Good Audio Brands

[sahwnfras]

Im lookign for some new speakers and dont know much about speakers. I am lookign at audiogon.com and dont really know what ones are good. So what are some good brands to look for. The ones that i knwo are B&W, Athena, Mirage.... thats all i know.

 

[meat01]

Axiom, Paradigm, PSB are all good Canadian brands. Mission, B&W and Monitor Audio are all good British brands. Vandersteens are good. What is your price range? Are you looking for bookshelf speakers or floorstanding? There are tons more good brands, but those are the ones I can think of off hand.

 

[Alu]

B&W of course

, but you might also want to check out Dynaudio speakers.

 

[sahwnfras]

im looking for some bookshelf speakers. And my budget is about $300-400. Thats why im lookign on audiogon, cuz i need to find some good used ones

 

[Aman]

Paradigm
Axiom
Ohm
Magnepan
B&W
Vandersteen
Onix
Mirage
EPOS
Energy
Omega
PSB
Krell
(Sometimes)Klipsch
Gallo (Anthony Gallo)
Silverline
nOrh
Dynaudio
Thiel
TBI
Zu Cable (Yeah, they make great speakers too)
Usher
Hyperion
Harbeth
Gradient
Green Mountain Audio
Comback
Devore
47Lab
Rethm
Tannoy
Tonian
Cain & Cain Abby
Rethm

 

[sahwnfras]

wow thanks for the nice list Aman

In about a year i might be able to get a pair of Mirage FRx-1B-1 from my dad either for free or cheap. What do you guys think about these. I like the Mirage speakers, but im not sure if i could get better speakers than those in my price range.

I was thinkin of picking up a pair of athena as-b1 to hold me over untill i can get the mirage speakers, or should i just buy better speakers off the start.

 

[Aman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahwnfras wow thanks for the nice list Aman

No problem!

I tried not to mention speaker companies that have similar house sounds.

Some of the companies, Cain & Cain Abby and Omega, for example, have very similar house sounds and sound philosophies -- but not too many similarities in that list. I wanted to show many possibilities.

 

[so_cal_forever]

Definatly add Fosgate to that list. Their pair of FA51.0 bookshelf's have been candy to my ears since I bought them.

 

[donunus]

Avantegarde, Magnepan, Soundlabs are brands i like.
polk, athena, and klipsch for cheaper stuff maybe

 

[donunus]

Actually, for the bracket under $1000 floorstanders, would i get more for my money with polk, klipsch or athena speakers? I want transparency, dynamics and bass definition with good midrange and treble response. What sounds more real and natural among the best floorstanding models of these three brands under $1000

 

[soundboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahwnfras I was thinkin of picking up a pair of athena as-b1 to hold me over untill i can get the mirage speakers, or should i just buy better speakers off the start.

I think the Mirage bookself speaker (I believe $350.00/pair originally) was quite good in their time (about 5 years ago) and I remember US e-tailer Audio Advisor clearing them out at US$150.00/pair about 2 years ago. However, a lot has changed within the last 5 years....you can now pick up speakers with similar performance at much lower prices. The Athena B1/B2 is a prime example (Mirage/Energy/Athena all share the same parent company, API). One more thing, you will have to wait for a year or so to get the Mirage? Get the Athena's and start enjoying music through speakers. Since you are in Canada, I think you can get a better deal by staying with Canadian brands.

BTW, recently both Mission and Boston Acoustics have changed owners. Mission is now own by the same Chinese company that owns Quad, AudioLab/Tag McLaren, and Wharfedale. BA is now part of D&M Holdings, which also owns Denon, Marantz, McIntosh, and Rio.

 

[SunByrne]

In that price range I'm partial to Paradigm and PSB, though they do have a somewhat similar house sound. And, bonus for you, they both happen to be Canadian brands. PSB just introduced a revised Image line, so the older Image speakers are probably very good deals. You might be able to pick up a pair of used 4Ts (floorstanders, not bookshelves, but small ones) in your range, and if not, definitely 3Ts.