How good are your speakers?

steveinaz

...then that is all that matters, no?

cfrizz

:biggrin:LOL. After a certain point it almost always comes down to "aesthetics/looks/status" People are simply designed to be competive & egotistical with each other. Especially if you are part of a small community like this.

You simply buy what you can afford and would truly like have that is within your means. And don't worry/think/care about what anyone else has.

ROHfan wrote: »

Am I the only one here impressed by Howmuch's refusal to be baited in by some of the condescending remarks made in this thread? I have often wondered the same thing as his original question: At what price point does it become less about sound and more about aesthetics/looks/status? My cheesy R50's cost me under $200 and they sound better that anything any of my friends or family have or will ever have.

Sheesh.

steveinaz

It's hard to put a price on it--it depends on what you are after, how important finishes are, tower or bookshelf...the list goes on and on. As Cathy said, find something within your budget, and enjoy. There are some very good, *relatively inexpensive speakers out there.

*sub $2000/pr

mystik610

ROHfan wrote: »

Am I the only one here impressed by Howmuch's refusal to be baited in by some of the condescending remarks made in this thread? I have often wondered the same thing as his original question: At what price point does it become less about sound and more about aesthetics/looks/status? My cheesy R50's cost me under $200 and they sound better that anything any of my friends or family have or will ever have.

Sheesh.

Most of the answers were pretty honest answers IMO. More money does equate better sound quality...whether or not the price premium is justifiable is debatable. There's certainly a sharp diminishing returns as you spend more money.

I don't think aesthetics/looks/status matter a whole lot. These are speakers...not luxury cars or purses. You aren't going to impress your friends by spending $100 on a speaker or $1,000 on a speaker, as most people couldn't tell the difference anyway. As you said, even the R50's are better than what most people will have in their own homes....going beyond the R50's is something you do to satisfy your own tastes, because lets face it, most people don't care what speakers you have. I've owned the R50's, Tsi300's, RTi8s, and now the LSi9s...and trust me, the only person that cared about any of them was me (and my wife, but for other reasons lol)

Plus this is a Polk forum, and Polk speakers across the board are designed to deliver great sound quality at comparably lower prices than their competitors....especially when you consider how heavily their speakers are discounted. Pretentious buyers who care more about impressing others and know/care very little about sound quality buy BOSE.

quadzilla

ROHfan wrote: »

Am I the only one here impressed by Howmuch's refusal to be baited in by some of the condescending remarks made in this thread? I have often wondered the same thing as his original question: At what price point does it become less about sound and more about aesthetics/looks/status? My cheesy R50's cost me under $200 and they sound better that anything any of my friends or family have or will ever have.

Sheesh.

It's never less about sound for me. I'll run the crappiest looking speakers you can find if they sound better than what I have now, and I won't care how much they cost, only if I can afford them.

The rest of the OPs question is purely subjective. If you have a crappy compact stereo, you'll run into the point where better speakers don't help pretty fast. If you have a revealing system all the way through, you can get pretty high up cost-wise before you're chasing that last 1%, or simply get to the place where everything is about equal, just maybe a bit different. Then you get into the whole argument of how much detail any given individual can perceive. Some people just seem to hear better/more accurately than others.

Klegg

mystik610 wrote: »

Most of the answers were pretty honest answers IMO. More money does equate better sound quality...whether or not the price premium is justifiable is debatable. There's certainly a sharp diminishing returns as you spend more money.

I don't think aesthetics/looks/status matter a whole lot. These are speakers...not luxury cars or purses. You aren't going to impress your friends by spending $100 on a speaker or $1,000 on a speaker, as most people couldn't tell the difference anyway. As you said, even the R50's are better than what most people will have in their own homes....going beyond the R50's is something you do to satisfy your own tastes, because lets face it, most people don't care what speakers you have. I've owned the R50's, Tsi300's, RTi8s, and now the LSi9s...and trust me, the only person that cared about any of them was me (and my wife, but for other reasons lol)

Plus this is a Polk forum, and Polk speakers across the board are designed to deliver great sound quality at comparably lower prices than their competitors....especially when you consider how heavily their speakers are discounted. Pretentious buyers who care more about impressing others and know/care very little about sound quality buy BOSE.

I have said it before and I will repeat it..The Bose 901s set up properly are outstanding units. And I happen to have owned a pair of 301's back in the day. for what they are, they sounded pretty good.

Similar to my Polk M40s For what they are they sound good.

I wonder how many folks who bash 901's have really ever heard them set right.. People will jump in and say they have...but I am thinking no...:rolleyes:

Howmuch

Mission brand of speakers...Anyone?

mystik610

Klegg wrote: »

I have said it before and I will repeat it..The Bose 901s set up properly are outstanding units. And I happen to have owned a pair of 301's back in the day. for what they are, they sounded pretty good.

Similar to my Polk M40s For what they are they sound good.

I wonder how many folks who bash 901's have really ever heard them set right.. People will jump in and say they have...but I am thinking no...:rolleyes:

My dad (an old BOSE fanatic) has the old 901's and I agree they're good speakers. They sound a little artificial to me, but I can see why people like them.

But those speakers aren't at all representative of what BOSE is today. They're leveraging the brand equity and reputation of BOSE in the 70's, slapping the logo on cheap, paper-cone speakers, and selling them at ridiculous price premiums. That's the route that BOSE has decided to take with their company, and it works. People buy them for the brand name and nothing else.

Even the speakers at the bottom end of Polk's line-up are substantially better than anything BOSE offers right now.

F1nut

ROHfan wrote: »

I have often wondered the same thing as his original question: At what price point does it become less about sound and more about aesthetics/looks/status?

As I already stated, there is no answer to that question.

Sheesh, indeed.

lanchile

Howmuch wrote: »

Hi Mantis
Unfortunately I'm not really new to this and thats the problem. After 20 years of buying components and speakers ,same questions ,same debates . So I thought maybe to hear this Magic sound I might need to spend Tons of money .Thats why i ask if these expensive speaker really sound that good.

My opinion is: it is not only the speakers that you have to focus to. if you have a "decent" amp you should get decent speakers. do not judges for how expensive the speakers are ( it does not mean they are better) a good example is B--E speakers and audio gear they costs a lot of money but they are crab!!!.
you can find very good speakers under $500. I would not go CRAZY spending $$$$$$ for speakers. Right now my set up is Bryston B60R integrated amplifier and RTi-A1 speakers. you can spent $$$$$$$$$ in speakers but if you do not like the sound...what is the point there?. as long as you like the sound is all right!. This is just my opinion and I respect others.

lanchile

Klegg wrote: »

I have said it before and I will repeat it..The Bose 901s set up properly are outstanding units. And I happen to have owned a pair of 301's back in the day. for what they are, they sounded pretty good.

Similar to my Polk M40s For what they are they sound good.

I wonder how many folks who bash 901's have really ever heard them set right.. People will jump in and say they have...but I am thinking no...:rolleyes:

I had the 901 as a corner table to hold my plants, they were very nice until they got wet and the PARTICLE BOARD got all expanded!. But Some people use the 901 as speakers.

ben62670

Bring your favorite well recorded music to a store.
Do not look at price tags.
Listen to the music
Decide what sounds best to you.
Keep in mind that sometimes the speakers are setup wrong.
If you use bold for your whole post I will not read it. A word or two is fine. This also applies to a few people who feel the need to abuse caps.
Ben

lanchile

ben62670 wrote: »

Bring your favorite well recorded music to a store.
Do not look at price tags.
Listen to the music
Decide what sounds best to you.
Keep in mind that sometimes the speakers are setup wrong.
If you use bold for your whole post I will not read it. A word or two is fine. This also applies to a few people who feel the need to abuse caps.
Ben

Sorry, next time I will not use bold for my post. I thought we were free to use it as much as we want. I guess you are not reading this then.

lanchile

Sorry I had to do that lol. I feel way better now uffff:biggrin:

mdaudioguy

ROHfan wrote: »

I have often wondered the same thing as his original question: At what price point does it become less about sound and more about aesthetics/looks/status?

F1nut wrote: »

As I already stated, there is no answer to that question.

Sheesh, indeed.

Actually, Jesse, I've done some calculations and I'm pretty sure it's $5,672.47 per speaker, or $11,344.94 per pair. After that, there can only be imaginary improvements. I am nearly certain of this.

F1nut

You've achieved the impossible, Ed. My hat is off to you.

Tour2ma

^ Not much of a salute... no way you'd ever risk "hat hair"...

mdaudioguy

^^ It has been said that he is impervious to hat hair. Hats simply give up and conform themselves to the shape of his head.

Or so I've heard...

Klegg

lanchile wrote: »

I had the 901 as a corner table to hold my plants, they were very nice until they got wet and the PARTICLE BOARD got all expanded!. But Some people use the 901 as speakers.

Uhhh you know most speakers are particle now..right? Even the "real wood" ones mostly use veneers.

F1nut

Tour2ma wrote: »

^ Not much of a salute... no way you'd ever risk "hat hair"...

Damn, you got me on that one. Even as a young teet sucker I could never tolerate a hat on my head.

Gulfstrings

Howmuch wrote: »

Mission brand of speakers...Anyone?

My son-in-law had a pair of Mission speakers years ago and they were decent though I don't remember that his rig would have brought the best from them.

And, to the original question - and inasmuch as this thread has taken on a spirit of its own, I'll risk a philosophical bullet and add this:

Given that we are, collectively, folks who enjoy spending for our hobby yet divide time between dreaming of what we want and rationalizing what we have, it then seems the audioitis that infects us all demands we reach just a bit higher than our budget will allow - one check (or swipe) at a time, 'till we hear that big tweeter in the sky. Which, by the way, we'll debate that tweeter's bright or fatiguing or whatever charecteristics.

Simply, the speakers we have are all almost as good as the ones we think we wish we had ...

mdaudioguy

^^^ Yes, it's probably human nature to want to believe that the returns start to diminish at a point just above the price of the speakers we've just purchased.

lanchile

Klegg wrote: »

Uhhh you know most speakers are particle now..right? Even the "real wood" ones mostly use veneers.

sure...The CHEAP CRABS!. The better ones use MDF and REAL wood veneers!!!!

madmax

I have several systems, the most expensive one is almost 20 times the cost of the cheapest. I enjoy both of these for different reasons. Its more about how well you put the system together than how much it costs or what it looks like.

Toolfan66

Very Good!!!!!!! Thats how good!!!

steveinaz

Klegg wrote: »

I wonder how many folks who bash 901's have really ever heard them set right.. People will jump in and say they have...but I am thinking no...:rolleyes:

True statement. I owned Bose 901 VI's for nearly 14 years, and had them connected to 2 Soundcraftsmen PM840 amps (bridged) for 600watts/rms, a Yamaha C-80 pre, and Yamaha CDX-1100(?) CDP. I had them 9" off the wall from the rear apex of the cabinets, and about 10 feet apart---they were pretty damn impressive in a large room. Articulate? hell no. Extended high frequencies? Nope. Smooth with extremely viceral bass...oh yeah. Not a classical music speaker by any stretch, but for rock, jazz, pop, they were a TON of fun. I still miss them sometimes.

IMO, the series VI was leaps and bounds improved over the IV. The IV's had a very nasal, distant sound I didn't care for. The VI's were much more up-front sounding.

There's a user on club polk (can't recall his user name--I called him "ski" back when I knew him in the Army), who I believe heard my 901 setup, but at the time we were renting a very small house--so it wasn't optimal.

EUSORO

Let us not forget that speakers are not always the most impotant thing wwhen it comes to enjoying the sound. listening position speaker efficiency and amp power as compared to speaker power rating are equally as important. We all know that if you know what you are doing you can make a $2000 system sound better than a $10000 system by matching all these factors effectively.

DON73

More money does not always mean better sound. A few years back I brought some $8,000 speakers ohm and compared them with my ADS L 710s and I took them back to the store because my L710s sounded better in my home than the more expensive speakers did. Audition speakers in the store but never buy them before you've had a chance to listen to them in your home with a variety of music you are familiar with. Don't be afraid to ask the store for an in home audition. I've never been turned down yet. $$$$$$$$doesn't always translate into better sound. If you like Polk Monitor 7s who GARA what your friends or neighbors have?

gdb

Dude, you need to fly your **** to Puerto Rico or Miami and listen to what you are going to buy. Stay away from steel drum music when you can because it WILL make you deaf.......six Carnivals on St.Thomas gives me the authority to say this. Trinidadian bands are de best mon!!:cool:

Howmuch

I think I have the disease. Every time I settle on a price for a speaker and say "absolutely no more" I find one better for just a $100 more and then $100 more . Now I'm thinking if I really need two Kidneys...ha ha.