Speaker suggestions for living room - $500

[yirayira]

I second the recommendation for PSB speaker. Their new Image line is supposed to be better than the old (which I have and think is amazing). Most of the line can be found on eBay and SaturdayAudio in Chicago seems to still have the best prices around.

I would also recommend adding a Subwoofer if you don't have one. Getting a PSB i5 sub to compliment my PSB B25 was night and day. HSU Subwoofers also make excellent and inexpensive subs. Check out their STF line.

Good luck with finding the right speakers. And remember that speaker placement can make or break a sound system. Here is some quick information of speaker placement.

 

[Chaos P. Bennu]

may have to check out the minipods thanks

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

That's a possibility but I think if he reads the books he might benefit from learning the fundamentals and that may change his view on how to arrange the room.
Uh, no. I've got a dedicated HT room. I've had, and have, dedicated listening rooms. I've used various placements formulas and various room acoustic treatments. I've got Nautilus 802s at another house in a dedicated room arranged by Cardas' methodology. Hell, I've even built my own Lowther horns and SET amps and dealt with all their inherent placement problems. I know a wee bit about audio. This is for a condo living room. I am not going to properly arrange my speakers in a living room because placement is of very limited importance. They will be behind a TV and a couch. I will be all around the room and so will my guests. Nothing looks more stupid than people who put their stereo equipment in the middle of a room to show it off. That was why the budget is $500. Not critical. The focus is on something that makes sound in a 16x30 room, fits in with the decor, and does not interact poorly with the room in the chosen (most unobtrusive) place. I have tried some sealed bookshelf in those corners which picked up all sorts of nasty resonances, and the stands I have tried did not look right in the room. Furthermore, some of you should research product a little bit before giving recommendations. Please do some homework.. the LSI line was Polk's use of economy of scale to combine high end components and construction details to lower price points. Believe the hype -- just price the Vifa Ring Radiator also used on the Krell Reference 2 if you'd like, or inspect the crossovers. Good stuff -- and they sound damn good as well. Therefore, they are very hard to beat for the price they can be picked up for these days. I do like certain PSBs and the Paradigm line. Unfortunately the Studio 20s are the ones that appear to be most in the budget, and they are downright ugly. If I could score some Studio 100s I certainly would.

 

[Artisan Fan]

^

Pretty cranky response to people who are trying their best to give you good advice. Get the ******* Polks if you are so high on them. P.S. I've been fooling with speaker placement for over 26 years and there is always something to learn. That's why I recommended the Jim Smith book. And the Vifa radiator is good but not spectacular. A good Be tweeter destroys it. No good deed goes unpunished around here.

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

^

Pretty cranky response to people who are trying their best to give you good advice. Get the ******* Polks if you are so high on them. P.S. I've been fooling with speaker placement for over 26 years and there is always something to learn. That's why I recommended the Jim Smith book. And the Vifa radiator is good but not spectacular. A good Be tweeter destroys it. No good deed goes unpunished around here.
I was looking for $500 budget speaker recommendations, not recommendations to read a ******* book. You assume because some one wants a cheap speaker to put in a corner, rather in the middle of their room with giant cables attached to it, that they need a ground up education on the subject? Rather pretentious if you ask me.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by username79

I was looking for $500 budget speaker recommendations, not recommendations to read a ******* book. You assume because some one wants a throwaway speaker to put in a corner, that they need a ground up education on the subject? Rather pretentious if you ask me.
Jackass, I was trying to help you. I just read Jim's book and honestly found it to be helpful summary of applied knowledge. Based on your original post I did not know how familiar you might be with placement choices and impact on sound. You should be more appreciative of people here trying to make a good faith effort to help.

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

Jackass, I was trying to help you. I just read Jim's book and honestly found it to be helpful summary of applied knowledge. Based on your original post I did not know how familiar you might be with placement choices and impact on sound.

You should be more appreciative of people here trying to make a good faith effort to help.

Recommendation for a good BE tweeter under $500 ?

 

[GQgeek]

Real nice display of arrogance when people were only trying to help you, username79. Anyway, these sorts of posts are always fun to pick apart for their lack of any sort of logical consistency.

Originally Posted by username79

Any suggestions for speakers for the corner of my living room? I am a big fan of the Polk LSI series. I dragged out the Polk LSI25s from my home theater room and put them in the corners of my living room here. They sound quite nice paired up with the vintage Nakamichi TA-4A temporarily placed on the floor. Please excuse the lack of furnishings - still moving in.

My budget is about $500, but this is via eBay/Audiogon/etc.. The LSI25s pictured I bought for $800 shipped off of eBay and they are in perfect condition without issues. I can buy LSI15s for $500. I did a lot of research and found that the LSI series bought used offers what I believe to be an unbeatable value (since the LSI series themselves were built around this premise at full retail.)

Any suggestions in the bought off of Audigon, eBay, etc. range for $500 ? My first choice at this point would be the smaller Polk LSI15s with Ebony side panels. Corners provide plenty of bass reinforcement but I am of the opinion that speakers on stands draw attention to themselves and are unattractive. I've found that I spend the majority of my time working from my kitchen table in the middle of the room, so sound quality is important.

If money were no object I would purchase B&W Nautilus 803s.

Originally Posted by username79

Uh, no. I've got a dedicated HT room. I've had, and have, dedicated listening rooms. I've used various placements formulas and various room acoustic treatments. I've got Nautilus 802s at another house in a dedicated room arranged by Cardas' methodology. Hell, I've even built my own Lowther horns and SET amps and dealt with all their inherent placement problems. I know a wee bit about audio.

This is for a condo living room. I am not going to properly arrange my speakers in a living room because placement is of very limited importance. They will be behind a TV and a couch. I will be all around the room and so will my guests. Nothing looks more stupid than people who put their stereo equipment in the middle of a room to show it off.

That was why the budget is $500. Not critical. The focus is on something that makes sound in a 16x30 room, fits in with the decor, and does not interact poorly with the room in the chosen (most unobtrusive) place. I have tried some sealed bookshelf in those corners which picked up all sorts of nasty resonances, and the stands I have tried did not look right in the room.

Furthermore, some of you should research product a little bit before giving recommendations. Please do some homework.. the LSI line was Polk's use of economy of scale to combine high end components and construction details to lower price points. Believe the hype -- just price the Vifa Ring Radiator also used on the Krell Reference 2 if you'd like, or inspect the crossovers. Good stuff -- and they sound damn good as well. Therefore, they are very hard to beat for the price they can be picked up for these days.

I do like certain PSBs and the Paradigm line. Unfortunately the Studio 20s are the ones that appear to be most in the budget, and they are downright ugly. If I could score some Studio 100s I certainly would.

So you have 802s in another house, and if you had the budget you'd get 803s in your apartment? And you're apparently awesome with placement issues yet you'd stick speakers that costs nearly 5 figures, that are known to require lots of space from room boundaries if you don't want to have serious issues with your bass, and you'd stick them in the corner? But you've tried sealed bookshelves and that didn't work so if money were no object you'd stick 803s in the corner instead? Ok there...

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

So you have 802s in another house, and if you had the budget you'd get 803s in your apartment? And you're apparently awesome with placement issues yet you'd stick speakers that costs nearly 5 figures, that are known to require lots of space from room boundaries if you don't want to have serious issues with your bass, and you'd stick them in the corner? But you've tried sealed bookshelves and that didn't work so if money were no object you'd stick 803s in the corner instead? Ok there...

This makes perfect sense to me. 803s are very pretty, and the front firing ported design would not have the same issues as the sealed bookshelves. Excellent analysis.

 

[GQgeek]

Yet anyone that's actually had them in their room knows they need to be away from walls.

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

Yet anyone that's actually had them in their room knows they need to be away from walls.
Thanks, Captain Obvious. Pretty much every conventional speaker needs to be away from walls. That's the compromise here. The 803s were mentioned as "money-no-object," e.g. eye candy. Since money is an object, it's a moot point.

 

[GQgeek]

So why are you asking for suggestions again? You clearly know everything there is to know about audio, and everyone else is an idiot based on our collective inability to divine your limitless knowledge and expertise from the sparse details provided in your first post.

 

[username79]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

So why are you asking for suggestions again? You clearly know everything there is to know about audio, and everyone else is an idiot based on our collective inability to divine your limitless knowledge and expertise from the sparse details provided in your first post.
I actually appreciated your suggestion. The Paradigms are excellent; I am just not sure I can find one in my budget. I'd like the floorstanding Reference Studios.

 

[jakejake]

May I suggest Magnepans. I might get the 1.7 when I have my own space.

 

[Pezzaturra]

Is this a good place to ask about heart surgery? I thought it might be a great place to ask for advice; me being a self-taught heart surgeon and this place being a clothing forum...

I appreciate your advise.