# Best Towers for $500?



## Suneet (Jun 19, 2007)

I'm building my home theater one piece at a time, so each month I'm buying a different component. I just recently bought a Panasonic TH-42PZ77U Plasma.

For my receiver, I'm probably going to pick up the Onkyo TX-SR605, but I'm also looking at the Sony STR-DG910.. 

The first speaker components I'd like to buy are a set of towers. Ideally, if I had the time and the skill to make my own towers, I'd look at building a set with a Scanspeak/Seas combo with dual midbasses. But since I live in the city now and don't have the time/space/tools, I'm looking at getting built towers.

What do you guys suggest in the $500 price range for a pair of towers? Is my budget too small to get what I'm looking for?


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## AzGrower (May 30, 2005)

Athena Technologies Audition AS-F2.2 make sure to read the reviews on this site.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ATASF2.2
http://www.amazon.com/Athena-AS-F2-...4?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1198465145&sr=8-4


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Those Athena's look pretty nice. Here are a few more I have heard good things about.

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=114.1
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk...40840/catOid/-12950/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Polk...81338/catOid/-12950/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

But if you really want a dirty deal, go up $70 and get something like these. I have the iQ bookshelves and I will tell you that NOTHING images as well as these for the price. I <3 my Kef.   

http://cgi.ebay.com/KEF-iQ7-i-Q7-PA...ryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=94.1 (well under budget, but supposedly perform just as well as the mtm's posted above as long as you use a subwoofer)


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

$500 to watch tv? 

im certain $250 towers would be good enough, maybe even some $120 bookshelfs.

spend the xtra $$ on something else

imo:blush:



http://cgi.ebay.com/JBL-Monitor-420...ryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-YAMAHA-NS-AM3...ryZ14991QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## Suneet (Jun 19, 2007)

This is not just to watch TV, I'm building my setup one piece at a time, each month buying a different thing. This month its towers and a receiver, next month center channel and then surrounds, etc. This is the part I care about the most  I've got so many subs lying around, I just need to pick up one of those plate amps from PE.


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## Suneet (Jun 19, 2007)

Fry's has those Polk R50 towers for $50 a pop.. At that price its tempting to just pick them up and then swap out the drivers later, and just use the cabinets


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## AzGrower (May 30, 2005)

have you checked out Marantz for the receiver and cd player?


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## Alfakeeper (Dec 20, 2007)

Paradigm Phantoms. They are about $500, perhaps a little more, but sound incredible. Look them up, they only get high reviews. I have had a set of them for the past 6 or 7 years. The PDR10 sub is also awesome. I'm looking to buy a new set of the Phantoms and move the ones I have to become the surrounds. Paradigm builds all their stuff from the drivers to the enclosures in house so there are no cheap parts in a nice enclosure. Depending on the music you listen to, there is no better speaker for the price. When I bought mine I was torn between a set of NHTs, and the Phantoms. For classical music and softer more intricate tracks, the NHTs sound fantastic, however for rock, movie soundtracks, and anything with some synthesized bass, the Phantoms win. I spent a long time in the store listening to pretty much everything I have on CD. That said, the new ones sound even better. Before you buy, go listen to your choices. You might not think there is a difference, but there can be a big one. If you happen to be able to get all the ones you are considering in one place, listen to the same piece of music back to back on all of the speakers. Also compaire them to stuff that is WAY out of your price range. When I listened to mine, I ran them back to back with a set of $25K speakers that were made of granite (300lbs each, I don't remember who made them), and a Bob Carver Sunfire sub. 
Seriously take a look at the Phatoms, or if they are a little out of your price range, the Titans are also sweet.

Will


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

Phantom? Do you have a link?


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## kunuggs (Jun 26, 2005)

I have the MTM stand mount version of this:
http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_32&products_id=67
They run $499, but shipping is not included. They use a planar magnetic tweeter for the highs and have a VERY nice upper end. For the receiver, a whole-heartedly recommend the Onkyo over the Sony. In fact, I can't think of one way in which the Sony is better, except it's $40 cheaper (going by amazon prices).

To put it simply, I have a lower end Onkyo 504 paired with the Acculine A2's and love the combination for the $$$


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## Alfakeeper (Dec 20, 2007)

It looks like the Paradigm Phantoms have been phased out/renamed. It looks like the Paradigm Cinema 110s are the replacement. They don't look that great (in my opinion) however they should sound sweet. Here is a link to them http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/speaker_only-specification-11-1-2-2.paradigm They still list the PDR10 sub, also a good buy. They may have become part of the Monitor series. The smaller Titan and Atom speakers (the 2 models below the Phantoms) have now been placed here. The Monitor 7 could be the replacement for them. I'm guessing the price has gone above $500 for them but I could be wrong. Here are the specs for the Monitor 7s. http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/speaker_only-specification-17-1-2-4.paradigm

These are bitchin speakers. If you do some research you will find that Paradigm makes a lot of speaker for the $. www.audioreview.com is a good place to start. Here is a link to the Phantoms. http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/paradigm/PRD_120360_1594crx.aspx

I cannot say enough good things about Paradigms products. If you have a good source for the sound, the speakers will speak for themselves.

Will


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Suneet, I agree with Alpha. If you're gonna spend $500 on your front L & R speakers, go to some B & M stores and listen to as many speakers as you can, even ones out of your price range. Not only will this give you an idea of different speakers' sound characteristics but it's DAMN fun as well!!!

I also have Paradigm speakers (Atoms in front) and for the price, I think they're hard to beat. Alpha is a little confused though (sorry, not trying to sound like a know-it-all or disrespect in any way). The Phantoms that Alpha is describing were part of the "Performance Series", which fell between the Cinema and Monitor series. It appears that Paradigm has ditched the Performance line and combined some models from that line with some models from the Monitor line and formed a new Monitor Series. Several Monitor models and Performance models (including the Phantoms) are no more. The Monitor 7s are excellent speakers (too bad they dropped the Monitor 5s) but they will cost more than 5 bills unfortunately.

I do recommend that you listen to Paradigm speakers if at all possible.

We do kinda need more info to try to help you better.
1) How big is the room that this system will be going in?

2) How LOUD do you listen? How much and what kind of power will you be giving them?

3) Whatever fronts you decide upon, the center and surrounds will need to be timbre matched (especially the center). This will most likely mean that they will need to be the same brand and model line as your fronts. Have you given this any thought? 

Hope this helps a little. Anything else we can do, just ask and DIYMA members will be there!!


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## skibum (Aug 24, 2005)

I was gonna say Klipsch but then I saw the $500.00 but hey there is always ebay.


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## evan (Dec 2, 2006)

I have the Paradigm Cinema 110 system and I think it's a steal for $800, but if your looking to start building a system starting with towers than I wouldn't have this on my list. I'm using a Marantz SR4600 that puts out 105w at 6ohms. The combo is great but not shocking. I like big output for movies and when this system gets pushed there is some considerable port noise. I think I'll move this system into the living room to fulfill the role of sounding great and not taking up to much space (girlfriend's concern). For the basement I think I'll be building some speakers and looking into some pro audio amplification to fulfill my volume needs. I know that doesn't help you much because you can't build your own right now, but I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents about the Cinema series.


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## Alfakeeper (Dec 20, 2007)

DeLander said:


> Suneet, I agree with Alpha. If you're gonna spend $500 on your front L & R speakers, go to some B & M stores and listen to as many speakers as you can, even ones out of your price range. Not only will this give you an idea of different speakers' sound characteristics but it's DAMN fun as well!!!
> 
> I also have Paradigm speakers (Atoms in front) and for the price, I think they're hard to beat. Alpha is a little confused though (sorry, not trying to sound like a know-it-all or disrespect in any way). The Phantoms that Alpha is describing were part of the "Performance Series", which fell between the Cinema and Monitor series. It appears that Paradigm has ditched the Performance line and combined some models from that line with some models from the Monitor line and formed a new Monitor Series. Several Monitor models and Performance models (including the Phantoms) are no more. The Monitor 7s are excellent speakers (too bad they dropped the Monitor 5s) but they will cost more than 5 bills unfortunately.
> 
> ...


I am not confused, I couldn't remember the line of speakers they were in. I haven't gone speaker shopping in the past 7 years. Sorry. The final version of the Phantoms were very similar to the current Monitor 7s. I know they were different lines, the Monitor series being a higher end speaker. I guess I'm in the market for a set of Monitor 7s now. It looks like the price is about $670 for a set, but look at it this way, they are an investment that will pay for themselves in time. I listened to Boston's, Gallos, Energies (harsh), Bose (absolute overpriced crap), Mirage, Martin Logans (I think, can't remember) and NHTs. Most of these I couldn't afford (and still can't). So I looked for the speaker that sounded the best in the price range I could afford. A friend blind folded me in the listening room and swapped speakers around. I eliminated the ones I really didn't like the sound of. I ended up torn between a set of NHT super 0s (The were the bookshelf ones, so they could be a different number), a pair of the Paradigm signature series (WAY out of my price range) and the Phantoms. It took hours, and lots of CDs. It was however lots of fun.

Listen before you buy, and if you really want quality stay away from stuff sold at Best Buy/Circuit City ect. You can't really test the speakers there, and the speakers aren't the quality of what you will find if you go into a real high end home theater store. You might spend a little more in the long run, however I think you will be more happy as well.

Just my $.02,

Will


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## zukiaudio (Jan 31, 2007)

try looking at some deals on this web site ?

http://www.harmanaudiooutlet.com/se...etail.asp?urlMaterialNumber=ND310II-Z&status=


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## Suneet (Jun 19, 2007)

Thanks for the tips guys, I especially liked the tip of making sure to hear things that are out of my price range for comparison's sake.

I live in a studio apartment now thats about 500 sq ft, so its not a very big room. But I'll only be here for a year or two, and eventually I'll be somewhere bigger, so I'm not trying to optimize for the space that I have now, I want flexibility.

The way I see it, the front 3 channels are really all that matter the most-- I don't think my ear will be able to discern the difference of the sound of a bullet coming from behind me across different speakers (to a point, of course), so I wasn't planning on spending too much on my rear surrounds.

I'd be willing to step up my budget on my towers, and spend less on the rear surrounds. I will probably go with that Onkyo 605 receiver for sure.


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## DeLander (Feb 23, 2006)

Good answer. The front three speakers are by far the most important.

A couple more thoughts:

1) Since you'll be running a sub, do you plan on using it during 2-channel music listening? The reason I ask is - I have Paradigm Atoms(small bookshelves) and most of my music listening is done sub-less. This is purely personal preferrence though. Some music sounds better with the sub and some better without. My point is - you may be able to get REALLY good bookshelf speakers for the same $ as decent floorstanders. Alot of small bookshelf speakers have surprising bass response (room and placement dependant to an extreme of course).

2) Surrounds come in basically 2 different designs -Direct radiating and bi-polar(di-polar). Generally, bi(di)-polar surrounds work well in small rooms or rooms where the speakers will be placed close to the seating position. They can give an impression of a very large space(ambience).

Direct radiators can do this too. But they generally need to be placed further away from the seating position in order to give the sense of space.


All of this is just more food for thought. There are so many things to consider (at least for me-I'm kinda picky about these things).

Later


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

I'm tellin ya, you should have picked up those Ebay Kef towers. Those things are amazing at that price. Of course, they are gone by now, and all the other pairs of them are another $150+


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## tcguy85 (Oct 29, 2007)

i got my Infinity Alpha 50's brand new on ebay a few years back for $500. i don't think you can beat that to easily!


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

I bought a new pair of JBL L880s for $500s but I already have JBL gear....


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