Ot: home speakers

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

5.1 system...here as well

Sorry; I can't speak at all about home theater systems. I'm a Klipsch fan for music.

Klipsch IS having a sale on their home theater systems, however.

[pjm]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

yeah, that's my impression as well.
where's monitor audio fit in there?

Monitor Audio is right there with Klipsch or Elac. I heard a pair of big floor standing MA’s a while back and they were really impressive. Like a lot of these companies, they have a wide price range, but they have some good reasonably priced stuff.

[Vertical]

They're Canadian, reasonably priced..and I"ve had them for years and have no wants. I have the Image 4T, long obsolete but killer rigs.

[William]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

it's come up before so no need to rehash everything but I got speaker recommendations for mstr and Leon speakers, neither of which I'm familiar with. Anyone know these? Worth considering?
Fwiw, I was so far looking at elac and klipsch, leaning more towards klipsch cuz its more of the type of sound id be using it for, sports, tv, whole home boogy music. Not an audiophile.

Not sure where you are located but you might be able to find some great deals on preowned hi-end speakers. Possibly better pricing and sounding then what you are considering? This is one local to me but you might have something similar in your area...

https://www.hawthornestereo.com/used...kers-and-subs/










W.

[Gpmrntz]

First, are you going "old school" e.g. classic wired speakers? If yes, are you going bookshelf or standing? Check out B&W, Kef and vintage (horn driven) Klipsch. The first two are for pure sound, the latter are if you want to rock the house.

If you're going modern, e.g. wireless, all three of the above have options. I like B&W - have owned many pairs over the years, but I sold all of my equipment and went "simple" buying an all in one speaker, Internet, MP3, etc speaker player. Check out Naim's Mu-So (cube or bigger version). I have both and have been very pleased. They are both highly rated.

[djg]

Originally Posted by pjm

I do consider myself an audiophile, I’ve subscribed to Stereophile and The Absolute Sound off and on for decades, and follow the industry closely, and I have never heard of those first two companies. I don’t think you could go wrong with either Elac or Klipsch.

Nearly the same boat, give or take. I don't consider myself an audiophile anymore -- haven't for some time. But I once did, and long ago, in grad school, I worked in the business for a while (and had a long letter about testing printed in Stereophile once, mea culpa). I did some poking about 1-3 years ago putting together a second system, and I must have read all sorts of things and listened to new and used gear here and there. So . . . I can't pretend to know all of what's out there, not by a long shot, but I'm familiar with a fair bit of gear and I haven't heard of Leon or mstr either. Elac seem to offer good value on a number of models, and Klipsch . . . well, if the OP is not looking at the big ones, but just the towers with conventional drivers, then one can easily listen to them at various big box stores.

[tuxbailey]

I installed Q Acoustics bookshelf speakers as my main/center/surround/center in my basement and some in ceiling ATMOS speakers. Coupled with the SVS PB-1000 I am pretty happy with the result for an 20'x12' listening area. but I am not an audiophile.

An advantage of buying from this internet model is you can try them for free to see if they work for you, if not, free returns.

For reference, these are the ones I got for main:

https://www.whathifi.com/us/q-acoustics/3020i/review

I got the older model (3010i) as surround, and 3090ci as center.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

really just looking to see if anyone knows anything about the two mentioned above. i know nothing about them

I am very familiar with Leon Speakers. They've been in business for ~20 years, started by a couple of very funny guys from the Detroit area, still designed and built in USA. The use very high quality components, and fit&finish is definitely on the high end. Pricing is commensurate for that level of fit&finish.

Their market is almost 100% through the custom integrator channel, mostly because their most popular product is a soundbar which gets custom sized and custom painted to match any video display. So they're not very well known in "audiophile" circles.

Their most expensive speakers can sound pretty good. tbh I'm a little underwhelmed by the sound of their more affordable offerings, but their market seems far more concerned with design and aesthetics than audio performance so I suspect that's by choice.

[stephenmarklay]

Originally Posted by DHallerman

I can say the same thing, long-time audio geek who also has never heard of those first two companies. Elac, in particular, has a wide range of really good value speakers.

They are certainly one I would look at for the money.

I started building my own but I do have a pair of Kef LS50 bookshelf which are nice.


I made these small bookshelf speakers and matching sub. They now live in my garage gym.

The other is a sound bar that I made.

Both of them sound great and were fun to do. I have enough tools now that I am looking at building a bathroom vanity for a remodel we are doing. Win Win

[djg]

Originally Posted by stephenmarklay

They are certainly one I would look at for the money.

I started building my own but I do have a pair of Kef LS50 bookshelf which are nice.


I made these small bookshelf speakers and matching sub. They now live in my garage gym.

The other is a sound bar that I made.

Both of them sound great and were fun to do. I have enough tools now that I am looking at building a bathroom vanity for a remodel we are doing. Win Win

I've always liked Kef -- still have an old pair of their Reference 102 bookshelf speakers downstairs. An advantage, for internet recommendations is that they too are pretty easy to find and listen to -- at least certain models are -- and they are common enough that a local used audio shop might have some too.

[Likes2ridefar]

I’m a former audiophile (when I was single) and have had many of the speakers mentioned here.

I now use klipsch premier, forget the model, but their largest bookshelf and have two SVS subwoofers to accompany them for movies and such. I think they sound fantastic with anything I toss at them.

They are easy to drive, have a very energetic and engaging presentation notably for movies, and are cheap...relatively speaking.