floor standers for $300 CAD, need guidance please! (1 Viewer)

[stephanX]

Well, after building my atlas 15, it really shows how inadequate my mains are, so i need new ones. Problem, 300$ canadian budget. I went to bestbuy ( i know i know, shoot me) and actually was impressed witht he sound of what $300 could buy you. Anyway i mianly looked at these two speakers

The yamahas:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...wdeptid=20303#
and the Sonys:
(also 300ish at bestbuy, but not on the site for some reason)
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/365...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Some things i noticed,
-Yamahas seemed to have a bettersoundstage, but cant give a perfect comparison as they were placed about 5 feet apart and the sonys were about 2
-Sony have larger cabinets, but size is not as issue for me
-Yamahas drivers looked a bit cheap, and not very good quality
-Sony has the cone area advantage with an 8 woofer as opposed to a 6.5"

Which one would you go for? or any other suggestions? they cant be more than 300 cad shipping included before tax.
this is for a 50/50 home theatre/ music system. and my sub is MORE than adequate.

 

[MikeGee]

My friend has those sony speakers.. IMO I'd never buy anything from Sony. If it were up to me i'd go with the Yamaha's. Since you said your sub is more than adequate.. there is no reason to think the 8" speaker on the sony is an advantage to the 6.5" on the Yamaha's.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Since you've got a nice sub why stick to floor standing speakers? You money would be much better spent on a pair of nice bookshelf speakers and some cheap stands for now. You could then later upgrade and move those speakers to the back as surrounds. With a $300 cdn budget I'd take a listen to the Paradign Atom's and maybe titans if you can find some cheap stands. Axiom, Energy, PSB, Sound Dymanics and Polk also have some decent bookshelf sized speakers in that price range as well that will sound MUCH better then anything Sony or Yamaha make. If you insist on floor standers take a look at http://www.fluance.com/. They're likely the best bet within that budget of getting something that sounds decent.

 

[RyanJE]

Not to offend Andrew at all if he has FLuance SV-10's but being an owner myself I would shy away from those and go for a good bookshelf.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Ryan I totally agree that bookshelf speakers are a much better idea for him. I was mearly giving him an option if he insisted on getting towers...and no I don't own Fluance speakers

 

[Don Scott]

stephanX, I have Yamaha NS-8390's the bigger brother to the 7390's. They are pretty good for what I paid ($299 at futureshop.ca). But you should consider bookshelves since you have a good sub. The athena AS-B2's are the same price as the Yamaha's and are well regarded speakers. The Athena's combined with a good sub will out perform those Yamaha's. I'm considering the Athena's for an upgrade myself. Good Luck

P.S. The drivers do look cheap in my Yamaha's. Looks like paper. Fancy silver paper

 

[Steve Winkler]

You could also check out some Dahlquist bookshelf speakers as well, not sure of the newer model numbers, mine are Qx-6's from a year and a half ago. They have several options you could go with and should be well within your budget. I know they sell then in Ottawa, not sure if there's a place in T.O. Most people who've tried them seem to like them. A search on the forum should yield some better info than my small mind can recall.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Kevin. W]

I have to side with the others and recommend you get a good set of bookshelves and stands. Though if I was you, I'd hold off a little while longer and add a few extra $$ down the road to your purchase. What other speakers are you using as center and rears?

Kevin

 

[stephanX]

Sorry guys! back from holiday

Anyway, my dad has some PSB aplha book shelves that i REALLY like the sound of. Anyway ove narrowed down some of my options, im looking at the

Psb alpha b: $300 (id LOVE alpha Ts)
Jbl e20s: $270
Atena AS-B2$299
Energy c1 bookshelves: $275
Mission M30: $225
mission M31: $300
and i cant seem to find any retailers in toronto for paradigm speakers.

So now i need **gasp!** MORE guidance

 

[Andrew Pratt]

There has to be plenty of Paradigm dealers in TO. Use Link Removed to find a local Paradigm dealer. There's also a set of Alpha's on the Canuck Audio Mart site that might be of interest to you.

 

[John S]

Hmm, I like all the speakers on your last products of interest post. Hard call. I think out of all those, I'd narrow it down to the two most efficient. The JBL's still seem in favor for the mostly rock crowd. So if your a rocker and a fair amount of music will be played, I'd consider them highly. If it really is an HT oriented setup, I'd have to opt for the most efficient on your list.

 

[stephanX]

I love the sound of my dads PSB bookshelves, a bit lacking on midrange but still graceful and open sounding. I'm not mostly rocker, i listen to alot of rock yes, but for reading i listen to jazz, and sometimes when (certain) friends are over i listen to rap (which i dont like bu they seem to love).

efficiency is almost a non issue, im in a 12x10 room( although its closer to 11x9, im just being generous) and dont listen to music higher than 80db, and thats when im in a bad mood. then again there are days when i will approach 90db(bad for my ears i know).

Im straying away from the PSBs as my dad has them, and id like something that strays from what my dad has please and thank you

I have heard good things about the energy speakers, and ive also read great things about the athena towers(havnt heard much about the bookshelvs), but when it comes down to it, i gotta go have a listen.

Also kromer in toronto deals paradigm products, so it looks like ill be taking a trip tobaybloor and kromer as soon as my dad gets back from holiday

a heartfelt thanks for everyone who made me realise that i dont need speakers with extension down to 40hz, when my sub can already go down to 15.

and please, keep the opinions coming!

 

[stephanX]

well ive narrowed it down to (although ill still lsiten to all of them, these seem to be the top pics)
Energy c-1
Mission m31
Athena AS-B2
Although on the energy and the mission they give no standard RMS and peak rating , on the mission it says 25-75watts, so can it take 75 watts constantly? and the energy says up to 100 watts, can it takke 100 watts RMS?

Although i need to listen to all of em, but i found that for somereason the jbls soundstage sounded a bit...flat, then again it was at bestbuy. for some reason theres is something aluring about the energy speakers and the mission speakers, but a lsitening test will reveal all.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Stephan the RMS rating is more or less useless in the real world...if you were sending a constant 75 watts to any speaker your hearing wouldn't last long enough to hear the speaker fry Remember that sensetivity rating of 90 dB/1watt...that means it will generate a 90 dB tone with only 1 (yes 1) watt of power at 1 meter...so for the most part you're hardly ever going to be using that much power. The peak's occur during heavy bass which if you're crossing over to a sub is even less of an issue and even if we ignor that most speakers are damaged by a weak amp clipping when pushed to hard vs to much clean power. Anyway whats important is how they sound to you...the rest of the specs really don't mean too much.

 

[EricCrane]

If JBLs are an option, sounds like they're not, check out bhphotovideo.com they have a killer sale on the jbls right now. I just bought the e90s for $470 w/free shipping.

I don't know if they fall in your price range (don't know the canadian to american exchange rate) you might even want to check out some axiom bookshelf speakers.

 

[stephanX]

almost all free shipping wont be free to canada.

and im really intrigued by the size and look of the energys and the missions, which apparantly both outrank the psbs. but i havnt ruled out the athenas, or the paradigms.

 

[matthewRaz]

when i was looking at floorstanding mains i listened to mission and energy at bay/bloor and paradigm at kromer. the wow factor of the soundstage and detail led to the energy c7 easily. i'd be interested to know how the comp. goes with the bookshelves.

 

[Kevin. W]

Take a look in the Hardware Forsale forum for some Paradigms for $400CDN.

Kevin

 

[stephanX]

Well looks like i am a proud owner of energy c-1s from baybloro radio, and i honestly couldnt be happyer! I liked the more foreward treble that the c-1s had as opposed ot the more laid back sound of the missions. and the saleman was very polite too, he let me lsiten when i needed to just listen, and let me do my own thing pretty much. I am very pleased with these speakers and would definately tell anyone whos considering to pull the trigger and get em, you wont regret it.

And this now makes me the owner of the best speakers in the house

Thanks all in your guidance!

 

[matthewRaz]

how much for a pair of c1s at bay-bloor? - im thinking of those for surrounds.