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
if HT is definitely in your future, i second the advice about monitors and sub. get them used and 1200$ will get you a very nice set up with plenty of slam for rock and movies. advice... shy away from monitors that rely too heavily on sub for normal deep bass reproduction. sub is best used for deep deep bass and harmonics or it gets tricky to fine tune. jmo. dont forget the room treatments or it is all a waste of effort!
Big10 - before I can offer you any advice, I'd like to know a little more about your system and your preferences.
1. Which Hafler amp do you have and how is it being used?
2. Is the Elite being used as a preamp in your system? 3. What other sources do you have and is your $1200 budget solely for speakers?
4. You listen to jazz, classical and rock but at what kind of sound levels?
5. You have a fairly nice sized room - is it a very live room (hardwood floors, hard surfaces, etc) or a dead room (w/w carpeting heavy drapes) where sound gets absorbed as opposed to reflected off of surfaces?

Since you like a lot of different types of music it comes to reason that you would be most happy with a speaker that is very neutral sounding and presents all types of music in an authentic even-handed manner as opposed to a speaker that emphasizes the bass or treble. Also, since you wish to try to integrate this into a home theatre system, to get the best bang for the buck, I would suggest a 3 piece system - a subwoofer/satellite system.

This type of arrangement has the advantage of being much smaller than large floor standing speakers but has the same full range sound as a floor standing speaker. To me, this makes the most sense and there are many, many options to choose from.
I'm tellin ya, check out the Kef IQ9's on blowout or the new IQ90's which are still only $1600 new...they are great, refined all around speakers. READ THE REVIEWS AND AWARDS!!
>>READ THE REVIEWS AND AWARDS!<<

That's the last thing you should do.

Go listen for yourself. Speakers are the most personal and subjective component in any system.

There's far too much muck, mud, and dirt in reviews.
I bought a pair of Silverline SR 15s for around $700. I also bought a pair of Canton 220s for much much, less. About $200. Both need a subwoofer to present a full range sound.

both are enjoyable. For Music, the SR15s have the nod.... for HT it's a toss up, with the Silverlines having a better tweeter... both were used as surround/rear speakers in the HT setup. Meaning one doesn't hafve to go crazy spending tons of $$$ for non main or center loudspeakers.

In HT the sub is IMO, more important than the pheripheral speakers.

The Cantons will likely replace the SR15s as rears, and the 15s will move into the actual surrounds if I decide to use the two extra ch's of my 7.1 HT. I use only 5.1 now.

My point here is that initially, or right now, the addition of as good a sub as you can afford is going to be a better place to put your money than into monitor speakers which ultimately are going to wind up as non main channel info speakers. Buying just good there is going to be quite sufficient. until you are ready to cross that bridge at some later date, I assure you having good/nice monitors and a very good sub will be quite enjoyable.... for music and HT.

This way too, you can likely afford some nice stands for them as well.

Enjoy. Regardless your choice (s).