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Mark4583
11-20-2004, 08:03 AM
I am currently trying to decide what components I want to go with for a new Stereo system. Not a Home theather but music only.
Ive been looking at many models and have only been able to listen to a few, here I only have a Best Buy and Circuit City to listen to equipment at and there the most pitifull set ups I have ever seen!
As of now im leaning to the Axiom M60Ti's, and probaly the Denon 685 and havent decided on a cd player yet.
Whats your oppinion on a set of speakers in this price range I should look at or are the Axiom's some I should stay away from?
Thanks

psonic
11-20-2004, 08:25 AM
There are a lot of speakers with great reviews that a lot people do not like or have not even been reviewed by a credible magazine. Have you listened to Axiom and if not, why would you want them over all the speakers in it's price range you can listen to?

My recommendations are based on hours of listening (and yes, you can go listen to them if a dealer is near), they are:

Energy C5 ~ $650 http://www.energyloudspeakers.com/connoisseur/connoisseur_speakers1_c-5.html

Paradigm Monitor 7 ~ $600
http://www.paradigm.com/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/MonSeriesII/MonitorSpecs.htm
Athena AS-F2 ~ $400 http://www.athenaspeakers.com/modelASF2.htm
Vienna Acoustics Bach - $800 (originally $1500, clearance at Tweeter)
Kef Q-5 ~750 http://www.kef.com/products/qseries/qseries5.html
Dynaudio Audience 62 & 72 - $1100-1500

kode3
11-20-2004, 08:57 AM
Used Martin Logans....:) Sorry I'm sorta bias...

I would look at Definitive Technology... Athena, maybe Vienna Acoustics.

Good luck, and have fun with it :)

N. Abstentia
11-20-2004, 10:12 AM
Why not good bookshelf speakers on stands? I've always preferred this setup over floorstanders, especially for music.

Lensman
11-20-2004, 10:16 AM
I am currently trying to decide what components I want to go with for a new Stereo system. Not a Home theather but music only.
Ive been looking at many models and have only been able to listen to a few, here I only have a Best Buy and Circuit City to listen to equipment at and there the most pitifull set ups I have ever seen!
As of now im leaning to the Axiom M60Ti's, and probaly the Denon 685 and havent decided on a cd player yet.
Whats your oppinion on a set of speakers in this price range I should look at or are the Axiom's some I should stay away from?
Thanks

With your budget and two-channel requirement, I think you'll find bookshelves sound superior to towers. Though I haven't heard them all, I've listened to quite a few speakers in this range. I've found towers at this price will give you more bass and usually more presence, but typically have some sort of resonance issues, while comparably priced bookshelves have better imaging, soundstaging, and balance.

While you can buy gear off the internet, speakers have more impact on the way your audio system will sound then anything else. So if you're critical about the sound, you should always listen to speakers before buying them. The best thing you can do is look up some high-end audio dealers/custom installers in your area and go listen to what they have. You'd be inclined to believe they're snooty folks who'll look down on you for wanting to spend such a tiny amount of money and laugh at you when you tell them what you have now. My experience has found this to be anything but the case. Most dealers (in fact all of them in my city) are very nice and will spend a good amount of time with you, taking great effort to move around hook up what you're interested in so you can hear it in an optimal set up - even when you tell them you have less than $500 to spend and want to upgrade from Radio Shack equipment (as I've done). It can also be fun and informative as they'll often let (sometimes even insist) you audition their finest stuff as well.

High end speaker manufacturers and dealers realize there's a strong market for lower priced components and there's a large number of choices available to local dealers in your price range. But many sell speakers at exceedingly affordable prices. For example, Paradigm's bookshelves start just at $189/pair. You'll also find more money doesn't always equal better sound. I recently had $1,000 to spend on bookshelves. After listening to a bunch, I was amazed to find I preferred a $350/pair over everything else.

dean_martin
11-20-2004, 10:42 AM
My experience has found this to be anything but the case. Most dealers (in fact all of them in my city) are very nice and will spend a good amount of time with you, taking great effort to move around hook up what you're interested in so you can hear it in an optimal set up - even when you tell them you have less than $500 to spend and want to upgrade from Radio Shack equipment (as I've done). It can also be fun and informative as they'll often let (sometimes even insist) you audition their finest stuff as well.

After listening to a bunch, I was amazed to find I preferred a $350/pair over everything else.

Lensman, my fellow Alabamian, which shops in B'ham do you recommend? I've been to one in B'ham that carried Plinius, Martin Logan, Alon and Jolida from what I can remember, but I can't remember the name.

If you're ever down this way I can recommend a shop in Mobile.

Of course you're probably either at or getting ready for the big game today! I'll check back later.

Mark4583
11-20-2004, 11:39 AM
My problem at the moment is I live just outside Springfield Illinois and as far as I can find there are no Audio dealers here except Best buy and Circuit City and there Both a Joke to listen to any products, so Im trying to narrow my choices down to just a few and go to a dealer thats going to be probaly St Louis just a little over 100 miles.
Thanks for all the input

matt39
11-20-2004, 12:57 PM
Hi Mark,

If you want to get an idea of the quality of Axiom speakers, check the Reviews section on this site. The M60ti's look like pretty good speakers. Frankly if you choose the DRA685 as your receiver you will be able to drive virtually any speaker in your price range which means you have a ton of excellent choices. I wouldn't automatically reject Best Buy and Circuit City as the Athena Technology speakers (BB) and Polk Audio (at CC) are pretty good and worth a look. If you go with a Denon receiver you might want to choose a Denon cd player as well since you could then just use one remote. The DCM 280 and 380 are good changers (I have the 380 in my own system) and are fairly affordable at $200 and $300 respectively. As for dealers, while I am sure St. Louis has some reputable dealers (perhaps someone from St. Louis could make some suggestions?) have you really checked the Springfield area thoroughly? It seems like a fairly sizable city and should have one or two. You might also consider Champaign as university towns usually have audio dealers. You know if you can get to Chicago on the weekend you might want to check out Saturday Audio. They have a good reputation and have an excellent website at www.saturdayaudio.com. They sell new, used and demo equipment and currently have some very nice deals on PSB Image series speakers they are clearing out. The Image 4T and 5T would be very good choices comparable to the Axiom's. You can also get information or advice on the phone or online. Just a suggestion--if you would give some information on the size of the room you will be putting your system in and the type(s) of music you listen to I think it would help folks give you better advice. Anyway this has been kind of a long post but I hope it helps out. Good luck on your new system.

drseid
11-20-2004, 04:39 PM
I may be mistaken, but I believe you are very close to Legacy Audio's (an Allen Organ Company) headquarters and manufacturing facility.

I recommend you visit there, and demo the Legacy Classics. They retail for around $3,000 new, but used on Audiogon.com, they are frequently found selling for $1300 plus shipping.

I think you will find the Classics may be just what you are looking for.

---Dave

RGA
11-20-2004, 04:57 PM
There are trade-offs in speakers and you need to know which you can live with and which you can not. Yes standmounts typically have less box resonances han standmounts - trade-off you usually lose a significant chunk of bass, dynamics, and the ability to play loud - so if hevey metals your thing standmounts probably are not. Some standmounts can outperform most floorstanders in the bass and dynamics departments like my standmounts but they have a considerable cost to deal with.

Based on what I've heard from most standmounts and seeing that the Axiom is of the design by the numbers approach of the others I would probably take the chance on them - you can return them if you don't like em anyway. You're going to be limited by what you can audition by the sounds of it - going by revews? Everything gets good reviews so really no help there. (Hell I'm trying to look for a digital camera and the reviews love everything - Future Shop is always pushing Canon so I get skeptical - they must make mmore profit on it is my assumption).

Try some standmounts too though - you never know.

NickWH
11-20-2004, 05:26 PM
RGA, sometimes products get good reviews because...they are good products!

Your dealer is right, go with the Canon camera. There is such a thing as being TOO skeptical.

Geoffcin
11-20-2004, 05:32 PM
I am currently trying to decide what components I want to go with for a new Stereo system. Not a Home theather but music only.
Ive been looking at many models and have only been able to listen to a few, here I only have a Best Buy and Circuit City to listen to equipment at and there the most pitifull set ups I have ever seen!
As of now im leaning to the Axiom M60Ti's, and probaly the Denon 685 and havent decided on a cd player yet.
Whats your oppinion on a set of speakers in this price range I should look at or are the Axiom's some I should stay away from?
Thanks

You can get some great speakers if you do some agressive shopping on the used market.
The best place to look is Audiogon.com. For audio only system you should consider Magnepan. You will have to have a decent amp, but it's worth the price of admission.

RGA
11-20-2004, 07:02 PM
RGA, sometimes products get good reviews because...they are good products!

Your dealer is right, go with the Canon camera. There is such a thing as being TOO skeptical.

No I'm sure the Canon is good - my friend really likes his A60 and Steve's Digicams like them too. It's just trying to wade through the lingo which is difficult for me. For instance I was in a place today lookingat two Cameras both for $550.00Cdn. One is the Canon S1 IS and the other was the Fuji Finepix 5100.

Now both are "recommended" by Steve's digicam. But the salesperson took a picture of a store across the way with both camera's and the picture quality was so much better on the Fuji it wasn't even close - but Future Shop keeps saying the lens is better in the Canons??? The fuji has more mega pixels - 4 opposed to 3.2(the dealer was saying that the Fuji's technology makes their mega pixel rate equivelent to the competitors at double the number - so a 4 mega pixel Fuji would be the equivelant of the Canon at 8 mega pixel) and both have 10 times optical zoom. The guy doing the demo told me that yes the actual picture on the Fuji is superior but the Canon has the flip out LCD so if you want a self picture or you're in a crowd it's handy - plus the Canon has a better stabilizer if you have shakey hands.

Do you see why someone like myself who is Camera illiterate can get snowed? Steve likes em both -- so perhaps it really doesn't matter but Future shop I don;t trust not after hearing the salespeople tell a family that Monster cable makes more of an improvement than buying new speakers - no kidding. :rolleyes: The other thing is today the people at FS were saying well Fuji is a midrange camera and the Canons use the best quality lenses etc. But that is not what the review say nor was it the way it looked when I actually saw the two pictures on the LCDs.

AHHHHHHHH I'm not up on camera's enough. Then there's my other friend who keeps telling me not to mess around and get a Nikon --- but was great for regualr cameras VS who is great for digital might not be the same.

Lensman
11-20-2004, 08:49 PM
My problem at the moment is I live just outside Springfield Illinois and as far as I can find there are no Audio dealers here except Best buy and Circuit City and there Both a Joke to listen to any products, so Im trying to narrow my choices down to just a few and go to a dealer thats going to be probaly St Louis just a little over 100 miles.
Thanks for all the input

It might not be such a barren wasteland. I did a quick look online and found these in Springfield:

Sound Systems Specialist
2220 Yale Boulevard
Springfield, IL 62703
(217) 789-7078
Appears to be custom installers, no idea what they carry

Sundown Audio Video
131 Chatham Road Suite B
Springfield, IL 62704
(217) 793-8888
They have a website:
http://www.hifigi.com/home.htm

Audio Video Contractors Inc
Springfield, IL 62701
(217) 698-0040
Appears to be custom installers, no idea what they have

Betty Televisual
Springfield , IL 62704
(217) 787-4756
Sells Energy Speakers, don't know what else

You may also go to speaker manufacturer websites and try their Dealer Locator. Just do a Google search with "CompanyName Speakers" to find the company's site. I did this for Paradigm and found:

Team Electronics
1700 E. Pershing
Decatur, IL, 62526
(217) 877-2774
Says it's 40 miles away, which is still a bit of a drive, but considerably closer than St. Louis

There appears to be a number of choices in Champaign, which may also be closer to you than St. Louis.

Hope this helps.

Lensman
11-20-2004, 09:57 PM
Lensman, my fellow Alabamian, which shops in B'ham do you recommend? I've been to one in B'ham that carried Plinius, Martin Logan, Alon and Jolida from what I can remember, but I can't remember the name.

If you're ever down this way I can recommend a shop in Mobile.

Of course you're probably either at or getting ready for the big game today! I'll check back later.

Well hello, neighbor! Good to see an Alabama compatriot here. I actually checked out your storm damage pics a while back. Not cool. My parents had two trees fall through the center of their house back when Opal came through. Hope you've gotten things back to normal.

Yes, I had to check out THE game. I think Alabama did as well as possible with a third string quarterback and no depth in the team. I hope Auburn plays for the title. I think they're better than Oklahoma or USC.

You were at Sound Decisions. Nice people. They also carry Monitor Audio. The owner was a DIYer and drummer, so he undertstands speaker design. He has the largest showroom in Birmingham. In so doing, he's bucking a major trend (I hope it continues to work for him). Most of the shops here are custom install and have very little in stock at any time. For example, there are two dealers that carry B&W, but it's like pulling teeth to arrange an audition. One place stocks nothing. You actually have to wait for someone to order a speaker for them to get it in so you can hear it. :(

I also recommend Audio Forest. They carry JMLabs, Denon, Conrad Johnson, and Opera. Again, great folks. Smaller, but still quite nice showroom. They have one listening room with Utopia Nova Be speakers connected to Conrad Johnson's best stuff that left me grinning like an idiot.

The venerable Likis Audio is another great place, though like so many, they keep very little in stock (though they had THE showroom many years ago). Once again, warm, friendly people who don't mind at all if you want to spend an hour listening to $189 Atoms. Probably the best custom installers around here. Very pragmatic as well. They're the only dealer I've ever seen that has no interest in selling you expensive speaker interconnects. As I was told once, "We tested all that out and found dual twisted pair 14 guage Proflex sounds as good or better in most cases." All their showroom stuff is wired this way. They sell Paradigm, McIntosh, Magnepan, Krell and a number of other things. You can also find some really esoteric vintage stuff as they often do trade-ins.

The other places here sell other brands and again, have decent people helping you. I wish them well, but put them on a secondary tier as they seem a bit lacking in knowledge depth. This may not be entirely true, but is the impression I've received from the specific people I've dealt with. They seem more like audio students, learning stuff on-the-fly and from CEDIA shows. This can sometimes make it hard to discuss choices or even audition stuff. For example, when the setup has one speaker against a corner wall and the other against an iron railing overlooking a two story open area, you know things aren't going to sound as good as the could.

So who in Mobile do you like?

BTW, if you're ever up this way and need help finding your way around or would like another pair of ears to compare things against, look me up. :)

bacchanal
11-21-2004, 02:59 PM
Here's another one of those props to my own equipment posts...

I like my Paradigm Studio 40s. They are large stand mounted speakers, but I was originally looking for floor standers when I got these. I chose them for their musicallity, and I use them in a 2.1 system.

There are lots of great speakers out there and it is absolutely essential to listen before you buy. Check out the specialty audio/video dealers in your area, and at the very least go back to best buy and give the Athenas another listen. If you're throwing down over a grand on speakers, you might as well take your time and do it right.

Good luck

Buzz Roll
11-21-2004, 08:33 PM
The best I've heard in this price range are the Ohm Microwalsh Talls.

dean_martin
11-24-2004, 04:04 PM
Well hello, neighbor! Good to see an Alabama compatriot here. I actually checked out your storm damage pics a while back. Not cool. My parents had two trees fall through the center of their house back when Opal came through. Hope you've gotten things back to normal.

Yes, I had to check out THE game. I think Alabama did as well as possible with a third string quarterback and no depth in the team. I hope Auburn plays for the title. I think they're better than Oklahoma or USC.

You were at Sound Decisions. Nice people. They also carry Monitor Audio. The owner was a DIYer and drummer, so he undertstands speaker design. He has the largest showroom in Birmingham. In so doing, he's bucking a major trend (I hope it continues to work for him). Most of the shops here are custom install and have very little in stock at any time. For example, there are two dealers that carry B&W, but it's like pulling teeth to arrange an audition. One place stocks nothing. You actually have to wait for someone to order a speaker for them to get it in so you can hear it. :(

I also recommend Audio Forest. They carry JMLabs, Denon, Conrad Johnson, and Opera. Again, great folks. Smaller, but still quite nice showroom. They have one listening room with Utopia Nova Be speakers connected to Conrad Johnson's best stuff that left me grinning like an idiot.

The venerable Likis Audio is another great place, though like so many, they keep very little in stock (though they had THE showroom many years ago). Once again, warm, friendly people who don't mind at all if you want to spend an hour listening to $189 Atoms. Probably the best custom installers around here. Very pragmatic as well. They're the only dealer I've ever seen that has no interest in selling you expensive speaker interconnects. As I was told once, "We tested all that out and found dual twisted pair 14 guage Proflex sounds as good or better in most cases." All their showroom stuff is wired this way. They sell Paradigm, McIntosh, Magnepan, Krell and a number of other things. You can also find some really esoteric vintage stuff as they often do trade-ins.

The other places here sell other brands and again, have decent people helping you. I wish them well, but put them on a secondary tier as they seem a bit lacking in knowledge depth. This may not be entirely true, but is the impression I've received from the specific people I've dealt with. They seem more like audio students, learning stuff on-the-fly and from CEDIA shows. This can sometimes make it hard to discuss choices or even audition stuff. For example, when the setup has one speaker against a corner wall and the other against an iron railing overlooking a two story open area, you know things aren't going to sound as good as the could.

So who in Mobile do you like?

BTW, if you're ever up this way and need help finding your way around or would like another pair of ears to compare things against, look me up. :)

Lensman,

been out of town for a couple of days so I pm'd you. thanks.

cycole
11-25-2004, 09:22 AM
I would take a look at this deal ! http://forum.av123.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5483
only 100 of them (amp and a pair of ref 1s )

Seeya, Cycole

Kafin8ed
11-28-2004, 01:06 PM
The entire Energy Conessiour series is on clearance at The Good Guys right now for HALF PRICE! I just got the C-5's out the door with tax for $400- Quite the deal. They also have C-7, C-9, and bookshelf models also at 1/2 price! Thought you might want to know.

twodan
12-05-2004, 05:31 AM
I am currently trying to decide what components I want to go with for a new Stereo system. Not a Home theather but music only.
Ive been looking at many models and have only been able to listen to a few, here I only have a Best Buy and Circuit City to listen to equipment at and there the most pitifull set ups I have ever seen!
As of now im leaning to the Axiom M60Ti's, and probaly the Denon 685 and havent decided on a cd player yet.
Whats your oppinion on a set of speakers in this price range I should look at or are the Axiom's some I should stay away from?
Thanks
mark, i have axiom's 60's in a home theater system, so i too am biased. if you enjoy crisp highs, and the ability to crank your tunes, the 60's may be for you. your room's interaction with loudspeakers are almost as important as the speakers themselves. if further intrigued by the axioms, cruse their web site and look in the forums for the thread listing folks who will be willing to let you listen.
take your time and take notes while listening.
dan

meephis
12-07-2004, 08:58 PM
I would consider a pair of Definitive Technology powered bookshelf speakers or preferrably go with a pairof powered towers. If you find an amazing deal ona pair of bp7002 go with those otherwise i would say check out Mirage, Energy, or Paradigm. I would also look into KEF.

watsons28
12-08-2004, 06:18 PM
Just wanted to say I bought the Energy C-7's and paid $575 for the pair at a local audio dealer. Haven't had a chance to hook them up yet by can't wait. You may want to call a Good Guys store they have the Energy C-5's on sale and said that they would ship them to me in NC. It would have cost $425 including shipping, not a bad deal at all.