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New member Username: Shaolin95Post Number: 6 Registered: 01-2004 | Hi! Maybe some of you remember that I sent an email to many HT magazines asking them to do an Online Speaker Company shootout. Unfortunately as most of you and I expected, none of the magz say yes to the idea pressumably because none of the online companies pay enough in ads to "earn" a review...sad but true thats the honesty of mag reviews now adays. There is good news still, Ecoustics.com is going to do the Faceoff article and they are working on it just now. It will take sometime as its a complex thing but we will appreciate any input (I dont work for them but since I gave the idea they are listening to my opinions about how to do it). Here are the products to be reviewed: AXIOM: Bookshelf model M22ti ($400) Tower model M40ti ($490) HTD: Bookshelf model Level 4 ($499) Tower model Level 3($429) Fluance: Tower SV-10 ($299) also TOWERS ES-1 ($399) Ascend Acoustics: Bookshelf CBM-170 ($328) Aperion : Bookshel MODEL f522D-LR ($180 EACH) Onyx Rocket model RS150 ($399) As you can see with are doing an under $500 FaceOff first and will do an under $1000 later. My opinions is that we should compare all speakers based on price and not based on speaker type (ie tower or bookshelf) since lets say, Company A sells a tower for $400 a pair and Company B sells a Bookshelf also for $400 pair, I want to know which one is the better bang for the buck since they cost the same. If we were to separate into speaker types it will IMHO defeat the purpose of the article which is to find out which Speaker is the real Best-bang-for-the-buck. I mean, isnt Company A's fault that Company B prices a bookshelf at the same price at Company A's tower. Besides, just because of being a tower it doesnt mean that it is going to sound better than a bookshelf, ,more bass probably yes, but sonically better is another story. Hope to hear your opinions on this article. Regards |
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Anonymous | can't wait. recently bought some HTD speakers that are much cheaper than established name brand speakers and sound phenomenal. They give my reference KEF speakers a run for the money... at a fraction of the price. |
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New member Username: Shaolin95Post Number: 7 Registered: 01-2004 | Which did you buy? LEvel 3 or 4...towers? |
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SteveP Unregistered guest | I interested to hear how this turns out. Bought a pair of Fluance SM-938's that I am happy with, but I considered some of the others listed here. A suggestion might be to use a similarly priced non-Internet speaker (PSB or Paradigm?) as a control/reference. |
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Bronze Member Username: StonePost Number: 28 Registered: 12-2003 | It would be a crime not to include Ohm Acoustics when the 1000.00 and over level of speakers are reviewed. I think they make a superior speaker to comparable models from the manufacturers on that lsit and it would be great to see them reviewed in a shootout. |
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Bronze Member Username: Disco_stanPost Number: 61 Registered: 12-2003 | SteveP do those SM 983 towers sound bright to at all? And what are you using to power them? Sorry to get off topic. |
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Silver Member Username: Project6Post Number: 194 Registered: 12-2003 | finally a real world (hopefully) face-off. I would love to see a review of those Fluance speakers, too. |
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SteveP Unregistered guest | The SM 938's do not sound particularly bright, though that may be partly due to what I am powering them with, an HK 525 receiever, which is a little on the warm side itself. |
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anon Unregistered guest | Why aren't Athena, Polk, and Klipsch included in the "face off"? |
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Bronze Member Username: ValeemPost Number: 74 Registered: 12-2003 | Will they be making suggestions as to which speakers will go well with which amps/receivers or at least mention their sonic characteristics. I think alot of people will benefit if they do. Then maybe they can do the same for amps/receivers when they get round to it. |
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Bronze Member Username: ValeemPost Number: 75 Registered: 12-2003 | Also why limit themselves to online speaker company's. How about some kind of definitive guide to the sonic attributes of all speakers? Ditto amps/receivers. It would be a ground breaking excercise and one I'm sure everyone interested in audio would appreciate. |
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MItch_J Unregistered guest | Is it to late to see if you can get a set of Magnepan MMG W's into the test? |
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HiFiNut Unregistered guest | You need to include a reference speaker to include in the bunch. Perhaps from B&Ws or these units from SLS Loudspeakers that use a ribbon/cone hybrid. http://www.slsloudspeakers.com/s8r_is_a_world_class_near.htm http://www.slsloudspeakers.com/ht8r.htm http://www.slsloudspeakers.com/ht28r.htm |
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Unregistered guest | Any chance of getting Cambridge Soundworks Newton series speakers added to the mix? Seems to me their M60 bookshelf ($299/pr) would merit consideration. I know there was a recent comparison of the CSW M80 with the Axiom M22ti (on the Axiom boards, IIRC). I'd just like to hear more about CSWs and see how they stack up against the whole field (IMHO, they are the best looking speakers in the price range. Gotta keep the WAF in mind, right?) I'm actually planning my own in-home shootout among comparable Axiom, CSW, and Aperion units. The winner will be the foundation of a 5.1 ht/music setup (I'll order another pair of bookshelfs, plus a CC; I'm still undecided on a sub). But it might save me some return shipping if I could eliminate one on the basis of a more professional/expert review. |
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Anonymous | When will the results of this face off be posted? I am salivating over the results!!! |
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Bronze Member Username: Joe_sPost Number: 25 Registered: 12-2003 | Too late for me, but this is a great idea! You will have to use different amps, a warm Marantz would go with certain speakers better than a brighter amp, and vice versa. Joe |
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DaveC Unregistered guest | Is the online speaker face-off still in the works? I haven't seen anything regarding it but am close to pulling the trigger on speakers and hoped to see the results. |
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AdamVerducci Unregistered guest | What happened to this test? |
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Bronze Member Username: StoneWest CoastUSA Post Number: 30 Registered: Dec-03 | Good question...none of them were on my short list, but I was curious of how it played out. |
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Unregistered guest | Well, we finally posted our 4-way speaker shootout at Audioholics. Not exactly what everyone was hoping for here, but it was fun nonetheless and most of the speaker systems fall into a decent price range (around $1,000) http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/5.1SpeakerSystemShootout1 .php Anon: We also did a separate review of the athena Micra 6's here: http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/loudspeakers/AthenaTechnologiesMicra6p 1.html |
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Dick Unregistered guest | I'll say it's not! Not what we were looking for, or when we were looking for it. In fact, it appears that Luis lost interest or lost his backing in this venture, & it was hijacked by someone else entirely. What could "hawke's" agenda be, I wonder? (Interesting choice of username too.) |
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Bronze Member Username: ElitePost Number: 15 Registered: May-04 | paradigm would beat them all |