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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.

Have you given some thought to putting together a vintage system for your Father? There's still a lot of great sounding amps, speakers, ect from the "goldern age of audio", that has loving been taken care through the years, and can give a lot of modern equipment a good run for the money. I sure your Father would appreciate a classic 60/70s era system system to listen to his Blues and Jazz recording from that time. One thing that you mentioned in that your father used to own a pair of Acoustic Research AR3, and with that in mind, I wonder how much would like a modern day speaker, or would it would be better to have a pair of vintage speakers that have the "Boston" sound that Acoustic Research, Advent, ect where know for. Put that together with maybe a well taken care of amp from that era - and there are plenty of Marantz, McIntosh, Fisher, ect out there, along with a quality turntable and he'll have a system that would take him back to those days.
jdfelice OP
26 posts
 
cleaneduphippy, I thought about that, there is a pair of AR3a's on AGON right now. I think when it comes to sound quality, he has heard my PS Audio, Jolida, Usher X-719 system, and I think he likes the newer technology. He has commented several times about how much sound comes from a monitor compared to his older AR3's. There are so many good speakers, I think I should concentrate on filling his rather large room. It's about 25x25 with 3 connecting hallways, one of which is a staircase going to another level. Does that sound big to you? Would the Maggies excell in these conditions over some monitors?
cleaneduphippy
323 posts
 
Jdfelice,

Does sound like your father has a fairly large room, and with many of the speaker being suggestioned I would wonder how well they could fill that room. Also many of these speakers mentioned wouldn't have very much in the way of bass responds. Can't really comment on Maggies has I never really had a chance to listen them at any length beyond a brief store demo sometimes back. Perhaps somebody else could help you with that question. You mention that your Father likes your system, and you also mentioned that the speakers in the system where the Usher X-719. With that in mind, perhaps a speaker that you should look into is the Usher V-601. It uses the same 7-inch woofer that the 6 series uses and has a one-inch soft dome tweeter. Had a chance to listen to a pair awhile back and they're great sounding (as are most Ushers) and good looking speakers. New they run around $700, but you should be able to find a used pair in the $500 range. Btw what Jolida do you own? I own a SJ-502A amp and considering getting the JS-100A CDP to replace my NAD CDP.
jdfelice OP
26 posts
 
Thanks, for the input hippy.
I'm using the JD100A CDP and a PS Audsio 6.2 preamp. I have for sale of my Sherbourn 5/1500A home theater amp, to upgrade to a better 2 channel amp. I'm thinking about a PS Audio HCA-2.

What about the EPOS ELS303, ever heard them?
timrhu
2,779 posts
 

I'm thinking about a PS Audio HCA-2.

You might also look at the PS Audio Trio A-100. I recently purchased a Trio C-100 and am very happy with it. Cool, quiet with music coming out of total silence. The lottle box is pretty amazing after some of the behemoths I've had.
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