Budget floorstanders under $500 ?


Hey everyone,

I'm trying to find a pair of budget speakers with decent low-end. My current set-up is Cambridge Audio DVD89> Jolida 102B> Mission M71i. The Missions are small bookshelf speakers with a 5" woofer and spec down to 65hz (I think) buth they're really thin on even the mid-bass. I have a small 11x10 room. I listen to 50s/60s jazz, female vocals and rock. I'm considering a few speakers from Audio Advisor - Energy C-300s, Boston CS226s or Athena LS300s. I'm also considering the Polk M20s or Monitor 50s which are selling very inexpensively on NewEgg.com.

Can anyone provide suggestions or alternatives?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Tim
chuke076

Showing 2 responses by ablang

With the size of your room, why not go with a larger--and more refined--monitor? At the price range you're looking in, you could get a lot more for your money (especially buying used, and assuming you already have stands). Check out speakers from KEF's older Q (Q15 is great: look on eBay) or newer iQ lines. They're front ported (great for a small room) and have ~90dB sensitivity, which would work well with your Jolida. KEFs have a great, warm sound with a beautiful midrange that would suit your listening tastes ideally. I have a considerably more expensive pair of Vandersteens now, but I still miss my Q15s: they really got voices right. As I recall, they went to the mid-50s in the bass. Always sounded great in even medium-sized rooms. A step to floorstanders at the price you're considering would likely be a step sideways.
I do think the step sideways could be gaining some bass (that might not be all that well defined or might create room-interaction problems) while giving up some mid/high frequency refinement. For the music you listen to, I'd think a less musical midrange would be a big downside.

All the suggestions above are good ones, though I will say (though I love my Vandies) that the 1c probably wouldn't work in your room as you need to keep them away from boundaries and be able to sit 8 feet away from them (so the time and phase aligned drivers can come together by the time they reach your ears). Part of the reason I like KEFs is that they have a (more or less) point-source approach (tweeter mounted in the middle of the midrange driver) that gives them very even dispersion and great soundstaging--not very fussy in terms of where you sit in relation to them at all. Triangles and others, same thing essentially compared to Vandersteen--easy to use in the near-field.