[tonyptony]

I'm willing to buy used, but I would like to find decent rear surrounds that, preferably, are self powered. Would like to keep the cost new or used to $400 or less. I realize I'm going to be making significant compromises here, but the alternative is to get rears that would be the best match for my fronts, which are also my main 2 channel speakers - Shahinian Diapasons. Getting an excellent tonal match to Shahinians pretty much means Shahinians for the rears - which are passive and expensive. Am I crazy?

I'm not really too deep into multichannel right now, so I'd like to have an acceptable means of getting into it while my primary listening is still two channel. Would support both movies and music (probably more music than movies).

[JLM]

Look into professional active studio monitors.

Musiciansfriend.com has a bunch with Fostex currently starting on sale at $200/pair.  Other brands (Mackie, Tannoy, PMC for instance) have a better reputation but quickly go north of your stated budget.

Haven't heard your speakers, but active speakers put much costlier passives to shame with incredible bass, great dynamics, and ruler flat frequency response.

[tonyptony]

Thanks JLM. I got a nice deal in the meantime on a new pair of Swans M200s. They are currently breaking in but so far they actually sound pretty darn nice. I will look into the link you provided; I can always resell the M200s if need be.

[ctviggen]

I always like Linns:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1176174749

[Tirade]

Best $350 Ive ever spent (started as my mains, now are my surrounds)

http://ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cbm170/cbm170.html

Read the reviews

[tonyptony]

Tirade, I'd heard of (but forgotten about) these. While my first preference would be powered speakers I had read good things about Ascend. What other speakers have you tried against them?

[Tirade]

Im the typical music lover who is no audiophile by any means but have enough sense to stay away from the big store brands when it comes to value.

I started with some Axioms that I bought online and returned them in favor of the Ascends. I purchased some Swan Audio towers and center channel from AV123 way back when the Rocket line just came out so I moved the Ascends to the back as surrounds however they could have remained my mains if I had better tonal balance with the Swanm center channel.

Anyway, I would say for the money these will remain as the rear channels in my HT setup for the next 5-10 years and Ive already owned them almost 5 years. I bought the mounting brackets they sell for these and mounted them on the wall and they sound great.

They dont sound as good as the VMPS 626r's I bought a few years back, but then again the 626'rs were 5 X the price.

My brother is more of an audiophile than I will ever be and he has owned some good speakers (Energy, VMPS, and Rocket), but he agrees that for the $$ the Ascends sound great. He bought a pair to use as PC speakers a while back, powered off of a 2 channel stereo receiver.

[tonyptony]

I did a quick search for other reviews and opinions and was buried with positive reviews of this speaker. I wonder if an inexpensive ClassT / D or Gainclone would work with these?

[JLM]

I've owned Ascend Acoustics CBM-170s for a few years now.  Very musical, incredible imaging, great content value but the finish is cheap.  With the cheesy vinyl finish and recessed tweeter they work great in dorms, rec rooms, or frequent movers if you're not into having your speakers look better than your furniture and expect physical abuse.

They now serve as my FL/FR speakers in a HT system and I'll be taking delivery of the smaller/matching speaker for center channel use within days.  Only an audionut needs better sound. 

Tirade is exactly right, they don't compare to VMPS 626, but that's not fair.

A note on active vs passive speakers:  A few years ago Paradigm offered both versions of their Studio20/Active20 (2-way standmount) and Studio40/Active40 (2.5-way standmount) speakers (at the time their top line stuff).  I auditioned both 20s.  The Studio 20 were $800/pair, the Active 20 were $1600/pair but included 4 monoblock amplifiers.  No comparison.  The Active 20s were extremely dynamic, ruler flat frequency response, and made a sub irrelevant for all but HT LFE or 32 foot organ pipes.  They amazed everyone who listened, a total paradigm shift for me.  I'll never go passive again for high-end use (my single driver speakers are by default active).

[Russell Dawkins]

I'd second the active Fostex idea. I've seen them for less than $200/pr here in Canada.

I admit to having used car speakers mounted in the wall ("infinite baffle") as surrounds.

I am of the "main speakers are 20 times as important as surrounds" school and for surrounds I think bandwidth and unobtrusiveness (and economy!) is more important than accuracy. After all, all I want is ambiance from them.

So shoot me!

[tex-amp]

The Ascend Acoustics updated the 170 to 170SE last year.  The SE has a different driver, crossover, and now has SEAS tweeter.  It is a good step above the classic 170 in my book.

[JLM]

Thanks for the update tex-amp.

Could you use/have you considered in-wall speakers?  Lower cost and higher WAF.

I just took delivery of a pair of ACI 8 inch coax in-wall speakers and hope to get them in by end of month.  I want to paint them to match the walls before installing them.  They retail for $150/pair.

[tonyptony]

I've been reading some reports that (as fabulous as the Ascend seems to be) there is a feeling that the PSB Stratus Mini (?) is a better performer. Anybody heard both?