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Speaker advice

Ok... so I am pretty new to the whole high end audio setup and had a couple questions. Please keep in mind that my budget is fairly limited and my expertise is on the elemetary end. So, I'm looking to you guys for help.

It appears that each time a friend or relative gets new speakers/surround sound, it sounds more amazing than the last person's. For instance, My uncle has a Klipsch RF-82 setup with surround sound etc. I thought it sounded absolutely amazing. My buddy is rocking Focal Electra 927 limited edition... which are awesome. My questions is, with my budget of about a thousand dollars, am I better off with low end Klipsch (RF-35) or saving up a little more and trying to score a used set of Focals (obviously not 927's)? My absolute max would be around $1200 as I can't justify any more spending... not having a great familiarity of what I'm buying (opposed to what I'm hearing). Any advice would be appreciated and sorry about the wordy post.
FYI... this would be for music (jazz, classical, rock) and home theatre, as well. I would pick up the remaining surround sound components as my budget allows.

Thanks...
big10purdue
blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Although I'll not be able to say for sure what will 'send you' by way of speaker choice... One way to approach this if indeed you want to wind up with an HT system is to go with a nice pair of smaller speakers & very nice sub now.

Later on these smaller two way speakers can be rotated to act as surrounds or rears while being replaced with larger or better main speakers.

I've owned Phase Tech, Canton, B&W, Monitor Audio, Silverline and several others in various itterations. Large, small, and middle or the road. For me in music and HT it's about the blend of the sub and accompanying speakers and space.

Phase Tech offers a great value and very good performance. Canton does as well. Atainnig the proper blend is important and contributes much to your satisfaction. Many good loudspakers makers out there will do what you want... go listen to things you haven't heard yet and see... If nothing you preview floats your boat, the in home 30 day trials are a very good way to find out too... in spite of the hassles of shipping. At least that way isn't a total shot in the dark.

Good luck
ferrari
617 posts
 
Biggest bang for the buck in high quality used speakers is the Vandersteen 2C series of speakers. These can be had for well under your budget requirements. Plus Vandertseen remains in business. Parts and service or advice only a phone call away and thats imprortant for new folks coming into the high end arena. Richard Vandersteen built this company with excellent products and service to match. Very hard to do better price wise or service wise. The sound great with most all genres of music.
unsound
7,341 posts
 
Ferrari nailed it. Do keep in mind that (at least IMHO) the Vandy's are very room sensitive, for point source dynamic speakers.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
Vandy's also won't play very loudly. They are a wonderful speaker, but my guess is that if our friend from Indiana is looking for something with more slam, that is not Vandy's. I have had them, they are great, I would go as far as to say the 5a is the best speaker I have ever heard, but if he wants to rock out, they are not the best solution, especially in a big room. With his budget I would reiterate the Def Tech suggestion, and maybe add the Paradigm 100's.
martykl
3,578 posts
 
I'll second the sub/sat approach. SVS sells a sub for $600 that -on paper- provides astonishing performance. The informed sub crowd on this forum, Bob Reynolds, Shadome and Drew Eckhart among others can provide more detail if you decide to go this route. Bob, in particular, is a fan of SVS.

One main speaker to consider is the small Magnepan MMG ($600). Like the SVS sub, it's sold factory direct with a money back offer. I sometimes use an MMG/sub set-up, and can assure you that at $1200 this combo offers terrific performance. As Blindjim noted, it allows HT in the future. It will also allow you to add a Velodyne SMS-1 sub controller in the future. This device allows you to analyze your room, and optimize the bass - it's very effective for app $500-$600.

Good Luck

Marty
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