Crap...

You've got me looking at home audio again! Im really thinking about selling a 6.0 and buying a used pair of Martin Logans!

For the price 1500ish is there something better out there?

 

Well for 1500 I would definitely build my own. If you go to Partsexpress.com you will see that you can order the driver for the cabinets yourself and assemble a super set of planars combined with something like the Dayton subs and still be under the 1500. Of course your gonna really have to spend alot of time considering the enclosure and building it but there is no reason why you can't get 15K sound from home built speakers that cost you 1500 in parts. You just simply would not believe the mark ups they put on HiFi home equipment (and i mean the manufacturers) But if you wanna save yourself the hassle of design and build then check out the cheaper BG Radia series. They may be small but the are extremely clean and image like you would not believe. Truly a superb design only reveled by even more expensive maggies and electros. Look at some RD28's (raw drivers) then go look at a few 6.5" and 4" speakers of high quality and put all the prices together and see what it costs compared to the prefab factory built speaker with basically the same drivers.

All I can tell you is pay very very very close attention and consideration to your enclosure design and build it exact with lots of strength reinforcement and poly-fill (acouta-fill is my favorite). Even wouldn't hurt to deaden the cabinet a little more with a sheet of dynamat. Other than that it should be a piece of cake for you to rival the sound of much much more costly speakers.

 

Well problem number one is that I really don't know a whole lot about home audio such as brands and things like that. So I wouldn't really know where to start. Also, I have a problems buying things that I can not hear...Im sure there is better out there and in he upcomming weeks Im going to get out and go listen to some things, but from what I have heard to date the Martin Logans seem so to be the best.

I know Zalytron sells some pretty good stuff but even so I can say I know a whole lot about the DYI drivers and what not. I know seas and morel are supposed to be great, but in car audio I just don't look that highly upon them, probably just because I have never heard them.

I do have access to the tools that I would need to build the enclosures, but as far as finishings I don't know if I could trust myself with that unless I went with the real woods and just stained them.

I'll try talking to a few people and see what they have to say about it and try to get some more input on them because its just like car audio...if you don't know for sure what you are buying you will eng up regreting it or getting screwed. However, I do know Martin Logan is good stuff, but I dont really know what else is out there. A lot of people like the paradigms but I just cant say I really do, maybe I just got used to them and never really paid close attention to them. Also I hear good things about B&W esp the nautalis (sp) series, but again Im not some much sure what is right for me at this point. I guess as you know I am in to 'high-end' car audio, and would like to be into 'high-end' home audio however I just dont have the funds to spend 20+ grand on a stereo at this point in time. So for the mean time I am looking for a really good set of speakers which I can keep for quite a while 5 to 10 years I would say and while I have these speakers get a good pre amp and amp looking kinda at proceed now for the pre amp and maybe am unless I went with something like a TDB amp (again these a just products I know about Im sure there more out there and possibly better for the price). Once I have the amps I want then I will probably look at anothe set of speaker more high end when I have a good bit more money to spend then once I have those look to better high end pre amps and amps. Get where Im going with this? I dont just want it to be a newb starter system like bose or something I want it to be I guess entry/mid level high end stuff that will last me for a while as if it were going to be the only stereo I was ever going to have.

 

I totally see what you are getting at. You don't want to waste thousands on a setup that you will not be happy with or will only be happy with for a short time. However, my suggestion would be that you at least go listen to the BG Radia series home speakers at a shop that is local and see what you think. I am absolutely sure that you will be highly impressed. Only downside I see with them is that they are just so expensive for the really nice prefab ones and you could actually save yourself thousands by basically building your own cabinets and x-overs. Then the money you save there you could put toward your pre-amp, amp, CD or turntable, catridge, etc.

Anyway, here is a review of the entry level Radia X3 speakers. It was a non-bias 3rd party review and gives not only it's exceptional qualities but it's deficeincy as well (sub-bass of course). The good part is that you can get this particular series sometimes on Ebay for around 1K/pr. I would strongly suggest that you at least give them a listen prior to jumping on the Martin Logan boat. The Martins are great sounding but I really don't think that they have the sound of any planar or electrostat.

Here is the review link.
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...rs-8-2001.html
Here is a link to BG.
www.bgcorp.com

Let me know if you get a chance to listen to them at a local dealer and what you think of them. I am sure if the dealer has them setup properly you will be very impressed.

 

I'll check around. I went in and listend to some Legacy home audio (not the same as car audio so don't jump to conclusion! ) I was pretty imprssed with them I only got to hear the $1200 for a brief moment so I can make any comments about them really. However, I spent about an hour or so with the Focus' and was pretty impressed with them. They sounded really good and it was hard to point out any faults in them really, Im sure there were some, but probably very minor and with my limited listen in home audio I couldn't picked them out. The speakers went for $6200.

Also, I fooled around with some parasound stuff, part of the halo series. The P3 preamps and the A23 amp look like a pretty good combo at $800 and $850 respectively, although I can get them a little cheaper.

http://www.parasound.com/halonew/P3front.asp
http://www.parasound.com/halonew/A23front.asp

I really am concidering those, even though my knowledge is limited I think I will have a hard time finding something like that in the price range. I may also look at some adcom stuff too.

 

Those parasound pieces are very nice. I have heard the Parasound amps before (never listened to the preamps) and I was impressed by them. I looked at those halo pieces and they seem like they are going to have the same solid performance as the older Parasound stuff but I personally haven't heard them. I am guessing that is a newer model of the old HCA stuff?? Anyway solid company and have been around for as long as I can remember. Should definitely be happy with those Halo pieces. As for the Legacy I have heard of them in the home realm but haven't heard them. What I have found to be true is that as far as home speaker companies go they are here today gone tomorrow in many cases. I could name you upwards of 20 companies that produced a very fine speaker that is no longer around. Well, that's neither hear nor there, but the point is you have you old standby companies making speakers that have been around for ages and will remain to be around for much longer (like Morel, JBL, Dayton, Paradigm, Bose, Infinity, Yamaha etc.). You know most of the names I am sure or have probably at least heard them before somewhere. My point is that those companies are primarily still around because they make solid performing equipment at reasonable prices. Then you get into your specialty guys like Martin Logan, BG, MK, TSC, MagnaPlanar, Acoustat, etc. that cater only to Hi-Fi. Shoot, now I am rambling. Point is don't be to scared to stray off the beaten path on your hunt. There are alot of smaller companies that make some super nice stuff if you know where to look and listen.