favorite North American bookshelf (<$500)?

kaxixi · « **on:** 2 May 2005, 08:32 pm »

Three requirements:

1) Must have enough bass to operate without the subwoofer.
2) Must have a street price of less than $500.
3) Must be designed by a company based in the US or Canada.

A few options to get you guys going:

-Paradigm MiniMonitors
-NHT SB3's
-Polk Lsi7's
-Axiom Mt3i's
-Athena AS-B2

tubeytubeamp · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 May 2005, 08:34 pm »

Phase Technology Velocity v8 $450
Phase Technology Velocity v4 $279

fabaudio · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 May 2005, 08:58 pm »

Von Schweikert VR 1's used

mcgsxr · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 May 2005, 08:59 pm »

Do they have to be new, or do they just have to fall into the listed price range?

mcrespo71 · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 May 2005, 08:59 pm »

I always liked the Sound Dynamics 300ti and RTS-3. Both are discontinued, but can be found used for cheap.

Michael

Marbles · « **Reply #5 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:04 pm »

Quote from: kaxixi

Three requirements:

1) Must have enough bass to operate without the subwoofer.
2) Must have a street price of less than $500.
3) Must be designed by a company based in the US or Canada.

A few options to get you guys going:

-Paradigm MiniMonitors
-NHT SB3's
-Polk Lsi7's
-Axiom Mt3i's
-Athena AS-B2

Number 1 is too subjective. Normally bookshelves are not designed to run without a sub, or they are designed not to play the lowest octave.

That being said, the new speaker kits being brought out by Adire and Diycable.com are said to go down into the 20's and sound very nice.

I have not heard them, but Dennis Murphy was complementary of them and so was Kevin Haskins, and that would be good enough for me to give them at the very least a demo.

Don't know what they cost though, but I think they would meet your budget.

Marbles · « **Reply #6 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:06 pm »

Below is the info on them...

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=17969

kaxixi · « **Reply #7 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:17 pm »

Quote from: mcgsxr

Do they have to be new, or do they just have to fall into the listed price range?

used and discontinued welcome.

kaxixi · « **Reply #8 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:25 pm »

Quote from: Marbles

Number 1 is too subjective. Normally bookshelves are not designed to run without a sub, or they are designed not to play the lowest octave.

Subjective is OK: if you like listening to your bookshelves without a sub, then they have enough bass. My superzeros, for example, don't have enough bass...

budyog · « **Reply #9 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:39 pm »

Bump it up to $600 and get the ACI "Emerald's". They have a set of B-stock in Cherry at a discounted price. Save $150.00

Marbles · « **Reply #10 on:** 2 May 2005, 09:40 pm »

Quote from: kaxixi

Quote from: Marbles
Number 1 is too subjective. Normally bookshelves are not designed to run without a sub, or they are designed not to play the lowest octave.

Subjective is OK: if you like listening to your bookshelves without a sub, then they have enough bass. My superzeros, for example, don't have enough bass...

The problem with subjective is, I don't know what size room you have, and you don't know what size room I have, if I like trance or bass head music, or if I like chamber music. We don't know anything about your amps etc..

Now if you were to say bookshelves rated to go down to an F-3 at 40 hz, then we would have an idea of what you are looking for.

kaxixi · « **Reply #11 on:** 2 May 2005, 11:56 pm »

Quote from: Marbles

The problem with subjective is, I don't know what size room you have, and you don't know what size room I have, if I like trance or bass head music, or if I like chamber music. We don't know anything about your amps etc..

Now if you were to say bookshelves rated to go down to an F-3 at 40 hz, then we would have an idea of what you are looking for.

If you guys want to qualify the first requirement with `I have a small listening room', or 'I listen primarily to recordings of solo ukele', please do. The first requirement is there simply to distinguish good bookshelves from good sub/sat systems.

kaxixi · « **Reply #12 on:** 3 May 2005, 12:09 am »

... while I'm laying down ground-rules, do try to say why you like the speaker you are recommending. For example...

I like my piano teacher's B&W 600's because they have a very warm sound. They sound especially nice playing solo piano recordings (surprise). However, I would prefer if they didn't sound so laid back when playing orchestral works, as it renders the performance somewhat boring.

Also, I like my old dorm's Polk Rti25's because they had a punchy sound which complimented the crap we played while scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen.

kaxixi · « **Reply #13 on:** 3 May 2005, 12:12 am »

Quote from: budyog

Bump it up to $600 and get the ACI "Emerald's". They have a set of B-stock in Cherry at a discounted price. Save $150.00

ACI's not too far from where I am (Chicago). I might have to take a day trip for a listen.

soundboy · « **Reply #14 on:** 3 May 2005, 04:06 am »

Energy C-3 (and C-1)....designed and build in North America.

bikeman · « **Reply #15 on:** 3 May 2005, 04:19 am »

Took me a year and a half or auditions but this was worth the wait.
Just a it out of the price range.

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/cmt340m/cmt340m.html

David

Parnelli777 · « **Reply #16 on:** 3 May 2005, 01:50 pm »

Some very expensive speakers, including Wisdom, and many others, use BG drivers. They make their own line right in Nevada. This is a mighty little unit at a ridiculous price:

Z 1 FULL RANGE BOOKSHELF HYBRID LOUDSPEAKER, around $399.00

http://www.bgcorp.com/index.html

For a bit more, these are great, around $700.00:

the Mini

http://www.nolaspeakers.com/

gary · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 May 2005, 02:22 pm »

My brother has the previous version of the Z1, which was called the A1. He got them for $140 from eCost, and they sound very, very good. Weak when it comes to bass, but they do everything else right. At that price they were an insane deal and I kick myself for not buying two pairs for my home theater, even at $400 they're still a good deal.

Gary

kbuzz3 · « **Reply #18 on:** 3 May 2005, 03:43 pm »

it would be helpful if you would let us know what type of amp and source you are using.

JoshK · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 May 2005, 03:54 pm »

Based on what I heard and saw at HE2005, the Aperion Audio Intimus 632-LR would top my list in this category. The cabinets are super thick and dead, wrap on them with your knuckles and your knuckles paid the price. They sounded much better than they should for this price.

monitor