Hello,
I am a new poster long time follower,.....I would like to preface this saying I am nothing of an audiophile so do not expect an accurate or "correct" review, this is just my thoughts on the speakers I recently listened to at 2 of our local stores. I am posting this hoping my thoughts on the speakers I heard will help the many experts we are blessed with on this forum nail down the best speaker for me.
I am looking to upgrade my TSC center and bookshelves,..if you have been around here long you may remember when this speakers where selling for next to nothing so I purchased 4 of the bookshelves and a center. I was upgrading from a Sony 5.1 micro system and the TSC was a huge improvement but the upgrade bug bit as soon as I heard about the new Pioneer line designed by someone important,...not really sure his name? So off I go today to hear and compare speakers, most importantly the new Pioneer 52 towers.
Here are the brands I heard;
Definitive Technologies
Polk
Martin Logan
Energy
Bowers and Wilkins
Klipsch
Pioneer
I will first say I was very unhappy with the Pioneers,..they would not be an upgrade over my 5.25 TSC bookshelves,....very thin muddy sounding. Reminded me of door speakers in a car???? This goes for the towers as well as the center so this was an easy no. So much for getting a deal!!
Next up where the Bowers and Wilkins,.. I listen to all the towers, centers, and bookshelves. Very pleasant sound, honest reproduction with no glaring faults. If my primary use was 2 channel music this would be much higher up my list but they just did not fill a room, nice sounding speaker though!
On to the most expensive of the group,..the Martin Logan ESL 8". My wife and I really liked these speakers, was the best at giving you the "band in the middle of your living room feeling" but at this price out of our range, and I am not sure about that weird looking grid mounted on it. (I warned you I am new at this LOL)
I am going to lump the Polk and the Klipsch together not that they sound the same but my opinion of them is. In there more expensive lines they are an exciting speaker to listen to, probably really good for movies only. There tone almost sounded fake or artificial to me, when listening to Miles Davis they almost added there own flair,.... not what I want in a speaker.
My two favorites,....Def Tech and Energy! Really liked the sound of these two. Nice rich sound that filled the room. It was really hard to fairly compare as Def tech likes to add subwoofers to there towers but adding a sub to the Energy makes it a really close race! I favored the Energy bookshelf speakers to the Def Tech but had a hard time comparing the towers. The smaller Energy bookshelves and towers CB10,CF50 did not sound near as good as the larger CB20,CF70 where as the smaller Def Techs did not lose as much when going to their smaller counterparts, SM45-SM55 or BP8060-BP8040.
So with this said I am still undecided on a purchase and out of options to hear locally,...maybe I have helped you help me find my next speakers!
I am leaning towards the Energy CF70 CC10 3.0 setup for around $1500 and I really can't spend more.
I am a new poster long time follower,.....I would like to preface this saying I am nothing of an audiophile so do not expect an accurate or "correct" review, this is just my thoughts on the speakers I recently listened to at 2 of our local stores. I am posting this hoping my thoughts on the speakers I heard will help the many experts we are blessed with on this forum nail down the best speaker for me.
I am looking to upgrade my TSC center and bookshelves,..if you have been around here long you may remember when this speakers where selling for next to nothing so I purchased 4 of the bookshelves and a center. I was upgrading from a Sony 5.1 micro system and the TSC was a huge improvement but the upgrade bug bit as soon as I heard about the new Pioneer line designed by someone important,...not really sure his name? So off I go today to hear and compare speakers, most importantly the new Pioneer 52 towers.
Here are the brands I heard;
Definitive Technologies
Polk
Martin Logan
Energy
Bowers and Wilkins
Klipsch
Pioneer
I will first say I was very unhappy with the Pioneers,..they would not be an upgrade over my 5.25 TSC bookshelves,....very thin muddy sounding. Reminded me of door speakers in a car???? This goes for the towers as well as the center so this was an easy no. So much for getting a deal!!
Next up where the Bowers and Wilkins,.. I listen to all the towers, centers, and bookshelves. Very pleasant sound, honest reproduction with no glaring faults. If my primary use was 2 channel music this would be much higher up my list but they just did not fill a room, nice sounding speaker though!
On to the most expensive of the group,..the Martin Logan ESL 8". My wife and I really liked these speakers, was the best at giving you the "band in the middle of your living room feeling" but at this price out of our range, and I am not sure about that weird looking grid mounted on it. (I warned you I am new at this LOL)
I am going to lump the Polk and the Klipsch together not that they sound the same but my opinion of them is. In there more expensive lines they are an exciting speaker to listen to, probably really good for movies only. There tone almost sounded fake or artificial to me, when listening to Miles Davis they almost added there own flair,.... not what I want in a speaker.
My two favorites,....Def Tech and Energy! Really liked the sound of these two. Nice rich sound that filled the room. It was really hard to fairly compare as Def tech likes to add subwoofers to there towers but adding a sub to the Energy makes it a really close race! I favored the Energy bookshelf speakers to the Def Tech but had a hard time comparing the towers. The smaller Energy bookshelves and towers CB10,CF50 did not sound near as good as the larger CB20,CF70 where as the smaller Def Techs did not lose as much when going to their smaller counterparts, SM45-SM55 or BP8060-BP8040.
So with this said I am still undecided on a purchase and out of options to hear locally,...maybe I have helped you help me find my next speakers!
I am leaning towards the Energy CF70 CC10 3.0 setup for around $1500 and I really can't spend more.
