What Budget Speakers Do You Enjoy?

[fordiebianco]

Edifier R1280T: I have them at work near field and enjoy them immensely. Mainly listen to chamber music and occasionally jazz, and they always deliver. Not sure what it is about them, but I would not hesitate to have them at home in a small room as my main speakers.

 

[Vacceo]

Third hand Kef IQ's over here. Approaching 20 years and working fairly well.

 

[Jbrunwa]

IMHO JBL Stage A130 at $200 a pair are hard to beat at this price point in terms of sound quality and value.

 

[fpitas]

I like the JBL LSR305s I bought for my gf a few years ago. Lots of fun to listen to.

 

[Tangband]

Audio can be an expensive game, and it can often feel like a race to absurd amounts of money (which this forum is often a breath of fresh air for).
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So for something a little different, instead of your favorite end-all be all speakers, what is a "budget," pair of speakers/or equipment that you have thoroughly enjoyed. You know the type of equipment you can just take in the music on.

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I better define "budget" here as that can be quite subjective; let's say sub-$500, (used is fair game).

This speakers are still bargains:

Heybrook HB1
Boston acoustics a40
Kef C10
Linn Kaber
Paradigm atom/titan v1
jbl studio 530

 

[Vacceo]

I'm quite surprised to see Kef quite often. I really like the sound and perhaps, their best part is how the sound is not that, that far between the higher and the lower tiers.
Even though my experince is limited for JBL, I think I noticed a similar pattern.

 

[syn08]

I am sure not many heard of these: I still have a pair of two way Athena AS-F2 floorstanders, designed by Gord van Kessel and Carmine Gitto. By far the best budget speaker (about US$600/pair new, in 2002) I have ever heard. https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/645/index.html Athena Technologies was eventually (2005, if memory serves) purchased by Klipsch, with the declared purpose to eliminate a competitor. Which they succeeded, unfortunately.

 

[ejk517]

Another vote for JBL Stage A130's. Kind of like a $20 bottle of wine that punches way above its weight. You take a sip, look at the glass and go . . . "damn, didn't expect that".

 

[AudioJester]

$600 on Ebay, or $700 most places, but the Kali IN-5 is the cheapest speaker I've found that doesn't have any easily audible issues for me.

Vertical and horizontal dispersion are great, it can be used as a center channel, goes loud enough for the rooms in my house without distorting, has balanced frequency response, and no odd sounds when playing bass (no rubbing, rattling, or chuffing.)

Curious if anyone has a suggestion that works better for all of these things? I've tried many speakers and most have issues.

Doing a HiVi DIY 3.1 was satisfying to do, but ultimately left me wanting more. A part of me would rather have just saved an additional $300 and gotten these, though unfortunately they weren't out at the time.

Using IN5v2 for about 9 months on a desktop. My experience is similar to yours. Neuman KH120 is pretty close.

 

[jsrtheta]

Back in 2004, there was some good buzz around the Epos ELS-3, an inexpensive ($299/pr) set of bookshelfs. I was looking for speakers for my bedroom, so I grabbed a pair.

The thing about these speakers, when you first heard them, everything just sounded right. They were not big bucks, but top to bottom they were well-balanced tonally, and obviously punching above their weight. When I moved them to my office, they guy downstairs kept asking to buy them.

 

[u_squire]

Revel M16 - They can be found around $500 used
Totem Rainmaker
Tekton Lore

The M16 is perfect for any music lover who wants the best possible sound quality from their system.

 

[crappypanther]

JBL Studio 530
Kef Q350
PSB Alpha B1

 

[Peluvius]

A pair of Paradigm atoms were my first taste of nice sound. Added a sub subsequently and that left me very happy for quite a while. I think you can pick a pair of used ones up these days for $200 to 300.

 

[Karu]

Ikea Symfonisk wall speaker

 

[Zaireeka]

I like the JBL LSR305s I bought for my gf a few years ago. Lots of fun to listen to.

Same here, I love my LSR305 as a small computer audio system.

 

[Arianator26]

I enjoy my wharfedale Diamond 12.1 Great sound especially for the money they even got a positive review from amir on here and that means something

 

[Astrozombie]

Studio 530 "Da Magic" Guaranteed !

 

[Xulonn]

I brought a pair of Paradigm v6 Atoms with me in a suitcase when I moved to expat life here in the mountains of Western Panamá from Sonoma County, California in 2012. I rReplaced them a couple of years ago when I decided to move to a 3.0 system with a matched center speaker to better projection of movie dialog. Ended up with a pair of Wharfedale D320's for $249 and the matching D300 center for $179. I was surprised at how much fuller the sound was - and how much better the bass was with movies. Having four 5" mid/bass drivers instead of only two apparently moves more air. I still mostly use only the L/R stereo speakers for dedicate music listening. Photo is both Paradigm and Wharfedale speakers with and without grilles.

I'm still lusting for an SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer. They run about $700 "Used/Like New" on Amazon, and it seems to be the best performing micro-sub out there. That would still be almost twice the cost of my L-C-R speakers!

 

[Jimster480]

My favorite budget speakers are the hiVI Swan M10.
It's a 2.1 system sounds really nice for under a hundred bucks at least that's what I paid. New

 

[Bleib]

Dynavoice DM6 is a great all-rounder that sounds big so that it sounds quite similarish to many floorstanders