No frills speaker manufacturers

Fritz

I do really enjoy my Timekeepers.

Of course I would love to have a pair of upper end Tannoy's for several of the reasons listed above. But I had 2k burning a hole in my wallet, not 6 to 9k. 

Thanks for responses. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a madisound speaker kit before my last speaker purchase but I was sure I would mess it up somehow. I do have experience putting flat packs together as I've assembled a few dayton audio DIY subwoofer kits but those are less complex than a speaker. You are guys are convincing me though. 

@blue_collar_audio_guy, just a note of caution on DIY/kits. Not all of them sound good even if they use good drives and show a nice modeled response. I’ve built a number of kits, designed a couple of my own, and heard many more at DIY meets. Sometimes, commercial speakers sounded better even at similar BOM cost vs retail.

If you are going this route, due diligince is recommended. Espically, if your are going with a BOM over a grand. Some designs available as kits that impressed me were Jeff Bagby’s Kairos and the Linkwitz Pluto & LX Mini.

For commerical, another high value brand is Salk but his speakers are not no frills in the finish department. However, even with their nice encolsures they are still very high value in dollars to performance ratio. The Song3 BeAT is a gem as is the SM6 IMHO.

Used and neglected 80s vintage Ohm Walsh talls if you can find them on a fairly local Craigslist, and then buy upgraded speakers to install in the original cabinets.  With luck the cabinets are presentable, and the new speakers come with new grill cloth.