best speakers for rock music

raydeeohead

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about upgrading my speakers, and have about a $300 budget. I will mainly be using the speakers for listening to music, particularly rock music (like the strokes, sonic youth) but also some bass-heavy dance music like dubstep, but still be dynamic and bright enough for bands like Radiohead, so you can hear the nuances of the music as well. I live in an apartment in New York, so I don't want to buy a sub. Any suggestions for floor standing speakers? Thanks.

messiah

I'd get these http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/ele/1938960129.html and spend the other 230 on cables and stands.

thor098

My son uses my old RTA 8T's and they sound great with harder rock. You can generally pick them up for around $100 and there come through CL quite often.

messiah

thor098 wrote: »

My son uses my old RTA 8T's and they sound great with harder rock. You can generally pick them up for around $100 and there come through CL quite often.

There's a pair of 11tl's out there too.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/grd/1935615926.html

raydeeohead

I hadn't looked at the rti a1 speakers yet, but they look solid. I was thinking about the monitor 70s, but am concerned about two things. Since I'm going to be putting them I'm a room that is about 350 square feet, I'm worried they might be too powerful. Also, I haven't tried them out yet but how do they handle the kind of music I mentioned above?

messiah

I'm assuming that you are only interested in new speakers then?

raydeeohead

I'd prefer new speakers, but not necessarily ruling anything out. The amount of choices is just very overwhelming, and for someone who goes crazy trying to choose the "right" dish at a restaurant, narrowing down speakers is a feat. :eek: I know that I want to go with Polk Audio just because I've heard good things, and now I'm just trying to narrow it down further. Used is OK, and it would be GREAT if I could get a short explanation of why I should choose one over another for my musical tastes.

messiah

So your room dimensions are roughly 18 x 18?

B Run

I think Monitor 70's or the Rti A1's would leave you with a smile on your face. But on the other hand, I picked up my Rt800's used for $200 and enjoy listening to music on them a lot and i have a similar sized room.

raydeeohead

It's actually 13 X 21, so it's a little smaller than I orginally said.

messiah

These: http://newyork.craigslist.org/fct/ele/1945139744.html

They are monitor 10's, a vintage Polk speaker that has many fans around here. Here's the link to the specs and description:

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor10/

I think most people around here would tell you that they play rock pretty well. They are only a hundred bucks, which leaves you plenty of $ for cables or other stuff in your system.

Loud & Clear

Yes, the monitor 10's play rock music rather well.

raydeeohead

Just wanted to follow up on how my speaker-buying went. After lots of research, I narrowed it down to the Polk RTI-A1s and and TSi200s, and after trying them both out at the store, I have to say that the TSi200s blew the RTi's out of the water. I compared the TSi200s to models by companies like Klipsch just to see, but for the $300 price tag, these speakers seem unbeatable. Anyone investing in speakers for an apartment and is looking for getting the best value really needs to consider these guys. You can hear every layer of music so perfectly and cleanly, and... I just can't say enough good things about them.

messiah

Cool, grab em then!!