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Decent speakers for mid-level AVR

Greetings, 

First time poster here.  I am looking to upgrade my home theater setup with a better set of speakers.  Been doing a lot of research, worried if the speakers i am looking at are going to be able to be driven with my AVR

 I have an Onkyo tx-rz50 that pushes 120 watts into two channels.  i omly have mains, a center channel and small surrounds.  Well, i do have this massive folded horn sub but it has its own amp. 

Been looking used in my area.  Listned to a set of paradigm premier 85f.  Nice, but a little  bright for my liking.  There is a local with a set of Focal aria 948.  I hear gppd things about them, but also hear they are power hungry. 

I dont really "rock out" much anymore, typical classic rock and 90s alternative rock se sensabilities.  and home theater of course.  

Any thoughts?  trying to stay under $4k for a pair.  i know that is pretty low end for auudiophile, but what can i say... i own 7 motorcycles and only one pair of speakers. 

 

thank you! 

pdxmonkeyboy
sunshdw's avatar
sunshdw
294 posts
 

Before I make a suggestion, have you had someone run the DIRAC Live calibration? If not, I would strongly suggest to that before you buy new speakers. You don't mention what speakers you currently have that you're wanting to replace. DIRAC allows you to tailor the sound to your liking so as you mentioned about the Paradigms, you can tone that brightness down a bit. The Focals are a great sounding and yeah they can be a little power hungry but if you are not running them full range (using the crossover in the Onkyo) then you should be fine. 

vvvvvv6's avatar
vvvvvv6
95 posts
 

From personal experience, I found my music to sound pretty terrible with a mid level AVR. I have a mid level Denon, and the best I can describe the sound is - don't do it for music.

I got a vintage amplifier for music only - and a speaker switch, and I'm much happier.

soix
11,242 posts
 

Welcome!  What main speakers/center are you using now, what specific improvements are you looking for, what speaker/sound characteristics are most important to you, and are you looking for new or used?  The more info you give the better recommendations you’ll get here.  Also, if you care about 2-channel the AVR is not your friend, so you could consider getting a better stereo integrated amp with a home theater bypass down the road and hook it up to the front preamp outs of your AVR and you’ll get much better sound.  Just some food for thought. 

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