What in your opinion is the best bookshelf speaker new or used in the 700-1200 range

pearsall001

heiney9 wrote: »

That's my thought too!

How about those AAD Monitors Phil had at the last PolkFest. They sounded really good. I forget the model number and I'm not sure of the used price. No sub needed with those.



H9

Those AAD 2001 monitors are some kickass monitors!!!! Another Phil Jones remarkable design with outrageous performance. My room is 3,000cu ft & these puppies had no problem filling it without straining a bit. I enjoyed them for years & all my audio buds kicked me in the butt for letting them go. I do miss them but it was time to shake things up a bit. You won't find them on the used market very often & if you do you'll be hard pressed to pay less than $1700. Maybe some day another pair will grace my listening room.

falconcry72

audiocr381ve wrote: »

Falcon, is that right? I've been wanting to get me ears on the Gold series for awhile now. Could you elaborate a little on your experience with both? I'd love to get more bang for my buck.

H9, that's totally fair. I respect that.

Well, I spent about half a day at a dealer a couple months ago to check out the the LsiM's, and we ended up spending a good amount of time with the Monitors, some Cantons, and some Focals.

The system was all Bryston and all new. Don't know all the models, but I believe it was the BCD (CD Transport) -> BP-26 (Soloid State Pre) -> 4BSST (Solid State Power Amp @ 300 watts/channel). Between this setup and the absolutely perfect room we were in, literally everything sounded great.

I Loved that system. one of my missions in life is to own a 4BSST.:cool:


We spent most of the time switching between the Monitor Gold bookies, Monitor Gold Towers, Monitor Platinum bookies, and LsiM-703's. The dealer was super accommodating and switched back and forth probably 50 times. He did a lot of quick change A/B'ing to try to be as fair as possible.

Between the (3) bookshelves, I felt that the Polk's tweeters were equally as resolving as the Monitor Gold's, but the Polk's had a little extra mid-range detail and a little extra low-end extension, no doubt due to their 3-way design. The Monitor Platinums used some sort of ribbon tweeter, and they were really great. They had a really nice kind of transparency and sparkle in the top end that remained soft on the ears. That can be a difficult to achieve combination. The Platinum's fit and finish was excellent, the best of the (3) by far. The Platinums were the superior speaker of the (3), but, again, at the 4500-5000, I'd spend my money elsewhere.

The Monitor Gold Towers were really nice. They added a huge amount of low-end, plus better imaging, more mid-range detail, and a wider soundstage than the Gold bookshelves. I felt that the Monitor Gold Towers were the best bang for the buck out of the (3) Monitor speakers, but the overall best bang for the buck was the LsiM's, for sure.

Ballpark pricing (don't remember exactly):

LsiM-703: 1500
Monitor Gold Bookie: 2000
Monitor Gold Tower: 2800
Monitor Platinum Bookie: 4500

So, again, the Polk LsiM's were the best buy overall, and the Monitor Gold Towers were the best buy out of the Monitor line. I really liked those towers, much more so than either of the Monitor Bookies.

Anyway, my 0.02.

Get out to a dealer and get your ears on'em if you're interested


To jimBRICK: there is a lot of really good competition in the 1k monitor group, and you can find some really excellent deals. Try to get your ears on stuff, but if you can't, you've got some good recs above.

Cheers and good luck!:cheesygrin:


Ben

gdb

Old Dynaco or Advent bookshelfs sound good to me.

marvda1

another good bookshelf is the onix reference 1 which was sold with the sp3. pm me i might be able come up with a pair for sale.

Obsession18

If your somewhat handy the Zaph Audio SR71 kit available from Madisound seems to be an excellent option, they use some really nice Seas drivers and the cost is right $630, including cabinets. No soldering is required to assemble. These things get some rave reviews on the web. Here is a link:

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/2-way-speaker-kits/zaph%7Caudio-sr71-kit-pair-complete/

Joe08867

Always liked Totem for Bookshelf speakers. Dreamcatcher's come to mind as well as Rainmakers. Hard to beat imho.

marvda1

here is closeout pricing on the new onix speakers. i have heard the bravo and it is a nice sounding speaker it does not go real low in the bass department but you don't feel like you are missing a lot.
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=2920.0

JimBRICK

Willow wrote: »

look who resurrected from the dead........been a long time Jim

Thanks, had some HUGE life changes and a career upswing, so now I am rebuilding my systems. Good times to be had. Starting with the 2 channel and then the home theatre after we build the house. I think I have it narrowed down to the
Totem Model 1,

Val Skel Vr1 or

Onix reference 1s

or the fritz

I'm powering them with my onix sp3, a jolida jd-100 cd and a yaquin Model MS-22B phono preamp with the turntable my old man gave me Thorens TD126 MKIII turntable with SME 3009 IIIS tonearm

JimBRICK

Von Schweikert vr1, I meant

del44

Might want to check out the Revel M22's. They can be had in your price range.

praedet

GR Research N2x or N3s...

TORO3 (TORI3)

The Onyx speakers look interesting. While doing some research on them I came across this article. An HDCD compatible player, tube preamp, plus the Reference 1s, sounds like a steal for $1449.

Regardless, I'm surprised I haven't come across some of these speakers you've mentioned while I was looking for my bookshelf speakers last year. I ended up getting piano black Ascend Sierra's. It seems like they're somewhat similar to the Onyx's low end and midrange characteristics. They're great speakers, but I sure would like to listen to some of the other speakers you're interested in. Keep us posted, we'd love to get your thoughts on your decision!

falconcry72

Here's a good deal on some Usher BE-718's:

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1323132415&/Usher-BE-718-

I've never heard them, but they get great reviews... even from some of the picky people here.:biggrin: