What's your best, 'speaker cost to performance ratio', purchase?

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

For me it would absolutely HAVE to be a pair of Edifier's P17s that i'd purchased on sale from edifier's Australian website for a measly $65 dollars - this is the equivalent of some $45 USD/euros or british pounds.

What do i like about these speakers? For the price almost everything.

They comprise of a 4 inch woofer, 0.75 inch tweeter and an passive crossover in a 'not so bad' MDF enclosure - build quality is as good as any other speaker, although the finish isn't premium.

One thing to note is that these speaker's little woofers go lowwww and can create lots of boom and bass - I'd even opened the enclosure by removing the woofer and boy is that magnet BIG.

Do they beat a KEF Q150 or similarly 'premium' speakers? I don't know since i don't own it, but i wouldn't expect them to - do they beat a pair of $200-400 dollar speakers such as the Wharfedale Crystal 4.1s (and plenty of others)? Oh yeah, you bet they do.

Interesting how a brand which has a reputation as being 'cheap' can create such good quality speakers for the price - I'd done the calculation and realised that it would be cheaper to purchase these on sale and take out the drivers than purchase your own to build a speaker with...

Makes you wonder how many products out there are a rip off, costing people hundreds, when an even more elegant solution would cost slightly north of $60AUD.

 

[kekus]

Edifier are amazing bang for buck, I'm using R451 for a long time (2000s), as 2.1 with phone/tablet source. They have paper drivers and sound great, dynamic and just pleasing.
If you want to go even lower for cheap desktop speakers, I found Creative Pebble plus (2.1) do a good job, well worth the small amount of money (I paid about 33 USD).

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Edifier are amazing bang for buck, I'm using R451 for a long time (2000s), as 2.1 with phone/tablet source. They have paper drivers and sound great, dynamic and just pleasing.
If you want to go even lower for cheap desktop speakers, I found Creative Pebble plus (2.1) do a good job, well worth the small amount of money (I paid about 33 USD).

Damn - that is a long time to be using a set of speakers. Indeed the drivers on the P17s are made of paper, but they sound much bigger than they are - using he knob on my CA 550A and apple music's app to modulate the bass, I can't get enough of it to make the glass windows shake.. it's no SVS sub, but it doesn't need to be.

Those creatives DO look alright actually - it's a shame that i already have sooooo many speakers, becauses they look like a cheap alternative at $60 - edifiers cheapest actives are $70-80 at times.

 

[muskrat]

I got pair of JPW with a 6" woofer for $35 at a thrift store. They had a high end look so I took a chance. There is very little on the web, almost nothing on this model. I took them apart. Very nice euro drivers,12db crossovers, solid cabinets. I use them with a Canton sub. Best speakers I've had.

 

[Doodski]

They have paper drivers and sound great, dynamic and just pleasing.

Indeed the drivers on the P17s are made of paper, but they sound much bigger than they are

My impression of paper drivers is it is one of the oldest materials used and the pulp makes for great woofers. Lots of manufacturers have used paper and pulp and have had excellent success.

 

[EJ3]

Frazier Super Monte Carlo: For $88 a pair in 1977 (1/2 off because someone ordered them & then never came back to pick them up). They are still in use today with a pair of custom made (by me) 12" dual 4 ohm voice coil bottom firing, bottom ported subs, as are the pair of Dahlquist M-905's (26 Hz- 20 KHz +- 2 Db by themselves, then also add the custom made 12" subs])

 

[tvih]

Last month my first speaker purchase in over 11 years - Paradigm Phantom V2 floorstanding speakers for all of 20€! They were "ruined" by a white DC Fix wrap but it proved easier to remove than expected and they look properly wooden again!

Now they're my surround rears. Though I could be perfectly happy with them as fronts too, but that spot was/is already taken by the Dynaudio C1s.

 

[kokakolia]

Klispch RP600M + Yamaha RN402 combo for 620€. I sold the combo for 450€ years later.

 

[Vacceo]

I got 11 Kef IQ speakers of different kinds (1, 3, 6c, 7, 8ds) and a couple of psw 2500 for less than a 1K euro. As you can imagine, all second hand.

They play atmos like a beast and for a ridiculous price.

 

[pdfield34]

B stock Elac DBR62 - $450. Hopefully, in a week or two will be Affordable Accuracy Monitors for $300.

 

[BDWoody]

My JBL B-Stock speakers.

708Ps for $1,000, and 705Ps for $500.

 

[monkeyboy]

Yamaha DBR10 for home theater
JBL 306P for audio/music in the kitchen