Rat Shck Presidian 40-5053. Next Sonic Impact?

Just shoved an old t-shirt a few inches into each port and draped the rest over the top and then behind. Makes the upper lows and lower mids much more natural IMO without any effect on the freq. range as far as I can hear. So it's probably worth adding damping to the cabinet and filling the port tube with it. I doubt that the "port" had any audio design parameters involved in the first place.

Can someone who's listened to these give me some sort of reference as to just how good they are for the money? I mean I see that it's obvious from the previous posts that they sound way better than their $40 price would suggest... but does that mean like speakers in the $200-$300 range, which I usually find unlistenable, or does that mean these compare favorably to speakers in the $400-$700 range like System Audio SA-205 or Krix Equinox or Quad 11L???

Yeah, yeah - I know that it's only forty bucks so I shouldn't worry about it, but I have WAY too many speakers already and have been on quite the spending spree as of late. Also I don't wanna buy stuff and then return it just in order to get my kicks and giggles to hear it - I don't think that it's very fair to the retailer.

But if there is some way that these speakers really do compete with some of the mini-monitors mentioned above, even if they are a bit less than them performance-wise, then I want a pair. After a good time spent listening and evaluating, they would probably then be put into service as a replacement of the rear surrounds in my stock home theater system. (I've already replaced the fronts and middle with Krix and Celestion and the improvement has been wonderful).

Thanks!

If the midbass driver is a simple paper-cone would anyone planning on performing the inexpensive dyi upgrades mentioned above consider painting this driver with "Damar Varnish" to stiffen it up a little?? I have used it on other paper cones and felt it was beneficial tweak.

L

Studioray,

I bought a pair of these to use for testing and for casual listening in a "portable" system. They are very good for $40 and are decent at 2-3 times that price. However, they do not compare favorably to the $400+ speakers you mentioned.

If you don't need a pair of cheap, disposable speakers, I don't think these are going to "do it" for you.....

TIC

I pretty much agree with Reubent. I haven't had any cheap speakers since my Spica TC-50's fifteen years ago, but the Presidians would certainly be no match for them with music.

An easy, affordable line array might be a legitimate idea though. or they might make decent cheap center channel speakers - you can by a pair with a friend and have one each for $20! They'd make a lot of sense in settings where you don't want or need a $400 pair but still want decent sound - like in a garage or workshop.