Best home theater speakers for < $300??

[heat23]

So what are some good floor speakers that are under $300 for the PAIR?

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: lancestorm

Originally posted by: hevnsnt

Originally posted by: jpeyton
http://www.fluance.com/fluanceavhtb.html

Awesome speakers and in your price range.. Do your research, they get great reviews!

I have them in my living room and love em.

<starting trouble>

You are the same guy that thinks Bose is the elite/ultimate speaker company don't you.

</starting trouble>

I guess my biggest problem with your statement is clarifying how they are awesome. Everyone has different ears. I find it very difficult to believe that this setup has any good qualities other than price. I expect choppy dialogue, no low end, very low sensitivity rating, coloring of the sound to ridiculous proportions, etc... I just don't want this guy to have to be down the road again in a few years looking for another upgrade. Go big now and enjoy.

Can you elitist sound pricks back off a little? You guys get a hardon for banana plugs and 4-way binding posts, while the rest of us just want a set of speakers to enjoy a movie with while sitting next to our women (you remember what those are, right?).

The worst thing about your post is that you state "everyone has different ears", but you insist on giving your professional opinion about speakers that you have not tried. These speakers have had nothing but solid reviews and are an excellent value for the money.

heat23 can get a pair of $300 fronts for now like you suggested, but I assure you that watching movies on those cheaper $200 (or $250 for the upgraded set) Fluance surround sets will be more enjoyable for nearly all movies, because nearly ALL movies are encoded for surround.

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&amp;DID=7&amp;Partnumber=091-1165

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&amp;DID=7&amp;Partnumber=091-1150

They're only within the reach of the richest audiophile, you know.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: heat23
So what are some good floor speakers that are under $300 for the PAIR?

Ones that you build yourself.

EDIT: Easily done if you have a free weekend, past woodworking experience, and experience with building electric circuits. Scrap that; only the first is necessary.

 

[BunLengthHotDog]

DO NOT be afraid of purchasing the FLUANCE set that has been linked in this post numerous times. I myself owned that exact same set and was blown away by the quality of sound they were capable of. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you take into account the upgrades I got) my house was hit by lightning, forcing me to "upgrade". I ended up with some Polk speakers as replacements.

Yes because when I want the best reviews in the industry I personally trust Steve Guttenberg from CNET. Give me a break!

OK lancestorm....maybe you would rather have the MANY folks on

AVSForum.com

or

HomeTheaterForum.com

give you their opinions...I find it very promising that such a broad range of audiophiles still take the time to review such a cheap set of speakers. There are MANY threads on both of those sites reviewing the FLUANCE set...I would venture to say 99% of the reviewers HIGHLY recommended them for this posters price range. I would link the threads (many of them) but then again...you probably wouldn't even bother reading them

Heat23 check out the Fluance set, you won't be dissappointed.


EDIT: I really suggest reading the 2 sites linked above for Fluance reviews, they are eye-opening...AND written by people who have listened to them. IF you won't buy them, you may want to check out local Circuit City or HHGregg (if you have them by you) stores...They are clearancing the Polk RTi line since both stores will no longer be selling them. HiFi Buys will be selling them from now on. I was able to pick up a pair of RTi8's for 375 (they are normally 2.5x that much). Some folks over at clubpolk.com have been getting them for 150 a piece...its worth a try.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: heat23
My main purpose for these is for watching movies. Does that change the recommendation for just getting 2 front ones?

Yes. To me it does. I enjoy the surround and center channels when watching DVDs.

I wish I had bought a Fluance set. I have a set of JBLs that I don't like a whole lot, even though they were recommended by many for my price range (under $300, not including sub), and I thought they sounded pretty good in the Best Buy deception--I mean listening room.

Note: A $300 set of Fluance speakers does not include the sub, but IMO, you can get by without one for a little while, until you have an extra $150-200 that you want to spend. (That's what I'm doing--I've just set up the receiver to feed a little extra bass to the mains, and forego the really low tones. It works out fine at my neighbor-conscious listening levels in my apartment. My setup would offend purists, but I can't enjoy true bass and theater-like SPL in my apartment anyway, so buying a subwoofer would be semi-pointless.)

I do like the idea of getting that Onkyo HTIB set too. You DO get a subwoofer by going that route, even though you might sacrifice a little bit of SQ from the other speakers. The main reason I didn't do that was because I didn't care too much for the receiver itself when I went to check one out. I was already hooked on the clean, elegant, less-is-more look of the previous series of Harman/Kardon receivers. (Not the newer ones with all the toy-looking blue lights.)

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: jpeyton
nearly ALL movies are encoded for surround.

Nearly all modern crap movies, yes.

ZV

99% of all American movies are, crap or not.

Casablanca: Mono. The Maltese Falcon: Mono. Marx Brothers films: Mono. The Big Sleep: Mono. Sunset Boulevard: Mono. Bringing Up Baby: Mono. Citizen Cane: Mono. Double Indemnity: Mono

Seeing a trend here? The modern movies, which are largely crap, are indeed recorded in surround. But the old movies, the ones worth watching, are usually in mono or stereo at best. Only modern movies are encoded in surround and, like it or not, modern movies do not even come close to being "99%" of even the American movie output.

ZV

You seem to know a good deal about speakers, but come off as an idiot when discussing movies.

From your examples a good movie hasn't been made in like 40 years. :roll:

As for the Fluance speakers, I own a pair and I have been VERY happy with them. I wanted a surround sound setup in the present and not when I could only afford the $1500 extra in speakers I'd need to complete a set.

 

[heat23]

I just broke down and ordered the Fluance SX-HTB from bigbangelectronics.com
Thanks to everyone who posted here. I'll let yall know how they turn out.

thanks again
heat