I’ve learned if one goes into Best Buy and asks to see about buying a new pair of stereo speakers the employees look at you as if you are from Mars. Kids!

Quick background: 11 years ago I moved into this house. Moving is an arduous task and towards the end of loading out of the old house I was fatigued, worn out and disgusted with the process. I gave away to my old neighbors my speakers, turn table, cd multi disk platter player, and dual cassette deck. Yeah, I know, old technology. I did keep my nice expensive Kenwood receiver.

Fast forward to now. I would like to listen to good music again from my CD collection as well as FM.

Yes I have MP3 style electronic digital music and the ability to store and play it.

I want my old music and I want to use my vintage receiver.

Everyone wants to sell me a home theatre system. I’ve got that, don’t want to use it for music, don’t like the sound.

I just want some old fashioned stereo speakers. You know, like from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s etc.

Best Buy kids can’t demo things to me like they used to. They used to have a dedicated room with a lot of speakers. Try’em and listen before buying.

Looking online I see bookshelf and tower speakers but I can’t know if they sound good for music.

It seems as if everything is oriented or at least marketed to Home Entertainment Systems.

I just want some good speakers.

I’m almost to the point of going to some pawn shops but I’m leery of old used speakers.

Any advice?

Thanks.


BTW I started to post this in the Rant Section but I need some help.
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I am a big fan of Klipsch speakers. Especially the heritage line. I would say go to the Klipsch forum and do some research. Then go to craigslist, or if you don't mind paying more check one of their dealers on the forum and get new. I would recommend Hersey. I have a pair and they work well with my vintage McIntosh MC2100 and MX117. Hope that helps

Around here, some of the Best Buy stores have a Magnolia branded mini store inside that has high end audio.

Aperion Audio is direct to consumer and has a home demo program. Maybe some other online retailers do the same?

quote:

Originally posted by Kuisis:
I am a big fan of Klipsch speakers.

Klipsch tend to be highly efficient speakers. Costco sells them and check Amazon warehouse for bargains. I have Emotiva that are part of a 7.1.2 surround system. Good luck.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

The first thing you need to do is set a budget.

Dynaudio is a great brand but their speakers start at about $700 a pair and up.

Klipsch speakers are very good, as are Polk, Harman Kardon and Bose and a few others.

I am old and my highs and lows are gone.

So it is a waste of money for me to get really good speakers anymore.

I just tossed my ancient KLH speakers from my post college days.

I am thinking of going Bose or Sonos.

The sound is good for my old ears, and they can be hooked up and stream my music to any room.

I had milk crates of Vinyl and boxes of CDs and a gigs of audio on a computer. Now I just stream.

Between free spotify and amazon my music collection feels infinite.

I have the previous model of these Klipsch. They sound good. I do have the treble turned down one click and run a small 6 inch energy sub. For just background music you don't need a sub. But when you turn them up, the sub makes them sound really good. They go over 100 db with just a few watts.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_...e-RP-160M-Ebony.html

These Polk speakers sound a little better than the Klipsch. Not as bright and just a bit smoother. I would use a small sub for them too.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_...io-TSi200-Black.html

The sub I have.
https://www.energy-speakers.co...bwoofers/?sku=ESW-M6

I hit the black friday sales and got the speakers and sub for $500

These have a good reputation too.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_...3-Cherry.html?tp=186

Good sound is more than just the speakers themselves.
It does play a major part but some sound better than others.
The best way is to listen to some in an environment like yours with material you are familiar with.
The more you listen the more your ear is trained and it make it easier to discern differences.

Room acoustics make a HUGE difference.
This alone has multiple variables.
Simply the larger the room the more sound is needed to fill up. Size matters.
Also high ceilings, lots of reflective areas like hardwood floors and glass affect high frequencies a lot.

So I realize you want the end-goal answer of what to get.

I recently got a set of AudioEngine HDP6 speakers on a deal fro Drop.com.
These do sound great, and are superbly built but could use a little bass and adding a sub would make them sing really well.

Had these
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c...elf.html/?ap=y&smp=y
Blew them up and bought these
https://www.parts-express.com/...elf-speaker--303-434

As garage speakers. I like them fine. I am old though

House speakers are Paradigm but only used for home theater.

All good suggestions. How critical, how loud, budget, amp etc. all make a difference. Small bookshelf with sub is what I started with. Since I had to put them on stands, I bought floorstanding for the house, Wife doesn't like loud or boomy, so away went the subwoofer.
I listen to music in garage or on the mower, but, source is only MP3. Watch impedence and efficieny ratings and be honest with how loud you want to be

You can spend stupid amounts of money on audio. Some of the mail order places have 30 day trials

I’m also a fan of Klipsch. I have 4x of the Fortes, and an Academy center channel.

I bought the second pair of Fortes used from a guy on Klipsch forum, for a very good price.

Fortes can put out ~32 Hz on the low end, plenty low for music. Allowing you to avoid the sub, if you want.

Having worked at Circuit City back in the day with the "speaker room", that setup doesn't give you a good idea of what they will actually sound like in your room.

Grab a reputable brand (mentioned earlier, but I'll add JBL brands to that list) in your price range, and try them at home.

Don't like them? Being them back and try the next brand.

The stores have found that it's actually cheaper this way, than to devote all that floor space to the room, especially when you wound still get the returns from people saying "they didn't sound like they did on display".

Just as another option, I have a pair of these Edifier speakers and they really are terrific for what they are. Being 50+ my focus is on clarity at this point not so much bass, and these deliver nicely. Very balanced sound. And best of all they aren't stupid expensive.

I live in an area where people have comfortable disposable incomes. As such, Craigslist can offer some decent equipment at reasonable prices, especially if one is patient. For me, used speakers by Paradigm, Vienna Acoustics or Monitor Audio have been great sound for the buck.

Audiogon may yield something too.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by OKCGene:
I’ve learned if one goes into Best Buy and asks to see about buying a new pair of stereo speakers the employees look at you as if you are from Mars. Kids!

Asking for recommendations for stereo equipment, and speakers especially, is a bit like asking for advice on who to marry. Depends on the type of music you like, room size, how loud you like to listen, what equipment you have to use with them and how much you are willing to spend.
It is tough now that brick and mortar stereo stores are becoming harder to find to allow you try out different brands and take advantage of the knowledge of the sales people. There are a number of brands that allow you in home trials with return privileges.
A brand that I can recommend that offers good value, wide range of selections and in home trials with return privileges is ELAC.
https://www.elac.com/

Please tell me about your vintage receiver- Kenwood model, power ( watts per channel) and what inputs does it have: phono, tape etc.

That makes a difference in speaker choice.

Back in the day ... Klipsch speakers were very well made but a distinctive theatre horn sound.
Not really an accurate speaker but popular back then nonetheless.
Today they are pretty "commercialized" and not sure about the whole line but I don't think they are the same speaker of yesteryear.
I do have a set of PC Klipsch 2.1 and they are decent but nothing super special.
Even results for Bose - another popular speaker but even back then no true audio guy would be caught dead with them.
Not that either line is bad ~ it is just that they are capitalizing on past laurels rather than current technology.
JBL on the other hand has always been a quality speaker manufacturer and while they do have some low end average products they have some decent ones as well.
I always respected JBL more for quality of manufacture rather than quality of sound but ultimately that part is subjective.
AR aka Acoustic Research one from the past that was a good speaker also has gone through the commercializing process but I don't think they are even making speakers today.

So as you mentioned looking in Pawn Shops for good speakers is a great idea.
You might find a great gem of an old speaker out there.
Speakers can last many years if taken care of, not blown or the speaker surround has not deteriorated.

I started a thread in the LAIR on my revived 2-channel equipment.
Mixing some old with new.
ADS speakers from 1989 that have just been sitting and they sound amazing still.
The technology of loudspeakers have not changed over the years.
The problem is that they take up space, no one listens to 2-channel the same way we did then, and even a lot of those just use headphones.
Plus the wives don't like big speakers in the living room.

Good Luck and hope you find something nice.

A current manufacturer of bookshelf speakers that get great reviews in audiophile magazines, and is not too expensive, is Audio Engine.
I have several pairs of their speakers and like them a lot.
Since you already have an amp or receiver you want to use, they have unpowered (passive) versions. The HDP6 is $400 a pair, the P4’s are $250.
I have the HDL6 versions which includes a nice built-in amp and bluetooth connectibility. You can add their subwoofer if you want more bass.
They have a 30-day return policy.
Look at their website, read the reviews.

quote:

Originally posted by tleddy:
Please tell me about your vintage receiver- Kenwood model, power ( watts per channel) and what inputs does it have: phono, tape etc.

That makes a difference in speaker choice.

Thanks.

It’s not terribly vintage, I bought it in 1994. I also have another receiver, think it’s a Technics, I purchased in 1983, currently it’s on long term loan to a friend.

If 26 years old may or not be referred to as Vintage. It’s a Kenwood KR-V5560. I don’t know the watts.

It’s not where I am now so I can’t look at it but I think it has all kinds of inputs on a rotary knob. I’d say pretty much ever thing possible accessory wise. I can’t find the manual here, it may be stashed at another location. I do recall that it is apparently one of the earlier audio video Dolby Pro logic things, whatever that means. I just liked the sound and I’ve been a Kenwood brand ham radio guy. Seems to me Kenwood usually made very good electronics.

I saw a true vintage earlier, a Sansui, supposedly a 1968 year model, AM FM stereo receiver, saw it and heard it in person. It sounded and looked good. Hard to describe, but the sound seemed richer or something. I may make an offer on it.

I often say I like old things that still work. Must be quality engineering, manufacturing, workmanship , etc. I’m,Ike that.

I have a pair of B&W bookshelf speakers Along with an Onkyo subwoofer and a pair of Polk Audio towers. The B&W’s are some of the best I’ve ever heard.

I spend tons of time watching youtube videos everyday about fishing, hunting, cameras/photography and...hi fidelity music. I have watched untold number of hours of reviews of equipment. Even so, you just can't beat auditioning equipment in person.

As already stated by someone above, if you can get into a Best Buy Magnolia showroom, go there. I take control of their iPad so I can switch between the speakers at will. Just know that they will sound differently in your house than in the showroom due to placement and the room.

To listen to what you say you want to listen to, it is hard to beat Klipsh for the price. If you want floor standers, look/listen to some R-620f's. If you want stand mounts/bookshelfs, look/listen to some RP-600M's or their little brother, the RP-500M's.

As already stated above by someone, Klipsch speakers are efficient - they need less power to put out the same amount of sound.

I have the RP-600M's, which are the largest stand mount/bookshelf speakers. If you need more bass, just add a Klipsch R-100WE, which is their 10" powered subwoofer. If you need more, go for the 12".

I use TIDAL for my hi resolution music streaming service. Those speakers with my 120 watt per channel integrated amp/DAC provide me my audiophile experience on the cheap. Also, I get TIDAL at about $12 per month with my military discount.

Klipsch were a great brand nut as other indicated, they went mainstream and quality suffered, I’d look at Facebook marketplace or listing for Paradigm. My brother has B&W and he raves about those.