JayBird

what speakers to get?

Hey everyone, I plan on building myself a new system. This will be my first time, as I have only owned mini systems. I plan on getting a receiver, 2 front speakers, 2 surround sound bookshelves, and a centre channel. I was wondering what some good front main floor speakers would be around the $800 price range(for the pair). This will be in canadian dollars. I had my mind set on cerwin vegas for a while, until i heard a few people talking about there bad midrange and tweeter speakers. So I am asking some of you more experienced audiophiles to help me out as much as you can, thanx.

JohnSmith

$800 CDN isn't going to get you a high quality pair of floorstanders. Although if you look around should get a pretty reasonble pair.

I would look at standmounts, or second hand floorstanders. Check ebay, and go visit some dealers.

No point recommending brands as you might not like the sound..although guess should checkout Paradigm since Canadian and therefore get more for your money (their rep over here is junk though)

MikeyWeitz

At least audtion some JBL E80 or 90 towers.

Garrett Lundy

Fluance, Home Theater Direct, Ascend Acoustics. all have high value speakers to sell you (but they are internet direct).

You may also be intrested in Paradigm or PSB, which are probably cheaper in Canada anyway.

"Did you know that more people are murdered at 92 degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once. Lower temperatures, people are easy-going, over 92 and it's too hot to move, but just 92, people get irritable."

Dick Boneske

JayBird,

The key for any home theater speaker system is the availability of systems with identical mid and high end drivers for every speaker in the system (except the subwoofer). Paradigm & Definitive Technology are two brands that do that. Their current models use drivers that are similar or identical to those they made for several years, and they SOUND FANTASTIC! If you check eBay, you'll see some great values in these brands of preowned models. Be sure to check what these sold for new before you bid. don't forget shipping costs!!

One more thing to consider--Your main speakers, front left, center, and right, will probably not handle the lowest frequencies for home theater, even if you spend a lot of money for them. I think it's wise to buy your front speakers based on mid and high end accuracy and power handling capacity and rely on the subwoofer for below 80 or 100 HZ. You can build a system now based on the front speakers and spend money later on a good subwoofer. The Paradigm and DefTech units that do have subwoofers built in are expensive and lack the flexibility for optimum placement regarding low frequency effect at the listening position.

Hope this helps. Speakers are the components that most affect what you hear in any system. Good ones last many, many years as opposed to electronic components and video displays that become obsolete every few years.

Dick