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What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

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amirm

amirm

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Micca Covo S
It is the smallest co-axial speaker available.
Is it suitable for desktop use or Atmos ceiling speaker?
Wow, a pair for just $47! I ordered it.
 

cavedriver

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FWIW, the Micca brand of speakers have reviewed pretty badly in the past and on other's sites (like Erin's). I tested a pair of RB42's against about seven other $600 or less speakers last year and while they could certainly play at high volumes their treble was so hot about the only thing that sounded good on them was baroque music. I ended up getting a pair of the Pioneer BS22's and doing Dennis' mod on them. All-in cost was <$150 and they sound great, but Pioneer seems to have discontinued them so the easiest way to get them is on your local craigslist.
 

Presently42

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A pair of JBL A180, the middle brother tower version of the a130, is being offered at 300 USD from someone in Los Angeles. Perhaps we could all chip in, if @amirm is interested and willing. I for one and terribly interested in the a180 and a190 - and this is a good price! - but I'm not really willing to acquire them without good measurements....
 

tw 2022

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A pair of JBL A180, the middle brother tower version of the a130, is being offered at 300 USD from someone in Los Angeles. Perhaps we could all chip in, if @amirm is interested and willing. I for one and terribly interested in the a180 and a190 - and this is a good price! - but I'm not really willing to acquire them without good measurements....
Amir has already ordered a pr....
 

Haint

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A pair of JBL A180, the middle brother tower version of the a130, is being offered at 300 USD from someone in Los Angeles. Perhaps we could all chip in, if @amirm is interested and willing. I for one and terribly interested in the a180 and a190 - and this is a good price! - but I'm not really willing to acquire them without good measurements....

Harman.com sold the A180's for $99/each a few weeks ago during one of their (bi-quarterly?) mega sales, which was when Amirm bought. I believe they were also selling the A190's for like $130 or $150/ea, and the A130's for like $90/pair. Margins and dealer markup on speakers is insane.
 
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amirm

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Amir has already ordered a pr....
Yes. The truck delivered them so I had to offload them into my car to bring home. They are still in my car since I have no room to bring them in!!!
 
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amirm

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Harman.com sold the A180's for $99/each a few weeks ago during one of their (bi-quarterly?) mega sales, which was when Amirm bought. I believe they were also selling the A190's for like $130 or $150/ea, and the A130's for like $90/pair. Margins and dealer markup on speakers is insane.
I think they are loss leaders. Shipping costs alone would be what I paid for them! These things are large and heavy!
 

Dennis Murphy

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I think they are loss leaders. Shipping costs alone would be what I paid for them! These things are large and heavy!
I ordered one out of curiosity. They're large enough that Harman uses a trucking company rather than the usual suspects. Mine was considerably delayed, but I was impressed with how seriously Harman took shipping. It couldn't have been cheap, and for my $99 there was actually a speaker inside. Amazing. The sound? Not so much. The tweeter is painfully bright even though the response is fairly uniform. It is tilted up, but not peaky. My distortion measurements showed big problems below the passband, which suggests JBL is crossing the tweeter too low.
 

Haint

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I think they are loss leaders. Shipping costs alone would be what I paid for them! These things are large and heavy!
True, clogged ports must have dumped a surplus on them, or perhaps had to satisfy a quantity contract with the factory.

I ordered one out of curiosity. They're large enough that Harman uses a trucking company rather than the usual suspects. Mine was considerably delayed, but I was impressed with how seriously Harman took shipping. It couldn't have been cheap, and for my $99 there was actually a speaker inside. Amazing. The sound? Not so much. The tweeter is painfully bright even though the response is fairly uniform. It is tilted up, but not peaky. My distortion measurements showed big problems below the passband, which suggests JBL is crossing the tweeter too low.
They do trend bright subjectively but the in room response seems uncannily smooth from ~1-2Khz to 10Khz. I do see some distortion centered/peaking at 1.5Khz in basic REW sweeps, but it doesn't seem particularly egregious compared to other budget speakers. I would guess it'll show up as maybe 1-2% on Amirm's spin @ 86dB. I would be perfectly happy with them in a main system with EQ, stupidly good bargain at $99 IMO.
 
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Dennis Murphy

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True, clogged ports must have dumped a surplus on them, or perhaps had to satisfy a quantity contract with the factory.


They do trend bright subjectively but the in room response seems uncannily smooth from ~1-2Khz to 10Khz. I do see some distortion centered/peaking at 1.5Khz in basic REW sweeps, but it doesn't seem particularly egregious compared to other budget speakers. I would guess it'll show up as maybe 1-2% on Amirm's spin. I would be perfectly happy with them in a main system with EQ, stupidly good bargain at $99 IMO.
The response is very smooth, although monotonically increasing with frequency, and just going by the plots they shouldn't sound as bight as they do. I think the tweeter is being overworked, but we'll see what Amir's Klippel machine has to say.
 

Haint

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The response is very smooth, although monotonically increasing with frequency, and just going by the plots they shouldn't sound as bight as they do. I think the tweeter is being overworked, but we'll see what Amir's Klippel machine has to say.
Yeah I did see a clear uphill trend in the tweeter when I tried them out as side surrounds (~4 feet to mic, direct on axis measurement), but as fronts (~7 feet and slightly off axis) the measured response was ruler flat. They sound like a brighter Revel F35 to me. High frequency subtleties in tracks are more forward and will sound more detailed in isolation, but more artificial and less natural in an A/B.
 

cavedriver

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I ordered one out of curiosity. They're large enough that Harman uses a trucking company rather than the usual suspects. Mine was considerably delayed, but I was impressed with how seriously Harman took shipping. It couldn't have been cheap, and for my $99 there was actually a speaker inside. Amazing. The sound? Not so much. The tweeter is painfully bright even though the response is fairly uniform. It is tilted up, but not peaky. My distortion measurements showed big problems below the passband, which suggests JBL is crossing the tweeter too low.
Mine just arrived today, same deal - freight truck. Breaking in one now. For only $100 each they are a steal. Also, the A190's are now available on the Harman site for $125 again. Maybe I'll send the 180's back and get the 190's. The bass on the 180 is tight, fast, and loud, great for blasting my neighbors from the garage, haha, but it makes me want to hear the 190's for bass output. But a bit of a spoiler- these things are bright. I really can't enjoy a lot of music at reasonable volumes on them, especially when I'm A/B'ing them with my vintage and much mellower Snell E/III's and E/IV's. Not sure if the tweeter could be replaced or something.
 

tw 2022

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Mine just arrived today, same deal - freight truck. Breaking in one now. For only $100 each they are a steal. Also, the A190's are now available on the Harman site for $125 again. Maybe I'll send the 180's back and get the 190's. The bass on the 180 is tight, fast, and loud, great for blasting my neighbors from the garage, haha, but it makes me want to hear the 190's for bass output. But a bit of a spoiler- these things are bright. I really can't enjoy a lot of music at reasonable volumes on them, especially when I'm A/B'ing them with my vintage and much mellower Snell E/III's and E/IV's. Not sure if the tweeter could be replaced or something.
EQ.....
 

tw 2022

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The response is very smooth, although monotonically increasing with frequency, and just going by the plots they shouldn't sound as bight as they do. I think the tweeter is being overworked, but we'll see what Amir's Klippel machine has to say.
Are you going to be able to fix it?
 

cavedriver

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It's not just that they are too loud in the treble. There is a certain level of distortion. Perhaps "harshness" is a better word. You could EQ the highs down some but the distortion would still be there at higher listening volumes. They handle things like Thorogood and The Prodigy just fine, and "Start a Riot" is a hoot, but try some high fidelity treble like Lata Mangeshkar and the distortion is unbearable.
 
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