[biglen]

I'm looking for budget tower speakers for my wife in the living room,and I've been keeping my eye on the Polk R300's, and the Pioneer SP-FS52's. They both just went on sale. Fry's has the Polks for $49 ea, and Amazon has the Pioneer's for $89 ea. They would be used mainly for watching TV and movies, in a setup with just a center channel speaker, and the towers. My wife is not an audiophile by any means, so I was leaning towards the Polks because they are pretty much half the price of the Pioneer's. Can I get some input please?

 

[charmerci]

If she's the only one that listens, go with the Polks but if you watch too, I'd go with the Pioneers. Also the Pioneers will be better with action movies.

 

[GusGus748s]

If you want to save some $$ go with the Polks. If you want a little bit better sound go with the Pioneers.

 

[biglen]

Currently, I have a pair of Paradigm bookshelfs that are from the early 90's. I hate the way they look on stands though. I think towers look much nicer than bookshelfs on stands. Will the R300's be an upgrade to the Paradigms?

 

[GusGus748s]

Currently, I have a pair of Paradigm bookshelfs that are from the early 90's. I hate the way they look on stands though. I think towers look much nicer than bookshelfs on stands. Will the R300's be an upgrade to the Paradigms?

That's an easy one. No.

 

[biglen]

That's an easy one. No.

Are the Pioneers an upgrade?

 

[GusGus748s]

Are the Pioneers an upgrade?

No.

 

[biglen]

No.

Wow, those Paradigms are my best bet then?

 

[[Irishman]]

Wow, those Paradigms are my best bet then?

Yup. At your budget.

 

[GusGus748s]

Wow, those Paradigms are my best bet then?

I mean the Pioneers aren't bad, and they do sound good for what they cost, but they aren't Paradigms.

If you want towers and save money, then go with the Piooners. But that's not an upgrade 😋

 

[biglen]

Yup. At your budget.

Okay, I'll suck it up for now, and deal with the stands. In the future, if I want to upgrade the Paradigms, what tower speakers would be an upgrade?

 

[GusGus748s]

Okay, I'll suck it up for now, and deal with the stands. In the future, if I want to upgrade the Paradigms, what tower speakers would be an upgrade?

Paradigms towers. Depends on your budget.

 

[biglen]

Paradigms towers. Depends on your budget.

What would be a "budget" tower that would be an upgrade to the Paradigms, or is that not possible? Like I said, it's just for the living room, but I don't want to go backwards from the Paradigms either.

 

[DavidK442]

Depends on which Paradigms book shelves. I have the second to last version of the Titans set up in my living room. I bought my son the Pioneer bookshelves this Christmas (the SP-BS22-LR) which are a match to the floor-standing Pioneers being considered here. It was my opinion that those little Pioneers had a more natural sound than the Titans; better highs and a bottom end that wasn't as bloated sounding in my room. After listening for a while I hooked up an old 10" Paradigm subwoofer (DSP-3100) and the combination impressed. I image the Pioneer tower, with its increased bass response would come close to this.

If I was in the market for a budget floor-standing speaker the Pioneer would be top on my list. I would love for someone to do an actual switched and level matched blind listening test between these Pioneers and some higher end speakers. Every review ends with "amazing for the price" but I suspect that if the reviewer didn't know the cost the last three words of that sentence would be dropped.

 

[GusGus748s]

Depends on which Paradigms book shelves. I have the second to last version of the Titans set up in my living room. I bought my son the Pioneer bookshelves this Christmas (the SP-BS22-LR) which are a match to the floor-standing Pioneers being considered here. It was my opinion that those little Pioneers had a more natural sound than the Titans; better highs and a bottom end that wasn't as bloated sounding in my room. After listening for a while I hooked up an old 10" Paradigm subwoofer (DSP-3100) and the combination blew me away. I image the Pioneer tower, with its increased bass response would come close to this.

If I was in the market for a budget floor-standing speaker the Pioneer would be top on my list. I would love for someone to do an actual switched and level matched blind listening test between these Pioneers and some higher end speakers. Every review ends with "amazing for the price" but I suspect that if the reviewer didn't know the cost the last three words of that sentence would be dropped.

I agree the Pioneers are excellent for the price, and they do sound good. However, you will noticed the Pioneer weaknes as you turn the volume up.

I love playing music at moderate levels, and I've been using the BS22 + PSA XV15 sub. They sound good at low to mid volume levels, but once you start going at -20 dBs and higher the poor 4" woofers start to fatigue. So if you have a large room the Piooners might not do the work specially if you are playing music with a 2.1 set up.

 

[biglen]

There is no model number on my Paradigms, but I searched on Google, and these are the ones I have:


http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/...bookshelf_speakers_12500_or_bo/images/463734/

 

[GusGus748s]

There is no model number on my Paradigms, but I searched on Google, and these are the ones I have:


http://www.usaudiomart.com/details/...bookshelf_speakers_12500_or_bo/images/463734/

Man those are some old speakers. I would suggest for you to try to audition the Pioneers at BB. They've got the BS22 and the FS52. They sound good for what they cost. I found that they do require a little bit more volume than my Arx speakers. Possibly due to their low sensitivity and them being 6 ohms. Who knows you might end up liking the FS52 and just buying them for your set up.

 

[biglen]

Man those are some old speakers. I would suggest for you to try to audition the Pioneers at BB. They've got the BS22 and the FS52. They sound good for what they cost. I found that they do require a little bit more volume than my Arx speakers. Possibly due to their low sensitivity and them being 6 ohms. Who knows you might end up liking the FS52 and just buying them for your set up.

Now that you know how old the Paradigms are, would the Polks come back into play as an option?

 

[GusGus748s]

Now that you know how old the Paradigms are, would the Polks come back into play as an option?

The Polk RTi / RTiA or LSi / LSiM line yes. Otherwise, I would still go with the Pioneers over the Polk Monitor / TSX line.

 

[DavidK442]

Given what you have been listening to, and that price seems to be the primary concern, go with the Polks.