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Best bookshelves <$500 for classical & jazz

post #1 of 18
11/15/11 at 12:20pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone have a recommendation on the best bookshelf speakers for stereo music, available for under $500 a pair? Some specifics on my setup:

- Will be used exclusively for stereo music, not home theater. Mostly classical and jazz.

- In a medium-sized living room of an apartment. I don't really have space for a sub and would rather not annoy my neighbors with one anyway. So I'm looking for decent-but-not-soul-shaking bass response from the bookshelves themselves at moderate volumes.

- Placement will be on top of a tall, wide set of bookshelves

- Connected to a Denon 1909 AVR as zone-2 speakers (90 watts/channel)

Right now the Polk RTI-A3 is at the top of my list. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks.
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post #2 of 18
11/15/11 at 12:29pm
Kloss Model Six bookshelves do pretty well - I'm not sure if the ones currently made by CSW are true to the original design, and the are definitely not sexy - but for $200 a pair, how do you go wrong?
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post #3 of 18
11/15/11 at 12:36pm
The HSU HB-1MKII seems to be well regarded. $129 each plus shipping.
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post #4 of 18
11/15/11 at 3:23pm
Just a tige over your budget but, Focal 706v. They are about $600 but it would be worth it! However, they are slightly bass shy. Bottoming out in the 55-60 Hz range. For cheap, polk Monitor 40s would be OK. Like $120 or so for the pair at Newegg.
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post #5 of 18
11/15/11 at 3:34pm
Emotiva XRM 6.1 look interesting at $399.
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post #6 of 18
11/15/11 at 4:42pm
There is a great sale on the Veritas V5.1 right now:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...y-v5-1-monitor

These are also good speakers and a lot of people like them:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...05/energy-rc10

Both should put out some pretty good bass for their size.
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post #7 of 18
11/15/11 at 8:31pm
Id suggest that you look at the Dali Lektor 2s or Wharfedale Diamond 10.2

My first suggestion would be the Dali's. Pretty neutral speakers, but very good detail and nice and warm. They be perfect with a nice Integrated Amp like the NAD C-326BEE or 316BEE. The Focals mentioned above are nice speakers too.
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post #8 of 18
11/15/11 at 8:37pm
Also consider Wharfedale Evo2-8 for $400...
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post #9 of 18
11/15/11 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by callas01 View Post

Id suggest that you look at the Dali Lektor 2s or Wharfedale Diamond 10.2

My first suggestion would be the Dali's. Pretty neutral speakers, but very good detail and nice and warm. They be perfect with a nice Integrated Amp like the NAD C-326BEE or 316BEE. The Focals mentioned above are nice speakers too.

callas01, you used to own the Energy RC-10's, right?

So you prefer the Lektor 2 Diamond 10.2 over the RC-10? I'm interested in your thoughts...
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post #10 of 18
11/15/11 at 10:08pm
You're going to need a small sub to go with most $500 bookshelves. My suggestion is to reevaluate and wait for a sale on Infinity P363 towers. They've been on sale a few times lately at prices low enough to leave you plenty of change in your wallet. Don't let that price fool you they are really good speakers and will hold their own down to 40hz. Just keep watching for sales.
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post #11 of 18
11/16/11 at 6:45am
Thread Starter 
Lots of good suggestions here, thanks everybody! jjl4004, your Energy RC-10s won the day. The price seemed fair given all the glowing reviews around the web. Can't wait to try them out.
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post #12 of 18
11/16/11 at 7:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaiii View Post

callas01, you used to own the Energy RC-10's, right?

So you prefer the Lektor 2 Diamond 10.2 over the RC-10? I'm interested in your thoughts...

Hey alphaiii,

I never owned the RC10s, I had C300s, but the RC10s are very good speakers. I'd take them over the Wharfedale diamonds, but they do perform very good for speakers that are $450. However, I would take the Dali Lektors over the RC10s for music. Especially for classical, which I'm listening to more lately on my dynaudios.

I have to say the monitor audio rs6 and energy RC50 pretty similar in the mids, however the monitors sound more forward in the highs and the energys more laidback, and bass is similar. The older C7s play close to the RC line. So one day I got to hear the Dali Concept 8s (which are a lower line to the lektors), the RS6, and the C7s. All powered by parasound preamp and A21 amp. For most rock music they all played very close. For jazz and classical the Concepts really out classed the other by a decent margin. The resolution of the classical piano was much more transparent with each keystroke being individually present, where with the others it was more congested. Strings were better thru the Dalis, horns were again close. Overall of all the speakers in that $800-1200 price range of towers that I heard that day, the Dali's won the the day.
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post #13 of 18
11/16/11 at 8:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by reedace View Post

Lots of good suggestions here, thanks everybody! jjl4004, your Energy RC-10s won the day. The price seemed fair given all the glowing reviews around the web. Can't wait to try them out.

Congrats! I hope that you like those speakersa lot of people do. Before you come to any conclusions about them, give them a little while to break in. Energy recommends 100 hours. I was impressed with them out of the box, but they seemed to have opened up more (for the better) now that I've had them for a while.
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post #14 of 18
11/16/11 at 11:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by callas01 View Post

Hey alphaiii,

I never owned the RC10s, I had C300s, but the RC10s are very good speakers. I'd take them over the Wharfedale diamonds, but they do perform very good for speakers that are $450. However, I would take the Dali Lektors over the RC10s for music. Especially for classical, which I'm listening to more lately on my dynaudios.

I have to say the monitor audio rs6 and energy RC50 pretty similar in the mids, however the monitors sound more forward in the highs and the energys more laidback, and bass is similar. The older C7s play close to the RC line. So one day I got to hear the Dali Concept 8s (which are a lower line to the lektors), the RS6, and the C7s. All powered by parasound preamp and A21 amp. For most rock music they all played very close. For jazz and classical the Concepts really out classed the other by a decent margin. The resolution of the classical piano was much more transparent with each keystroke being individually present, where with the others it was more congested. Strings were better thru the Dalis, horns were again close. Overall of all the speakers in that $800-1200 price range of towers that I heard that day, the Dali's won the the day.

Thanks for the info.

Looks like, at some point, I might have to try to give the Dali Lektor's a listen...
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post #15 of 18
11/16/11 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjl4004 View Post

There is a great sale on the Veritas V5.1 right now:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...y-v5-1-monitor

These are also good speakers and a lot of people like them:

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/it...05/energy-rc10

Both should put out some pretty good bass for their size.

HiDefLifestyle is selling the gloss black V-5.1 for $30 less than Vann's... although Vann's will price match (only gloss black, not rosenut).
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post #16 of 18
11/16/11 at 3:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by callas01 View Post

Id suggest that you look at the Dali Lektor 2s or Wharfedale Diamond 10.2

My first suggestion would be the Dali's. Pretty neutral speakers, but very good detail and nice and warm. They be perfect with a nice Integrated Amp like the NAD C-326BEE or 316BEE. The Focals mentioned above are nice speakers too.

HiDefLifestyle has good deals on the Dali's right now...

The Lektor 3 actually comes in under $300 per pair, with the Lektor 2 being about $50 cheaper...


Just wondering, is the new Zensor line a replacement for the Lektor, or is it slotted lower in the product lineup? Just wondering, since the Lektor is available for a a good bit cheaper right now.
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post #17 of 18
11/16/11 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaiii View Post

HiDefLifestyle has good deals on the Dali's right now...

The Lektor 3 actually comes in under $300 per pair, with the Lektor 2 being about $50 cheaper...


Just wondering, is the new Zensor line a replacement for the Lektor, or is it slotted lower in the product lineup? Just wondering, since the Lektor is available for a a good bit cheaper right now.

From my understanding, the Zensor is replacing the Concept line.
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post #18 of 18
11/25/11 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by reedace View Post

Lots of good suggestions here, thanks everybody! jjl4004, your Energy RC-10s won the day. The price seemed fair given all the glowing reviews around the web. Can't wait to try them out.

Did you receive your RC's? If so, your impressions?
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