Need Some Recommendations on Speakers

[marketsons1985]

Short Background -

My girlfriend's grandmother asked me to find and install a speaker system for her in her house which is pre-wired for speakers. She listens to a lot of classical, but does not have a subwoofer, nor does she want one. Her current setup is an Old School Pioneer Receiver (with no sub output) and two older Klipsch floorstanding speakers.

I'm looking for good speakers that blend pretty well into the white wall, just mounting, not cutting anything out. She wants white speakers.

Reading through YoYo's audio post, I've come across the Orb Audio speakers, and since she has previously used Bose I figured these might be a good option.


What I'm looking at is this package: Orb Satellites with some wall mounts.

Anyone have these or have experience with these? Cost is not really a big deal for her, she just wants something to seamlessly work in her living room. I figured the smaller the better as long as they sound good.


TIA

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Orbs without a sub?

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Orbs without a sub?

Yeah, that was an issue I was thinking about. Her music is not bass intensive at all, and I even asked her about adding a sub and a new receiver and she said no. Suggestion for speakers that will get some of the bass missing without a sub?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I feel the need to point out that a new receiver would not be needed to integrate a subwoofer. Many subwoofers will work with speaker level signals where the speaker wires are routed through the subwoofer (that then plays the lower frequencies) before being passed onto the speakers.

The small speaker requirement is going to make it tough to get something with reasonable bass output.

Here's some random diagram with the frequencies produced by some instruments.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/aud...e-Frequencies-of-Music

I think the Orbs would start to give up below 100Hz.
(Site says 80Hz as the low end of their frequency range with 120Hz for optimal setup)

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I feel the need to point out that a new receiver would not be needed to integrate a subwoofer. Many subwoofers will work with speaker level signals where the speaker wires are routed through the subwoofer (that then plays the lower frequencies) before being passed onto the speakers.

The small speaker requirement is going to make it tough to get something with reasonable bass output.

Here's some random diagram with the frequencies produced by some instruments.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/aud...e-Frequencies-of-Music

I think the Orbs would start to give up below 100Hz.
(Site says 80Hz as the low end of their frequency range with 120Hz for optimal setup)

Hmm, okay, thanks for the info.

Thinking more, I think something like this might work, and they seem to have a decent woofer. With the white color and white grille they should work well in the room. And the response seems to get a great deal lower than the orbs do.

EDIT: Maybe though the subwoofer passing through will work well also...is this something that most subwoofers do?

Powered Sub w/passthrough + orbs?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If a sub will not work, then something like those axioms would indeed get significantly better bass output. I haven't heard the orbs but have used axioms with similar specs and they would work pretty well without a sub.

A lot of subs have speaker level inputs. For something inexpensive, the partsexpress dayton subs have it, but they're all black. I'm not sure if that would be a problem though since potentially a sub could be easier to place out of sight.
http://www.partsexpress.com/we...%20&ObjectGroup_ID=620

The AV123 X-Sub has the option as well, but looks like no date on ETA for when they'll be in stock again.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: marketsons1985

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I feel the need to point out that a new receiver would not be needed to integrate a subwoofer. Many subwoofers will work with speaker level signals where the speaker wires are routed through the subwoofer (that then plays the lower frequencies) before being passed onto the speakers.

The small speaker requirement is going to make it tough to get something with reasonable bass output.

Here's some random diagram with the frequencies produced by some instruments.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/aud...e-Frequencies-of-Music

I think the Orbs would start to give up below 100Hz.
(Site says 80Hz as the low end of their frequency range with 120Hz for optimal setup)

Hmm, okay, thanks for the info.

Thinking more, I think something like this might work, and they seem to have a decent woofer. With the white color and white grille they should work well in the room. And the response seems to get a great deal lower than the orbs do.

EDIT: Maybe though the subwoofer passing through will work well also...is this something that most subwoofers do?

Powered Sub w/passthrough + orbs?

Those require holes to be cut in the wall...I was going to post them however, you made that requirement.

However, all axiom speakers can be ordered in custom finishes so perhaps look into the M3.

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: marketsons1985

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I feel the need to point out that a new receiver would not be needed to integrate a subwoofer. Many subwoofers will work with speaker level signals where the speaker wires are routed through the subwoofer (that then plays the lower frequencies) before being passed onto the speakers.

The small speaker requirement is going to make it tough to get something with reasonable bass output.

Here's some random diagram with the frequencies produced by some instruments.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/aud...e-Frequencies-of-Music

I think the Orbs would start to give up below 100Hz.
(Site says 80Hz as the low end of their frequency range with 120Hz for optimal setup)

Hmm, okay, thanks for the info.

Thinking more, I think something like this might work, and they seem to have a decent woofer. With the white color and white grille they should work well in the room. And the response seems to get a great deal lower than the orbs do.

EDIT: Maybe though the subwoofer passing through will work well also...is this something that most subwoofers do?

Powered Sub w/passthrough + orbs?

Those require holes to be cut in the wall...I was going to post them however, you made that requirement.

However, all axiom speakers can be ordered in custom finishes so perhaps look into the M3.

Hmm, they say they are on-wall / in-wall speakers...it looks like they mount fine on the the wall. Though the M3 looks nice too, I'm just not sure about how big they are...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

They have a video on the page you linked to showing the installation

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: marketsons1985

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: marketsons1985

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I feel the need to point out that a new receiver would not be needed to integrate a subwoofer. Many subwoofers will work with speaker level signals where the speaker wires are routed through the subwoofer (that then plays the lower frequencies) before being passed onto the speakers.

The small speaker requirement is going to make it tough to get something with reasonable bass output.

Here's some random diagram with the frequencies produced by some instruments.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/aud...e-Frequencies-of-Music

I think the Orbs would start to give up below 100Hz.
(Site says 80Hz as the low end of their frequency range with 120Hz for optimal setup)

Hmm, okay, thanks for the info.

Thinking more, I think something like this might work, and they seem to have a decent woofer. With the white color and white grille they should work well in the room. And the response seems to get a great deal lower than the orbs do.

EDIT: Maybe though the subwoofer passing through will work well also...is this something that most subwoofers do?

Powered Sub w/passthrough + orbs?

Those require holes to be cut in the wall...I was going to post them however, you made that requirement.

However, all axiom speakers can be ordered in custom finishes so perhaps look into the M3.

Hmm, they say they are on-wall / in-wall speakers...it looks like they mount fine on the the wall. Though the M3 looks nice too, I'm just not sure about how big they are...

Watch the video on the product page...they require a hole cut in the wall to properly install.

 

[marketsons1985]

Hmm, okay. So if the Axioms aren't too big for her, it looks like that's the best bet. Otherwise orb + subwoofer passing through the audio is I think what will happen. Thanks everyone!

 

[dandragonrage]

Classical can actually have a pretty good amount of bass.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: dandragonrage
Classical can actually have a pretty good amount of bass.

But that bass is not typical sub-40 Hz or so

The only exception would be the very lowest notes on a pipe organ.

 

[Nurn]

What's the plan for the Klipsch speakers, and what kind are they? Is she just planning stereo or 5.1/6.1/7.1?

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: Nurn
What's the plan for the Klipsch speakers, and what kind are they? Is she just planning stereo or 5.1/6.1/7.1?

They are OLD - EDIT: Probably 30 years she wants them gone, off of her floor. I think the plan is my GFs parents get them, and I get their older Klipch speakers they use ATM.

She wants 5.1...ish. Still doesn't want a subwoofer, so it looks like we're going with the Axiom. 4x M3 v2 bookshelves and one center speaker. All mounted on the wall so she will have minimal floorspace taken up.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Just to make sure - her receiver is a 5.1 receiver?
She's going to be watching movies / tv on this besides music?

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: marketsons1985
Short Background -

My girlfriend's grandmother asked me to find and install a speaker system for her in her house which is pre-wired for speakers. She listens to a lot of classical, but does not have a subwoofer, nor does she want one. Her current setup is an Old School Pioneer Receiver (with no sub output) and two older Klipsch floorstanding speakers.

Cornwall? Heresy? LaScala? K-horn? Belle?

We must know! Heh heh...

 

[marketsons1985]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Just to make sure - her receiver is a 5.1 receiver?
She's going to be watching movies / tv on this besides music?

Yes, her receiver is 5.1 But she won't be watching movies or tv on this besides music, just the music.

Originally posted by: iRONic
Cornwall? Heresy? LaScala? K-horn? Belle?

We must know! Heh heh...

I will check when I go next, we were supposed to go this weekend but she is without power so we couldn't get in contact with her to confirm the order...it may be too late to order to get here before the weekend, so we'll be pushing back the installation.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If she's just doing music, there's no real point to doing 5 speakers since it's just going to be a stereo source (unless she's into DVD-A )

You'd have to do dolby prologic or something to get it to play back on all the speakers. Depending on how old the receiver is, you might not have very good options for doing this either.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If she's just doing music, there's no real point to doing 5 speakers since it's just going to be a stereo source (unless she's into DVD-A )

You'd have to do dolby prologic or something to get it to play back on all the speakers. Depending on how old the receiver is, you might not have very good options for doing this either.

Might have a 5CH Stereo setting, but that doesn't mean it will sound good

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah it might have that, but if there's a possibility of getting 2 nicer speakers than 5 mediocre ones, that would be a nice alternative if there's never going to be anything other than a stereo source.