B&W taste on a Best Buy budget (1 Viewer)

[Cindy B]

I just hooked up my new Onkyo 696 and JVC SA90BK DVD player. Course I'm still listening to my 20 year old stereo Advents!! So I'm looking for new speakers for 5.1 sound, but need to keep it as low as possible. Just for kicks I listened to the B&W CNT's - wow. They are awesome, but they are way way outta my ballpark. Now don't go nuts, but I am actually considering buying some Yamaha towers NS-A100XT for about $180 pair + shipping. And some matching rear and a center. I compared them to the JBL's S38s in Best Buy and I really do prefer the sound of the Yamahas. But here goes...any of you have any suggestions that will keep me close to my low budget? I really do want towers for my mains. I listen to half music/half movies. Also, I am considering the Adire Rave - $399 which sounds pretty reasonable - and I've read lots of good things about it. Advice welcome there too.

I just got an email showing the Swan Diva 4.1's which are on sale for $499.00 for the pair. I read somewhere that they sound similar to the B&Ws. Anybody heard these?

Thanks so much for your help!!!

Cindy

 

[Greg S]

Cindy,
I highly recommend you take a look at nOrh speakers as well. They sound amazing and you can assemble a very nice system on a budget with them.
GO HERE FOR MORE INFO
Only one thing -- nOrh speakers are not towers, nor are they bookshelf speakers.
I also see you are in Virginia. Depending on where you are you could get a nice demo of some nOrh speakers from a variety of people in the Richmond area.
Shoot me an email if you need some more info.
Also check out GO HERE for a dedicated nOrh forum.
Greg

 

[John Stegman]

I also like B&W speakers. You can have a very good system using the DM303 speakers and a PSB subsonic 5 sub. I listen to music way more than I watch movies and this combination is wonderful. With a B&W center and PSB surrounds, I spent about $1000. All are stereophile recommended components and true to music or sound. Sorry, just reread your post and you said towers. Try the PSB Image T5s. Can be had for $559 on the internet and will meet any need you have, except maybe a little too much money, but after a couple of years all you will remember is the sound.

 

[PomingF]

Cindy go back to AVSForum audio & Hi Fi section to find out more about the Diva's. Earlier today Bob Sorel gave his first impression with the 4.1's and I am sure there are Diva 4.1 users in Virginia for you to request a demo.
PF

 

[Salvador]

girls who are in this home theater hobby are ver hard to find. Glad you're with us Cindy!!! Here in toronto, OMG, absolutely no girls here have this hobby. If i find a girl my age who's in too hometheater, man i'll do everything in my power to marry that girl!
well anyway, yeah goto www.avsforum.com for your diva info. Lots and lots of people love the diva's there. Here in this forum, it's more like SVS is the king. Not that there's anything wrong with that, i'm looking forward to getting one in two years.

 

[Nick G]

Cindy, if you are going to get a sub (the Rava is excellent by all acounts)I recommend do not buy towers. You get much better sound by taking the money you were going to spend on towers and buying bookshelf speakers. Say you have $500 budgeted for main speakers. In almost all cases a $500 bookshelf speakers will be much better sounding than $500 towers. Except the bookshelf will not play as low as the towers. However you have a wonderful sub (the Rava, or you might also consider the HSU VTF2, I have one its great) to handle the low frequences. These subs will handle the lows far better than any tower. Bottom line, you spend $500 on towers with a Rava or HSU and have decent sound. Spend $500 on bookshelf speakers and a Rava or HSU and have much better sound. Only consider towers if you have no sub. I have heard wonderful things about the Swan Diva 2.1. Around $400 I think. Cheap Home Theater has a review of them. Try to audtion some speakers by Paradigm, Mirage, PBS, Klipsch, Boston Acoustics, NHT. I think you will find this to be much better sounding speakers than Yamahas.
I hope I am not throwing too much of curve at you, but better you understand this now while still in the planing stages of your audio system upgrade.
Regards, Nick
http://www.cheaphometheater.com/

 

[Dustin B]

Another option if you have or have access to some tools (table saw, router, drill etc) is DIY kits. There are some tremedous values out there. As in you could get B&W performance from a Best Buy budget. Provided you are willing to put the time in effort into building the enclosures.

Adire (who make the Rava) also offer several speaker kits and several sub drivers including the one used in the Rava and Dharman. Although if size isn't an issue you should really step up to the Tempest from the Shiva for a sub.

For example it would cost about $1000 plus cabinet construction (MDF which is cheap) and finishing materials (depends on what you want to spend, paint can be cheap, veneers can get expensive) to build 5 of Adire's Kit81 (depending on your allignment it should do well against offerings from Paradigm, PSB, NHT that are twice or more the cost) speakers and a sub that would sound more like the Rava but go as deep and as loud as the Dharman.

The Kit281 (the 81's big brother, costs $40 more and would require a little more money for construction and finishing) is considered in the same league as the Paradigm Studio 100, B&W 804 etc.

 

[Bill cc]

Cindy-

Where are the Diva 4.1's on sale for $499(pair) at??

 

[EricHaas]

Give a serious look here:
http://store.yahoo.com/htd/levthre51set.html
This may be the best deal standing for a good sounding system with towers for mains. I haven't heard them, but they have gotten outstanding reviews.

 

[JoeDelan]

THis is Easy...

Pick up a

POLK CS400I Center

POLK RT35I Bookshelf for L&R

POLK RT25I Bookshelf for Rears

POLK PSW250 for sub.

See...Easy...

Inexpensive Speakers, GREAT Quality, GREAT Speakers.

 

[Cindy B]

Bill,

The $499 price for the 4.1 Divas was in an email I received from AV123.com I believe they are the only US distributor. I checked the website, and there is a sale flyer link, so it's probably in there. It does sound like an awfully good price if they are all they have been hyped to be, I just wish there were some locally that I could listen to.

 

[Andy Anderson]

Cindy-

 

[Andy Anderson]

Cindy-
If you still are considering B&W's, the 600 series 3 is about to be released, and as a result, a lot of B&W dealers have great prices on the series 2's!
I bet you'd be happy with some 602's or 603's up front!
B&W

 

[Alex Prosak]

Cindy,

I agree with Andy on checking out the new 602 S3 or 603S3 speakers from B&W. My dealer just got in a pair of the 602s and they sound fantastic. They also have a new speaker inbetween called the 602.5.

 

[Bill cc]

Cindy-
The flyer on av123.com says buy a pair of 4.1 towers($699) and a C3 center($499)...get a pair of 2.1's free.
I think I'm going with Axiom.. $400 for their best bookshelfs or towers starting at $465...plus FREE SHIPPING. I've seen good reviews for these, too. Highly Reccomended.

 

[Marvin]

I've never heard B&W speakers so I don't know how these compare but you can buy 5 NHT Super Ones at www.soundcity.com for 500 (+ shipping). They're replacing this line (with the SB2's) so not too many places sell them anymore. NHT's are supposed to be "brighter" than B&W but not as bright as Klipsch but I've never heard either of the latter two so this is just based on hearsay.

 

[Frank_S]

Cindy, exactly how much $ do you have to spend on speakers?
I would suggest using your advents as surrounds for now and buy a used SVS sub or B stock from someone on the used forum. The reason being, you should try to get a quality speaker for your money and quite frankly the towers you mention are not going to keep you happy over the longterm.
As Nick G said, purchase some good bookshelf speakers instead and with the help of the SVS sub, you'll be well on your way to owning a great system. Here's a suggestion if you want B&W's and buy used if you can.
SVS sub, used 20-39 PC(can be had for $450)
B&W 601S2's($450/pr new)
B&W CC6(center)not sure of price($250?)
The 601's can be moved to surrounds when you want to upgrade your mains in the future. Good luck!

 

[JoelO]

If you like the B&W, I urge you to seriously consider the Diva speakers. Over at AVS forum (in the longest Diva thread), you can read many satisfied customer who was about to buy the B&W Nautilus speaker but ended up w/ the Diva 6.1.

I myself AB-ed Diva 2.1 w/ B&W CDM 1NT ($1200/pr). At that time I only have the Diva broke in for about 15-20hrs.. so they low extension wasn't really there yet. Beside the B&W having a bit more low extension, I couldn't hear much different of the 2 speakers.

Joel

 

[Cindy B]

Well, on the advice of my brother, and at least one or two of the posters on this board, I went and listened to Paradigm Titans. Holy smokes...I never would have guessed that a bookshelf could sound like that. Falls well within my price range too. I'm gonna start checking prices. Paradigm.com shows a couple of nice packages, but I'm hoping I can get a deal somewhere. I'll defintely have to find stands though...

 

[Nicole]

I haven't heard Paradigms, but if you're in Northern VA and interested in auditioning the nOrhs, I have a good setup and I've had a couple people over to check them out. They've all been impressed so far, including one person who liked them much better than his towers. Just a thought.