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Cheap speakers aren´t supposed to sound like this


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Posted

Note that you'll pay 30% import duty + 7% VAT on top if importing them - which is why the local Thai vendors have them for 2900-3300 Baht.

At that landed price, there's a lot of choice in PC speakers, so some auditioning of TH brands that don't have the shipping and taxes might be worthwhile.

Posted

^ recommendations pls. Need a couple pair of cheapos. My reference is a 10yo pr of Altec Lansings that sound great, and loud, which were probably 3k-ish back then. (compared to the well reviewed UE BOOM bluetooth).

Posted

^ recommendations pls. Need a couple pair of cheapos. My reference is a 10yo pr of Altec Lansings that sound great, and loud, which were probably 3k-ish back then. (compared to the well reviewed UE BOOM bluetooth).

Saag audio have some great (for the price) sounding sub-sat systems for 2K'ish - but their range is all over the place - only a couple of their dozen or so systems actually sound "good", and price is not the indicator.

if you want brand name and warranty support, the JBL Creature 3's are on sale for 2.6K baht/set (from 6K) - those freakish little Atlas woofers are much better in pairs though (e.g as in the Harman Go+Play and JBL Onbeat Xtreme - both of which are on sale for 9K Baht ATM BTW, from 16K/20K respectively).

What the heck, now that I've completely blown the budget in this thread, why stop now? tongue.png If you want truly amazing desktop speakers that completely blow away anything even 4x more expensive (in TH), grab a pair of the JBL LSR305's off ebay for ~13K Baht/pair wink.png

Posted

IMHO. where do i get thew 652-Air for that price in Thailand ?

Not allowed to link to other forums, so you'll need to click through some of the links here: https://www.google.co.th/#cr=countryTH&tbs=ctr:countryTH&q=%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2+dayton+b652-air

Look for links to forums for the best prices.

Yeah I have already done the google search. cannot find the 652-Air anywhere for the price you mentioned, the 652 Yes, the air version No.

Posted

IMHO. where do i get thew 652-Air for that price in Thailand ?

Not allowed to link to other forums, so you'll need to click through some of the links here: https://www.google.co.th/#cr=countryTH&tbs=ctr:countryTH&q=%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2+dayton+b652-air

Look for links to forums for the best prices.

Yeah I have already done the google search. cannot find the 652-Air anywhere for the price you mentioned, the 652 Yes, the air version No.

Ahh you are correct - it's the non-air's that go as little as 1900 Baht, the lowest price on the air's so far is 3900.

For those looking at these, what are you going to use for an amp?

Posted

Have you ever heard those Dayton speakers? Maybe they really are great, but a lot of things sound better in reviews than in real life.

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound. This video is a great example - all 3 speakers are well respected, all 3 have their staunch followers, yet all 3 have very different tonal response:

Skip to the 1:40 mark to get to the point:

However, at the price of the Dayton's I guess you could just take the gamble, if you don't yet have a decent pair of bookshelf's/desktop's- just keep the packaging so they're easy to wrap as gifts ;)

Posted

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound.

Jimmy B wins for me. Yamaha sounded shrill, others sounded muddy. To my old ears.

Damn Grand Funk, Blue Oyster Cult, Jeff Beck ... and on and on ... !!

  • Like 1
Posted

Studio monitors aren't really the ideal choice for normal consumer audio.

That being said, in terms of bang for buck, the behringer monitors are a bargain and sound great.

Posted

Studio monitors aren't really the ideal choice for normal consumer audio.

That being said, in terms of bang for buck, the behringer monitors are a bargain and sound great.

That depends... nearfield monitors are usually tuned for close-range listening, and can fall off quite rapidly with distance. Better monitors function perfectly well as hi-fi speakers though. Once you've found yourself accustomed to low-coloration, high dynamics speakers, most consumer audio becomes unexciting, until it reaches price points several magnitudes above the good pro audio gear.

Posted

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound.

Jimmy B wins for me. Yamaha sounded shrill, others sounded muddy. To my old ears.

Damn Grand Funk, Blue Oyster Cult, Jeff Beck ... and on and on ... !!

Assuming the speakers/headphones you're listening on are ones you chose because you like the sound of them, the reason you preferred the JBL's is because they were the most neutral - i.e. playing through your speakers, they sound the most like your speakers. IRL, you might actually make a different choice though.... if your speakers have a similar response to the Yamaha's, what you just heard was all their weaknesses, multiplied by 2 wink.png

Posted

if your speakers have a similar response to the Yamaha's, what you just heard was all their weaknesses, multiplied by 2 wink.png

True - always listen in person. and I use a graphic equalizer to negate the room acoustics - or enhance them.

  • Like 1
Posted

Have you ever heard those Dayton speakers? Maybe they really are great, but a lot of things sound better in reviews than in real life.

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound. This video is a great example - all 3 speakers are well respected, all 3 have their staunch followers, yet all 3 have very different tonal response:

Skip to the 1:40 mark to get to the point:

However, at the price of the Dayton's I guess you could just take the gamble, if you don't yet have a decent pair of bookshelf's/desktop's- just keep the packaging so they're easy to wrap as gifts wink.png

My own preference runs to large fullrange speakers that are on the warm side of neutral, but as you say it's much less important to worry about making a wrong choice when the speakers' cost is closer that that of a bottle of wine than to a pair of Vandersteens. But I've heard some very high-dollar speakers before that leave me cold even though there is nothing that I can really point to that is wrong with them.

  • Like 1
Posted

Have you ever heard those Dayton speakers? Maybe they really are great, but a lot of things sound better in reviews than in real life.

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound. This video is a great example - all 3 speakers are well respected, all 3 have their staunch followers, yet all 3 have very different tonal response:

Skip to the 1:40 mark to get to the point:

However, at the price of the Dayton's I guess you could just take the gamble, if you don't yet have a decent pair of bookshelf's/desktop's- just keep the packaging so they're easy to wrap as gifts wink.png

My own preference runs to large fullrange speakers that are on the warm side of neutral, but as you say it's much less important to worry about making a wrong choice when the speakers' cost is closer that that of a bottle of wine than to a pair of Vandersteens. But I've heard some very high-dollar speakers before that leave me cold even though there is nothing that I can really point to that is wrong with them.

Yep. In my experience, that's typically what happens with speakers that are close to flat frequency response, but lacking in dynamics - they measure well in the lab, and make great marketing material - but they are dry, flat and lifeless when listening. It's also common on speakers that have been over-processed - whether that be complex passive networks with notch filters, varying slopes, under-lap/over-lap xover points etc, or over-DSP'd active speakers.

Posted

Have you ever heard those Dayton speakers? Maybe they really are great, but a lot of things sound better in reviews than in real life.

Right, you have to listen.... everyone likes something different - for me that's neutrality and accuracy, but many people actually prefer a colored sound. This video is a great example - all 3 speakers are well respected, all 3 have their staunch followers, yet all 3 have very different tonal response:

Skip to the 1:40 mark to get to the point:

However, at the price of the Dayton's I guess you could just take the gamble, if you don't yet have a decent pair of bookshelf's/desktop's- just keep the packaging so they're easy to wrap as gifts wink.png

My own preference runs to large fullrange speakers that are on the warm side of neutral, but as you say it's much less important to worry about making a wrong choice when the speakers' cost is closer that that of a bottle of wine than to a pair of Vandersteens. But I've heard some very high-dollar speakers before that leave me cold even though there is nothing that I can really point to that is wrong with them.

Yep. In my experience, that's typically what happens with speakers that are close to flat frequency response, but lacking in dynamics - they measure well in the lab, and make great marketing material - but they are dry, flat and lifeless when listening. It's also common on speakers that have been over-processed - whether that be complex passive networks with notch filters, varying slopes, under-lap/over-lap xover points etc, or over-DSP'd active speakers.

Wilsons, in particular, are the ones that I just "don't get" even thuogh there is nothing objectively wrong with them. Would probably be true that they measure flat (I haven't scoured through the reviews enough to know if they do or don't) but I'd expect that the larger ones probably measure well in terms of dynamics too. Don't get me wrong, it someone gave me a pair of Wilsons I'd probably live happily with them, but I'd probably be even happier with a small tube amp and vintage horn speakers.

  • Like 1
Posted

IMHO I read the link. It confirms the subject-ability of things. Now one Xmas wish= can you make my life easy and relaxed again?

Tell me what I can buy here for up 25.000 THB with decent sound. Speakers of unimposing size plus amplifier?

I listen only to Radiotunes.com Classics or for brain stimulating sounds NEW AGE and WORLD.

And don´t worry, I would never come back and complain I that hear sounds which are not there:-)

Just a bit help in cutting through the jungle.

Merry Christmas

Posted

IMHO I read the link. It confirms the subject-ability of things. Now one Xmas wish= can you make my life easy and relaxed again?

Tell me what I can buy here for up 25.000 THB with decent sound. Speakers of unimposing size plus amplifier?

I listen only to Radiotunes.com Classics or for brain stimulating sounds NEW AGE and WORLD.

And don´t worry, I would never come back and complain I that hear sounds which are not there:-)

Just a bit help in cutting through the jungle.

Merry Christmas

Well first off, I have to mention the JBL LSR305's yet again (I played my ace early, heh) - they go for ~13K Baht/pair on Ebay (inc. shipping and all taxes under the global shipping program), and they are active designs - each speaker cab has it's own 2x 41w amplifier - so all they need is a line-level input from something that has it's own volume control (AV Receiver, TV, PC, etc - or even a dedicated pre-amp). The LSR305's will work well in rooms up to around 16-20sqm, or any room size if you will be sitting near-field.

If your room is significantly larger than that, the bigger/more-powerful LSR308's will easily fill a room twice that size with sound (I use them as L-C-R's in my HT room, which is around 80sqm), but you'll likely want to use the built-in bass trimming, or experiment with positioning out from the walls, in order to tame their weighty bottom-end. These go for ~23K Baht all-in from Ebay.

For <25K Baht, including amplification, I can't possibly think of anything that comes remotely close - but as noted, that's based on my own subjective ideals of neutrality and dynamics over all else...

YMMV - but it's hard to imagine someone who didn't like them wink.png

Also note that if you don't already have an elevated spot for them, you'll be wanting to put them on some stands (PM me for links for good/cheap ones - can't post links to other forums on TV).

BTW, the "No Audiophile" guy with the colorful language also reviewed the 305's here: http://noaudiophile.com/JBL_LSR305/

Posted

First, your wife's opinion matters, of course. Wouldn't want anything ugly. Secondly, you made my wish come true. Will order JBL305. Can't wait to get them. Would you also suggest an amplifier

that can be ordered with Ebay simultaneously?

Posted

I should not that if you don't have a room that demands the 308's, buy the 305's and save your money - you'll gain nothing but more bass you'll just need to EQ out in a smaller room.

Posted

First, your wife's opinion matters, of course. Wouldn't want anything ugly. Secondly, you made my wish come true. Will order JBL305. Can't wait to get them. Would you also suggest an amplifier

that can be ordered with Ebay simultaneously?

You don't need an amplifier smile.png The 305's have their own 2x41W (82W RMS) amplifier in each cabinet (i.e. 164W RMS per pair). All you need is to give them a line-level audio signal (e.g. the headphone output on your PC) & mains power. If you're going to be running these directly from a source w/out volume control (e.g. CD player direct), you'll want a pre-amp for basic volume control though - let me know if this is the case and I'll give you some links.

As for my wife's opinion, once she heard the first pair of 305's I ordered (for my office/home studio), she asked me to order another set for our bedroom (replacing 50K Baht KEF LS50's) - so I guess that means she likes them sonically and aesthetically too ;)

Posted

Ebay drive me nuts ! I want to order JBL LSR305 from ebay.com but because I´have an account with ebay.de I am automatically directed to the .de site with different suppliers and prices even when I select "ordering worldwide". What in particular is missing is the autonomic display of international shipments= yes or no

I guess if then a Thai shipping address is added things get totally screwed up.

Any experienced Ebayler here? Should I stop membership de? Register with .com only ?Rarely ever used.

Posted

Ebay drive me nuts ! I want to order JBL LSR305 from ebay.com but because I´have an account with ebay.de I am automatically directed to the .de site with different suppliers and prices even when I select "ordering worldwide". What in particular is missing is the autonomic display of international shipments= yes or no

I guess if then a Thai shipping address is added things get totally screwed up.

Any experienced Ebayler here? Should I stop membership de? Register with .com only ?Rarely ever used.

Have you tried this?

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/account/change-country.html

If that doesn't work, just sign up for a new account I guess.

BTW, this is the vendor I used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/JBL-LSR305-5-inch-Two-Way-Powered-Studio-Monitors-PAIR-/151533935264

Current price is $284.99 + 68.91 shipping + 68.37 taxes = $422.27, so around 14K Baht for a pair, all-in.

Posted

stopping membership in .de seems not possible. As long as my email address stays in the world ebay system the autom re-directing to ebay.de happens. Seems registering under new email may do the trick.

Posted

IMHO, you are a treasure. That may be the answer but ... I wonder if the residence is changed if that does not block my Visa Payments because my Visa card will remain German.

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