Very good small speakers?? (1 Viewer)

[dakine]

I am in the market for a surround sound system. I have been looking at the Bose Lifestyle 38 system, but people keep telling me NO! I love the size of the speakers and the 2 times I heard the system it sounded very good. Are there better speakers for the same/less money?

 

[JimMIT]

Maybe they did sound good to you but exactly how did you audition them? Was it in an average size room or was it in one of those displays at the end of an aisle in a "big box" store? In an average size room, those little cubes just can't move enough air to sound good, IMO. You need speakers with at least 6" woofers.

If I'm not mistaken, the Bose Lifestyle 38 system retails for $2,999. For that amount of money you can get any number of much better surround sound systems, IMO.

I don't know the size of your room, but if I had $3000 to spend on a system and I wanted smallish speakers I'd look at:

receiver - Denon AVR-2105 $649
DVD player - Denon DVD 2910 $269
front mains - Paradigm MiniMonitors $399/pr
center channel - Paradigm CC-370 $379
rear surrounds - Paradigm MiniMonitors $399/pr
subwoofer - Rocket ULW-10 $499

The other $400 or so I'd spend on cables, interconnects and speaker stands.

It doesn't have to be Denon + Paradigm; there are many other brands of speakers and electronics that you could get for $3,000 and end up with much better sound than those little cubes.

 

[dakine]

Wow Jim, thanks a ton. Great info. I appreciate it greatly.

 

[Dave Miller]

I beg you, please don't buy a Bose system. Get a Denon receiver like Jim said and consider the Mirage Omniset or Nanoset line of speakers. Then buy a Velodyne sub and you would have a system far superior to any Bose system for the same or less money.

Peace,

DM

 

[ShaunLB]

Just another suggestion, if you like the whole "all in one package" deal. There are other options (much better sound and value) than bose. Polk Audio makes several nice semi-component systems, Yamaha has an excellent HTIB or two as well. I generally try to recommend building your own system piece by piece, but I'm just saying that there are many good, small form factor systems out there.

 

[dakine]

Dont worry, I will not be purchasing a Bose system. You can take that to the bank. Are any of these speakers that have been recommended able to be mounted from the ceiling? Thanks again for you info.

 

[ShaunLB]

From the ceiling? Certinally. Many smaller satellite speakers are easily mounted near or on the ceiling. Just look for appropriate brackets (preferably with a good amount of aiming potential) and then try to make sure the speakers you choose have appropriate surfaces to attach to the brackets and that they are not too heavy.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Dakine, you'll find that the general HTF suggestion here is, if you can, ... audition the speakers that might fit your budget, room and sonic tastes.


If you have a Best Buy near by, audition the JBL SCS Series 7.1 HT System Model: SCS200.7, presently on sale for $539.99 (normally $599.99) They're small, wall (ceiling?? probably w/brackets like ShaunLB wrote) mountable and will exhibit wider frequency sound w/smoother and audible mid's/high's vs. Bose!

Sound and Vision magazine subjectively & objectively reviewed the next JBL Model up, SCS300.7, along with two other small HT systems w/sub by Energy and HSU Research respectively!

Take some time and read over the October 2004 Sound and Vision Magazine on-line article ... Home Theater on a Budget - Speaker systems from Energy, Hsu Research, and JBL - by Daniel Kumin, Tony Cordoza.

HT Systems details
Tom Nousaine's OBJ Benchmarks

... to get an idea what qualities to listen for during your auditioning process using your personal CD's and DVD's.

Phil

 

[Rich Malloy]

The little Epos ELS-3 speakers have gotten rave reviews from The Absolute Sound and Stereophile. $300/pair. http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...sp?sku=EPOELS3; http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...nnel%20Speaker

And here's the in-depth Stereophile review: http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/104epos/

 

[John Garcia]

Small:

www.roundsound.com

http://www.mordaunt-short.co.uk/genie/home.html


The ELS-3 can be had here for $296 including ground shipping to the 48 states: http://hcmaudio.com/comp.asp?compID=522

 

[Rich Malloy]

I've been considering the Epos ELS-3s for my bedroom system, and would rather use one of the bookshelves rather than the "matching" center for the center channel... does anyone know if any of the Epos retailers will sell a single one of the bookshelf speakers?

I haven't inquired, but audioadvisor doesn't have that option, at least not listed (and it seems they often do... though perhaps I'm thinking of speaker cables, not speakers).

 

[SummyD]

I loved the Energy Take 5.2 series when I was in the market for something similar. I think it has now been replaced by the Act series. It should not cost you more than $800. Paradigm has a couple of nice small-speaker sets as well.
If you don't mind slightly bigger bookshelves, I recommend the B&W 600 series.

 

[MikeLi]

Go over to av123.com and look at their elt's or Tykes.. both with great super pricing (I can't believe how inexpensive they are for what you get)... I just bought the tyke set up for both kids bedrooms with the included Kenwood receiver that retails for like $400 and they sell it for $100 with the speakers. Wonderful for a small set. Will blow anything in the water for the price...