Best $300 Speaker Used


My dad is finally getting involved in Home Theater. He has an Outlaw 1050 receiver and is looking for the best set of mains he can get for under $300 new or used to pair with it. These will probably be mostly used for home theater together with some listening to 50s and 60s rock and roll. Size is not a real issue here. I would imagine in this price range it will be necessary to get a subwoofer for full range sound, but if there is something out there that can do it without one that would be better.

I recommended he audition the Paradigm speaker line because of their excellant price/performance ratio. What other speakers would you recommend he listen to?
gpalmer

Showing 1 response by audioslug

I would bet you a good sized bet that you won't find anything better for the money than the likes of the new Energy C-1's for $299/pr retail!!!...and that includes more expensive stuff at $300 used!..or more!
However, if you can afford the C3's, they have better bass, and are $499/pr. These speakers are too new to to be found used however, unless you local chain store has them as returned openbox or something.
Anyway, you can also find a used pair of Energy C-2's, that are older models, at around $200=300 range used(retailed $600 new), and these all sound great as music/HT speakers!
I say this, and I've owned some mondo expensive speakers over the years, and none is as exciting for the money as these new Energy bargain speakers!
If you have a large room however, you might want to find some DiAppolito configued speakers (Drive/tweeter/driver) speakers to use to control room refections and focus a bit. Otherwise, you'll love the Energy Conneiseur series speakers, trust me.
They are dynamic, open, pretty decently detailed for the $, clear, uncolored, and great treble and midrange. I've had quite a lot of mid priced monitors come through my means over the years, includng B&W 600 series, Tannoy MX series, NHT 1.5's and Zero's, and others. Thus far nothing at that sub $600 price range new is as good as what Energy's C series is offering. You might want to go give em a listen.
I also know of someone who still has a pair of new C2 Energy's(Stereophile recommended as borderline Class B/C) new inthe box if interested!..it's thought.
Anyway, good luck.