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best speakers on AGON for about $500

Here's the story. My father loves Jazz and Blues. He still owns many old LP's dating back to his single days in the sixties. Back then he had a Sansui Receiver, Sansui record player, and a pair of Acoustic Research AR3's. Since 40 or so years have gone by, he has nothing left except the LP's and no way to listen to them (it's been this way for about 20 years).
A couple of months ago, while listening to my own system, I remembered how much he liked his music. So, I thought, why not put together a budget system for him for a Christmas Present.
So far the only thing I have bought is a B&K Pro10mc Preamplifier. I plan to pair it with something along the lines of a B&K ST-140,ST-202, EX442, etc. It's just a matter of time before I buy one of these amps mentioned.
This post is to try to get some opinions of speakers available here on AGON now, or commonly available for about $500 give or take. Not interested in rare hard to find speakers. Just ones I will have a chance of getting in a timely manner. A few names that come to mind are EPOS, Vienna, Usher, Quad, Paradigm and more. What do you think would pair nicely with these electronics and his old LPs? Keep in mind I'm not interested in rare hard to find speakers. Just ones I will have a chance of getting in a timely manner here on AGON/Ebay. Thanks for the input.
jdfelice
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Jdfelice,

I've heard of the EPOS ELS-3 (and I'm assuming the ELS303 are an updated version), but never got the chance to hear a pair as I could never find a nearby dealer, and believe me I was looking as I was interesting in hearing the EPOS line. I do know the ELS-3 got quite a number of positive reviews when it first came out. Could be a good speaker for your Father. Of course with the size of his room, you might want to see if you could find a pair of EPOS M5 or M12.
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Jdfelice,

Just realized that EPOS ELS303 is a floorstander, while EPOS ELS-3 is a monitor.
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hoopster
184 posts
 
Jdfelice,

The reason the SD 300ti's are highly recommended is that they are that good. Audio Advisor was the exclusive distributor and they retailed for $800 but were commonly "on sale" for $500. That was in the mid 80's. Harry Pearson of Absolute Sound fame (the ultimate Audio Snob) flipped over them and for good reason. Find his review on line. The little EPOS won't touch them, you will have to move up the line to best the 300ti's. They sound much bigger than their box size. I have used them with older gear and modern gear, tubed and Solid State and they have always done well for themselves. I replaced them in my main listening room with Dynaudio floorstanders at 6X the price. You won't find a $500 pair of better speakers. With regard to the "vintage" recommendations: I have had AR's and Large Advents. Heck I rebuilt my Large Advents and they look great, but they are not hooked up to anything right now. The reason is they do not sound as good as the 300ti's. The 70's speaker designs are a much more constrained sound in general.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
If you can find a pair of Fried A/6, they would be extremely hard to beat. I don't know of too many currently produced sub $5000 loudspeakers that can beat them.
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