Bookshelf Speakers for under $500

[fahertyps]

I am looking for recommendations on a pair of bookshelf speakers for use in family room setting. Listening to various genres from classical to classic rock. I was leaning towards a pair of Paradigm Studio 20 v4s, which I heard recently and really liked the sound of, but the price is a bit high for my budget ($725-$800/pr) plus the size is a bit bigger than is optimal. The speakers would be in book cases on either side of my fireplace and I?d like to stay below $500. I own a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors and could go with another pair I suppose. I have purchased a Denon DRA-685 100 watt receiver to power them. Your thoughts?

[topspeed]

Without a doubt, if you can negotiate this guy to $500-550, you will be hard pressed indeed to find a better speaker at this price point. One of the best monitors I've heard, regardless of price. Of course, I own a pair so consider me suitably biased .
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls....oni&1098667117
http://vonschweikert.com/vr1.html

[RoyY51]

At the risk of repeating myself ( aah, why not? ), the Monitor Audio Bronze B2's are a great value. They have coated metal dome tweeters without a trace of harshness or brass, a midrange to die for, and bass that extends down to 42 HZ. Plus, they are front-ported so you will have less interaction with your cabinets than with a rear-ported design. These speakers have been extremely well reviewed in a number of hi-fi mags, and just as favorably praised on this sites consumer review section.

I know that The Good Guys is carrying them, but if you go there to audition them make sure that they are hooked up correctly. Twice, when I was on my audition quest, I heard B2's that were wired out of phase, and the salesman never noticed the difference. I know that GGs is willing to dicker on the price ( I was offered them for 325.00, down from the retail of 399.00 ), but I ended up purchasing them from DMC Electronics in Garden Grove, CA. for 300.00. They also sell on line.

Happy Hunting!

[goatspeed]

If you are interested in Monitor Audio, you can get silver series bookshelf speakers for less than 500 bucks. Here is a writeup in hi-fi choice on the S1's. http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/review_read.asp?ID=2543

You can also get the silver S2's for under 500 dollars on www.digitalcraze.com. I couldn't find a writeup on those, but given how good the S1's are, I don't think you could go wrong with the S2's.

[fahertyps]

Thanks for the input. I'm leaning toward the MA B2 since they are front ported. I think the rear port on the Silver series may be an issue since they will be on a shelf in a book case. Any suggestions on where to purchase the Bronze 2? I emailed DMC Electronics and hope to hear back from them, but it never hurts to have some competition.

I found a really good comparison on another thread. Though its for the B1. http://www.monitoraudiousa.com/revie...andvision.html

[goatspeed]

Yeah that's probably a good idea. Mine are a few inches from the wall, and I don't use the port plugs...they sound better without in my setup. The S10's I have up front have 2 rear ports, so positioning and plugging was tricky. I went with a foot away from the wall with 1 port plugged and 1 port open on each speaker.

[mustang]

BOSE 301s. Seriously, listening to classic rock, the BOSE, for $320, will show those speakers who's boss. If you truly listen to classic rock, the 8" woofer will rock the place far more than those 6.5"s

[eisforelectronic]

Totem

[N. Abstentia]

BOSE 301s. Seriously, listening to classic rock, the BOSE, for $320, will show those speakers who's boss. If you truly listen to classic rock, the 8" woofer will rock the place far more than those 6.5"s

Not really. Saying it's a better speaker just because it has an 8" woofer does not make it a better speaker. Besides, give me the $75 6" woofer in the Paradigms or Totems over the $12 8" paper Bose woofer any day.

[goatspeed]

Bose doesn't make anything that sounds better than anything Monitor Audio does on any level. I've owned both. It's not even close.

[kexodusc]

Not really. Saying it's a better speaker just because it has an 8" woofer does not make it a better speaker. Besides, give me the $75 6" woofer in the Paradigms or Totems over the $12 8" paper Bose woofer any day.

A $75 woofer? Not in those speakers, Totem's, like the Arrow, Sttaf, etc, use Peerless drivers, the woofers are the Classic line or custom made faceplated CSX-line woofers (sandwich-cone design is the giveaway, or tour the factory some time and you can see them). They're very popular to "clone" in the DIY world because the drivers are so readily available. In terms of performance, they're very, very similar to the Peerless drivers in the ar.com DIY that I have, especially the 812687 tweeter...probably in the $35-$45 range each. (Totem would get a volume discount no doubt) The woofers in my Studio 40's DO NOT stand up to those, so I doubt they're even that expensive (though I know first hand Paradigm will charge an arm and a leg for replacement drivers...bastahds). I know some Paradigms had Vifa drivers way back, I wonder if their profit margins have gone up since they started building their own? (I secretly suspect they aren't all built internally)

Anyway exptrapolating to Bose, I'd be surprised if it was even an $8 woofer. You can actually do alot with a $12 woofer.

[Woochifer]

A $75 woofer? Not in those speakers, Totem's, like the Arrow, Sttaf, etc, use Peerless drivers, the woofers are the Classic line or custom made faceplated CSX-line woofers (sandwich-cone design is the giveaway, or tour the factory some time and you can see them). They're very popular to "clone" in the DIY world because the drivers are so readily available. In terms of performance, they're very, very similar to the Peerless drivers in the ar.com DIY that I have, especially the 812687 tweeter...probably in the $35-$45 range each. (Totem would get a volume discount no doubt) The woofers in my Studio 40's DO NOT stand up to those, so I doubt they're even that expensive (though I know first hand Paradigm will charge an arm and a leg for replacement drivers...bastahds). I know some Paradigms had Vifa drivers way back, I wonder if their profit margins have gone up since they started building their own? (I secretly suspect they aren't all built internally)

The only drivers that Paradigm outsources are the tweeters for their Cinema series speakers, and I think maybe for the Atom and Titans as well. If you look at some of the speaker manufacturers that make their own drivers, they are typically high volume companies. I would guess that Paradigm quit outsourcing their drivers once they achieved a high enough volume that it would make financial sense to internalize that part of the business. Their product literature claims that they make their own components in order to maintain higher quality standards, but having the driver fabrication under the same roof also means that they're not affected by interruptions in the supply chain and they can more quickly implement design changes (like when the v.1 Studio series tweeters had adhesion problems, it did not take them long to fix that problem). And yes, if the volumes are high enough, it's probably a lot more profitable.

Also, I thought that Totem's woofers were made by Dynaudio, because Dynaudio at one point was primarily an OEM supplier, and gradually got more into making their own speakers, but still maintains some limited OEM capacity.

[kexodusc]

I'll have to look into that Wooch, I wouldn't doubt that Dynaudio makes a few drivers for them. I can guarantee you that Peerless makes the drivers for at least the the Arrow, sorry, "Arro", the "sandwich cone" is basically a CSX driver with a more narrow "custom plate" to allow for Totem's narrow speaker designs. Just looking at some their models woofers on the webpage right now, a few models certainly look like Peerless units are used as well, especially the Rainmaker and the Mani. I think they use some Seas drivers in a few models too, but I can't be sure.
I was at a DIY speaker convention in Montreal earlier this year...met with a few folks from Totem and even go to see their facility there. (not as big as you'd think, but it's neat seeing hundreds of empty, speaker cabinets). Totem clones are popular in the DIY community (especially around Montreal) and they made no secret that the Arro uses Peerless drivers. The few encounters I've had with the Arro had me putting it somewhere in between the Studio 40 and 60, with better midrange and slightly less bass response. They were high on my audition list, but I chickened out of the 4 ohm speakers because I only had a 5 channel Yammie at the time and no power amps. They really squeeze out alot of bass in their designs...I guess that's their gimmick.
I had a link to some guy's webpage that had a list of speaker models and the drivers used therein. I can't seem to find it anymore, does anybody else here have it?