There's lots of room to improve, but most manufacturers aren't in the space that can use the most work. By that I mean the first and last mile so to speak. The really tough part is to (1) take an audio event in its' nearly infinite complexity, and encode that somehow, then (2) recreate that event in your listening space. This is a truly herculean task. The stuff between involves voltmeters and bits and is relatively mystery free.

Sorry if I gave the impression there's no room for 'better', I just mean that the place that's really broken isn't what a lot of these outfits address. At least Outlaw is honest about it and gives good value.

Ah, nice and tostey. Thanks, that was a nice quick way to warm up after the little cold spell we had up here.

Jason


[This message has been edited by fmcorps (edited January 09, 2003).]

There's a pair of used Thiel CS 2.2's in walnut for $990 at a place called Audio Images in Whitehall, PA (near Allentown, PA) I have had a pair since 1992 and still love them. Mine will shortly be doing duty as the left and right channels for a home theater with, hopefully, Outlaw components very soon. If this is what you might have in mind for the price, then check them out at: http://www.audioimage.com/home.html
I liken mine to being "invisible" at the end of two speaker cables. They can be both subtle when they need to be and rock when they are cranked. Bass is tight and very accurate. Transparent as all get out and I'm still driving them with an old 1st generation Adcom GFA and GFP 555 system which is getting old. This is before product quality, reliability, and performance went to hell with shortcuts. I think that newer equipment, such as from Outlaw, will only improve the sound.

I vote for Infinity IL 50s, sound great, built like a tank, built in sub woofer, (you can connect to Sub out) on 1050

Has anyone heard Magnepan speakers? No local dealers in my area. I have seen them listed on Ebay.

Yes, they are very good planar-magnetic panel type speakers. Some people here use them I think. I don't know if they would take the abuse of home theater, but others may be able to give more specifics about this.

Yes Maggie's work well for HT use, the sweet spot being small fits in nicely for HT since you are sitting in one spot anyway. The soundstage and seperation is excellent! I think in a good room maggies can do just about anything! Although they need more than 5 watts. They tend to be hungry speakers.


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m-mmeyer
GO TWINS
My DVD's

Richard, I just joined the bulletin board, so if I do this wrong, have patience...
As to your search for new speakers, I have just listened to the Paradigm studio 100's, and the B&W CDM 9's. The paradigm's sound great, and have received every accolade known to man, but the B&W's sound even better, especially in the high end. However, if you don't want to spend two grand or more, and if you want to purchase over the internet, take a look at Axiom Audio (axiomaudio.com), a small loudspeaker manufacturer in Canada who is also receiving rave reviews for producing audiophile quality sound at below-budget prices! They have both stand-mounted monitors and larger floor-standing speakers, as well as center, surrounds and subwoofers. An entire home theater complement can be had for less than the price of either the above-mentioned Paradigms or B&W's, with little compromise in sound quality for either music or movies! I was impressed. As for me, I still have some old N.E.A.R. ME-60's whose sound I'm having a hard time duplicating for under $3,000. (The $2,600 B&W's have come the closest so far.) I want to build a complete theater with matching speakers, but sadly, N.E.A.R. no longer exists. Hence, the reason for my current speaker auditions.

Gwhunran:

Magnepans are very nice. They are (in my opinion) wonderful for voices, treble, upper midrange. Even though I'm not a big bass fan, the bass is a bit lacking and they would benefit from a sub-woofer.

Two of my friends have had magnepans (one still does, the other not). One definite caveat: these speakers do not co-exist with the average house cat, who is known to claw them. Another consideration: they are quite inefficient, need substantial power. Finally, unless things have changed dramatically (the company has been around for over 20 years and my friends bought theirs some years ago), these are LARGE speakers that need a largish room to sound their best and in particular, do not sound their best unless placed several feet out from the wall.

I'd be reluctant to buy used Magnepans unless I knew the provenance very well, they are much more sensitive to both physical and electronic abuse than more conventional designs.

Tombstone

NEAR as in New England Audio Resource?

My current system has NEAR-10M surrounds and a NEAR - JIB center. I may be replacing these in the near future. I am not familiar with the ME-60 or if you are referencing the same NEAR.

[This message has been edited by tps123 (edited January 29, 2003).]