Affordable Bookshelf Speakers??

[infiniti029]

College student looking for a PAIR of bookshelf speakers for 50-150$ range. I don't really know any good models that would fit my needs.

- Casual listener
- Used mainly for hard thumping music, and movies.
- 50-150$ price range

Looking forward to suggestions!

[dean_martin]

My son has the Polk RTi25s. They're very good for the size and price. They play loud and handle rock well (and Halo on XBox too). They have a nice extended treble that isn't annoying and punchy bass that sounds deeper than it really is. I believe the newer version is the RTi28. These speakers are at the top of your price bracket and may be $10-25 more. Some negotiation may be required.

Other considerations: an older version of the Paradigm Titan or Atom or PSB Alpha. Paradigm and PSB may be into their 3rd or 4th version of these speakers. Sometimes you can find a dealer with the older versions in stock or a demo pair and get a good deal. These were the usual suspects when I was looking for bookshelf speakers a couple of years ago.

Another consideration is that most bookshelf speakers sound better on stands than on bookshelves. Of course this is an added expense. If you're going to put them on a shelf, then you might want to audition speakers as close to a wall as possible. Some rear-ported speakers muffle the bass when they are pushed against a wall or placed on a shelf with limited space. The Polks mentioned above have front ports and are not as effected by placement. Good luck.

[NickWH]

I agree with the above recommendations. This is a tough price segment, but good sound can still be attained. If you can stretch your budget to $180/pair, take a look at the Athena Audition AS-B1 bookshelf speakers. There have been many positive personal reviews of the entire Audition series.

[infiniti029]

I agree with the above recommendations. This is a tough price segment, but good sound can still be attained. If you can stretch your budget to $180/pair, take a look at the Athena Audition AS-B1 bookshelf speakers. There have been many positive personal reviews of the entire Audition series.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?j=1&id=1051806301325&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03043&skuId=5335693

Athena's for 150$ :)

btw i'll put setting up this stuff in my dorm, so space to put things in is an issue. so standing shelves is a def no no. thanks for the replies tho!

[Woochifer]

A few other suggestions:

Paradigm Atom
Boston CR55
Energy XL-150

If you can bump the budget closer to $300, then your options open up a LOT. Keep in mind that a lot of great speakers are not sold at the large superstores, so you might need to hunt out your options at the smaller specialty stores that carry these speakers.

[nightflier]

OK, I did a quick internet search so these are not HiFi, but they are inexpensive:

- Fluance SV-6 ($120)
- Polk R15 ($140)
- Infinity Primus 140 ($160)
- Athena AS-B1 ($120) or S.5 ($175)
- Streem SR-280 (?)
- Boston Acoustics CR-55 ($150)
- JBL E30 ($155)
- Wharfedale Zaldek 300 ($100 CC special)

Personally, the Fluance speaker looks promissing, although I've never heard it. The only speakers I know of the lot are the Polk, Athena, and Infinity speakers and I can say they sound fantastic at this price-point. You might also want to check this out:

- Infinity Entra 1 ($160 demo pair @ Audio Advisor)

[RGA]

Just go listen to speakers in your price range. There are no world beaters here but some are more competant than others. I would try those suggested thus far - some are pretty good in this price range some I think are atrocious...and that is different with different people so to find out you'll have to listen. And look for some closeouts - you may get a brand's higher end speaker for the same money - which might be a good place to start looking - the closeout sections.

[Weister42]

College student looking for a PAIR of bookshelf speakers for 50-150$ range. I don't really know any good models that would fit my needs.

- Casual listener
- Used mainly for hard thumping music, and movies.
- 50-150$ price range

Looking forward to suggestions!

I'm currently in college right now, and from my experience bookshelf speakers are not powerful enough for college parties. I have a pair of JBL N24s and I almost blew them many times at a party due to high bass content in music these days. I've tried a pair of AR Originals(its really old but has legendary SQ) with 10" woofers and they still weren't enough. Our house went through many different sets of amps/speakers and we finally settled with a Technics SU-V8X and 2 pairs of American Acoustics tower speakers, each with 2 10" woofers so eight 10" woofers total!!! I suggest you try to find a pair of used tower speakers on eBay, you can find a deal on Cerwin-Vega quite often and cheap. (college parties and big speakers go together, and Cerwin-Vega has been serving that kind of purpose for quite some time)

PS: Don't use KLH, their speakers tend to burn out easy.

[92135011]

I agree on Cerwin Vegas
They dont sound the greatest, but they play loud...very loud...
It's actually some DJs speaker of choice due to its cost and loudness

[RGA]

I agree on Cerwin Vegas
They dont sound the greatest, but they play loud...very loud...
It's actually some DJs speaker of choice due to its cost and loudness

Interestingly as High End as Soundhounds is they carry Cerwin Vega too. They're a fun speaker...and somewhere along the way Fun gets lost in this hobby. When i first started out I almost bought the Cerwin Vega D9 - it was $999.00 Cdn at Futureshop for the pair but the adverts on it were that you could plug it directly into the wall and it would not blow(unlimited watts or something). Big 15 inch woofer and something like 112db sensitive. The only problem was that females sounded like males a bit - we're talking bass response - and the pink rubber surround sure looked cool at the time. I'm glad I bought the Wharfedale Vanguards which still maintain SOME of that ridiculous party factor but also sounds more like a higher end speaker.

Of course some audiophiles go far too far the other way and the speakers can't rock at all - but boy does it image.

[pwh03]

hey just to let you know I just got done with my freshyear in college and if your in a dorm like you were saying I might not get shelfs there big and a dorm is not the place to have fun with new speakers especially if your drinking stupid RA's anyways. I'd just grab a cheep mini system or maybe some klipsch pro media computer speakers I had those and they worked well. then save up this year and when you get out of the dorms you cna buy better speakers and actually use them

just a suggestion though I know I never liked to hear people to save up and wait, but if I had my bookshelfs this year down in my dorm it would have just been a waiste of space maybe yours is different

good luck have fun
PH

[92135011]

wouldnt blow?? really??
wonder how that works...
An aquaintance of mine owns a DJ company. A few years ago I asked him what speakers he thought were the best, he said Cerwin Vega...but on the other hand...when you go to a club or something, bass is key...so much bass that you cant really make out the words.

[infiniti029]

pwh03: I was looking at a bunch of pc speakers, but not that many really maintain a high quality sound compared to real speakers. I've considered the promedias before, except a problem i've noticed is that they seem to die on a lot of people (poor wiring, amp problems, etc). I was also looking at the Logitech Z-2200, but they're too bassy and don't produce mids well. Any other suggestions?

[pwh03]

hey I had the klipshc promedia all year and I hade no problems in fact I hooked them up to as the rears and they sound great off my home amp right now so I was a happy user. Just to let you know I had the older versions, the ones that are basically there home sorrounds hooked up to an 8 inch sub. the new ones are round and more contemporary looking not sure about sound. Anyways I liked mine they worked well all year.

Hey though I was walking through bestbuy and circuit city today just waistin time and I came across some bose speakers they were a really cool design they had this little hockey puck volume control and two small speakers but they sounded absoultley great i was really impressed. they had them next to the klipsch and I have to sadly admit I think I liked them better. It seemed like they had an amazing amount of base so maybe there was a sub with them somewher I couldn't see
I would definatly look into those. Take a run up to best buy and see what you can find don't buy there but you can atleast here klipsch and bose and some others side by side.

That worked for me

I listen to all kindd of music and I have b&w 602's off a denon stereo receiver just to let you know where I stand on things hope this helps.

and if anyone else has herd the bose computer speakers let me know what you think.!

[Weister42]

When I was living in the dorms I had an all-out audio system with a Technics home theater receiver(which I still own and love), 5 JBL Northridge speakers, two power amps served as subwoofer amplifier, 2 12" Pioneer subwoofers tuned to 28Hz and 3 8" (brand unknown) woofers tuned to 40Hz for mid-bass. There was once when my friends told me that they can hear it in the basement of my dorm, and I live on 3rd floor! Of course my room was filled with electronics, but clever organizing still gave us plenty of room for parties and what not. Our room was the ultimate party room for a year and a half, then...

I got kicked out of the dorms b/c my stereo was "disturbing too much peace."

Buy some big speakers, but don't go overboard like me and get into trouble...it's very fun to have to talk to the exec. Director of School Life, he'll rip your head off and make you feel like a piece of Sh!t.....then gives you years of probation and a bad reputation.

[ToddB]

Try to demo the Paradigm Titan. The Atom might not have enough dynamic impact for your purposes, it's the one thing I don't like about that speaker.