Recomend me a speaker setup for 400 bucks - Page 5

What is your budget?
I forgot to mention, I think rock music generally don't have much information in the lowest octave. If I remember correctly, the lowest note on electric bass is 42 Hz. I don't know how low bigger drums go. Speakers that has flat frequency response at 40 Hz is probably ggod enough.

I've had great luck with the entry level Jolida amp, the JD 102B. I've heard several amps in that price range, including the NAD C520BEE, the Arcam A65 Plus, and various more mass market offerings. I still like the 102B the best. In fact, I like it just as much as the Musical Fidelity X150, which I've also heard (we sell NAD, Arcam, and Musical Fidelity at the store I work at). When I listened to amps about nine months ago, I came to the same conclusion. Needless to say, I bought the Jolida, and it has served me very well over the past months. Now I'm selling it, but only because I'm stepping up to a self-built flea power (7 watts/ch) design.

Some people will tell you the Jolida doesn't have enough power. It produces 20 W/Ch, which is plenty for speakers of reasonable efficiency (>86 dB). Also keep in mind that 20 watts from tubes will go a lot further than 20 watts from solid state (the general rule of thumb is that 1 tube watt = 2 solid state watts).

I don't want to come off as though I'm pushing you toward this amp because I'm selling mine. However, I am pushing you toward it because it sounds great, and in general is VERY well regarded. If you're interested in more info, PM me (or see my FS thread in the Amplification FS forum, I pretty much covered it all including a couple reviews).

As far as speakers go, I highly reccommend the Totem line of speakers. The Rainmaker would be a good match for the sonic attributes you are looking for. It's also not too expensive at $995. The Jolida drives it very well, I've heard them together and they sound great. The Rainmaker would be my pick for speakers under $1000.

I don't think that mmmmcheese is looking to spend QUITE that much money.

I personally believe that the Axiom line of speakers would be a very good start.

They are pretty small so they could survive in a dorm room, they are fairly and competetively priced, and they also have a trial period with free shipping both ways if you decide the speakers aren't for you.

Plus, they have that wonderful Grado midrange and those really expressive Beyer DT770 lows.

By the way, thanks for not leaving me on my own -- I thought somebody must have the same opinions as me. Obviously, however, I am an idiot and don't know anything, so a real guy helping me out made me look much more knowledgeable. So, thanks!

I've had experience with Axiom speakers as I owned the M22 for 6 months.

You get these with Axiom:
- Good customer service
- Decent sound
- Supporting forum

However, Axiom isnt without faults:
- Cheap build. The vinyl was peeling from the corners and the edging was bumpy along the front baffle of the M22. I had it replaced, but the replacement still had similar vinyl problems.
- Very light and not so good bracing. I rapped my knuckles along the side of the M22 and I heard massive cabinet resonance. I put my ear within 6 inches of the M22's side and I hear resonance while music is playing. The panels must be made of 1/2" mdf or less. If you bring this up in the Axiom forum - you'll get flamed in an instant.
- Hyped sound. When you go to their product website, you will notice so many reviews (by professional reviewers, too). This isnt normally a problem, but you start thinking that Axioms are competitive sounding compared to expensive speakers (the reviews use $1000 and $3000 as pricemarks for comparison) but in my experience, they are not. The M22 is supposed to be same sounding as their canadian counterpart - the Paradigm Reference 20 for a lesser price. I brought the Axiom M22 to my friend's speaker dealership and we connected the Axioms and the Paradigm Reference 20s on same tweeter-height stands and powered both with Rotel 1090 (I'm pretty sure this was the model #) amps. We used an A/B switcher also. The differences were large. Very large. The M22s sounded boxed in, uncontrolled highs, high cabinet resonance, anemic bass, and narrow dispersion relative to the 20s.

Keep in mind, I owned the M22s at this time and I surely wanted them to compare better. In the end, I concluded that the Axioms sounded just as good as what they charged for it - no more, no less.

As always in audio, YMMV.

Audition it if you can.

BTW, I would recommend looking at AV123's Rocket series. Perhaps the Rocket RS550 ($699 sale priced or $499 used/b-stock) would be better for you. They are built very well and sound equally good, too.

Well, I think that a lot of the attractiveness of the Axiom speakers lowers after you buy used... just my opinion. You don't get the "try before you keep" benefit. Still a good price, though!

For 700 dollars, you have a lot of choices. I'd think that you'd want to go with EXACTLY the sound signiture you want or need.

Are there any audio stores around your area where you may be able to demo some equipment? I think it'd be very beneficial to hear them before you buy them. Blind purchasing is not the greatest idea when it comes to speakers.

Just demo them, though -- buy them online used if you can! You can often times find the prices 1/3 off on audiogon.

For once, I completely agree with Aman.

Go around and audition. You may find the sonic signature best for you and you can take it from there.

We cant tell you what you should buy because frankly you have your own ears.... however, we can give you our experiences with the products you ask - nothing more.

You know how I feel about Axiom speakers in general, so take it for what it is. Best advice: Go audition.

hahahahahahaha!!

I love this thread.

For $700 you have quite a few choices for speakers.
Athena AS-F2 used to be $600 but I think you can find them on sale for significantly lower since they are also discontinued.
I once auditioned B&W DM603, Paradigm Monitor 5 and NHT SB3 with my cousin on the same day. These two are similarly priced. I felt Paradigm Monitor 5's sound is overhyped. It has treble is too prominent and its bass too bloated without much extension. More expensive Paradigm speakers at the dealer all share the same signature. My cousin said he has auditioned Paradigms at multiple dealers and always felt Paradigm has hyped-up details. NHT SB3 is clearly better than DM603 and Monitor 5. SB3 has unbelievable bass for a bookshelf speaker. The spec says -3dB is at 40 Hz and that sounds about right to me, because my Athena S2 is at 50Hz and SB3 has much better bass than my S2. DM603 is pretty laid-back and forgiving, but not very resolving. I still liked DM603 better than Monitor 5. SB3 is a really fine speaker and it is driven really well by cheap NAD integrated amps at the dealer. Despite its small size, I think SB3 has enough bass to most people but bass freaks.

Besides NAD, $300 can get you a Jolida JD301 hybrid amplifier. It has tube sound and solid state attack.