# Tower Speakers



## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

Anyone know of a good company that makes good towers similar to these: (http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_42&products_id=96) relatively cheap? I'm going to do surround sound, but keep in mind this is for a room thats about 200-300sq feet. Suggestions? 

Also while we are on the subject, what do you guys recommend for the remaining surround speakers? (Budget oriented) I'm not looking to do a ton of tuning, just kind of set them up and listen


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

If you're going for surround, you don't need towers - anything below 80hz is taken care of by the subwoofer. A pair of well-made monitors should be just fine. 

I would strongly recommend Paradigm products. They're cheap, well-made, sound great and available for demonstration at many hi-fi stores. I would, however, strongly recommend buying a pair of the Atoms for the front left and right speakers - they sound quite a lot better than the Cinema series for music - and avoid their subs, which are overpriced.


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

i got a pair of these a few months ago, they are excellent, get loud and sound crisp without being offensive at all. and only $79.

my sub plays all the lows.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ATWS15&variation=SIL


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## ItalynStylion (May 3, 2008)

I have a friend that just bought those ED towers. They are very nice. I agree with the others though that you only need some nice monitors and a good sub. I just run 4 HSU HB1 bookshelfs and their center with a sub.....which is an in progress ATM


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## backwoods (Feb 22, 2006)

how much is relatively cheap?


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

backwoods said:


> how much is relatively cheap?


2-300?



Autiophile said:


> Are you limited to retail speakers or would you consider DIY? I certainly understand if you just want to buy them and be done, but you do sacrifice a lot of high value options.


I would prefer retail, but if anyone has any other suggestions im open. Someone owes me a box build, so maybe this would be the box I asked to be built


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## Spasticteapot (Mar 5, 2007)

LiquidClen said:


> 2-300?


http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/907para/

Stereophile may be full of BS, but I do think these speakers deserve much of the hype: they really are very good. Sure, they're not exactly WATTs or Apogees, but they're small, cheap, attractive, and capable of surprising SPL - when I demo'd them, I actually asked the store clerk to turn it down. 



LiquidClen said:


> 2-300?
> I would prefer retail, but if anyone has any other suggestions im open. Someone owes me a box build, so maybe this would be the box I asked to be built


DIY is definitely the way to go - a $150 300w BASH plate amp (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-750) plus the subwoofer driver of your choice will result in an amazing sub. Remember, low frequency extension (below 30hz is recommended, below 20hz is ideal) is very important; the Dayton Reference and Adire Shiva subs come well recommended. Also, weight and size are no longer major constraints - add as much cross-bracing as you can.


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

Spasticteapot said:


> http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/907para/
> 
> Stereophile may be full of BS, but I do think these speakers deserve much of the hype: they really are very good. Sure, they're not exactly WATTs or Apogees, but they're small, cheap, attractive, and capable of surprising SPL - when I demo'd them, I actually asked the store clerk to turn it down.
> 
> ...


I was going to do the the sub setup DIY, it's the towers i dont want to DIY


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## 60ndown (Feb 8, 2007)

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=bookshelf+speaker&category0=


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

POLK AUDIO RTi12 FLOOR STANDING TOWER SPEAKERS ONE PAIR

http://cgi.ebay.com/POLK-AUDIO-RTi1...ryZ14993QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## backwoods (Feb 22, 2006)

LiquidClen said:


> 2-300?
> 
> 
> 
> I would prefer retail, but if anyone has any other suggestions im open. Someone owes me a box build, so maybe this would be the box I asked to be built


 
build a tritrix.

I was surprised at the quality of them, especially at the price. If you can get the box built, then you are within your budget.

I'm finishing up the zdt3.5 right now for someone, and will let you all know how that sounds. Just under $400 for the parts though, not including building materials.

The br-1's are nice little bookshelves, and good to learn on for building passives if you have never done it before. only downfall is the 83db sensitivity. But, then you could save up to build some nice towers ($500+ range) and move those to surrounds.

I've never been very impressed with any towers under $300 total. They all seem to give up a lot to get under that dollar amount. Your crossovers and wood will eat up around $200 of it. 

What about the behringer truth monitors? Those are fairly nice and you could find them cheap.


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

For the hell of it, if I were to do DIY what speakers would you guys recommend?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

backwoods said:


> build a tritrix.
> 
> I was surprised at the quality of them, especially at the price. If you can get the box built, then you are within your budget.
> 
> ...


I purchased a pair of the BR-1's as a gift for my friend, based on Backwoods suggestion.


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## LiquidClen (Dec 27, 2005)

Autiophile said:


> ----


Sorry, I skimmed through most of it as I am at work, and thought these were premade 



a$$hole said:


> I purchased a pair of the BR-1's as a gift for my friend, based on Backwoods suggestion.


You liked them?


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

I have not heard them, not built yet !

I trust Backwoods !!


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## backwoods (Feb 22, 2006)

a$$hole said:


> I have not heard them, not built yet !
> 
> I trust Backwoods !!




I've done probably 8-10 sets of these for people, helped them through the build. The biggest downside has been the inefficiency. Often people have a small, low powered receiver, and they struggle in that situation. But once they get enough juice to them, then go to a shop and listen to pairs that are ~$300 or more, they are more then satisfied. 

Now, you probably are picky being into audio, so they will not be the end all for sure, but you will be impressed at how cheap & easy home audio is compared to car audio to get good sound. 


The biggest deal is, just how much you want to invest. What equipment do you already have?

If nothing yet, I would go to www.emotiva.com and purchase an LPA-1 while they are on sale, to get you a good, solid amp to start out with. Any old receiver that has outputs can be used to feed a signal to it. So you can wait on the fancy pre/pro purchase till later. 

It leaves you at a couple places now. You know have a powerful 6/7 channel amp so you could even build your own towers, and just run active with a behringer or rane unit. Even with your PC. Absolute blast to play with, and ALOT of fun to learn more about tuning and adjusting, plus saves you the time/money on the passive crossovers. All my car drivers get house time before they ever get car time. I like to learn where the drivers really succeed, and where some of the weaknesses are. (higher distortion, cone breakup, low end limit, spl limit..etc.) Obviously these change when put into the car, but it gives me a good reference, plus some solid break in time.

It will also help you determine what you are looking for in the future.

Make a tower similar to the one for the ZDT3.5 on zaph's site, so you have interchangeable baffles. Then try different drivers to your hearts content. 

Basically, for the money you will spend to build/design a quality passive, you can buy a behringer unit and go active. Just try it out with whatever drivers you have available to you. You can even go pick up some towers from a yard sale, and try running the drivers active and see how much you can improve them.

I picked up a couple sets of old sony's, and was really impressed with the sound when I ran them active. They simply had a cap on the wide range tweeter, and used natural roll off between the mid/woofer. 

Total invested was like $40 for 4 towers that held a 12 w/ passive radiator, a 4" mid and a wide range tweet. Took very little work to fit a nice 4" driver and a large format tweeter in the tower. Beleive it or not, ended up selling them for $400 a pair. Total invested was about $300 after I built the passives. 

Plus, I got a lot better at tuning/designing when your not stuck sitting in a car, but can do it at your leasure in your living room.

If you want to just build a set and get it over with, make sure to read through zaph's site as I have always been pleased with his designs. He takes time to design solid passives and doesn't shortcut the design in any way, even on low budget setups.

It's all about where you want to end up. Don't spend money just to get something working, make sure your pieces can grow with you, like the LPA-1. That is an amp you can use for a long time.


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## dvflyer (May 11, 2007)

Not sure if you can find a set - maybe used- in your price range, but this is where I buy all of my home speakers. Very well regarded in the home audio industry.

www.av123.com


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## hobie1dog (Apr 9, 2008)

like these?


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