Good gravy. I've literally spent tens of hours just in the last week reading here at AVS, online reviews, and watching Youtube reviews, searching for the best of the current crop of bookshelf speakers in my price range, and... consensus doth not exist.
The difficulty of the Interwebz is trying to differentiate hype and fanboyism from real data and reviews. It seems like the newest speaker is always the best...
I read all the rave reviews about Elacs and thought I would go that route... until I saw the bookshelf shootout thread where Elacs came off as "meh" compared to the field. Every brand has its fans... of course that review seemed to have been done focusing on a 2.0 setup for music, not necessarily integration with an HT environment.
Unless I'm willing to spend a bunch of money on shipping units back after auditions, there's no seemingly good way to go about this other than gritting my teeth and picking a set.
In the (vain? futile?) hopes of getting more data points, here's my situation:
I'm redoing my HT setup. Already have a Denon x4200W en route to replace an aging Denon 2807. I plan to set up a 5.2.4 configuration. I already have a pair of matched subwoofers for the .2 and plan to use upward firing Elac A4 for the .4 component (seem to be the most cost-effective option out there; in-ceiling not an option).
The issue is the 5. I want to go small, so no towers. I have enough room that the bookshelves do not have to be close to the wall. I would like to use the same speakers for rear surrounds as fronts.
The front speakers will be driven by a Carver M-1.0t amp (200wpc) via pre outs.
Listening will be 90% movies (4k Ultra Blu-Ray for the majority) and 10% music. This is definitely an HT setup as opposed to a music rig. As far as the types of movies, I'm all about special effect spectacles (sci-fi, disaster flicks, action). I usually get movies that are going to have the biggest visual impact.
Budget: Up to $350 per pair.
Short list in no particular order:
1. Elac B6 (although reports of subdued/rolled off treble make me question their being the best HT option in this price range)
2. Philharmonic AA (Meh in the looks department, but supposedly the most accurate of the bunch, cheapest of the three)
3. HTD Level 3 (Supposedly great treble and bass response, best lookers, most expensive of the three)
What say ye for HT use?
The difficulty of the Interwebz is trying to differentiate hype and fanboyism from real data and reviews. It seems like the newest speaker is always the best...
I read all the rave reviews about Elacs and thought I would go that route... until I saw the bookshelf shootout thread where Elacs came off as "meh" compared to the field. Every brand has its fans... of course that review seemed to have been done focusing on a 2.0 setup for music, not necessarily integration with an HT environment.
Unless I'm willing to spend a bunch of money on shipping units back after auditions, there's no seemingly good way to go about this other than gritting my teeth and picking a set.
In the (vain? futile?) hopes of getting more data points, here's my situation:
I'm redoing my HT setup. Already have a Denon x4200W en route to replace an aging Denon 2807. I plan to set up a 5.2.4 configuration. I already have a pair of matched subwoofers for the .2 and plan to use upward firing Elac A4 for the .4 component (seem to be the most cost-effective option out there; in-ceiling not an option).
The issue is the 5. I want to go small, so no towers. I have enough room that the bookshelves do not have to be close to the wall. I would like to use the same speakers for rear surrounds as fronts.
The front speakers will be driven by a Carver M-1.0t amp (200wpc) via pre outs.
Listening will be 90% movies (4k Ultra Blu-Ray for the majority) and 10% music. This is definitely an HT setup as opposed to a music rig. As far as the types of movies, I'm all about special effect spectacles (sci-fi, disaster flicks, action). I usually get movies that are going to have the biggest visual impact.
Budget: Up to $350 per pair.
Short list in no particular order:
1. Elac B6 (although reports of subdued/rolled off treble make me question their being the best HT option in this price range)
2. Philharmonic AA (Meh in the looks department, but supposedly the most accurate of the bunch, cheapest of the three)
3. HTD Level 3 (Supposedly great treble and bass response, best lookers, most expensive of the three)
What say ye for HT use?