2. speakers
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Modestly priced bookshelf speakers for cabin.

I have a small cabin in the country where I spend weekends.

Current system is a 1980's Toshiba 25wpc receiver I got in high school. Bose 2.2 bookshelf speakers that are about 28 years old. They actually sound okay to me most of the time. $14 Sony DVD/CD player from Goodwill.

Even though this 'system' is sufficient most of the time, I've got the hi-fi bug since getting my home system and I've started thinking about slowly upgrading the cabin system on the lowest budget I can.....since I can't really justify doing it at all. ;-)

Rarely do I do any serious listening down there but would like to be able to when I have the chance.

So my first step is to replace the Bose speakers. Looking to spend no more than $350 or so. Is it possible to significantly improve on the Bose at that price? (I'm assuming yes).

The only thing I've even considered is the Klipsch RB-61 IIs or RP 160Ms. Why Klipsch? Back in the 70's my eccentric uncle used to have a massive pair of them that I thought were cool. Open to other options and advice.

Thanks for any advice.


n80
gsm18439
895 posts
 
I have built two systems for my girlfriend based on Spica TC-50s. A pair (used, of course) is available on Ebay for 300usd. You will need a decent pair of stands. But they were and continue to be remarkable speakers. 
paulcreed
559 posts
 
I owned Bose 201 reflecting speakers 35 or 40 years ago, set up correctly in corners thought they were fantastic. I have a old Phillips DVD/VCR combo player I think sounds very good, through a yellow pages phone book on top even sounds better. In this crazy hobby building a resolving system with low cost gear is very rewarding. Sometimes it makes me question why I spend so much on my system.

mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
@paulcreed, + 1. I am not surprised the phone book on top of your player has improved the sound. I recommend this to everyone, everywhere. Eliminating, or even minimizing, chassis resonance and vibration is real, and audible. I believe I mentioned this on another one of N80's threads concerning his low cost Sony cd player. Thank you for the mention of it. Enjoy ! MrD.
mrdecibel
3,063 posts
 
N80 commented that the home being built is for his daughter and son in law.
n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
Yes, my daughter and her husband have been in the cabin for a few months. Love them both and we like to hang out a lot. But, they aren't music lovers and I'll be real happy when their house is done. About another month or so.

mrdecibel you did recommend putting a book on my CD player. I don't know how much difference it makes but I do it now, particularly on cheap flimsy feeling players like the $14 job I have down there.

Anyway, I'm now going to make little shelves to set the speakers on. The cabin walls are flat-faced logs so it will be easy to mount them and I've found a sweet spot for them.
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