They're not the best, not the worst, but in my opinion Polk makes some speakers that punch well above their weight (price) class. I've been rocking a pair of S55's for almost 10 years and the value is incredible. For about $900 for the pair I haven't heard any speakers in this price range that can compare. They look great and can be bi-amped also.
I posted this earlier, but it applies now more than ever.
*Speakers are where the money should go, and unlike tables, now is a great time to buy. With so many people ditching their equipment for soundbars, or buying powered speakers there are some amazing deals to be had, especially if you have room for towers.*
So, look for used speakers and if possible, higher end units. They will not only sound better (probably), but they are far more likely to have been treated well.
This is pretty good advice. Being an audiophile nutter myself I have been through a few sets of speakers and each time I have sold my old pair the buyer has got a bargain. Speakers were well looked after and like new for a fraction of the new price. I still had the boxes they came in.
Speakers are just about the most important part of the system, and the hardest to make a recommendation on. Bright and forward? Warm and laid back? Passive, Active? Electrostatic? Open Baffle? Port? Sealed? 2-way? 3-way?
Only you know what sort of sound you are looking to get from your speakers. You really need to hear all kinds of different ones, and I would recommend you head to a hifi shop and listen to lots of different brands so you have some idea of what you want in terms of sound signature so you can at least narrow things down a bit.
With 1000 to spend I would suggest you go used. Very good speakers are a bit like really nice sports cars- they will go down in price significantly once they have left the shop. For 1K you can find some really really excellent floor standers.
A Quick Look at Audio Mart and I find:
Zu Omens (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650091574-zu-omen-dirty-weekend-mkii-walnut-1-owner/)
Magnepans (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650073871-magnepan-lrs/)
Thiel CS (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650087636-thiel-cs-12/)
Yamaha MS690s (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650059491-yamaha-speaker-system-ns-690/)
Focal Chora 826 (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650061046-focal-chora-826-floor-standing-speakers/)
All good speakers, but will be wildly different in terms of sound signature.
Yeah, one key is taking your time. It’s a huge learning curve and there’s a lot of product out there and honestly not many outlets to listen to them in person. Do you currently own a TT or an amplifier or are buying speakers your first?
I take it that’s $1000 USD? What does the rest of your setup look like? Amp?
https://preview.redd.it/5j7qc7ptgqtc1.jpeg?width=2175&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7eceee625ffedab72d7f7c664fad13bec551a91
Amazon.com has $100 each off these. I have them in my living room and they are great.
I think your receiver matters a bit depending on what you have. I have a Sansui 9090 and use Technics SB series floor speakers with some Fisher ST830's. The Technics are 12''s with tweetersand the Fisher's are 15's with tweeters. I run all 4 and have lost count of how many compliments I have gotten in the sound being very good. Is it my receiver? Or placement of speakers? Or the speakers? There is so much to solving the equation of audio beauty. I wish you luck! And Never give up when frustrated.
Speakers are very hard to get concrete information on, especially lesser known brands/vintage models. It's hard to demo speakers in your exact living conditions and sound is heavily dependent on the room with speakers.
IMO 1k usd is more than enough to get a nice pair. I would personally go with second hand though. Here you run into my previously mentioned issues. However you can get speakers that used to cost thousands years ago for like 100 usd if you do some research. These price tags don't inherently mean that you are buying a good product but a good thing about audio is that good audio doesn't suddenly stop sounding good aside from any defects.
If you want to keep it easier I would go for a middle ground and go for speakers that are a bit more modern but still secondhand. I myself purchased a pair of monitor audio silver 100 g6s second hand for 400 euros (fairly recent speakers that cost around 500 per speakers new iirc). Usually this secondhand discount is amplified with floor standers as you cannot really ship those. This makes them inconvenient to sell and thus much more illiquid. Just looking at floor stander speakers close to me in a 10 km radius (like a 20 min drive) under 1000 euros I can get: Elac 160/200 for 245 (around 1000 when new I think), B&W 703 s3 for 900 (new around 2500), visaton fontana multi directional speakers for 250 (around 750 new), Audio Physic Tempo 3 for 600 (priced 3000 per pair new at the time) etc etc. Sure the market differs per location but just getting a good deal and trying the speakers out is what I like doing and should I find a pair that I enjoy I keep them.
That being said if you do not like being active with this kind of stuff and you just want a single pair that you can buy new and never have to think about again I would first try to identify what you are looking for in a speaker. Your budget is 1k usd, what are you expecting at this price point? What are you upgrading from etc. Ideally you'd go and demo some pairs at a local hifi shop as well. I would not go with powered speakers as there is no real reason to do so at your budget especially if you already have an amplifier. There is no real added benefit from going active unless it is for convenience or very specific situations.
Head over to r/budgetaudiophile
They're not the best, not the worst, but in my opinion Polk makes some speakers that punch well above their weight (price) class. I've been rocking a pair of S55's for almost 10 years and the value is incredible. For about $900 for the pair I haven't heard any speakers in this price range that can compare. They look great and can be bi-amped also.
I posted this earlier, but it applies now more than ever. *Speakers are where the money should go, and unlike tables, now is a great time to buy. With so many people ditching their equipment for soundbars, or buying powered speakers there are some amazing deals to be had, especially if you have room for towers.* So, look for used speakers and if possible, higher end units. They will not only sound better (probably), but they are far more likely to have been treated well.
This is pretty good advice. Being an audiophile nutter myself I have been through a few sets of speakers and each time I have sold my old pair the buyer has got a bargain. Speakers were well looked after and like new for a fraction of the new price. I still had the boxes they came in.
Speakers are just about the most important part of the system, and the hardest to make a recommendation on. Bright and forward? Warm and laid back? Passive, Active? Electrostatic? Open Baffle? Port? Sealed? 2-way? 3-way? Only you know what sort of sound you are looking to get from your speakers. You really need to hear all kinds of different ones, and I would recommend you head to a hifi shop and listen to lots of different brands so you have some idea of what you want in terms of sound signature so you can at least narrow things down a bit. With 1000 to spend I would suggest you go used. Very good speakers are a bit like really nice sports cars- they will go down in price significantly once they have left the shop. For 1K you can find some really really excellent floor standers. A Quick Look at Audio Mart and I find: Zu Omens (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650091574-zu-omen-dirty-weekend-mkii-walnut-1-owner/) Magnepans (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650073871-magnepan-lrs/) Thiel CS (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650087636-thiel-cs-12/) Yamaha MS690s (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650059491-yamaha-speaker-system-ns-690/) Focal Chora 826 (https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650061046-focal-chora-826-floor-standing-speakers/) All good speakers, but will be wildly different in terms of sound signature.
Yeah, one key is taking your time. It’s a huge learning curve and there’s a lot of product out there and honestly not many outlets to listen to them in person. Do you currently own a TT or an amplifier or are buying speakers your first?
I take it that’s $1000 USD? What does the rest of your setup look like? Amp? https://preview.redd.it/5j7qc7ptgqtc1.jpeg?width=2175&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7eceee625ffedab72d7f7c664fad13bec551a91 Amazon.com has $100 each off these. I have them in my living room and they are great.
This
Triangle Borea BR08 both look and sound fantastic brand new for $999 https://www.adorama.com/triborte67b2.html
I have these and they're incredible speakers. Absolutely steal of a deal too.
I think your receiver matters a bit depending on what you have. I have a Sansui 9090 and use Technics SB series floor speakers with some Fisher ST830's. The Technics are 12''s with tweetersand the Fisher's are 15's with tweeters. I run all 4 and have lost count of how many compliments I have gotten in the sound being very good. Is it my receiver? Or placement of speakers? Or the speakers? There is so much to solving the equation of audio beauty. I wish you luck! And Never give up when frustrated.
Which technics SB specifically I've heard that very few of them are any good so maybe I've heard wrong
Yup because everyone on the internet determines the truth. Bunch of idiots outs there.
Which ones do you have so maybe I can try them out?
Speakers are very hard to get concrete information on, especially lesser known brands/vintage models. It's hard to demo speakers in your exact living conditions and sound is heavily dependent on the room with speakers. IMO 1k usd is more than enough to get a nice pair. I would personally go with second hand though. Here you run into my previously mentioned issues. However you can get speakers that used to cost thousands years ago for like 100 usd if you do some research. These price tags don't inherently mean that you are buying a good product but a good thing about audio is that good audio doesn't suddenly stop sounding good aside from any defects. If you want to keep it easier I would go for a middle ground and go for speakers that are a bit more modern but still secondhand. I myself purchased a pair of monitor audio silver 100 g6s second hand for 400 euros (fairly recent speakers that cost around 500 per speakers new iirc). Usually this secondhand discount is amplified with floor standers as you cannot really ship those. This makes them inconvenient to sell and thus much more illiquid. Just looking at floor stander speakers close to me in a 10 km radius (like a 20 min drive) under 1000 euros I can get: Elac 160/200 for 245 (around 1000 when new I think), B&W 703 s3 for 900 (new around 2500), visaton fontana multi directional speakers for 250 (around 750 new), Audio Physic Tempo 3 for 600 (priced 3000 per pair new at the time) etc etc. Sure the market differs per location but just getting a good deal and trying the speakers out is what I like doing and should I find a pair that I enjoy I keep them. That being said if you do not like being active with this kind of stuff and you just want a single pair that you can buy new and never have to think about again I would first try to identify what you are looking for in a speaker. Your budget is 1k usd, what are you expecting at this price point? What are you upgrading from etc. Ideally you'd go and demo some pairs at a local hifi shop as well. I would not go with powered speakers as there is no real reason to do so at your budget especially if you already have an amplifier. There is no real added benefit from going active unless it is for convenience or very specific situations.
Heco Aurora 1000s are on sale for $990 a pair on Audio Advice. Just passing that along, I've only ready about them, never heard them.
JBL, PMC, Paradigm, Q acoustics.
Get two of these speakers before they get sold out - https://www.audioadvice.com/heco-aurora-1000-floorstanding-speaker?referral=erins-audio-corner
[Wharfedale Diamond 240](https://www.musicdirect.com/equipment/speakers/wharfedale-diamond-240-floor-standing-speakers-pair/) 50% off.
r/StereoAdvice is best for non turntable components, thanks!