Stereo speakers

[racketboy]

Ok I got a pretty nice AV Setup.

Nice TV, DVD, VCR, 3 sega systems, and a $300 Pioneer Receiver.

Now the speakers, on the other hand, have something to be desired. Money's tight right now (my wife and I have been married and on own own for only 3 months, so that explains it) so I'm not really in the market to buy a set of good speakers right now.

Right now I have two Sony speakers that came my wife's old shelf system (which crapped out on her). I've been using them for a little over 3 months and really haven't had any problems.

My concern is that I'm not sure if I will eventually blow them out. I'm not sure how many watts or whatever they can handle -- probably about 50(?)

I don't usually turn the volume up too loud.

Do you think I should just stick with the old cheapies for a while?

I'm hoping to get some nice monster cable to possibly increase the sound quality instead of using the cheap wire that came with them (and that is too short).

Lemme hear your opinions and suggestions -- thanks!

sorry if I'm not much of an AV expert.

 

[sizone]

monster cable's a waste of money

get 2 subwoofers and a bandpass

 

[antigov]

I'd stick with the cheap speakers until I could afford some high quality ones. No point in wasting money on something if you plan on replacing it soon after.

Polk, Infinity, JBL, and Klipsch all make great speakers, fwiw, and I recommend you price their stuff before you make your decision. They're expensive!

 

[mal]

The monster cable would be a waste of money.

The main thing to do is listen out for any distortion coming from the Sony speakers. Too much distortion due to over driving the speakers will damage them.

As far as getting new speakers goes, you need to balance the decision between what your ears like and what you can afford.

If you do end up outlaying some serious cash, get them to bring the speakers out to your place and audition them using your gear (with some music you know really well) in your space. That's the only way to get a good idea of how they'll sound.

 

[racketboy]

IF I get speakers, it's gonna be a while.

I do need to replace the speaker wire.

The stuff I got now is crap and not long enough -- I have to unplug them from the receiver to be able to pull the reciever out to look at it. I want to get some nice cable. Is there any other good brands besides Monster? How much cheaper is it? I want to have built-in connectors.

What is a bandpass?

So does everybody think my current cheap Sonys be good enough for a while?

 

[Nadius]

This is tough. Speakers aren't really a necessity, it doesn't seem like one in your case, but also you don't want to let that reciever go to waste on 50w speakers... so this is what I might do, get some decent speakers at Circuit City; my brother tells me that they have like an upgrade service dealie, where like within two years or three years or something, you can trade those in towards something better.

 

[Curtis]

Originally posted by Nadius@Oct. 03 2002, 6:31 pm

This is tough. Speakers aren't really a necessity, it doesn't seem like one in your case, but also you don't want to let that reciever go to waste on 50w speakers... so this is what I might do, get some decent speakers at Circuit City; my brother tells me that they have like an upgrade service dealie, where like within two years or three years or something, you can trade those in towards something better.

Speakers not important? Usually they are the weakest link in a system. The difference between good and bad speakers can be phenomenal - and the difference is directly related to the amount of cash you spend.

You should aim to spend at least as much on your speakers as on your amp, if you want a good balance between quality and price. Try some out, if possible, using your amp and a piece of music you know really well. Listen out for "holes" in the sound ("Hey, shouldn't there be a really twangy guitar here?") and don't buy solely on bass response - you'll get tired of it.

Incidentally, you are probably less likely to blow a set of speakers rated at a lower wattage than the amp, than speakers rated at a higher wattage. Speakers are blown when you feed plain DC current into them - you'd know this as distortion. If you drive the amp too hard into speakers that are rated too high, you will distort the signal before it enters the speaker. Using lower rated speakers, you will probably cut back the volume before it gets too loud to distort the speaker.

 

[racketboy]

Originally posted by Curtis@Oct. 03 2002, 5:21 am

Speakers not important? Usually they are the weakest link in a system. The difference between good and bad speakers can be phenomenal - and the difference is directly related to the amount of cash you spend.

That may be true, but I've also heard a lot of people say the most overlooked "bottleneck" in a stereo system in the speaker cabling. That's why I wanted to get some nicer cable.

 

[mal]

Hell no. That's what the speaker cable manufacturers want you to believe. :

:

If you really want to go for some 'bigger' cables just use some 10 amp flex (power cable size). It will be much cheaper and will sound exactly the same as much more expensive cables. It's all just copper in the end.

 

[racketboy]

Originally posted by mal@Oct. 03 2002, 10:08 am

Hell no. That's what the speaker cable manufacturers want you to believe. :

:

If you really want to go for some 'bigger' cables just use some 10 amp flex (power cable size). It will be much cheaper and will sound exactly the same to you.

Can you fill me in with some more info?

I'm a little clueless here.

Any links to stores, company website, etc.

thanks!

 

[antime]

Originally posted by mal@Oct. 03 2002, 6:08 pm

Hell no. That's what the speaker cable manufacturers want you to believe.

They're not the only ones.

 

[racketboy]

Originally posted by antime+Oct. 03 2002, 10:13 am--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(antime @ Oct. 03 2002, 10:13 am)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-mal@Oct. 03 2002, 6:08 pm

Hell no. That's what the speaker cable manufacturers want you to believe.

They're not the only ones.[/b][/quote]

Ok, remember, I'm not that knowledgable about this kind of stuff. I don't really know what all that stuff is.

Plus its from the UK, so I wouldn't be ordering from that place, nor do I know what the exchange rates are.

I'm from the US, BTW.

 

[mal]

Umm antime, those were digital interconnects...

I do know what you mean though. Some people have more money than sense. :

:

You probably meant this link. Up to £360 for speaker cables ?

I rest my case.

 

[racketboy]

Here's the Monster ones I was looking at before:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin....9XP2F15

 

[racketboy]

Originally posted by mal@Oct. 03 2002, 10:20 am

Umm antime, those were digital interconnects...

I do know what you mean though. Some people have more money than sense. :

:

You probably meant this link. Up to £360 for speaker cables ?

I rest my case.

I'm still not finding any places in the US that sell any of those cables. Everything's in the UK -- what's up with that?

 

[mal]

Personally I wouldn't bother with any 'monster' type of cables, but it's your money Ralph.

 

[racketboy]

Originally posted by mal@Oct. 03 2002, 10:46 am

Personally I wouldn't bother with any 'monster' type of cables, but it's your money Ralph.

well, point me in the way of a US store that has a better alternative.

I don't want something cheapo and I want built in connectors.

 

[mal]

I'm trying to find something in the US, but I'm in Australia so I'm having trouble knowing where to look.

 

[racketboy]

All the big places in the US: Crutchfield, Best Buy, & Circuit City only sell Monster Cable. Best Buy has some other stuff (not THAT much cheaper) but it's only plain wire, not protected -- and it doesn't have connectors built in.

 

[Taelon]

Mmmm... Radio Shack? They're not necessary low-end quality, and they haev TONS of different kinds of speaker cables...thick, thin...heck, you might consider building your own speakers from parts, can be cheap if you do it right....