Anyone know anything about stereo speakers?

Mostly home listening, but will need to review some 'final mixes' soon and such, this sorta thing comes up sometimes, and in general I just love how studio monitors sound and would love to replicate that as best I can at home

here is a review of the CM1's:

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/bw_cm1.htm

Those look rad but quite more than I can spend at the moment less I face the wrath of my wife.

Are there other, less expensive B&Ws?

Is that audiogone site any good for this kinda thing?

The 601's or 602's are meant to be good but I don't know much about them (they're a bit cheaper right?).

I've browsed the forums at audiogon before but haven't used it for buying.

Perhaps the reason John is asking, and forgive me if you already know this:

The goal of most studio monitors is to produce a flat frequency response and a truthful representation of the source material. Unlike consumer speakers, which are often designed to make all audio material sound pleasing to the ear, the studio monitor generally attempts to paint an accurate audio image of the material with no unnatural emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies. This is what it means when a monitor is said to be "flat". and "uncolored" or "transparent". Sound engineers usually require accurate sound reproduction from their speakers especially during audio mixing and mastering. This enables the engineer to mix a track that will sound consistent on high-end audio, low quality radios, in a club, in a car stereo or a home stereo.

Also, near-field monitors are generally designed to be listened to from shorter distances than home speakers.

i've been using my dad's old stereo speakers for a long time now. they sound pretty good but they take up a lot of space, they're each about three feet tall, which doesn't make much sense in a small two-bedroom apartment. so basically i'm looking for smaller speakers (small enough to be put on a shelf or bookcase) that sound pretty good and aren't insanely expensive.

i thought wireless speakers would be a good option, but it looks like most of these on the market are dinky things designed more for computers or ipods than a real stereo system. are there good wireless speakers out there? if not, any recommended brands/models for smaller stereo speakers?

what is yr budget? how big is the room in question?

PSB. Or B&W. Both are widely available (though PSB is Canadian—so easier to find in the US than in the UK). I like the midrange of all PSB speakers, but ears vary. Go find a dealer. Bring music you know well. Listen. Spend as much as you can afford—you'll have them for a long time. Very loosely speaking, the more you spend, the larger the space you'll be able to fill with good sound. The PSB Alpha B1 monitors (a little less than a foot high) or Image B6 Bookshelf (a little more than a foot high) are wonderful little speakers for average rooms.

But without knowing a budget, it's hard to advise. I wouldn't go wireless except as a last resort. The Alpha B1's are about $275; the Image B6's are about $500.

Their cheapest speaker, the LR-1, is about $200:

www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PBALLR1

Also see:

www.psbspeakers.com/

I agree with not going wireless, you are adding another compression/decompression step into the sound chain and that is going to hit sound quality in most circumstances. I presume you are already have an amp so I'd go with that.

Klipsch RB-35 are worth looking at at around $350 a pair and the rest of the RB range as well.

If you are going to put them on a bookshelf, invest in some spikes, cones or other isolation device.

whatever you do make sure you audition them before you get them

thanks for the tips. honestly, i'm probably not going to spend more than $200, but there are some good stereo stores here in chicago where i can go listen to speakers so i'll do that

looks like they carry most of the PSB speakers at the place i bought my turntable

Klipsch, B&W, PSBs are ok choices but ultimately it will come down to subjectivities (listening conditions, music, personal preference). You might want to check into Epos(esp. the discontinued ELS-3s) and Paradigm (Atoms) .

What amplifier / source are you using?

honestly my set-up is fairly embarrassing, i'm really not much of an audiophile and have trouble spending money on "fun" items. i have a decent turntable (a vintage pioneer that was completely fixed up by the aforementioned stereo dudes) but my amp is nothing special, some old jvc thing.

In which case you're going to want something small and easy-to-drive. Look for something with quite high sensitivity (89/90 rather than 86 or so).

But yeah, get over the "fun" thing and get a new amplifier too.

frankly I wouldn't worry about sensitivity -- but *do* make sure you match the impedance of your amp to possible speakers.

don't have much to add to what was already said -
other than Focals are fairly nice and are worth auditioning against B&W in general - but thats more toward the 500/pr price range.

if find you can save up to that range, the B&W 685s and the Focal 706 are worth your time. if you think you can save up, it is worth looking at these. certainly, you will not be taking as big of a hit on bass as you would be with some of the smaller speakers mentioned above.

www.audiogon.com can be your friend if you are savvy at buying used online, but if you spend time auditioning in a shop, you should buy from that shop.

All those speakers are fine, and truth be told the acoustics of your space (room configuration and speaker placement) will mean almost as much as the speakers you get. The difference between spending $200 and $500 on a pair of PSB speakers (and this holds for other brands, too) is the ability to fill a larger space with more good sound, especially bass.

One economizing trick with PSBs is to get the small speakers now, and then get their cheapest subwoofer in a year or two (as your budget allows). You'll get their amazing midrange for now, then improve the sound vastly once you relegate the heavy lifting of bass production to a sub (and subwoofers--since bass is non-directional--can be tucked away anywhere in the room, out of sight if necessary).

this is a CRAZY good deal on some mordaunt bookshelves:

http://www.needledoctor.com/Mordaunt-Short-Avant-902i-2-way-shielded-bookshelf-loudspeakers-in-Black

Left channel on my klipsch speakers just burnt out... anybody here got the knowledge or patience to walk me through potential fixes? Or someone who lives in NY/NJ area who would take cash to fix em? Klipsch help line was utterly useless. It's a pro media 2.1 system.

I recommended Mordaunt-Short to a friend a couple years ago. He got the floorstanding ones (which is usually preferable if you have the space) and loves 'em. There's often good deals. I got all my Wharfedale Evo speakers for a great price, much easier to find deals than for, say, B&Ws.

these guys...

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=hug&m=163493&VT=T&p=2

sleepy pillow time...

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/386459_392246420854264_120490263_n.jpg

Hope those are analog tube pillows.

Some of the kit on those pages is just insane.

I heard about a guy who wanted the best possible isolation for his turntable. He built a concrete column for it to rest on that went from his basement up into his living room, the floor of which he'd cut a hole in for the column.

I don't know why he didn't just move his stereo into his basement and put the turntable on the floor, but I guess that wouldn't have been as much fun.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/63772_392280047517568_875582105_n.jpg

dave matthews band never sounded so good.

and then you put that picture up

bet that picture is fucking with the acoustics of the room

what are those two things that are above the picture ?

webcams to film the enjoyment such an ott set up provides when listening to dave mathews ?

therms to keep the room at a particular temp/humidity ?

vroom vroom!!

http://usr.audioasylum.com/images/3/38379/2012_Mayo_071.JPG

vroom vroom one is what i was talking about at first. that racing car set up looks like its about 4 feet from the chair. ansd is the chair against the other wall? and is a setup like that gonna sound like it should in a room the size of a large closet?

i mean i'm sure it will sound fine. but i have speakers set up between two rooms, one small room and one larger room. when i point the speakers into the larger room they sound way better. they open up.

vroom vroom is making my ears hurt just looking at it.

why do none of them have fancy walls? if you're going to spend that much you may as well cover the surfaces with some kind of optimally resonant material.

so after months of looking I finally settled on Tannoy M20s, made my order from ebay, got them today, quite poorly packaged and wet from rain soaking through the box. After letting them dry off I've found that the sound from one of the speakers is quite fuzzy and indistinct - any ideas what the problem is likely to be?

After letting them dry off I've found that the sound from one of the speakers is quite fuzzy and indistinct - any ideas what the problem is likely to be?

that happened to my earbuds after I got them wet.

i got very technical with the speaker by putting my ear next to it and it seems that there's no sound coming from the tweeter. is that a conceivable diy repair job, or a relatively cheap outsourced repair job, or am i boned?

wuzzzzupppp

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/397990_522092887821579_2053280036_n.jpg

Yeah I don't see any stillpoints so

Leasebreakers!

He's gonna have terrible standing waves without a rug there, or something.

Pretty depressing to see this thread re-emerge the day after I discover a suspicious buzz coming out of my Rega RS5's when playing anything with sub bass.

Not having much luck recently; moved into a new house late last year where I have, for the first time, a dedicated living room. Since then my turntable has been in to have it's needle changed and my amp went just before Xmas and needed to be sent back to Rega.

Thought this is worth a mention, the Andrew Jones designed Pioneer SP-FS52 speakers are available for a significant discount at $200 a pair until 1/4 at BuyDig. Jones moved on to German company ELAC, and there are deals on the Debut F5. I give a little history on Jones and some other cheapish gear recommendations.

http://fastnbulbous.com/go-big-with-little-money/