy RC-10 I can get for $300 with a strong return policy, thoughts?
First, I'm not a seasoned pro or anything, but I appreciate good audio, especially live and have heard exceptional PA systems from Radiohead live, other bands in Millennium Park, live Chicago symphony, a pretty incredible new sound system inside my wood church (essentially a cathedral), another new system in another new church, etc.
I need a bookshelf speaker for my office to replace the wretched Paradigm Atom V3s I bought. I have an HK3480 and Polk R50s at home. No, the Polks aren't great, but I never said they were. All right, unimpressive right? I set up a MA S2 / Teac stereo for a friend last year and it was pretty incredible sounding to me.
OKOK the Paradigms are decent, but don't image or present a wide soundstage enough. They're way too laid back and I need a forward sound. Should I splurge on the Linn Tukans? I don't care if it's used, but it has to be below $375 shipped. I'm considering Energy RC-10's. Will I be completely disappointed with those? I only have a 30 WPC Teac DR-L700 with some famous Class D amp or something. It's decent and I liked a Teac CRH-227 with Monitor Audio S2s. I really don't think the problem is the amp, the speakers aren't what I'm used to. I could goto Saturday Audio in Chicago some weekend easily, and check out the MA equipment. Please advise. Thank you!
P.S. The speakers need to be able to play Radiohead. Bass doesn't matter as much as realism, soundstage, and imaging.
P.P.S. I'm a little bit skeptical of the laid-back attitude of B&W. Klipsch, Bose, Polk are out of the question. Dynaudio is way out of budget. The rest I can't easily audition here. I may bid on some Linn Tukans or else the Energy RC-10 I can get for $300 with a strong return policy, thoughts?
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- 23 posts total
I find energy speakers muddy with little bass punch. I don't care for them at all. Just my opinion of corse... I find Polks to lack dynamics and but are ok for consumer products. Klipsch on the other hand has some good stuff. I would look into a used pair of RB-81 (retial 800- used 400) that would be very good and great for the money. You could also run them off very little power because they are 97dB @ 2.83V / 1m. I should note, I also find Paradigms (S8 newest version) too laid back and unvolving. As for B&W... I own a pair of 703s in my secondary system and really like them. They were my college speakers (I ate a lot of romin and peanut butter to by them). I had them in a room with a pair of Klipsch RF7s for a demo. I find the B&Ws better in all aspects (wider sound stage with more natural tone, etc). But and this is a big BUT B&Ws lower price speakers are weak for what you pay. I would not recommend any of there speakers below the 703s. As for "cheep" speakers I vote Klipsch reference line. PS. have you thought about headphones? A pair of Sennheiser 650s run about $300 and give a lot of 10,000+ speakers a run for their money. They have good sound stage but are a little on the darker side. Grados would be more forward (on the bright side) and also very good but have a smaller sound stage. I would start with the Music Series Two from "Alessandro High-End Products". http://www.alessandro-products.com/headphones.html www.head-fi.org is a good place (and last place for that matter) to look for headphones info. |
The Triangles look very intriguing, and I'd never heard much about them, so I appreciate everyone's advice, this is so valuable! I don't think the Linn is exactly what I wanted, but I'm still considering it mildly. I'm surprised to hear that about the Linn Tukan, because literally all of the reviews called them fun to listen to and one even shouty, which is somewhat what I want on outlandish recordings. I noticed there's a Comete for sale on Audiogon, but I just realized it's sold! I can afford it, it's just I didn't want to outlay quite so much when I do have a decent speaker in these Atoms. I'm not particularly happy with them, but most people would have no idea. They're just not exactly what I'm looking for. Perhaps I'd sell the Triangles in the spring if I ever get some, when it would be nice to have that extra liquid capital. James, I enjoy headphones and I have some Sennheisers, but I'm much more into loudspeakers where I can share the music with others. I know head-fi.org and I find the forums helpful. James63, your comments on Energy are heard. I heard Energy is owned by Klipsch though? The only big advantage to the Energy is that they're the only one which is probably available locally, with a return policy and a low sales tax, so I may have to demo them at the very least. If I was in Chicago (my home town) I would probably go to a Triangle dealers and walk out with a pair, haha. My polks do lack some dynamics indeed, though they were a solid deal. I guess I've learned something about Klipsch, thanks. I could fit If I ever get headphones, I wouldn't mind checking out those AKG K701s. |
- 23 posts total