[THESANTINI]

I'm stumped.. my friend wants to get speakers but has a 1970's pos receiver. He wants to get some Infinity's but I told him for use with the old receiver it will be a waste..

so he wnats to spend $500-600 for a decent receiver + floor speakers. Any reccomendations?

If I were to give input I would tell him to get some Swans...

 

[JMT]

I'll throw my 2 bits in for a pair of PSB Alpha Minis or the PSB Alpha A/Vs on the speaker side. For the money, they are tough to beat. They're discontinued but sometimes you can find a deal on a used pair.

Like here:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=32615

 

[dd3mon]

Anyone own/heard the current alpha bookshelves? "Alpha B" I believe they are called.

-dd3mon

 

[Gopher]

I'd advise him to go with some used Maggie MMGs (I've seen 'em as low as 350) and a vintage Marantz integrated amp (had great results with 1060), or some other used amplifcation... $250 should be enough to get 'em started.

 

[Gallaine]

For speakers take a look at Axiom. I've owned a pair of M22ti for over a year and think they are pretty darn good for $400 (I actually paid $300 because I bought a pair from their factory outlet). Both the M22ti and its little brother the M3ti ($275) have gotten alot of praise from places like SoundStage. A friend of mine at work bought a pair of the M2i's and loves them.

 

[jms007bnd007]

I suggest looking into the Axiom M3ti bookshelves. They are about 275 shipped new, and they sound awesome. On the reciever side, no idea on what's best for the money.

M3ti page

 

[vrao81]

For an inexpensive amp try the cambridge audio A300, it is priced at $300. It's recieved a lot of accolade at audioreview.com
The axioms would be a good choice, however I really like the Energy C1 bookshelf speaker ($300/pair). Give it a listen if at all possible. Highly recommended.

 

[blr]

Quote:

Originally posted by vrao81 For an inexpensive amp try the cambridge audio A300, it is priced at $300. It's recieved a lot of accolade at audioreview.com The axioms would be a good choice, however I really like the Energy C1 bookshelf speaker ($300/pair). Give it a listen if at all possible. Highly recommended.

300 bucks for A300 Oops seems like not everything in Europe is more expensive than in the US. I purchased an A300 some weeks ago (review coming soon) for 170 USD. At that price it's a steal but for 300 there should be some stiffer competition.

 

[tom hankins]

If he's looking for a two channel reciever the H & K 3370 or 3470 are good afordable recievers. For speakers the B&W 601 or 602 are nice.

 

[ybuda]

Lest not forget Paradigm Monitor's

If it were my call Mini-Monitors or Monitor 5's

If you could find them Active 20's or 40's would fit the bill nicely and you wouldnt need to get a power-amp

 

[tom hankins]

The active 20's are amazing. But haven't they been discontinued?

 

[soundboy]

I have the Energy C-1, and these are amazing little speakers. These need a powered sub in a middle or big room, but for small rooms, they're great. I am also looking for a receiver/amp for these speakers....will be partnering them with a Sony DVP-NS500P DVD/SACD player.

 

[ybuda]

The Active series has been discontinued, but if you can find
a set, it's darn worth it.

Perhaps Bose 901's and he could get a piece of history,
and a very conterversial/respected speaker.

_Yuki

 

[TimSchirmer]

Tell him to get a vintage luxman reciever. They are MUCH better than the marantz ones i've heard, and for the prices they are currently going for, they can not be beat. Luxman used to compete with Accuphase and McIntosh quite a bit in the 70s.

Here are a couple good ones:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3021732463
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3022858529

As for speakers, NOTHING will beat maggies:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.p...lan&1057283836


Why is everyone recommending mini speakers?????

Mini-speakers are good for bedroom systems and all, but in your main system you want REAL power and REAL speakers. It all fits within his budget too.

As much as I love my PSB's, Maggies would stomp all over them. Especially when powered by the nicer vintage luxman stuff.

 

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Quote:

Originally posted by TimSchirmer [/url] Why is everyone recommending mini speakers????? Mini-speakers are good for bedroom systems and all, but in your main system you want REAL power and REAL speakers. It all fits within his budget too. As much as I love my PSB's, Maggies would stomp all over them. Especially when powered by the nicer vintage luxman stuff.

Don't agree. Standmount speakers have some advantages such as less cabinet coloration and better damping, plus their sound can be tweaked by playing with the stands (coupling to the floor coupling to the speaker filling the leggs etc). Carefully engineered standmounts sound terrific. It is not surprising that during the last decade or so many high end standmounts have appeared. For a given reasonable budget, a small speaker will most probably be better made real wood and/or thicker cabinet, better binding posts, pehrhaps even better crossovers. In most of my auditions of similarly priced standmounds vs. floorstanders I eneded up preffering the standmount. Almost always the smaller speaker had faster and tighter bass and more dynamics. I have both, and yes my floorstanders are better but they cost 8 times more and even then I still preffer the midrange of my small speakers.