I’m looking to upgrade my Infinity Reference 162 speakers for $500 - $1000. I love how they sound but I just want to get something better.
I mainly listen to pop, indie, edm, r&b, and hip hop. I will be using them for movies as well. I am using them in a small to medium bedroom. Currently running them with a Denon x2500h and an SVS sb12-nsd to compliment. Any upgrade advice for any of my components would be appreciated!
bookshelf or floorstander? does it matter?
Of course something like this always depends on the personal preferences.
Generally you will get higher quality with smaller bookshgelf speakers. So the manufacturer has more money for the individual components. BBC LS3/5 drive this reduction to the extreme.
When I read your taste in music I think of a slightly soft tweeter, good midrange presence and crisp bass that can rely on a subwoofer,
Dynaudio Evoke 10 and 20 is the first thing that comes to mind,
The Buchart S400 are very popular, but I wouldn’t necessarily buy one if you already have a subwoofer.
In America the PMC TWENTY5 21 would probably be too expensive, but a good 2k pic in europe. They sound extremely neutral, but also need very good amplifiers.
Bookshelf would be preferred due to WAF.
If I am reaching those price points on the speakers, would it be more beneficial to start investing in a splitter to get a dedicated stereo preamp/amp for just music. As opposed to sticking with my Denon for both home theater and music?
triangle bro series, tekton mini lore’s(larger bookshelf, 8" full range driver), elac dbr62’s, whardale denton’s(1200/pair 20" tall with 8" woofer, high WAF for looks though), dynaudio anything in price range(lots of discount sales on dynaudio in the states atm). if your handy i can give you some recommendations that will blow all said above out of the water for under 1k. but requires some DIY.
edit: if you have glue, patience, some clamps or weights, then the css audio criton 1td kit with upgraded crossover is a diy for just over 1k that competes with 5k speakers. just have to glue the flat pack together and paint or wrap or stain.
I just realized you’re obviously talking about a $1,000 pair price. I’m so used to thinking about unit pricing, sorry.
With a 2k Pair yes but with a 1k Pair maybe… But the whole switching thing is very annoying.
Getting a better reciever with a preamp out would probaply be a more reasonable idea.
same with used speakers
This might be something I am interested in with the quarantine in place! Thanks for the suggestions. Do you have experience with building it?
Not personally, no. One day I will buy. I have emailed the company extensively talking about them. they will solder the xovers for like 40$ or something if you do not want to solder. everything else is plug and play. the internal wiring uses male/female locking system like most speakers and almost all car audio. you just have to glue the flat pack together and place the dampening material where it tells you. the dampening material has a peal of glue side. its really easy to build. i have built similar flat packs in the past of lesser and cheaper designs. check out parts express for more flat packs. also HiVi has a really good flat pack 3 way on amazon for i wanna say 285$. you have to solder the xover though, same with the ones off of parts express. there are a few other sites out there with smaller selections and varying prices.
do a google search for diy speakers with flat pack. i find it highly fulfilling to build and restore speakers. i also have quite a few main brand speakers. need something as a baseline to see if my projects sound good right? lol
I don’t think I am worried about the soldering as much as I am about the gluing and making the finish look nice. Yeah I will do some more research on these as well since I have more time to work on these kinds of projects. Lol that seems like the only logical way to find a baseline!
Yeah sorry forgot to include that!
Do you know any receivers you can recommend? Also, amp recommendations that would work well? If I spend 1k on a pair, I’ll probably have to wait a bit to make an upgrade on my Denon.
Marantz always made a good impression on me.
Nevertheless, I would advise you to invest as much money as possible in the speakers at the moment.
Yeah that’s what I figured. I’ll keep researching new speakers. Thanks!
I had a really good experience with these when I had them on my stereo setup and we have similar music tastes. https://www.hifishark.com/search?q=lsim+703
It should also free up some funds for you to get an amp + DAC if you decide to.