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I have $200 for used speakers - don't laugh - Page 2

post #31 of 45
12/26/12 at 8:50pm
I agree completely with Bill with the buy a better bookshelf for the same money versus trying to buy a tower. I have a decent size dedicated home theater (15 x 23) and I use bookshelves for Front L R and a quality sub. Performance is QUITE amazing and I have never longed for Towers with my setup.

I would also like to clarify what you are trying to buy for $200 and when you think you can save more to buy "other speakers" to complete a setup? If you are trying to get good results on a modest budget over time than I suggest you buy a quality set of bookshelves for as close to your price cap as possible and then start saving for a sub. Then add surrounds and a center LAST.

I say this because you can get VERY good results WITHOUT a center speaker even for HT. My setup does not currently use a center and I often have quests ask me if my center is behind my screen. they are shocked when I tell them I do not have one.

Hope this info. is helping you learn more about where to spend your hard earned $$$.
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post #32 of 45
12/26/12 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dynfan View Post

I agree completely with Bill with the buy a better bookshelf for the same money versus trying to buy a tower. I have a decent size dedicated home theater (15 x 23) and I use bookshelves for Front L R and a quality sub. Performance is QUITE amazing and I have never longed for Towers with my setup.
I would also like to clarify what you are trying to buy for $200 and when you think you can save more to buy "other speakers" to complete a setup? If you are trying to get good results on a modest budget over time than I suggest you buy a quality set of bookshelves for as close to your price cap as possible and then start saving for a sub. Then add surrounds and a center LAST.
I say this because you can get VERY good results WITHOUT a center speaker even for HT. My setup does not currently use a center and I often have quests ask me if my center is behind my screen. they are shocked when I tell them I do not have one.
Hope this info. is helping you learn more about where to spend your hard earned $$$.

I believe you but I don't understand. All the dialog comes through the center, right? I haven't had a good center in a while but say that someone drops a glass and it shatters, which speakers do you hear that through? I'm ready to get the best I can get for my money and save for later but when I listen on that tiny center I have it sounds like a tin can. Will bookshelf speakers compensate?

btw, I went and listened to some polk speakers(CS10) at bestbuy. I don't mean to be trolling but I didn't like them. They sound what I believe is called "muddy." They had more base but it didn't sound clear. The Klipsch they had was too bright. The cheaper Pioneer ($99) sounded better than all of them to me. I guess I don't have a discerning ear yet because I picked the cheaper ones. They were playing music through them. I don't know if that matters. No offense to anyone. I know many like the polks. I want to. They're everywhere new and used and good deals.
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post #33 of 45
12/26/12 at 10:52pm
This is where you start to enter the realm of better audio performance. A QUALITY stereo (2 channel left and right) when using a proper setup and quality components will create a very realistic center image. I will defer and say that my gear is moderately high end however I am CERTAIN you can achieve excellent results with a modest budget by paying attention to where to spend the money. I am not saying you do not HAVE or WANT to use a center, I am simply saying that I started MY system with only the front left and right and I saved a lot of money (to me at the time) over a year and a half to buy the one's I was after. I used only these speakers and some home made surrounds for a time before I bought the other components in my system.

This is a way of saying I personally think it is a good idea to start with a high quality left and right speaker setup because not only will it help with movies but listening to music will be more enjoyable as well.

Also I would have to say I agree with your ears. Out of what you auditioned I also feel the $99 Pioneer speakers are the best performers for the price point. $$$ does not directly dictate performance and the speakers myself and others have linked you too are in fact the pioneer's you "liked". Not to say you should rush out and buy them but for $100 they are quite good.
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post #34 of 45
12/26/12 at 11:33pm
i didn't like the polk audio speakers that i heard at best buy either. they sounded okay at low volumes, but when the salesguy cranked it up i agree it sounded muddy.
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post #35 of 45
12/26/12 at 11:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

How good is a subwoofer on something like that Denon set? Thanks, btw.

Don't think of those small subs with inexpensive HTIB speaker sets as like the 12" Mirage sub you used to have. They tend to be more midbass modules, necessary to make up for the lack of midbass in the small satellite speakers than come in those types of sets.
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post #36 of 45
12/26/12 at 11:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

The cheaper Pioneer ($99) sounded better than all of them to me. I guess I don't have a discerning ear yet because I picked the cheaper ones.

Not at all. That Pioneer speaker series has an excellent reputation for good sound, and many people prefer the Pioneers over the Polk Monitor series (I do). There is an AVS owners thread for them and the previous versions if you want to ask questions about them.
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post #37 of 45
12/26/12 at 11:48pm
cel do you own any older pioneer floorstanding speakers? i used to have 15 inch woofers but blew them several years ago. i still have a pair with 10 inch woofers that I listen to sometimes.
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post #38 of 45
12/27/12 at 1:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

Don't think of those small subs with inexpensive HTIB speaker sets as like the 12" Mirage sub you used to have. They tend to be more midbass modules, necessary to make up for the lack of midbass in the small satellite speakers than come in those types of sets.

+1 If you were to go with that set up the sub would be the first thing to replace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

Not at all. That Pioneer speaker series has an excellent reputation for good sound, and many people prefer the Pioneers over the Polk Monitor series (I do). There is an AVS owners thread for them and the previous versions if you want to ask questions about them.

+1 again. Of the speakers you listened to in BB I would also agree that the Pioneers have the best sound.
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

I believe you but I don't understand. All the dialog comes through the center, right?

When you don't have a physical center channel speaker the info/sound from the center channel is re-directed to the LR fronts and you get what is called a phantom center. Is it the optimum - no. Is a phantom center preferable over a crappy or mis-matched center speaker - IMO yes if you have good LR fronts. I ran a phantom center when I was building my second system over time. (My first system was a 5.1 HTIB.)

I suggested two option/paths in my post, but if you asked me to pick just one I'd go with option B - buy better LR fronts now and expand later. (You might even get away with a 4.0 setup using your current bookshelf speakers as surrounds.)

If you decide to look for used but good sounding front LR towers my advice would be to check that the matching center channel speaker is still available for when you upgrade later.

If you decide to go with used but good sounding front LR bookshelf speakers it's less important, because when you upgrade later you can always move them to the back as surrounds.
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post #39 of 45
12/27/12 at 1:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

Not at all. That Pioneer speaker series has an excellent reputation for good sound, and many people prefer the Pioneers over the Polk Monitor series (I do). There is an AVS owners thread for them and the previous versions if you want to ask questions about them.

I think the Pioneers sound good, but I ended up buying the Monitor 70's, which in my personal opinion sound better. However, is better to buy what you like, and not what other people can recommend.
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post #40 of 45
12/27/12 at 5:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by likemovies View Post

All the dialog comes through the center, right?
Dialog comes through whichever speaker the source material (movie) tells it to. In most movies most of the dialog is sent to the center channel.
*If* you have a center speaker *then* most of the dialog will come out of it. If you don't, the dialog is redirected to the left and right speakers.
Quote:
but say that someone drops a glass and it shatters, which speakers do you hear that through?
That is up to the person who mixed the audio for the movie.
Quote:
I'm ready to get the best I can get for my money and save for later but when I listen on that tiny center I have it sounds like a tin can. Will bookshelf speakers compensate?
On a very restricted budget: save the center for a later purchase.
Quote:
The cheaper Pioneer ($99) sounded better than all of them to me.
They are considered by many to be the top of the bottom-price range. You are not alone.

Though there are other things (such as placement and room interaction) that will color the sound of a speaker. In a different room they might still have been your favorites or maybe not.
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post #41 of 45
12/27/12 at 7:30am
I'll pipe up here and say those Andrew Jones designed Pioneers are really very nice speakers. My brother-in-law just set up his listening area with a set of those and I found the sound very impressive and easy to listen to. In his smallish room we really enjoyed Master and Commander this past weekend. It's astonishing to me how much sound he got for a few hundred bucks.
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post #42 of 45
12/27/12 at 7:38pm
do you think that you might get the pioneers since you liked them or want to keep looking? also check out energy. some of them sound pretty good.
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post #43 of 45
1/6/13 at 4:56am
I have a pair of bose 301 in excellent shape I will take the 200.00 dlls.plus shipping let me know
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post #44 of 45
1/6/13 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dynfan View Post

I agree completely with Bill with the buy a better bookshelf for the same money versus trying to buy a tower. I have a decent size dedicated home theater (15 x 23) and I use bookshelves for Front L R and a quality sub. Performance is QUITE amazing and I have never longed for Towers with my setup.
I would also like to clarify what you are trying to buy for $200 and when you think you can save more to buy "other speakers" to complete a setup? If you are trying to get good results on a modest budget over time than I suggest you buy a quality set of bookshelves for as close to your price cap as possible and then start saving for a sub. Then add surrounds and a center LAST.
I say this because you can get VERY good results WITHOUT a center speaker even for HT. My setup does not currently use a center and I often have quests ask me if my center is behind my screen. they are shocked when I tell them I do not have one.
Hope this info. is helping you learn more about where to spend your hard earned $$$.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dynfan View Post

This is where you start to enter the realm of better audio performance. A QUALITY stereo (2 channel left and right) when using a proper setup and quality components will create a very realistic center image. I will defer and say that my gear is moderately high end however I am CERTAIN you can achieve excellent results with a modest budget by paying attention to where to spend the money. I am not saying you do not HAVE or WANT to use a center, I am simply saying that I started MY system with only the front left and right and I saved a lot of money (to me at the time) over a year and a half to buy the one's I was after. I used only these speakers and some home made surrounds for a time before I bought the other components in my system.
This is a way of saying I personally think it is a good idea to start with a high quality left and right speaker setup because not only will it help with movies but listening to music will be more enjoyable as well.
Also I would have to say I agree with your ears. Out of what you auditioned I also feel the $99 Pioneer speakers are the best performers for the price point. $$$ does not directly dictate performance and the speakers myself and others have linked you too are in fact the pioneer's you "liked". Not to say you should rush out and buy them but for $100 they are quite good.

Agreed!
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post #45 of 45
1/6/13 at 7:04pm
^^ +1

Only looking at new speakers at your price point - the Pioneers ($200) or the Cambridge Audio S30's ($220).
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