Quest QT66 vs. Polk R30 (impressions)... (Help/advice requested!) (1 Viewer)

[RolandM]

[I apoligise for the length of this thread but I would grateful to those who might read this through and offer me some advice. Also to anyone interested in buying Quest tower speakers this expereince of mine is worth a read!]

Well I was looking to buy some new front speakers (read: a very limited budget)and was in Futile Shop looking at two sets of speakers--the Polk R30 (discounted to just $200 CDN/pair from $400 CDN/pair) and the Quest QT66 (on sale at $150 CDN/pair). I also looked at the Quest QT88 which were $200/pair and were the same as the QT66 but with 8" drivers instead of 6"...

The Polk R30 can be seen at Polk's website:
http://www.polkaudio.com/home/produc...9560a0ff424207

The Quest QT66 at the Futile Shop website:
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...=&newdeptid=10

[Note: My front speakers prior to this were a pair of JBL MR26 Bookshelf speakers. The reason I wanted new tower speakers is becuase I am really sick of bookshelves. For one thing I have no stands so I use pretty ghetto cardboard boxes to elevate them :frowning: Stands cost almost as much as cheap tower speakers, so I thought what the heck...]

Anyhow since no one at Futile Shop would even utter a word to me despite me hanging around the speaker room for about 10-15 minutes (!) I finally went about demoing stuff myself--I even had to fix some of the speaker wire connections in the demo room MYSELF! LOL!

Anyhow I spent over a good 1.5hrs combined in two Futile Shops (yes in BOTH I was demoing away all kinds of speakers and in BOTH not even one salesperson would talk to me!).

Anyway after some time I decided that I actually liked the QT66s better than the R30s (!) and the QT88s. Well in the demo room at least The R30s seemed a little lacking in the low end (comparitively) and (in the demo room) they sounded more "muddy" (less bright?) than the QT66s... The QT88s were surprisingly worse sounding than the QT66s and had a boomy quality to them, IMO. (The speakers were demoed on both an HK525 and an HK630, by the way.) Switching to other speakers for fun showed, however, that both the R30 and the Quest towers were no match for a set of Athena towers or the JBL E60--but these were $500 to $700 per speaker, WELL beyond

 

[RolandM]

Hmm, well despite the very low price of $150 CDN for the pair I'm leaning towards returning these speakers now. Not because they are bad per se but just because I think I might better save/spend my money towards some better speakers.

I'm seeing JBL E60s on sale at Best Lie in the US for "just" $150 US per speaker with shipping! I say "just" and using a "!" because these things sell for $600 CDN; $690 after tax! (~$515 US) per speaker "ON SALE" ($200 off!) here in Canada at places like Futile Shop and Best Lie Canada. And they don't even have to ship them anywhere. What a joke! For the so-called "sale" price here for ONE pair ($1030 US!), you can buy THREE PAIRS (6 speakers) AND have money left over! That is an INSANE price difference!

Doesn't really matter that it is in the US either--I often buy stuff in the US and have it shipped within the US to save money. I can always bring em back for warranty if its ever necessary--pretty unlikely with speakers anyhow.

$300 US (~$400 CDN) is still about $225 CDN. more than the Quest QT66 ($180 CDN after tax) but I think that paying a little over double the price of the Quests for the JBLs is justified especially when comparing the QT66 against the E60 in the demo room--it was no comparison at all! Also considering a pair of E60s would cost $1400 CDN it would be like getting $1000 off the price!

Well, I guess I'm gonna pack up the QT66s now :frowning: --they are nice to have and all but I think I'd rather save a little and spend a bit more later on. I feel kinda bad returning them, but hey that is the beauty of buying at a place like Futile Shop I guess.

 

[Steve*W]

Just to let you know, the E60's are $799/pr. not a single speaker. And till Dec 31st there on for $599 CDN/"pr." at Futureshop.

BTW if you were in my store in the speaker room, I would've been in there first chance I had, that being said it is boxing week, and it is REALLY busy, at least in the store i'm in.

 

[Ian-Fl]

I've had more success listening to speakers on a Saturday morning or weekdays in those large discount stores. I imagine it turns out to be too time consuming for salespeople who work on commission and want to turn the quick sale. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[RolandM]

Hey what store are you at? (I'm assuming you work at Future Shop?).

Also are you sure it is for a pair? I mean, yes, that would make a lot more sense but everything I can see (from the price tags in the store to the website) seems to indicate $599 for a "single" speaker. Well at least $600 for the pair makes a lot more sense--does that mean the Athenas are also priced per pair? If I had known that I might never have bought these Quest in the first place!

Still even at $690 for the pair after tax that is nearly $300 CDN more than buying a pair of E60s from the US :frowning: What I think is really dumb though is how a lot of Harman stuff actually has higher COST for dealers in Canada than the US RETAIL price. It isn't just Harman Audio either--many other companies are like this :frowning: We Canadians almost always get the short end of the stick in terms of prices!

 

[Steve*W]

Well I've been at FS for over a year now and have NEVER seen speakers sold/priced as singles, so yeah, i'm sure.

I work at the Burlington store. I'd say come on by, but you wouldn't be impressed. It's one of the oldest FS stores in Ontario.

 

[RolandM]

LOL! Okay so I guess they are a pair. The Athena AS-F1s are tempting at $400 but weren't they on at $300 on Boxing Day? Or was it the AS-F2s that were less than the "normal" sale price?

If I knew they were in pairs I would have picked up the F1s for sure at that price! (And I would have known they were pairs if anyone bothered to tend to me in the store! ) Is there anyway to get them at the lower price still or was $399 the lowest price they've been?

Another nice thing is that that one Athena Centre is like $150 on sale.... Hmmm!