Need Recommendations for a pair of Speakers around $1,000


Hey All !

Ok, so with wife is good with spending about $1K on a pair of speakers.

I'm not sure of the preamp yet but the amp will most likely be an Adcom GFA-545 not the 545II.

I now have an older pair of Dayton Wright LCM-1's which are more suited to a smaller room.

The new speakers will be in the living room connected to the Adcom and also a signal fed from the TV but I don't want a multi-speaker system. Stereo is fine and if they sound good to me with music the wife will be happy with the TV sound. She just wants them to look good and not have a lot of wires hanging around. We'll be listening to vinyl, CD's, Lossless, FM and possibly music fed through Apple or AT&T fiber optic TV setup.

The living room is 19' w X  29' d with a 12' ceiling, hardwood oak flooring and 4 - 6' tall windows on one wall. The other side wall is open to a long entrance way and 2/3 of the far side is open to the kitchen are.

I thought about a used pair of Klipsch Hersey's but I keep reading comments that they are too outdated compared to advances in audio over the last few decades.

So for around $1K what are some good choices. I'm OK with used.

Thank you !

 

gorquin

Thanks for the heads up ! I don't necessarily need vintage speakers. As I mentioned in my first post, I've read that a lot of vintage speakers may be obsolete in comparison to newer speakers because of advancements in technology and engineering.

These are phenomenal all-around speakers that are easy to drive and have good dispersion characteristics that means if someone is sitting off axis for music/movies they’ll still hear good sound (I’d avoid Vandersteen and Thiel for this reason).  Here’s one in cherry and one in black in and around your price range.  You’d be hard pressed to do better IMHO...

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649736526-joseph-audio-rm25si-mk2/

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649857288-joseph-audio-rm25si-sig-ii/

Best of luck. 

gorquin,

I’m sure, like you many here believe new is better. I obviously disagree, but best of luck choosing. That’s a large space you are dealing with.

Are you close enough to NJ, 07062 to hear mine? custom cabinets, drivers made in 1956, woofers re-coned, you might start dis-believing what you read.

others: If you live close to Conn. those JSE’s I linked above were thoroughly refreshed beyond original. If you ever heard them, you would know what a terrific deal they are. I have no doubt they will beat the living crappola out of anything new under 1,200.

 

The Wharfedale Diamond series would be in your price range. The 12.3 or 12.4 towers are nice.

I think we are suggesting used because we want you to be amazed with what you could get for the $1000.

Another way would be a KIT!

I would imagine CSS AUDIO CRITON 1TD-X kit speaker with the standard crossover for $934 would be difficult to beat as far as the sound goes.  YouTube guy Jay (used to be called Next Best Thing)  recently compared it with Sonus Faber $10k speaker and CSS won!  Admittedly, he spent $400 more for upgraded crossover, but that is only the last +3% tweeter definition, not really a different speaker.

So question to you - if you glued together pre-cut wood yourself, and painted the boxes to match your walls would that be acceptable?  How about with +$100 birch plywood and some wood stain?

The only reason I make this suggestion because I and many reviews say you would love the sound...