I have gotten some great info on here in the past for picking out a subwoofer, and I am hoping that y’all can shed some light on my newest question. My wife finally approved buying some new speakers! That being said; there are some restrictions:
Budget: $1400-1500 MAX for the R and L speakers (I intend to piece this system together to end up with a 5.1 or 5.2.
Room Size: Here is the tough part, I am Active Duty Military and do not know what size room I will have in a year and a half or any real way to know future room size. So not sure how to plan for that.
Existing Equipment: 50” LG Plasma, PS3, Pioneer Receiver, SVS PB1000.
Use: Movies/Sports>Video games> music (I really do like listening to music and I think if I had the room set up I would do more real music listing than I do now).
Speaker size: My wife would prefer bookshelf speakers but small and/or nicely finished floor standers would work. I could care less, as long as it sounds good.
My wife is not wild about the idea of Internet Direct companies and having to buy speakers, hope they work, and if not send them back and try again. I think we would both prefer to hear them in a store; I live near Seattle and know there are a few good stores to choose from. Finally, I have heard the DefTech 8020’s, the B&W's, Energy bookshelf speakers and Focal 906’s my top two were the Def.techs and Focal 906 if that helps out. We plan on purchasing around or after Christmas time. I look forward to some suggestions.
If you have to listen before buying you might try Hawthorne Stereo in Seattle. They have both new and used speakers. You can negotiate with them on their prices. http://www.hawthornestereo.com/used/
Don't be afraid of buying used. Most speakers will last 30+ years. There's also SpeakerLab in Seattle http://www.speakerlab.com/ and Definitive in Seattle and Bellevue. http://www.definitive.com/ .
I will have to check out Hawthorne Stereo, I have been to the Definitive store and the small store that was right up the street, the name I cant remember, it where I heard the Focal speakers. When I say close to Seattle I mean 2 hours (Whidby island if your are familiar with the area) so I would probably drive up, hit up all the stores in one day.
I know you are weary about ID brands, but many of them have outstanding reputations, and you can confidently buy a product from them.
For this budget, I am not sure you can do better than the Ascend Sierra-2 bookshelves. High quality drivers, beautiful finish, and superb sound quality. Their customer service is on par with SVS and you get a 30 day trial to make sure you like them.
I'd like to second the Sierra 2. I haven't heard it but I do own the 170 bookshelves and 340 mini towers from ascend. I paid for 500 for my 340s and to this day I consider them the best value per dollar item I have in my theater. If ascend can make a product that good for 500 bucks I'd love to hear what 1300 would sound like.
I recently bought new jtr noesis 228s for mains, it was between those And the sierra towers. I decided to go with the 228 because they are more powerful for movies and still sound great for music, I was also interested in just trying a new brand of audio. If I were buying speakers with music more in mind I would have went with the sierra towers. Who knows maybe one day I'll big a pair
Looks like Hawthorne Stereo carries Monitor Audio. Listen to the Silver6 or 8. Highly regarded manufacturer, glowing reviews, etc...
Very nice finish and a relatively small footprint for a floorstander. Also, they will be around in the future for you to fill out your system.
I too agree that the Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2's would be an excellent choice from everything I've heard about them. They come with a ribbon tweeter and are highly thought of. Still, just because you have $1,400 to spend doesn't mean you have to spend it. I'd also look at the Sierra 2's twin from Philharmonic Audio, the Philharmonitors @ $850 / pair shipped: http://philharmonicaudio.com/
Thank you all for the feedback! It sounds like the Ascend Sierra 2 are a top choice. Would a 5 channel AVR be enough to power them? A question about the Philharmonic Audio speakers, are they the same internally? If so, why do people not buy them instead? I have heard good things about KEF as well as Warfedale would these be better suited to music or HT?
No, they are different, but both have ribbon tweeters, and they have slightly different specs. Ascend is more well known than Philharmonic Audio, but you're not going to go wrong with either choice (and both are highly regarded). If curious, talk to Dennis Murphy at Philharmonic Audio.
I too have heard great things about KEF and Warfedale, but haven't auditioned their speakers. Let's face it, there are a lot of really nice speakers out in the wild, and probably many of us would be very happy with dozens of them.
So, the Ascend Sierra 2's have my eye, and the 7 year warrantee doesn't hurt. If I was to go with these and eventually get the matching center, would I be able to maybe use the CMB 170's for surrounds? Also if anybody has heard these will they pair ok with my SVS Subwoofer or should I try and get floor-standing speakers for better mid-bass? I still have a few weeks before I buy but I like to do my homework and have all my options laid out on the table. One other option If I am going ID, has anybody heard the SVS line I think the SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers are in my price range, how would these two compare?
The CMB 170 surrounds would be great. But you can really use any surround you want. Unlike the front stage, they don't have to be timbre-matched (but should be at least in the ballpark). A subwoofer is a subwoofer. Works for any speaker.
I've read a couple of reviews on the Ultra bookshelf speakers: 4-1/2 star performance and 4 stars overall and a 5-star performance and 4-1/2 stars overall, so they should be pretty darn good. Whether they are better than the Sierra 2s or the Philharmonitor is probably up for debate.
I think that you will be happy with the ascend, this speaker use an special designed RAAl Ribbon tweeter vs the Philharmonitor that use the Fountek Ribbon and it looks like the XTZ 99.25 MK II also use a Fountek Ribbon.
Since you already have a capable sub, and the wife wants bookshelves, I would definitely get bookshelves. Your money goes a lot further this way, especially since finish is important.
Your AVR will power them fine, just look to invest in a nice pair of stands for them (I'm not sure if the Ascend pedestal stands fit the new Sierra-2).
Honestly, with the RBH, Ascend or Phil...you're likely going to love any of them. For the money, those would be my top 3 go to bookshelves in this price range. That's just me though. There are a few more that I'd like to hear, but these 3 have me intrigued. The Phil's are quite a bit cheaper than the rest though. Seems like they would sound fairly similar too from what I've seen
So in talkng with the wife, she mentioned wanting these speakers to last. We plan on building a home in 3 years or so. Obviously we don't have a floor plan, but for the sake of future proofing and the possibility of a large family room or open floor plan, would I be better off with floorstanding vs bookshelf? If this is the case anything else I should look into?
I think bookshelves are more versatile, and with a sub there's not much to be gained from a tower anyways (although with bookshelves you might need stands). I'd also recommend Ascend as a happy owner of Sierra-1s, 170SEs & 200SEs. If I were to spend $1400 now the Sierra-2 would be my choice.
If you are planning to have kids or have kids get a wider tv stand and place the speakers there instead on a stand.I have kids and I prefer to use towers.
Well, I guess we would probably wall mount the TV, but with 2 dogs (50lbs. And 80lbs and steadily growing ) and hopefully kids at some point I could see why floor standing might be more sturdy.
There are stands that have hollow spaces you can fill with sand, and with some blu-tac holding the speaker to the stand, I would think would be as steady as a tower of similar dimensions. I don't have kids or dogs so not a worry for me....
I have seen these stand honestly unless it is made of brick and bolted to the floor if my puppy runs into it, it's going over... that would probably be the case with floor standing speakers also. I am really leaning towards the Sierra 2, I just wanted to look at all my options.
The only dimension you need to worry about with speakers is listening distance. Typically people are 10-15 feet from their TV, and for most speakers this is appropriate. Bookshelves shouldn't have much problem filling a room with sound, you aren't going to be hitting reference at 25 feet away, but it should work fine for background music.
Subwoofers however require a room volume, just to clarify.
No matter what you need to addition speakers for yourself. I myself hate the horn loaded Klipsch tweeter; however, tons of people really like it. I find it very hot, crackly and un-natural creating a narrow soundstage.
Floorstanders are king IMO, but are large and difficult to get the wife's approval. Better to have a lower crossover point on the subs. Listen to some stuff and make a decision. The toughest part is determining your budget.
Good luck.
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