As I said in another post, im in the market to start upgrading my speakers. Right now, im using the Infinity system. While they sound good, they do have a tendancy to sound somewhat muffled, or dry. At times, I feel as if certain sounds are not heard, or are very dim.
I was at frys when I purchased these, and heard the polk speakers, TSX400's I believe they were. They sounded more vivid, a bit cleaner and brighter. I should have spent a little more and bought them, but, in the interest in saving money, I went with the Infinity.
Before purchasing them, I had done a bit of internet reading, and posting on other AV forums. My goal is to find out what other people think of different brands. Due to not having the ability to demo a lot of different speakers, it's hard to make a choice and one can only go on the reviews and opinions of other people.
The general stores that are anywhere near me (about 120 miles away), are frys, and best buy. We do have a Modina home theater store, and I need to look at them, but I have a feeling that anything they sell might be out of my price range.
Frys, and a Best Buy with a Magnolia home theater area are generally my best bet. BB will generally carry definitive, klipsch, martin logan, polk, and B&W. Frys will generally carry Infinity, JBL, Martin logan, Klipsch and Polk.
My curiosity, however, lies with the sales of speaker companies that do not generally have brick and mortar stores. Companies such as Axiom, BIC America, HTD, and Paradigm.
I've owned paradigm in the past and they are good, but are generally out of my price range and there are no stores around here that I know of that sell them.
I have had interest in BIC and HTD and Axiom, but, do not have a way of demoing those speakers. So, I was wondering if someone here might have some input on those brands, and if you could, compare them to the Infinity speakers I have now (P363), if you have experience with them. I've also owned a set of Klipsch quintet speakers, but never a full set of tower or bookshelf speakers. Ive been told that the horn tweeters in Klipsch speakers tend to be a bit bright. I like my highs to be clean and crisp, but not shrill or "tinny". I like my overall sound to be vivid and detailed, which, I know i'm not going to be able to achieve that sort of quality for the amount of money I can spend.
The only speakers that I can demo are the ones at frys or the local BB, but, listening to a speaker in a store will not show you how they would perform in your home, and I know that sound is subjective to each person and that one person may find a speaker to sound better than the other. I am hoping, however, that someone who has knowlege of the speaker brands I will list below and give me some insight as to what they feel the characteristics of those speakers are. What their opinion of sound quality and general performance are like:
Axiom
HTD
BIC
I'm currently leaning toward the Polk TSX line of speakers, since I have knowledge of those speakers and their sound, and will demo the klipsch, and martin logan speakers as well. One last question I have is, the TSX300's have 2 drivers and a tweeter, the TSX400's have 3 drivers and a tweeter. What is the difference between a speaker with 1 driver, 2 drivers, 3 drivers, etc.? Does the sound quality improve with the addition of each driver, or is it a matter of just having more volume output? Does the sound get more detailed or clearer or does it not change much at all?
Thanks for reading, and I apologize for the many questions. Just looking for some insight.
Thanks.