Which Speakers ? under $600

[dave123456@mail.com]

I thought you were looking at the AZ floorstanders? I'm heading over to Vancouver to hear the Minis and Stratus line as well sometime over the holidays - at least that is my hope.

I have not listened to the AX with receivers - I don;t know what amp you are using - I used a basic Rotel RA 1 or 2 and AN's SET amps and a pretty bad NAD 320Bee. Still this should be less picky than other AN speakers being it's the bottom of the line from the company - They can also be placed free standing so you know - so close to wall or out into the room - I'd be curious where you find the best results - I listened to them in corners of a realtively narrow room about a foot from the back wall or so.

Well, I originally planned on auditioning the AZ series, but after talking to a few dealers and exchanging emails with audio note they felt the AX-Two would work best with my small ( 10x10) room and the az series might not work considering my positioning options. Also, dealer isnt exactly close so shipping would be alot more.


As far as using a receiver im not, ill be using a Cambridge Azur 540a which to me sounds much, much better than the Onkyo receiver i was using. And since the AX-two is substantionly cheaper than the az series, if i decide to buy a pair of ax-two's ill be able to try tubes with them. Still, id love to try the AZ-Two's in a bigger room more suited for them.

[Kpt_Krunch]

Is it possible to find a really good set of 2 channel hifi speakers that are made in the UK, US, Europe for under $600 pair ? I like some wharfedales, and others, but the range I can afford is made in china. Please no lectures about these being good value, etc. I would like to stick to the criteria above. Recommendations ? I have a simple Musicl Fidelity amp B1 35 (strong) watts/channel.
http://www.musicalfidelity.com/mf/en.../B1Range/B1Int

Thanks !!

For $548 US, it's pretty hard to beat Ascend Acoustics CMT340's.


http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...m/cmt340m.html

[SpankingVanillaice]

I can say I can hear lots of details on the highs on the JBL Control 1X monitors too. They sound really clean and percise.

[bacchanal]

For $548 US, it's pretty hard to beat Ascend Acoustics CMT340's.


http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...m/cmt340m.html

I agree, these are about as much bang for the buck as you can find at this price point, especially if you're talking new gear.

Well worth the time to go for the 30 day audition.

[RGA]

Has anybody heard the Mission V63? I'm looking at these or B&W 603 s3. I've heard them both through the Yamaha1500 and 2500 Reciever/Amps but not at the same place or time. I want to drive which ever I choose with the Yamaha 2500, 50/50 theatre / Rock, R&B,Blues. My room is 4*8 meters, Concrete roof & 3walls other wall is glass & wood floor. Surround speakers will be my old frounts,-Acoustic Research 308HO which should give me plenty of base at the back with its 10" side woofer.

With the size of the room standmounts are going to have some trouble(well most of them) and it sounds like it could be a vey "live" room. I would probably not want to sit too far away from them - perhaps listen nearfield in which case I might consider PMC(but I would really want to try them at home first). I liked the older Mission line more than the newer V line - I think the new Missions are more geared to home theater - but since that's what you're going to be using them for a lot then that's not a bad thing necessarily. A lot of the speakers like Energy, Polk, Paradigm offer up a largely homogenous sound so it's more a matter of choosing based on price and build and looks than on sound.

For your room I would probably listen at home with spekaers that lean to the bright side (metal tweeters) and I would probably purchase a large area rug and some rugs to hang on all your walls(but that's more experiment.

For home theater try and listen to the whole H/T set-ups - they kinda have you in this regard because you can't do any credible A/B listening session to such systems because you'd have 5 speakers to replace and a subwoofer to adjust and you would have to adjust the time delays for home theater - all of which could take hours to properly do when switich out the B&W's for some other brand.

I think you just need to listen and work out a deal that if you don't like them you can return them.

[dave123456@mail.com]

I disagree with the Ascends, well the CBM-170 but from what I understand the CMT is pretty much the samething but with an extra driver- so I would guess they sound similiar. To me, the Ascends sounded overly analytical with almost no trace of musicality and also seemed like a etchy midrange which i suspect was from the aerogel driver. I directly compared them to the PSB Stratus Mini, and imo the minis totally blew the Ascends away in every category that matter- much more musical, much more emotion to the music, just sounds more natural. I dont mean to bash Ascend as they are great to deal with and there speakers would make a great HT system, but they just didnt do it for me with music and I think at $600, especially used they have some serious competition.

[RGA]

Well, I originally planned on auditioning the AZ series, but after talking to a few dealers and exchanging emails with audio note they felt the AX-Two would work best with my small ( 10x10) room and the az series might not work considering my positioning options. Also, dealer isnt exactly close so shipping would be alot more.


As far as using a receiver im not, ill be using a Cambridge Azur 540a which to me sounds much, much better than the Onkyo receiver i was using. And since the AX-two is substantionly cheaper than the az series, if i decide to buy a pair of ax-two's ill be able to try tubes with them. Still, id love to try the AZ-Two's in a bigger room more suited for them.

Yes it is nice to be able to use tubes - the SET was significantly better even with an inexpensive spekaer like the AX Two - my amp as good as it is just doesn't cut it. Still the Cambridge is around the same level of the Rotel so it should offer good results - The Rotel lacked that front to back soundstage and din't come out of the blackness as well and had that grain in the upper midrange lower treble - but it was very nice budget gear - The an SET was much better but it bloody well SHOULD be given the price - but I was pleased that a cheap speaker could actually utilize and get better with better gear.

There are some folks at Audio Karma you might be able to ask about the AN AX Two as well. The thread discusses tube gear matching as well as theinitial impression to about 20 hours. The speaker uses foam surrounds and does have some break in period which I noticed on my own speakers though in my case they sounded good from the get go. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...threadid=16130

Apparently they were and are getting very good results from a $350.00US Jolida tube amp in the 301. http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthr...threadid=16497

I liked the 302B which is much more expensive so it might be wirth you asking them about the Jolida 301 as a possible match for the AX Two - that is assuming you even like the AX Two to begin with. http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthr...threadid=16497

In fact the price of the Jolida is so cheap it's interesting me as well. I tink they are talking about the JD1301a. http://www.jolida.com/catalogue/hybridamp.shtml for $350.00 might be a pretty good hybrid.

[dave123456@mail.com]

Yes it is nice to be able to use tubes - the SET was significantly better even with an inexpensive spekaer like the AX Two - my amp as good as it is just doesn't cut it. Still the Cambridge is around the same level of the Rotel so it should offer good results - The Rotel lacked that front to back soundstage and din't come out of the blackness as well and had that grain in the upper midrange lower treble - but it was very nice budget gear - The an SET was much better but it bloody well SHOULD be given the price - but I was pleased that a cheap speaker could actually utilize and get better with better gear.

There are some folks at Audio Karma you might be able to ask about the AN AX Two as well. The thread discusses tube gear matching as well as theinitial impression to about 20 hours. The speaker uses foam surrounds and does have some break in period which I noticed on my own speakers though in my case they sounded good from the get go. http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...threadid=16130

Apparently they were and are getting very good results from a $350.00US Jolida tube amp in the 301. http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthr...threadid=16497

I liked the 302B which is much more expensive so it might be wirth you asking them about the Jolida 301 as a possible match for the AX Two - that is assuming you even like the AX Two to begin with. http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthr...threadid=16497

In fact the price of the Jolida is so cheap it's interesting me as well. I tink they are talking about the JD1301a. http://www.jolida.com/catalogue/hybridamp.shtml for $350.00 might be a pretty good hybrid.

Actually, Brian B on AK is the dealer that ive spoken to over the phone a few times and is suspose to be sending out a pair of the AX-Two as we speak. A very nice fellow to deal with btw. He also mentioned that the Jolida, which he sells, is a perfect match for these speakers, as well as my currecnt Cambridge being a good match. IF I like the AX-Two's then auditioning the Jolida would be a very serious consideration , considering that I wanna try tubes and would already have access to a decent dealer.

I would also be curious as what you think of the Mini's when you hear them soon, as I wiill be soon comparing the AX-Two and the Mini's side by side in my own room.

[RGA]

Did you tell this dealer that you had the Stratus Mini's? See I have not heard the Mini so I don't know how that will go - generally I like PSB more than Energy and Paradigm.

I have heard the Strats Silver and in around 1996 the Status Gold. The PSB Alpha B was in the running when I bought my B&W DM302.

The Jolida is an interesting unit for about $350.00 it'd be tough to go too wrong to get a aste of tubes - he apparently likes it more than some of the more expensive Jolida's - and that is always possible. How tall are you stands? They need to be on 24 inch stands - and they are meant to be played with the grills off - well all the other AN's are so I'm making an assumption here.

Also if he is sending a new set I'd be curious as to your take on the break-in time with them - the fellow who bought em on Audio Karma seemed to notice a significant improvement after just 20 hours (foam surrounds). I'd be interested if that is a similar time frame - My B&Ws and J's are the only speakers I've had that have exhibited improvement but both were quick.

[Stu-r]

Is it possible to find a really good set of 2 channel hifi speakers that are made in the UK, US, Europe for under $600 pair ? I like some wharfedales, and others, but the range I can afford is made in china. Please no lectures about these being good value, etc. I would like to stick to the criteria above. Recommendations ? I have a simple Musicl Fidelity amp B1 35 (strong) watts/channel.
http://www.musicalfidelity.com/mf/en.../B1Range/B1Int

Thanks !!

I've owned more than 26 pr. speakers during the past 50 years. Just got a pair of SDAT SB-880s. Rated at 4 ohms. Great clarity, definition, and balance. Good drivers, proprietary surrounds. They have two 8 inch woofers, equivalent to a 12", four 3 inch mid-range, equivalent to a 6 inch, and two supertweeters. The woofers and the mid-ranges are in D'appolito arays, the two supertweeters have phasing disks and are arranged side-by side. The horizontal dispersion is outstanding. The instrumental detail is better than I've heard from anything under $2000. If you like classical music, you'll love these. If you prefer rock, I don't recommend them. They're rated at 91 db/watt, so your 35 watt amplifiers will drive a pair to 109 db. They are large though - 44" tall, 11" square, and 59 lbs. each. Cabinets are solid and well braced. You can get a pair for $265-349 from Mixsonic, Overstock, Essex, and others. Don't let the low price throw you. SDAT is a chinese OEM supplier to other speaker manufacturers. I think that when the word gets out, these will be more expensive.