Paging All Audiophiles: powered stereo speaker recommendations?

[HSB0531]

My weak link at this point is a pair of Creative Labs T10 powered satellite speakers.

Leftovers from an old desktop PC.

Any suggestions under $800 for the pair?

I have:

Audio Technica Phono Cartridge

Technics SL1210 TT

Dynaco PAS-4 tube preamp

Panasonic DMR-EZ485V DVD Recorder that I'm using for CDs.

 

[mathman]

Price point?

[django49]

http://audioengineusa.com/shop/poweredspeakers/

I like Audioengine, with good sound at various price points. They also have options allowing you to add Bluetooth, if that is of interest.

One other possibility is to go with passive speakers and a Monoprice tube power amp (which also had built in Bluetooth). I am listening to that right now in the office with a pair of Audioengine non-powered speakers.

BTW, they seem to always have "refurbished" products for 20-25% off.

 

Monoprice....

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16153

[tomteriffic]

+1 for Audioengine.

[HSB0531]

On 9/17/2017 at 6:00 PM, mathman said:

Price point?

Thanks, I revised it.

Under $800/pair

 

Imjust got a look at the AudioEngine HD6 and A5+

Nice stuff

Thanks for the tips.

[django49]

1 hour ago, HSB0531 said:

Thanks, I revised it.

Under $800/pair

For a straight forward powered speaker set, the AE A5+ would be less than half that ("refurbished") and might be all you need....For my own self, I'd at least ponder the Bluetooth options.

https://audioengineusa.com/shop/factory-refurbished/a5-powered-speakers-refurbished/

[HSB0531]

16 minutes ago, django49 said:

For a straight forward powered speaker set, the AE A5+ would be less than half that ("refurbished") and might be all you need....For my own self, I'd at least ponder the Bluetooth options.

https://audioengineusa.com/shop/factory-refurbished/a5-powered-speakers-refurbished/

I don't need the Bluetooth connectivity and if there's little difference between the A5+ and HD6 I'd go for the A5+

I remember now that I did an install using their powered sub and it was nice.

[JohnnyB]

I've never read anything but enthusiastic reviews for the AudioEngine products.

The Airmotiv 6s is another one worth looking at: it uses a folded ribbon tweeter similar to the ones in the Adam line. I really like this kind of tweeter. It is extremely fast and detailed, and yet is very smooth because the design avoids overshoot and ringing distortions typical of metal dome tweeters.

This Airmotiv unit is bi-amped--100 watts for the tweeter and 110 for the woofer. The nose cone shape at the center of the woofer is called a phase plug. It helps provide a more consistent dispersion pattern at the crossover point, reducing or avoiding suckout at the crossover frequency.

[HSB0531]

14 hours ago, JohnnyB said:

I've never read anything but enthusiastic reviews for the AudioEngine products.

The Airmotiv 6s is another one worth looking at: it uses a folded ribbon tweeter similar to the ones in the Adam line. I really like this kind of tweeter. It is extremely fast and detailed, and yet is very smooth because the design avoids overshoot and ringing distortions typical of metal dome tweeters.

This Airmotive unit is bi-amped--100 watts for the tweeter and 110 for the woofer. The nosecone shape at the center of the woofer is called a phase plug. It helps provide a more consistent dispersion pattern at the crossover point, reducing or avoiding suckout at the crossover frequency.

Thanks Johnny, I’ll look into this one also.

[JohnnyB]

Oh, and speaking of Adam, it turns out that the Adam Audio A3X powered monitor is a Stereophile Class C recommended component, and they're $699/pair. Class C may not sound impressive, but S'phile Class C gear is generally better than what 90% of enthusiasts listen to. Review here.

And I just found out that the Emotiva Audo Pro Airmotiv 4s was also a Stereophile Class C component. Review here. It looks like Emotiva dropped the 4s from its lineup, but the $499/pair 5s and $699/pair 6s are still in the lineup.