Polk R30 vs. Polk R50 vs. Sony SS-MF650H

[shtgnsteve]

I am intersted in purchasing a pair of one of the speakers mentioned in the title and was hoping to get some input on which would be the best value. the Polk R30 , the Polk R50's or the Sony SS-MF650H Pair . I have found the Sony's for $135.00 and the cheapest i found the Polks are at the linked website. My budget is around $100.00-200.00 but would like to keep it as cheap as possible. Any other speakers any of you would recomend in that price range would be helpful.
Thanks.

[Eric Z]

My friend just picked up the Polk R50s on clearance at Fry's. He was able to get them for $79 each- I think they were marked incorrectly. I checked the link you posted and it brings you to Fry's and they have them for $199 each. I was extremely pleased with the sound. He is just doing 2 channel now without a subwoofer and I was very impressed- more bass than I expected, too. However, I would not pay $199 each for them- they're good speakers, but you can look at a lot of other speakers in the $400 range. I would try and stay away from speakers that aren't made by a speaker company (i.e. Sony, Yamaha, etc.). Stick with Polk, Mirage, Def Tech, B&W, MK, etc- there are plently of companies out there that are great- just go to your local store and start listening. If your budget is $200 for both speakers, look at some smaller bookshelf speakers- you can save some cash and still get a good quality speaker. If you like the sound of the Polk speakers, check out some of their bookshelf speakers.

Good luck!

[shtgnsteve]

Thanks for your input.