What budget speakers you like to see reviewed?

[pk500]

I used Edifier R1850BT and thought they were pretty garbage, lots of distortion in the low end. I'm guessing the R1280T won't be better. Its a waste of time to test these uber budget speakers that are just made to hit a certain price point. I'm more interested in the range above that where there is a lot more room for sensible design choices and not just being cheap.

Understood. But there are a lot of people who are entering audiophilia in the basement. They don't have the budget for anything above the cellar yet want something that sounds better than crappy Logitech satellites.

It may not be a market that looks here. But then again ...

 

[maxxevv]

Understood. But there are a lot of people who are entering audiophilia in the basement. They don't have the budget for anything above the cellar yet want something that sounds better than crappy Logitech satellites.

It may not be a market that looks here. But then again ...

Problem there is a lot of them don't have a concept of what "good sound quality" constitutes other than booming powerful bass.

The spatial cues and tonal balance and to some degree tonal balance that decent speakers provide are completely unknown concepts to them. Things that many of the budget recommendations here do fairly acceptably. But you won't get to demo at the local big box electronics store that sell similar priced but pretty poor sounding speakers in comparison.

Many of these to be tested on the list will go a long way in establishing what is " baseline acceptable" quality sound in the long run my opinion.

Similar to what the KTB / D30/ Atom / D50 has achieved.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Oh, I would say the Atom is way, way better than “baseline acceptable.” Really, it’s at the level where any further measurement improvement is not audible.

 

[Kw6]

I just recently got the Monitor Audio Gold 100 5g. End game speaker for me!

 

[JeffS7444]

Very keen to know of speakers which deliver an exceptionally "big" sound via their radiation patterns and here's a few:

Bose Portable Home Speaker: downward firing driver + wave guide, claims 360-degree sound (maybe quick in-store demo would be enough to determine whether it's got potential or not?)
Vifa Helsinki: 2x full-range drivers + front- and rear-firing woofers.
Hsu Research CCB-8: coaxial design.
JBL Studio 520C: Center channel with wave guide.
Something from BIC America

Currently have, but don't know whether they'd be terribly interesting to measure:

Overnight Sensations: Stock build save that I wired tweeter non-inverted as I measured least amount of phase cancellation between drivers that way.
Sonos Play 1.
Klipsch Quintet III cinema speakers

Sonos and OSes are decent but strike me as pretty ho-hum in terms of how they sound off-axis. The Klipsch sound does seem to hold up better off-axis, but mine are a couple of generations out of date.

 

[amirm]

JBL Studio 520C: Center channel with wave guide.

A JBL 530 is coming for review.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I guess it is a little over budget for this thread. It would be interesting however to measure the Apple HomePod speaker. Maybe you know someone with one they could let you measure.

 

[b1daly]

Another vote for Q Acoustics 2020i

Mainly because Q Acoustics bookshelf models are near universally acclaimed by the audio review sites.

Currently top pick on wirecutter.

Interestingly their other two picks are

Elac Debut 6 V2. I purchased the original Debut 6 in a whim a few years back when it was “crowned” king of the budget bookshelves. I found it to be a strangely voiced speaker, amazing amounts of bass for the size, smooth high end, but a kind of “sucked out” midrange which is the most important frequency range for detail in music. I tried to like it, but got no feeling whatsoever. Had to sell.

Then again I picked up another of Wirecutter recommends a pair of KED Q150 which were on sale for 299 for a while.

Again a strange sounding speaker, an overall nice frequency response but the mids-hi mids sounded harsh, almost distorted. It was “unlistenable.” I had high hopes because KEF really talks up the coaxial driver.

Anyway, I’ve thought about picking up some Q 2020i but so far two strikes against Wirecutter in my book!

I have many speakers I like, but I like to hear what these newer budget designs are doing, mainly for research.

 

[sweetchaos]

Currently top pick on wirecutter.

Actually, wirecutter's top pick is Q Acoustics 3020i (a replacement of discontinued 2020i), currently going for $267usd/pair.
I guess you meant the 3020i.

 

[beefkabob]

Methinks Amir has a thing for JBL.

 

[laudio]

A JBL 530 is coming for review.

Excellent. Those were on sale before the end of the year for $299 a set a very good deal. I look forward to the measurements.

 

[laudio]

I just recently got the Monitor Audio Gold 100 5g. End game speaker for me!

Have a set of the GX 50's, nice sounding speaker but too delicate for me on reliability.

 

[amirm]

Yamaha HS5 Monitor Review just posted: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/yamaha-hs5-powered-monitor-review.10967/

 

[raistlin65]

I used Edifier R1850BT and thought they were pretty garbage, lots of distortion in the low end. I'm guessing the R1280T won't be better. Its a waste of time to test these uber budget speakers that are just made to hit a certain price point. I'm more interested in the range above that where there is a lot more room for sensible design choices and not just being cheap.

On the one hand I agree. I'm demoing the R1850DB at home right now. And after a few short listening sessions, I'm not impressed. I have been using them with an analog source. Maybe when I try optical they will be better (in case they have a crappy ADC converting the analog to digital).

At the same time, Edifiers are common recommendations over on Reddit. Having measurements of them would certainly influence that.

 

[Chocobo]

Sony Core SSCS5

 

[raistlin65]

Actually, wirecutter's top pick is Q Acoustics 3020i (a replacement of discontinued 2020i), currently going for $267usd/pair.
I guess you meant the 3020i.

There are some measurements for the 3020i already

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...ustics-3020i-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153

 

[bobbooo]

One more vote for Q Acoustics. You can get the 3020 from Amazon here for $229 and easily return them:

https://www.amazon.com/Acoustics-3020-Bookshelf-Speaker-Graphite/dp/B00TR7I1EY/

 

[Koeitje]

On the one hand I agree. I'm demoing the R1850DB at home right now. And after a few short listening sessions, I'm not impressed. I have been using them with an analog source. Maybe when I try optical they will be better (in case they have a crappy ADC converting the analog to digital).

At the same time, Edifiers are common recommendations over on Reddit. Having measurements of them would certainly influence that.

I only used digital and bluetooth on them.

 

[napilopez]

There are some measurements for the 3020i already

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/i...ustics-3020i-loudspeakers&catid=77&Itemid=153

I also measured and shared here on ASR; thought it lined up closesly with the soundstage network measurements.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...20i-on-and-off-axis-frequency-response.10186/


Subjectively, I thought they sounded fantastic. The measurements aren't quite so amazing, but it depends what you're looking for. The listening window is mostly quite linear but the 2.4K crossover scoop is disappointing (well, maybe not really for a sub-$300 speaker). On the other hand, it does have wide directivity going for it though, maintaining good energy out to 75 degrees up to 7KHz, and DI curves would also probably be decent since the listening window and 75 degree curves have a similar overall shape. Might be able to get away with EQing that region up a bit. I didn't try.

That said, it's worth noting Wirecutter performs blind tests for its speaker choices, and references Toole's work. We don't know the rigor of it, but it does seem the 3020i won fair and square. Would still like to see how it plays out on the klipperama.

 

[Willem]

I would think it makes sense to first measure passives as you are not paying for the part that for now you are not interested in measuring.