Best Speaker Type (1 Viewer)

[cerealkeller]

I've been around home theatres Pretty much my whole life. But I'm trying to set up a more high end set up than what I currently have. I am primarily interested in front channel and surround speakers. My primary question is, what is the best type of speaker for fronts? I currently have what I would classify as surround style speakers for all my speakers except the center channel. I attached pics of the speakers I have, I don't know the models they are, the information isn't visible on any of them. The fronts I have are the ones that look like traditional surround speakers while my surrounds are the triangle shaped one. My primary interest is gaming. I have a decent receiver, it's a Sony DN1080 and I also have a good subwoofer. So with that in mind, what is the best type of front channel speaker? Would towers be better, or is what I have good enough? I honestly don't know if an upgrade would provide me a significant improvement, enough to justify spending $1000+ or whatever. I have the room for towers up front, but not for the rears. I should also specify I'm running 7.1 and I want to stick with 7.1. I was thinking about going with SVS speakers to match my subwoofer, but they're so expensive, I'd have to go with their lowest available model to be able to afford it.
So I guess I'm also asking what speaker types would be best for my situation and recommendations for something that would be a worthwhile upgrade from what I have with a budget of $1500 for a set of fronts (2) and two sets of surrounds (4).
I'm also open to the idea that some or all of what I have is good enough. So, any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Hey Shane! Welcome to the Home Theater Forum!

I moved your post into our "Speakers" sub-forum to increase the likelihood of more timely responses.

 

[Todd Erwin]

The smaller Polk speakers are TL2's and those are what I have as surround speakers in my living room in my 5.2.1 Atmos setup. They are OK, and I will eventually upgrade those with something that has better bass response when the wife says it is OK to pull the trigger.

Last year, I upgraded my fronts from Polk bookshelves and a center to the Monoprice Audition T5 towers and C5 center, and they made a huge difference, even with the TL2's still in place. I got them on a killer deal and haven't seen them drop to that price since (I got the T5's for around $90 each). However, I feel they are still a good bargain at their current price point. The only downside is that the matching bookshelf Audition B5 speakers do not have any mounting hardware or screw holes, so you will need the speaker mounts that Monoprice also sells separately. I think I still got you well under your $1500 budget, and you will want to replace that center so that all of your speakers are "timber matched." You may also want to consider running new speaker wire depending on what you are currently using.

Monolith Audition T5 towers: $239.98/pair ($119.99 each)
Monolith Audition C5 center: $79.99 each
Monolith Audition B5 Bookshelf: $239.96/four ($$59.99 each)
Monoprice Universal Bookshelf mounts: $45.98 for 2 pair ($22.99/pair)

That comes to $605.91 before taxes and should qualify for free ground shipping.

Others will likely chime in with their recommendations, too, as speakers are very subjective. What may sound great to one person may sound horrible to another. These have received some good reviews as best bang for your buck.

 

[cerealkeller]

The smaller Polk speakers are TL2's and those are what I have as surround speakers in my living room in my 5.2.1 Atmos setup. They are OK, and I will eventually upgrade those with something that has better bass response when the wife says it is OK to pull the trigger.

Last year, I upgraded my fronts from Polk bookshelves and a center to the Monoprice Audition T5 towers and C5 center, and they made a huge difference, even with the TL2's still in place. I got them on a killer deal and haven't seen them drop to that price since (I got the T5's for around $90 each). However, I feel they are still a good bargain at their current price point. The only downside is that the matching bookshelf Audition B5 speakers do not have any mounting hardware or screw holes, so you will need the speaker mounts that Monoprice also sells separately. I think I still got you well under your $1500 budget, and you will want to replace that center so that all of your speakers are "timber matched." You may also want to consider running new speaker wire depending on what you are currently using.

Monolith Audition T5 towers: $239.98/pair ($119.99 each)
Monolith Audition C5 center: $79.99 each
Monolith Audition B5 Bookshelf: $239.96/four ($$59.99 each)
Monoprice Universal Bookshelf mounts: $45.98 for 2 pair ($22.99/pair)

That comes to $605.91 before taxes and should qualify for free ground shipping.

Others will likely chime in with their recommendations, too, as speakers are very subjective. What may sound great to one person may sound horrible to another. These have received some good reviews as best bang for your buck.

I’ll check that stuff out, thanks

 

[Todd Erwin]

I should also mention that when I upgraded to the T5 towers and C5 center, my subwoofer hasn't had to do as much heavy lifting to fill in the missing lower frequencies for the fronts.

 

[greggor]

I've been doing quite a bit of research on the SVS speakers, (mainly the prime pinnacle towers). I have owned my current Paradigm studio reference speakers for 24 years, so it may be time for a change and I've always found them a little forward and bright sounding! My advice would be to try and audition as many brands as you can in your price range. I prefer towers up front that can handle bass below ~40hz for two channel music listening. I have a few different settings saved in my presets for listening to music and watching movies. They're set to large, (full range for music) and for movies I have them set to small and crossed over so my subwoofer does the heavy lifting. Not all towers are created equal and there are plenty of bookshelf speakers available with better frequency range than many towers so you have to look at the numbers.

 

[JohnRice]

I have owned my current Paradigm studio reference speakers for 24 years, so it may be time for a change and I've always found them a little forward and bright sounding!

You might be a candidate for speakers with a folded ribbon/AMT style tweeter. You might try the Wharfedale EVO line.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Your room size is very import to answering your question; how big is it? And secondarily, what do you mostly play on your system (movies, types of music)?

 

[greggor]

With your $1500.00 budget you may want to consider looking at some used speakers. Ebay, FB Marketplace and Craiglist are all good to keep an eye on for a deal. A higher end used speaker will way out perform a lower end speaker at the same price point. Just a suggestion, but if you can find speakers locally then you could have the opportunity to listen to them prior to purchasing. In the $1500.00 price range for 6 speakers you're not going to get much of an upgrade from what you currently have.

 

[greggor]

I found this speaker package from Klipsch on Amazon. It is in your price range....

Klipsch reference series

The price is $1199.00 and you could add two additional R41M surround speakers and be right on budget. You would also get a subwoofer so you could add another subwoofer to your current system.