Best speakers <$500 (1 Viewer)

[Adam R]

So I'm a pretty big car audio freak but never really dabbled much into HT. I'm really interested in putting together a nice stereo in the future and just want some advice or suggestions. Currently I have a 5 disc cd changer, and a 100x5 receiver (I don't know the brand, I'm off at school and it's sitting in my room back home 300 miles away). For speakers I just have a Sony surround sound speaker package. 5 satallite speakers and a 120watt I believe it is sub. It doesn't sound too bad as long as it isn't really turned up. I plan on keeping the receiver and cd player, along with a couple of the satallite speakers. I'll probably just keep 2 of them to use as surround speakers, then get 2 towers for the main R and L speakers, and I'm debating whether or not to get a new center channel speaker.

I'll probably get 2 elemental designs 12k subs and port them low, and get a Mackie m1400 to power them. I've heard these subs before and was very impressed with them, so that decision is pretty final (unless you know of another amp that can put out 4-500x2 @2 or 4 ohm). As far as towers go, I'm looking for something good, with a very powerful midbass. The subs should take care of everything below 60 easily, I need these to be very powerful from 60-200, and of course the higher freq nice and clear too. If 100 watts each won't be enough to power them I don't mind getting another amp, but I don't know any good plate amps to check out. I looked at some of the Klipsch models, but most are out of my price range, and I don't really know any other brands to check out. I don't mind putting together my own towers but I again don't know any brands to look at for the woofers or tweeters. If you could suggest some speakers, and an amp (if necessary) that would be great. Assume a $4-500 limit for the speaker pair (not absolute, just a suggestion), and whatever is necessary for an amp. Thanks

BTW - I mainly listen to rock and metal, I looked at "The Best Rock Speaker" (or whatever the name was) thread on here and it helped, but all of the suggestions were way out of my price range.

 

[Bill_Wil]

For $349 you can get a pair of JBL S-310II floorstanding speakers....
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.p...uct_Id=2797687

and for $149 get the matching center...
http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.p...uct_Id=2797692
Pretty good setup for under $500.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

The Klipsch SF-1's and SF-2's are very nice pieces and should suite your needs. As for price I am unsure but bestbuy carries them so you can always go check them out.

 

[Adam R]

those both look like nice speakers, I'll check them out, thanks

A friend recommended this setup, anyone have any experience with it?
granted you have to build your own cabinets for them, but I've built more complicated things than that so it shouldn't be a problem

edit: looks like I have to have 15 posts before posting links, well you just go to Adire Audio's website, then DIY Audio > Monitor Kits > Kit 281

 

[Adam R]

anyone?

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Kit 281s are a very popular DIY speaker. May also want to look at the GR Research AV2 and AV3. DIY is definitely the way to go if you're comfortable doing it. You'll end up with speakers that will rival comercial speaker 3 to 5 times the cost.

I'm not sure about the specific sub drivers you mentioned, but one thing to watch out w/ car subs is the rely heavily on cabin gain, something you don't get in a room used for HT. A driver designed fot home purposes would probably be better. It's always easier to use something made for the job opposed to trying to make something that wasn't work. Look at the Adire Shiva and Tempest, Stryke AV12 and AV15, or if ya wanna put some money into a sub that'll handle almost all the power you could throw at it, an Adire Tumult. Also, get WinISD Pro of LSPCad and model the drivers in different boxes and figure out the best port tuning for each.