Which would you buy (1 Viewer)

[Rob Ritch]

I am getting ready to replace the weak spot in my system, the speakers. My listening habbits are about 85% movies/TV and about 15% music. I have been looking around and these are the systems that I am looking at and my impressions of each. I would be interested in what others think about these.
1. JBL SCS135 - This set includes the mains, surrounds, center channel and powered sub. They sound pretty good to me for movies, but maybe a little flat for music. One attractive feature is that they are very small, but I think they give up some in the mid-range as a result. Also a pretty reasonable price.
JBL SCS135I
2. JBL N24II and N-CenterI - I have not been able to find these as a set, so they would have to be bought as seperate pieces. These are bigger than the SCS135I, but They also also seem to sound fuller. one down side is that I can't afford the sub that goes with it, but that is not a huge problem since I have a Kenwood 100 watt powered sub that I can use for now.
JBL N24II
JBL N-CenterI
3. Mirage AVS500 - I was able to demo these at Tweeters where they have a true demo area. I demoed both music and a DTS movie (Behind enemy lines), and I was very impressed. I think to me these where the best sounding of all that I am looking at, but at $500.00 for the system it is at the high end of the budget. I understand that these are very similar to the Energy Take5 but with a slightly larger tweeter. Again there is not a sub included with this system.
Mirage AVS500
4.Boston Acoustics System 8000 - I demoed these at Tweeters as well, but I was not able to get a good feel for these. When the sales guy switched to this system someone had turned the amp all the way up, and it immediatly blew the center channel. He did switch in another center channel, but it was not a Boston so it is hard to say what affect that had. I would say that these are about the same as the SCS135I for sound quality.
Boston Acoustics System 8000
5. Tivoli TDHT1 - I was pretty impressed with this system as well, they are probably comparable to the N24/N-Center arrangement, but they include a sub and are about $70.00 less. I think these are the best sound for the buck, but I am a little concerned because I have never heard of Tivoli. I did a google search and I was able to find the Tivoli web site, but not a single review of these speakers.
Tivoli TDHT1
If you had a budget of about $500.00 which of thse systems would you go with. I am particualy interested in impressions/experiences with the Mirage and the Tivoli systems since these are at the top of my list. Thnaks in advance for the help

 

[Paul_Scott]

Rob,
i haven't heard those exact Miarages, but i did hear their floorstanders and they didn't really make much of an impression with me.
if you are interested in the JBLs, you can probably get them cheaper at JandR.com.
i know their 26s and s center were much cheaper than the showroom price at BB.
i liked the s center, but found out rather quickly it was just too bright for my tastes.

 

[Mark R. Ososkie]

I would take a look at the JBL NSP1II, It seems (imo) to be a decent setup all around. It looks like it includes the N-center and N24 Mains/surrounds, and JBL has a MSRP on their website of $549, so you could probably find it around $150 less than that if you really look around.

You could also take it a step up and purchase N26 mains, the n-center, and N24 surrounds. JBL makes great stuff, i own S38 mains, S36 surrounds, S-center, and imo its a great setup, JBL is really underrated and doesnt get the attention from lower end enthusiasts that it deserves.

 

[Albert M]

I would get the JBL NSP1 five speaker set at www.jandr.com for $250 shipped. The NSP1 set includes 4 N24's and 1 N-Center. If you can increase the budget to $550, you could get the JBL PB-12 sub at jandr for $300 shipped.