Insignia 6.5" *coaxial* bookshelf.......50 bucks a pair (1 Viewer)

[LanceJ]

Was reading AudioAsylum's speaker forum and saw these being discussed:

Insignia NS-B2111

There are at least four separate threads about this speaker over there, many of them discussing custom mods to them. Here's the latest one.

Other companies that use such a driver design are KEF, Tannoy*, Pioneer and Thiel. This configuration goes way back to the 30s, when many designs used large 12" or 15" woofers with a horn tweeter set in the center. Here's some back story on that.

* here's a direct link to their Dimension series, because they look so kewl!

 

[JeremyErwin]

From the Tannoy website


Oh joy, a subwoofer with a supertweeter.

 

[AndrewLevine]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I'd not put more than a few dollars into Best Buy's house brand.

 

[gene c]

These were on sale @ BB.com for $34 a pair. For that price they are worth a look, if you need something in that price range. I believe these are a cheaper version of a bookshelf speaker made by Radiiant that goes for $199 a pair. Read that on that "other" forum. The Radiiant also has a separate tweeter mounted on top of the speaker that the Insignia doesn't include. I've always been intrigued by this type of design. Advent marketed a line of car speakers a few years back with a tweeter mounted in the middle of the woofer. I meant to look closer at those but never did.

 

[Chu Gai]

One can only mod a Yugo so much.

 

[EvanW]

For 35$ id give them a try, but, i dont expect much from those, as far as car audio has been concerned those were the worst build quality drivers i ever put in anyones car, they also were never very sensative, and thats not a good thing because the coil on the midbass driver cant take much heat and after a few months they would normally come unwound and make a really scratchy sound, i wouldnt compare those to a tannoy driver, the midbass cone isnt kelvar or carbon fiber as it appears, its just paper or poly cone with a course low fiber count piece of material thats has a thin laquered coat to make it look nice, and the tweeter, i doubt its actually silk dome, most likely a microfiber or paper diaphram maybe with a cover, but i bet its harsh, theres no real way to tell but to listen and inspect them closely, and hey if the binding posts and cabinets are worth anything, drop the drivers out and replace them, play around with them, for 35$ they could be something fun to play with, i may go try a pair myself.

 

[EvanW]

Also if coax drivers really intreage you, try something like this.

 

[Alan M]

"One can only mod a Yugo so much."

Actually,these not only mod better ,but look better then a Yugo

For a smaller room setup(bedroom,office),these speakers are very impressive.Imagining,for a speaker this small and this inexpensive is surprising.The speaker itself ,looks like a copy of the Kef "Q" speaker design.

I've had my pair for 1 week in my bedroom HT,and will be buying 2 more pair for 5.1 setup.

At higher volume,you will hear box response,but as I said ,in smaller rooms,these work very well ,with terrific imagining,clear highs,and reasonable mid and bass for sat speaker. They will never match my Maggies but then 5 maggies in my bedroom would put the wife on war alert

 

[Kenneth Harden]

They actually sound very, very good. I was shocked.

Also, the build quality is very nice.

One warning - they are BIG speakers.

 

[Mark Seaton]

Note that all coaxial drivers do not function or operate the same. KEF, Tannoy and Thiel are all examples that are much different than the popular suspended or post mounted tweeter in the car and in-ceiling market. The Thiel examples are probably some of the best sounding examples. Yeah, they sound a little better than the coax's found at your local Best Buy. :rolleyes

 

[LanceJ]

Austrian accent: yes, BEEG is good!! All dese girly-man speakuhs with dere tiny squeevking four eench meedvoofers make da movies und da moosik sound VEEK! Dat coompany in Mazzachuzzets vith dere tiny cheep plastic coobs has poizned duh minds of duh pooblic into dinking oothervise but I dink eets all boolsheet!

Da lawz of pheeziks says to a zertain point, beeger IS bettuh - who ya goin ta beleeve, zome sissy boy vith pritty clothez in fancy schmancy commershal or da man in da vite lob coat?

 

[Seth=L]

I went to best buy about two weeks ago and saw these speakers that look impressive under the in house brand name insignia. I thought $45 plus tax was reasonable so i bought them. I got them home and the first thing i did was take them apart. the front glossy plate comes off to reveal the drivers mounting screws. i thought as inexpensive as these were they would only have 4 screws holding it in place, but they surprise me with 6. Inside is a small crossover (low-order i believe) pyramid acoustic lines the inside of the cabinet. At this price the construction surprises me. the binding post terminals are descent and the tapered design is supposed to help reduced cabinet resonance. Now to the sound. First the speaker is not a very flat sounding speaker (at 45 bucks what speaker is?). I don't have any testing equipment i am basing this on what i hear. my ears could be screwed up but i hope not. The most obvious of all the unevenness in the wave form is a steep roll-off at around 70 hertz. This is however a problem wiht a remedy just adjust the crossover on your subwoofer if you have one. The tweeter was surprisingly nice. it is a soft dome, and many soft domes are softer sounding. I may be biased on my opinion on the tweeter because my reference speaker is an Infinity IL 10 wich sports a ceramic tweeter many view as a harsh tweeter. If you have small satellite speakers currently and wish to upgrade go to best buy and get these (they are not magnetically shielded). at 45 dollars a pair you can have a pair of elegant speakers that your wife won't kill you for buying based on price or looks. If you don't like them take them back in 30 day for money back and no restocking fee.

Reference System
Onkyo tx-ds787
Toshiba sd-9000 (old school dvd player)
DCM center
Infinity Interlude 10 front
Boston hd5 surrounds and surround back
Sunfire Mk1 true subwoofer

Lance what ever it is that your on, geev mee suumm!

 

[Bob Cal]

I picked up a pair when I was down in the US of A. Must say for $45 tax included, they are a great speaker. Worth the effort of lugging them back to Canada.

I had read the reviews over at AA and the racket about them.

Must say the build quality is much better than anything I have seen for that price range.

I have been using them for about a week and they are a great speaker.

If I was near a Best Buy, I would definitely have picked up another pair or two.

But that is problem with being remotely located.

Bob

 

[Hiral]

Anyone compare the Insignia's to the Polk R15's ? Are they on par or better then the Polk's?

Thanks

 

[scott>c]

I don`t know whats going on but these speakers do sound really good. It`s like I feel dirty for saying it but these things r great. Great looks and I`m floored that they sound this good. I bought a pair and just purchased another and laid one on its side for a center. So far I like it, a center that goes down to 50 is impressive. I tried them with my monster amp and they performed extremely well with the power. I now have them hooked into my 2nd system with a Panny sa-xr55. I`ve been doing some a/b comparisons vs some other speakers and their holding there own. I`ll give some conclussions later when I have more time for critical listening. So far a definate champ in the super cheap division $ wise!!!

 

[Kean-Hock Yeap]

They have better imaging and bass extension than R15s.

 

[LanceJ]

This is a major thread crap, but it's my thread so here's the crap :

I've mentioned these ultra-groovy speakers from Denmark but due to them changing distributors(?), the original distributor has some open-box left overs going for really cheap, from $800 per 5.1 package to just $350:

Podspeaker "Micro-Pods"

fyi: the original site was a very cool Flash site with all kinds of neat effects

These things are right out of a 50s sci-fi movie, but since the engineers who designed them used to work for B&W, they aren't toys (read the "About Us" page for more). Too bad the other speakers are already sold out, which included the 10" bass add-on unit for the larger 'Pods that converted them into full-range floorstanders. Maybe the new distributor will sell them.

 

[scott>c]

Those r definately nice looking speakers and a good price. The others are definately nicer but sold out. As for performance I dont know how they`ll hold up. Let us know if u get a pair and maybe u could test them vs. the Insignias.

 

[Arthur S]

The only thing about these that concerns me is the spurious noise created by the box resonance, due to the flexing of the enclosure at higher volumes. This was mentioned by Alan M, and others in other forums/posts.

None the less, had I known about them when they were on sale for $35, I might have pulled the trigger.

 

[Chu Gai]

This must be what happens when Bose designers sleep with Danish ones.