thanks alot jackman, are those br1's equal to the ascends? its hard to believe Dayton offers quality at such good prices heh. im still curious about bridging the outputs of the receiver, maybe bi-amping is the term im looking for? the only thing im worried about is the output of the panny receiver.. is there anything that i might be able to look into in the way of strictly 2 channel audio receivers that could provide more power than that HT unit? or are the speakers im looking at even capable of handling more power?
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I've never heard the Ascends but there are lots of Ascend fans out there so they can't ALL be wrong
The BR1's are $139 DELIVERED. Plus they are a fun entre into the world of DIY speakerbuilding. You could probably put them together in about an hour or two. The parts are easy and cheap to replace and you have bragging rights to say you "built" them! No one needs to know they were an easy kit!
There are a couple knocks on the BR's, they are not the last word in upper end refinement but that's not a bad thing when paired with inexpensive electronics. They are not efficient but those new digital receivers have lots of power so that's not an issue, and the bass is not as tight as some expensive speakers. Bottom line, I've never met a person who has heard them who has not felt they were an excellent value. I'd look at the new JVC digital or Panny digital (someone was giving away those SR25's recently, do a search) and that Toshiba CDP. Forget about bi-wire, these only have single connectors but there is no need to biwire these anyway. They should be fine as-is. I would be willing to bet that you could use these for a while and then sell them for about what you paid. It's a pretty low risk proposition.
Who knows, you may just decide you like DIY speaker building or at least tweeking and step up to something like those Morel 3 ways morelusa.com is giving away with free delivery for something like $600. There is a crossover mod that is supposed to make them sound very good (ask Birdwizard).
Good luck. There are a million different ways you could go with your search. AV123 has some really nice low cost speakers and gear, Rutledge (Brian) makes some really nice speakers, Louis at Omega has some great sounding inexpensive speakers, Danny at GR-Research offers excellent value, DIYcable has some new kits coming out with some cool looking drivers, and there are tons more.
Let us know what you choose!
Jack