Speaker recommendations wanted

[bradm]

I've decided that my present to myself this year is going to be a new pair of speakers for my home stereo. My existing ones ("Interaudio by Bose", bought back in the glory days of "Hi-Fi Express" Sunday shopping in the mid-'80s) have finally bit the big one (they can't handle bass at all without breaking up), so I need a new pair.

I need bookshelf-sized speakers (I don't have a lot of floor space), and they'll be used for primarily low-volume listening of music only (as opposed to high-volume home threatre stuff, which isn't in the plan at the moment). I rarely push my amp above 0.5 watts, and I listen to everything from jazz to heavy guitar; wide-range clarity at low volumes is, I think, the key characteristic I'm looking for. Ideally, I'd like the pair to cost around (or under) $500.

I was at weirdness' place last week, and he had a pair of Mission speakers that sounded great to my ears, but they were floor-standing; I'm confident a pair of Mission bookshelf speakers would work, but I'm interested in any other ideas/recommendations people had. If they were available in a shop in Ottawa (one where I could bring in some sample music to listen to through them, ideally), so much the better.

Aloha,

Brad

[CyberHippie]

I'd also love to know, I need a new pair of speakers as well, the smaller the better.

What's the ideal frequency range without having a subwoofer? Can you get subwoofers that connect via speaker wire, so I could just hook it up to the speaker B inputs?

[bouche]

I heard Missions were great.

I want new speakers too, but I want floor speakers with some low-end and a better center speaker too.

These things are far off for me though.

[Jaimoe]

PSB speakers are great. They are Canadian made and you can get good bookshelves in your price range. I have 5 PSB's, and they can raise the roof when needed. They also sound excellent at low volumes. You can find them at The Sony Store, or any great independant audio/video store.

Here's the webdsite: http://www.psbspeakers.com/

If you are going to buy speakers, always look for UK, US and Canadian-made companies.

[thatpatguy]

I'd hit up the Audio Center on Clyde and Baseline, I've have had nothing but great service and recommendations from those guys. They have good quality stuff too..

[Booche]

Brad, you either get recommendations from Weirdness or buy a buy some Paradigms.

Good ole Canadian company at that. For the bucks, they are hard to beat.

[CyberHippie]

I have a set of paradigms, I never really though they were as good as they should be, until.... I hooked them up to my home theatre with sub woofer. Now I think they are amazing speakers, I was just missing out on the bass. Which is why I'm curious about frequency range, as I want to get some good speakers and not need a woofer for my stereo.

[canadianphan]

I've got a pair of Alesis M1 Active MK2 Studio Monitors. I use these with my computer and I love them. Internal Bi-Amp, small foot print, great full range sound.

I've also got a pair of floor standing Paradigm speakers. These also sound great, but the're 20 years old and have seen alot of use.

If you need an amp as well as speakers then you should consider the internaly powered studio monitors. This matchs the amp corectly to the speaker and gives you a nice portable package.

Enjoy.

Jeff

[dancingbear]

i have psb's in the front and some speakers from an old JVC stereo in the back, solid amp etc. the psb's are good but not as good as the stereo speakers. i bought them b/c of canadain made, good guarentee. they are crisp, with good sound but i find theres something missing.

[Weirdness]

Yo! Far as the Mission thing goes, they're great bang for the buck but you've got to trust your ears all the way when it comes to this kind of sh!t. Spending a few bucks on some decent cable will make a fair difference as well. M51's would likely be the best bet unless you could find a deal on the 780's which are supposed to be real sweet and have received rave reviews.

Paradigm is a good bet as well, a bit more rockin' in terms of character which seems to appeal to North Americans. Yes, brownie points for Being Canadian...

If you're throwing down that much coin, I would stronly consider B&W and Monitor Audio which are both highly reputable british manufacturers.

The Audio Shop on Bank has both KEF and Totem which both might be worth a look as well. The Audio Centre also has KEF and Linn which are both supposed to be pretty solid. Bleeker carries Mission and Tannoy which are also well worth considering and have an excellent reputation in the pro audio industry. Just had a look at a few models in your range which scored extremely high. Could be older numbers, but the dealers can give you the rundown on what's changed.

KEFQ35.2(Q1 New Model?)

Mission 780

Monitor Audio Bronze 2

B&W DM303

Tannoy-?

Don't forget about Bleeker and that place called Dewar's Audio(I'm pretty sure they sell B&W) beside it if it's still there. Looks like you'll have lots of choice anyways. Have fun!!!

[Weirdness]

...oh, I forgot to mention that you should be able to score a great deal if you wait until the boxing week thing hits. Retailers roughly double their money on speakers which is way more than they make on electronics so you should be able to get a sweet deal when they drop their drawers on the price after christmas.

[Booche]

All this talk is making me want to buy new speakers.

Fuggers!

[Patchoulia]

I recommend Dr. Phil...you can lure him to your event on the pretense of being your speaker, and then throw sh!t at him (literally, sh!t..preferably flaming..)

[Alexis]

I don't really know anything in regards to your price range Brad, I've inherited a kick ass ultra high end stereo system. Unfortunately I lost my bag of cables and need to buy $600 worth of cable to get it back up and running, and there's not enough room in my place to do this system justice either. Weirdness was right when he said spending some money on cables was a good idea. It only sounds as good as the wire it travels on.

To those of you in SoOn, i would suggest checking out East Hamilton Radio. I'm not saying that just because my family once upon a time was involved with that store, but because they have great, knowledgeable staff. they have living room type set ups where you can listen to whatever music you bring in, bring in 10 CD's if you want, and you can sit and listen to whatever set up you're thinking of, or the speakers you want on a similar set up to what you already have at home. stay as long as you want, and if you can find any advertised or store certified price they'll beat it by 5 or 10 % i think.

In toronto, i know it's a bit expensive for most things, but i like bay bloor radio. they have all the high end stuff i need at the best prices i can find besides direct from the manufacturer.

If you go to any reputable store, and speak with a person who knows what they're talking about, you should say what you already have, what you're looking for and what you generally listen to they should be able to give you 2-4 options. any good store will let you listen to what you bring with you on what you want. if they don't then go somewhere else. listen to all your options and go with what you think sounds best. your system is supposed to be for you so enjoy it.

[bradm]

Thanks for all the advice, everybody. I put a compilation CD together (everything from "So What" by Miles Davis to "five-five-FIVE" by Frank Zappa to "Miko Mard" by nero to "Basement Apt." by Sarah Harmer to "Gloria's Step" by Bill Evans Trio" to "Tube" by nero [from Mavericks back in Sept., one of my recordings] to, well, about as broad a range of what I'm likely to listen to through them as I could fit on a single CD), and went shopping.

Well, sort of. The first store I got to was Sound Advice. I told the guy what I wanted, and he recommended the Paradigm Mini Monitors. I put in the CD, listened to about 10 to 20 seconds of each track, from various positions, and went with them. They were on special, $380 for the pair, and, since the shop is pretty well known, and since rabidmonkey had had a good experience with the shop and that particular brand, I felt pretty good about going with the first pair I had heard. (Frankly, I doubt I'd be able to get a much better deal elsewhere, especially given that I doubt I'd be able to hear much a difference [based on the type of music I listen to, and the volume I listen at], and given the fact that I don't really want to walk around in the cold all that much.)

I've got them hooked up (in a preliminary way; I bought new speaker cables, but for an initial/lazy test, just used the old cables, which are old lamp cord), and, wow! I should have done this a long time ago, like around the time my old speakers' woofers bit the big one...

Thanks again, everybody.

Aloha,

Brad