Looking for speakers that won't break the bank.

[Rocketman248]

After starting off in the headphone world, I decided it's time to start delving into the world of speakers.  I'm planning on ordering the Stereomore II very soon, and am currently shopping around for a set of floor standing speakers.  I have a set of Orca Mini's on order for near field use in my computer room, but I want actual floor standing/tower speakers for the living room.

Budget:  Around $800 for the pair.

Phono Setup:  Music Hall MMF-2.2 > Reduction/Integration > Stereomore II

Digital Setup:  Mac Mini/Apple TV > Modi 2 Uber > Stereomore II

Music:  Classic Rock, Jazz, Classical, Accoustic/mellow rock, occasional hard rock and EDM.

Room size:  9' x 12'.  It's fairly small, but I'll be moving in about a year, so I don't want to buy small speakers now and upgrade later.

I've been looking at the Klipsch RF-62 IIs, but I've read that they're fairly aggresive and won't work too well with my preferred music.  I've also been looking at the Polk TSx440T.  The sensitivity on those is 91db.  For my small room, I imagine that wouldn't be a problem, and I don't really listen to music very loudly.  I'm just wondering if that's too low for larger sized rooms.

I'm pretty well set on getting floor standing/tower speakers.  I've been wanting a set for about 20 years now.

[JamieMcC]

After starting off in the headphone world, I decided it's time to start delving into the world of speakers.  I'm planning on ordering the Stereomore II very soon, and am currently shopping around for a set of floor standing speakers.  I have a set of Orca Mini's on order for near field use in my computer room, but I want actual floor standing/tower speakers for the living room.

Budget:  Around $800 for the pair.

Phono Setup:  Music Hall MMF-2.2 > Reduction/Integration > Stereomore II

Digital Setup:  Mac Mini/Apple TV > Modi 2 Uber > Stereomore II

Music:  Classic Rock, Jazz, Classical, Accoustic/mellow rock, occasional hard rock and EDM.

Room size:  9' x 12'.  It's fairly small, but I'll be moving in about a year, so I don't want to buy small speakers now and upgrade later.

I've been looking at the Klipsch RF-62 IIs, but I've read that they're fairly aggresive and won't work too well with my preferred music.  I've also been looking at the Polk TSx440T.  The sensitivity on those is 91db.  For my small room, I imagine that wouldn't be a problem, and I don't really listen to music very loudly.  I'm just wondering if that's too low for larger sized rooms.

I'm pretty well set on getting floor standing/tower speakers.  I've been wanting a set for about 20 years now.

If you don't mind some DIY I have been rather smitten with the Fostex FX120 paired with the Sex 2W (easily loud enough to drive the wife from the 10'x13' room) after building some Fonken desk top enclosure the results have been very good and I am  itching to have a go trying the drivers with the frugal horn floor stander design. There are a few relatively inexpensive laser/cnc  cut kits available which make assembly a add glue and slot together doddle.

[Rocketman248]

Those do look pretty sweet, but at this point, I'm not looking to go DIY.  I'm sure I will someday, though.

[Rocketman248]

Well crap, now I'm seriously considering those Frugel-Horn flatpacks....

[Grainger49]

Well, you already know that kits are often the best bang for the buck.

[Hank Murrow]

Hi; Of course the Blumenstein Mini's mated with one or two of their subs would more than fill the bill if you want to move the Mini's each time you want to listen in the living room. I have the regular Orcas + Subs in my main system.

Alternately, The Omega Super3xrs tower would be a great choice. I have the super 3 monitor in my pottery studio and enjoy it very much. Either can be driven by the Stereomour.      http://omegaloudspeakers.com/super3xrs.html

I love these single driver speaks with Bottlehead gear....... so pure!

Cheers, Hank

[rbc3]

My Tekton Design Seas Pendragon (95db 1W@1m 4 ohm) sound unbelievably amazing with 300B Paramounts at 8.5W per channel.  I expect the Lore V2 (98db 1W@1m 8 ohm) for $900 would be a great pairing with Stereomour.   I don't really miss a sub with floor standing full range speakers, so you can save some $$$ there.  But if you're willing to spend a little more, I would highly recommend the Enzo (98db 1W@1m 6 ohm) for $1750 including shipping (the Lore will cost extra with shipping which brings them closer to Enzo).  There's a recent review in Stereophile where the reviewers specifically state Enzo XL pair really well with a 2A3 SET amp.  He went off on some weird tangent about drinking Absinthe in Paris or something.  So yeah, they're a good match!

I'm in to every kind of electronic music and my wife is in to indie rock.  I can say without a doubt that both sound terrific through a SET amp and Tekton Design speakers.

Anybody in the San Francisco bay area and willing to come down to the south bay, I'd be MORE than happy to demo for you.  You can even bring your favorite high res audio files to demo.

[ALL212]

Going to slap together some Frugalhorns this weekend.  Not flatpacks though.  This first round is just a test to see if we can get this right and what we might need to do a nice pair.  I'll keep you posted.  Hope to use my Quickie and Quicksand as a test platform.  Not sure if we'll have them ready for testing this weekend but we'll start on them.

[Rocketman248]

Robert, those all looked really nice, but a bit out of my price range.  Maybe someday....

*Edit.  Totally skipped over the Lore-M.  Interesting...

The more I read about the Frugel Horns, the more I like it.  Plus, at around $500 for the pair with modded drivers, it's nicely underbudget. 

So many choices!

[JamieMcC]

Are you looking at one of the Frugal kits that come with drivers?

[Rocketman248]

Yeah.  The standard Fostex FE126 drivers run for about $120/pr, and the same company that sells the flat packs, has modded drivers for $220/pr.

[Rocketman248]

Well, just placed an order for the Stereomour II.  Now begins the long wait.  I'll fill the time by reading more speaker reviews.

[Paul Birkeland]

Your musical tastes aren't all that different than mine.  A 4" full range driver on EDM might end up struggling a bit. 

You have a bit of time before the Stereomour II begins to ship, and I bet you could score a set of RF62's used for a reasonable price.

-PB

[rbc3]

There are some Hoyt Bedford Type 1 (97db 8 ohm) on Audiogon.  They're not floor standers, but a good value for high efficiency monitors.  I have a pair of Omega Hemptone 8 made by the same guy.  They don't have anywhere near the wide range as the Tekton Design, but they sound pretty good for the price and can be driven to great volume by Stereomour.

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/monitors-hoyt-bedford-type-1-high-efficiency-2015-04-27-speakers-01907-swampscott-ma

[ALL212]

Quick built Frugalhorns.  These are far from perfect but I am very satisfied with the sound.  Didn't want to put a lot of money into them until I heard them but I would get the flat pack on the next build.

DQ-10's need the Stereomour volume past 12:00 up into the 3:00 range.  These run 10:00 with good volume and get loud past 12:00.  1/2" Baltic birch plywood and Fostex FE126En cones.  Took a day - construction requires some good clamps but otherwise these are very easy to put together.  About $50 for the wood, $120 for the pair of cones, $20 for input terminals, forgot what I paid for the acousta-stuff.  Right about $200 total.

Sanded but unfinished.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi905.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fac253%2Fall212212%2FFrugal%2520Horns1_zpskficnw2c.jpg&hash=eb7fc28314e38f2907efa7e94342dc2c623cc9d1)