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Exceptional value in speakers today?

I'm looking for "sleeper" speaker companies - brands that aren't well known and offer exceptional value.

For years I have been a fan of ACI speakers - the company only sold direct, didn't advertise, but their speakers were consistently compared favorably with speakers costing many times more - in both "professional" reviews and end user reviews.

I am fortunate to have some of their speakers, as the company is no more. Which leads me to my question - there must be a similar company (or several) doing something similar today. Since these tend to be small companies that don't advertise, I thought I'd ask here for some pointers. The big guys are easy to find...

Thanks in advance.

(BTW - my current shopping list is for a pair of monitor speakers for a recording studio. I'm looking for un-powered speakers of exceptional quality (and at a price point <$1k). I need speakers that are good at revealing any flaws in the mix. I already have some high end professional near field monitors (Genelec) and am looking to augment those).
mark_scrivener
mark_scrivener OP
15 posts
 
Thanks - keep the responses coming.

BTW - lots of studios have at least one pair of typical consumer speakers (car speakers in a box were popular for years). This is to check the mix on an average system. While I plan to set up some inexpensive speakers for such purposes (the Mackie's might do well for this, even though they are "pro-audio"), the goal is to find a really great pair of speakers (the Shelby+Kroll's look very interesting).
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,484 posts
 
Volent, Vapor and LSA would be on my short list. Dynaudio has always been a favorite and has a short lifespan on the classifieds.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
How about Sequerra Met 7s?
wolf_garcia
6,628 posts
 
I've been using a pair of smallish KEF Q10s for nearfield studio stuff for years...bought 'em new. Front port, coincident tweeter, not expensive, kick ass. I'm sure newer ones are even better.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
GoldenEar Aon 3. I've heard their Triton 2 towers and their Heil-style folded ribbon tweeter is both very resolving and smooth. The conventional drivers are fast and integrate well with the tweeter. GoldenEar is Sandy Gross's most recent brainchild. He was co-founder of Polk and Definitive Technology. It's a 7-inch 2-way augmented by passive radiators. About $1K pair list price.

If there's a dealer in your area, I recommend you listen to these before buying anything. I'm not saying they're the best at that price, but I suspect they're serious contenders for what you seek.
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