Here. And the Owner's Manual PDF from that page.

Anyone listened to it?
Have any opiinions?

These seem good, i need to listen to them.
I want to buy some GOOD "bookshelf speakers" with about the same power as these, at a reasonable price.
If you have any suggestions please do tell .
What place could possibly be better than this to get good opinions?!

Ahm, for a medium/small sized room.

By the way here's a place where you can get a good price for these speakers.

sorry, but this is a waste of money.
you have basic woodwrkng skills, dont you.
check here
hey, you can buy a box from there too. ad a sub..

What do you think of this SoundCard and these Speakers?

I've heard complaints that JBL's home audio range is a bit too bass-heavy, but haven't heard that particular model myself.

I have a pair of CM52s, extremely happy with them. Couple of reviews here. Picture here, afraid I can't help you translate though Don't think they're still in production, these look similar though.

For music, get a sound card with no resampling, proven 24-bit capabilities, flat frequency response and actual tested 100 dB SNR. Something like Terratec EWX24/96 or M-Audio Audiophile 2496. And no, original Audigy has none of these features and I'm mighty sceptical about the Audigy 2...

For ultra-mega-n-channel-DVD-multimedia experience, I would prefer Terratec's DMX 6Fire over any Creative's product.

sk1,

I'm just starting to look in that same price range ($275 - 350) but mostly at 2-way speakers that are a little smaller than the JBLs. These are basically the lower end of the higher priced (I hesitate to say "audiophile") lines where the JBLs your looking at are more the higher priced end of the mass production stuff. I guess I buy the idea that there may be some trickle-down effect: If you make a really good $1000-2000 speaker, maybe some of that technology goes into your less expensive models. If the more expensive JBL sounds anything like the $240 ones at Best Buy, I would pass.

These are a few possibilities I'm interested in at around $300 that have gotten some good reviews and sound like what I'm looking for: not much bass but good neutral response throughout

Axiom Audio M2i and M3Ti
Paradigm Titan
PSB Image 2
B & W DM303



There are some interesting reviews here

Any other suggestions are welcomed....

Those semi-pro cards need an external amplifier in order to drive headphones, but for listening at home and sound quality-wise, they are as good as anything you can get, IMO. Also, they have only one analog stereo output.

If you want a very good quality all-in-one solution with headphone output and multichannel capabilities, I also think the best solution is Terratec's DMX 6Fire card.

I don't think that, for sound quality-related home listening, any current or future Creative card can be better than those cards. Other thing are gaming capabilities, here, Creative is usually the best.

I have not listened to them, so they might be the best speakers on earth. But I don't think they are.

Before I proceed, I have two advices:
A: NEVER buy a speaker without hearing it in the shop.
B: NEVER buy a speaker you cannot return in 8 days if you don't like.

And back to the JBL speakers:

Those are 3-way speaker. That is good because the three units have a smaller frequency range to handle. But it is also bad on cheap speakers, because you sacrify the quality of other components in order to cram 3 units in. It also increases production cost, because it takes a little extra time to "screw in" the extra unit. Don't underestimate this unit-quality aspect.

The weight is listed as 12.7 kg/each. That is a good indication of a thick case and large magnets. But it is not a guarentee.

Bi-wiring terminals is not listed, so I assume they do have it. That is not a good indication.

And finally, what is that grey thing the two small units are mounted in? Plastic or aluminium? If is it plastic, these speakers belongs in the trash. Look at how the two small units are mounted. They are held by only six screws. Four around the tweeter and two near the mid-range. What's up with this? Are the two units + the gray plate some sort of design-integrated-unit? I don't like it.

But I do like Snell speakers. I recommend you look at their bookshelf model (they are a little more expensive than the JBLs):
http://www.snellacoustics.com/k5.htm
Pay close attention to the graph at the bottom. Might not be easy to read at first.

I have the big brother, E.5 myself and am very satisfied.
Snell Acoustics were purchased some years ago by Boston Acounstics - another famous American speaker maker. The K.5 model is designed aftes the Boston takeover. Some of the old Snell people started AudioVector afterwards. Their products look quite interesting too: http://www.audiovector.com/

About small-room speakers, I bought some months ago a pair of passive Tannoy Reveal nearfield monitors for around $350, and I'm quite happy with them.

They are rated 50W average and have a sensitivity of 90 dB. For listening at a small room, I think this is more than enough, if you don't need disco listening levels.

They are also shielded, and according to frequency response curve specs, they are quite flat and go as low as 50 Hz.

They are nearfields, that means that they are designed to be close to the listener.

More info at http://www.tannoy.com/frame.cfm?ID=3&D=2

You get a million speakers for only $400. It might be acceptable for movies, but not for music. With those speakers, it doesn't matter what sound card you use. It WILL sound horrible either way.

Thank you for the responses so far everyone!

"what is that grey thing the two small units are mounted in? Plastic or aluminium?"
Alumunium.

I will check out Axiom Audio M3Ti and Snell K5.

However, i don't know about 2-way speakers... Can you really reach ""audiophile"" level with 2-way speakers?.. What are the disadvantages?


Any more suggestions for ("bookshelf") speakers? At around $500 or less or a little more?.. Speakers that you think are really good or are worth checking out?

According to what Annuka said, the JBL speakers are out of my head now..

And again, thanks!

PSB are worth checking out. Hard to beat them for value.

Made in Canada too! (so are Paradigm)

"what is that grey thing the two small units are mounted in? Plastic or aluminium?"
Alumunium.
That is incredible expensive. Money used on the metal have not been used on unit and casing.


However, i don't know about 2-way speakers... Can you really reach ""audiophile"" level with 2-way speakers?.. What are the disadvantages?

The advantage of having more units in your speaker is to let each unit play a smaller frequency range and -in theory- get a better frequency response/better sound. In practice, two good units sound better than four crappy ones.

There are a lot of speaker manufacturers out there.


Any more suggestions for ("bookshelf") speakers? At around $500 or less or a little more?.. Speakers that you think are really good or are worth checking out?

AudioVector
B&W
Paradigm
Infinity
Boston Acoustics
Linn (too bad they don't make booksheld speakers)
- but as I said, I like Snell...

You also might want to check out the Dynaudio Audience 42's. I continue to hear very good things about the audience line, 42's included. They list for $699, but you could probably get them for $600 or $500 if you look around.

Oh, and Dynaudio is certainly a well respected company.. many would consider "audiophile" grade

Thanks everyone.
I just checked the Audience 42, seem really good.. Gotta listen to them..
Now gonna check all other suggestions.
Thanks i appericiate it.

Monitor Audio S1 or S2

I bought a pair of silver-5's a couple of years back..(harsh sound at first, metal cone drivers, took months to break them in, and also requires decent electronics) but after switching amplifiers I'm quite happy with them

OK, i can't wait to listen to the Audience 42 speakers.. I checked info about the other speakers too, but i think these sould be the best.
Gonna find which stores sell them and listen to them. Can't wait. Thanks Dibrom.

Np. Let me know what you think

Of course i will!

They do indeed look rather sexy on the picture, but notice the finish is done in vinyl - not veneer. One can argue that the money saved on veneer went into sound quality, but they lose a lot in WOW effect. And let's admit it -- one of the pleasures of having expensive audio components is showing them off :p

Hahaha.. I REALLY don't care for the WOW effect, that's the last thing i care about .. But you're right, it's certainly not a good choise for wow effect enthusiasts ...

The "WOW effect", as you put it, is certainly nice, but at the $500 you're really going to have to make a compromise. I'd certainly rather compromise on looks and lean much more towards sound quality in this range. I think Dynaudio probably fits that bill. Their drivers are regarded as some of the best money can buy (ranked right up there with Scan Speak, Seas, and Focal) and are often used in very, very expensive loudpspeakers from other companies which cost tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, I've almost never heard anything bad about Dynaudio. In addition, quite a few people I know, whos ears I trust, have various Dynaudio loudspeakers and have nothing but praise for them.

Admittedly, I haven't heard the Audience 42's, but I've heard some of their other speakers before, and I've done quite a bit of research on the Audience line (I was going to go for some 82's before I decided I might build my own speakers instead).

At any rate, I certainly wouldn't be too worried about the vinyl vs veneer, at least not at that price range, but that's just my take

If these things are as good as they're supposed to be, the real "WOW effect" will come when you hook them up and play something

Dynaudio Acoustics...
Taken from some site:
--
Dynaudio Acoustics is a unique collaboration between acoustic designer Andy Munro and top European loudspeaker manufacturer Dynaudio A/S of Denmark. The partnership was founded in mutual respect and with a desire to produce monitor systems which truly reflect the reality of recorded sound.

The quest began in 1980 when Andy started his own consultancy after ten successful years of sound engineering and acedemic study. He was only the second European graduate of the now legendary Synergetic Audio Concepts, responsible for so many innovations in audio history.
--

I've checked the products, and it seems that the speakers are really different from those of the original Dynaudio. Seems like less quality for more money..
I don't really understand how this works. Dibrom, do you know what the deal is with all this?..

Okay, I will say a few more things:

Loud speaker design is all about compromises. Even if budget wasn't an issue, there would always be compromises.

These things should be considered:

- Chassis size - The DynAudio chassis is somewhat smaller than the JBL and will not be able to play the same amount of bass.

- Bass-reflex vs. pressure chamber design. The first is easier to place in the room - the second giver a firmer bass.

- Sound-characteristic - also know as British Sound vs. American Sound. British Sound is more true to the recording and require a lot of energy for placing the speakers correct and installing acoustic enhancments. American Sound manipulates the sound, bass gets sloppy, treble lose detail, but mid-range gets softer, thus makes voices sound better in acoustic non-perfect listening rooms (like most people have).

- $500 - $700 is a considerable amount of money. Don't buy anything if you think it looks horrible. Ugly hifi is harder to sell when you want to upgrade your speakers. (The DynAudio speakers are not ugly). You can only sell ugly stuff to people who know the product, not to just anyone. Also: One speaker design might be considered higher quality, but it is not important compared to the effect of making acoustic moderations to the listening room. The WOW effect should be obvious when pressing PLAY, but it won't happen unless a lot of work is put into it.

I've read quite a few reviews. here's one the summerizes it the best.

I'm still having a problem finding out what's the deal with Dynaudio -Acoustics-, and how good they are compared to the original..

Maybe, I haven't really looked at the JBL's much. However, at this level and price range, and especially with bookshelves, if you are looking for bass extension, you're going to need to use a sub also. That's really all there is to it.



Umm.. I don't follow. Dynaudio is neither British or American, it's Danish. Most of the other high quality driver manufacturers I mentioned are also either Scandanavian or Danish. So.. the whole American vs British thing.. I don't even see how that fits into the picture.



Yes, it is a considerable amount of money, but it's also only really "entry level" in regards to really high quality speakers. And yes, I agree, the Dyn's are certainly not ugly. Maybe they aren't flashy, but I think Dynaudio's reputation kind of stands for itself.. and that alone should be worth enough for resale value.



This is true to an extent. Even the greatest speakers won't sound very good in a bad listening envrionment, yes. However, poor quality speakers won't sound good period, no matter whether the environment is ideal or not. I believe that it's kind of a given that the purchaser should understand this when building a high quality system. Recommendations for high quality speakers shouldn't really need to be prefaced by the "well, they'll only sound good if you have a properly setup environment to play them in", etc.

Just my $.02

Dynaudio Acoustics should be very high quality. They use the same Dynaudio drivers as the normal Dynaudio line. The difference is that Dynaudio Acoustics is meant for the pro market, meaning that they make monitor speakers and stuff which is meant more for studio environments. Their monitors are supposed to be very high quality (ask MTRH), and in some ways might be ideal since they are self powered (if you don't have an amp, that is), but they're also mostly meant for near field listening, so they aren't really ideal for a traditional hi-fi setup in the living room or something like that.

pantheranddawg,

I listened to all these except the Axioms (no dealers carried them here), and decided on the PSB Image 2B's. The Titans are a very good value for the money, but I didn't really like the midrange too much on them. Also they felt sort of 'cheap'. The BW's were sounded honestly awesome with the BW sub the dealer hooked them too, but they were about $150 cdn more than the PSB's, and the dealer wasn't bargaining too much. I got a nice deal on the PSB's, and for my ears they sound pretty neutral. Not a ton of bass, but my paradigm pw2200 sub takes care of that

Also I listened to the Paradigm Monitor 3's (might be wrong on the name, but it was the lowest in the Monitor line), and while they pumped considerably more bass than the PSB's, the high-end was harsher, and they were more expensive. Still, with nice bass, you may want to check them out - especially if you aren't planning on purchasing a sub.

Maybe, I haven't really looked at the JBL's much. However, at this level and price range, and especially with bookshelves, if you are looking for bass extension, you're going to need to use a sub also. That's really all there is to it.

You are probably right. The only way to get any decent bass would be a sub. But a good sub is $500-$1,000 on top. If you cut the chassis volume in two or double it, you still have a bookshelf speaker.


Umm.. I don't follow. Dynaudio is neither British or American, it's Danish. Most of the other high quality driver manufacturers I mentioned are also either Scandanavian or Danish. So.. the whole American vs British thing.. I don't even see how that fits into the picture.

The "British Sound" and "American Sound" are just nick names. The concept was discussed a lot from mid 80s to mid 90s in the "hi-fi" magazines. It is also known as "sound colouring/manipulation". Basicly several British speaker manufactures, including Linn and B&W, tried to reproduce sound as close to the source as possible. When you do this, a bad recording will sound bad and you need to make several modifications to the listening room. However, in America companies like JBL, Infinity and Snell tried to manipulate the reproduced sound, thus hiding errors in bad recordings and making speaker placement easier. In short: With the proper listening enviroment, the uncoloured sound will sound best. With ordinary listening enviroment, coloured sound will sound better.

There are many ways to colour the sound. One of the more simpler ways is to put less/more absorbant material inside the speaker. Anyone can test this: Remove your bass units, put an old T-Shirt inside the speaker, put the bass units back. This trick does wonders for mid-range, but kills treble and bass.


This is true to an extent. Even the greatest speakers won't sound very good in a bad listening envrionment, yes. However, poor quality speakers won't sound good period, no matter whether the environment is ideal or not. I believe that it's kind of a given that the purchaser should understand this when building a high quality system. Recommendations for high quality speakers shouldn't really need to be prefaced by the "well, they'll only sound good if you have a properly setup environment to play them in", etc.

I agree that poor quality speakers won't sound any good. But a pair of cheap B&W speakers, i.e. $300/pair in my living room will sound much better than the DynAudio in my bathroom. It is a very common mistake to use weeks listening to different speakers and then choosing a rather expensive model only to install it improperly. When you have your expensive speakers, take the time to move your furniture around. And don't be affraid to do a little research on absorbant and diffusing materials. Acoustic improvements are rather cheap. A room can typically be done for $100 unless one has 10 thumbs. And we are really talking dramatic improvements, not subtle improvements as is normal in the audiophile world.


Since I live in Denmark, I have absolutely nothing against the DynAudio speakers

check out this 1D Surround Sound Speaker Projector

And then look at the price tag..

Hehe. I read an article about this thing somewhere, but I don't remember where exactly. It sounded interesting, but the unit is definitely not really "high performance" in the traditional sense. The technology still has a long ways to go before it can even begin to compete with other loudspeakers in that insanely high "cost-no-object" range

SK1:

Have you tried browsing http://www.hometheaterforum.com?
There's an extremely knowledgeable community of posters there...just like here
Good Luck

By the way, some posts there go unanswered for quite a while sometimes, either because the topic has been coverd many times (like this one, actually) or just [I]because[I]. So don't forget to try the search function.

No i haven't, thank you.

So which speakers would be the best ones to get if money was not an object.

Perhaps the Burmester B99 or the Avalon Sentinel?

Custom speakers tailored and optimised for your listening room...

OMG Don't make us dream...
I once had the opportunity to listen to the B&W Nautilus 804 .. awesome !
But we are talking $3500 a piece now