Help - LX550, Fluance, or save up for Paradigm? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon A]

Alright, I could use some feedback.

I picked up a pair of the Optimus Pro LX550 that went on clearance at Radio Shack recently (I recently found out about them from a post, despite the RCA label they are good speakers with an amazing ribbon tweeter). I paid $80 for the pair.

I got them back and have been comparing them with just some Aiwas that I have right now. For anything other than female vocals or other similar music with great highs, these speakers really don't sound good. There are many popular modifications that can be made, and with a sub, they might be ok for music, but I'm guessing not a whole lot better.

For movies however, I love them. Much more transparent than what I am currently using, and much more detailed. The price is really great and I can pick up another pair for $80, plus about $50 for a matching center. So I can have a 5.0 setup for about $210.

Looking at that however, I think of the fluance, which are $299 I believe, and I'm assuming those would work better for both music and ht, though i really like the detail and everything in these. I would add a Dayton 10" sub to either of these.

I read a little while ago that there was hopefully going to be a review of all of the major internet company speakers (ie Fluance). Is there any update on this?

Finally, I think I'd really like to get some Paradigms eventually. The recommneded ht setup with the monitor 7s or 9s, if I can possibly save up enough to afford them.

I guess I know I'll eventually want a setup similar to the Paradigms, and will end up spending $2500 or so somewhere down the road, realistically probably a couple years. I am a college student right now, so that adds some complexity to it, as far as transporting everything, not having a permanent residence yet, $$, etc.


So I guess what I am asking is, should I spend $400-500 now on the lx550s or the fluance or similar and wait even longer before I could get the paradigms. Or should I just save it all until I can get what I want?

I'm just looking for some opinions, and I guess hoping for a full review of the fluance and similar speakers as well. Thanks for any input.

-Brandon

 

[Jimi C]

I believe the last update on the "online speaker company face off" post (which i beleive is what you are refering to when you talk about a Fluance review) was that it had been called off due to lack of interest from the speaker companies themselves. ie. They didnt want to provide speakers for the review and the reviewers didnt have the funds to get there hands on the speakers otherwise. However, there are lots of reviews to be found on the net and not one of them has had a bad thing to say about Fluance, other than mentioning the lack of a subwoofer. Personally i own the SV10's and i am quite content and currently have no plans for future upgrades in that area.

 

[marc_manny]

Fluance now offers 2 subwoofers. a 10" and 12".

Marc

 

[Jimi C]

Sorry, should have been more specific, the sxhtb and the avhtb? (i think) dont include subwoofers. That was the only downfall that was mentioned in the reviews of those specific speaker packages.

 

[David Willow]

I bought the Fluance package with the same goal to upgrade later. I bought cheaper package since I had to purchase everything at once (TV, receiver, speakers, dvd, and furniture). Now that I got everything working, I am saving for the new speakers.

I will say this about the Fluance package. It rocks!!! For the price, it cannot be beat. I have no problem impressing folks that come over to watch movies with these speakers.

I'd say if saving for the new speakers is going to take more than a few months, get the Fluance. That's just MHO

 

[DaveGTP]

That's kind of where I stand. I work fulltime and go to school fulltime, I'm poor, but I wanted to have a decent HT setup.

I ended up buying an Onkyo TX-SR601 on 90-day-same as cash @ Crutchfield, forking out the $$ for the Fluance AV-HTB set. Paid off the Onkyo soon after. Bought an Infocus X1 at tax time. Sweet setup for the $$.

The Fluance speakers are very good for the dollars. Good enough that I notice how bad typical junky speakers sound now (like the Bose crap I'm basically stuck with in my Grand Prix until I have big $$ to rip it out). The towers are VERY good, the center & surrounds OK. I demo'd some Paradigm bookshelves at an A/V shop, damn they sounded good, much better than my Fluance. But one of the bookshelves cost as much as my entire setup! Worth it, but not now, I'm too poor! The Fluance is excellent to hold me by for a couple of years.


Your other hold-me-over option is the highly-recommended JBL NSP1 set - Bestbuy.com just marked them down to $150. They are always recommended - they consist of NII bookshelves. You can always hear the NIIs at Best Buy's JBL cubicle. The NSP1 set used to be like $300.


Just get a decent subwoofer. Spend at least a couple hundred $$ on a Velodyne, a cheap SVS, or something. You should hear my POS Sony WM20 subwoofer rattle in the Matrix Reloaded and LOTR:TTT. I stuffed it full of polyfill in attempt to get rid of the irritating sound of it bottoming out and rattling the enclosure, geeze. It was $50 scratch and dent. The Fluance do the job quite well for the money - but a cheap sub barely does the job. Weakest point in my system is the cheapass sub. Too broke to upgrade at this point.

 

[Tim Stumpf]

Don't make the mistake of putting the Dayton sub in the same category as the Sony. Different animal in my opinion. While obviously not of SVS quality, it won't rattle or bottom out when moderetly challanged.

 

[Anthony*B]

i have the Fluance SX-HTB's + the Dayton sub...well worth the $, but IMHO, the Fluances are not ideal for music....i dont even listen to much music at all, but what litttle I did didnt sound great w/ my setup (may not necessarily be the fault of the Fluance's though)...for a starter system I think Fluance + Dayton is unbeatable, though...

 

[Jeff-Watson]

I have found with my lx550's if you cork the ports and fill them with a little polyfill the sound rounds out nicely. I am constantly amazed at the ribbon tweeter. I can only describe it as sparkling. I am using a Sunfire super junior to round out the sound and it blends with the 550's well. But as stated the 550's without a sub are lacking.