Loudspeaker Kit suggestions/help

[eastcoast]

Hey All,

A friend of mine is doing a home theatre setup so he needs some Sheilded speakers. There is a high end shop around here that he was checking out and he was interested in some JM labs speakers. I have been competing in car audio Sound Quality for years and even have some national titles. Right now I'm using Seas excel, hiq ow1's and tube amps in my vehicle, and I have a decent ear. Since I don't have my own house, I'm just not into the home stuff yet.

Anyways, he asked me go listen to these speakers and they were aweful, god aweful. everything from about 100 down was bloated and exagerated, midrange was blah, and the highs were all tonally off, far too metallic (to my ears at least) and they wanted $400 for the speakers. I told him to look elsewhere and that I would check out with some guru's (you guys) about a kit. I did some searching and found several companies but I would have to then find reviews on all the kits, call the companies etc. I'm hoping you guys, knowing all you do, can filter through a lot of this for me.

He has about $400 to spend but will go a bit higher if its worth it.

It needs to be shielded.

No ribbons, where the speakers will be placed will result in problems.

do any of these kits come with the crossovers assembled? I don't have time to do it for him, he can make cabinets, but I think constructing the crossovers may be a bit much for him...

They don't need to dip real low as he will have a sub, 60hz should be fine, but I don't want a sloppy ported design. That JMlabs I listened to was terrible. Listened to a pair of totems (also ported) side by side and the totems just did everything better.

ANy help or leads is appreciated, thank you.

[bogoes]

In that price range, I would recommend a kit from GR Research. The AV-2 Kit is available fully sheilded for $318/pair and they will assemble the crossovers for $90/pair. I haven't heard this particular speaker, but I have heard the midwoofer and thought it was very nice. Parts Express also has some nice kits that include cabinets for $350 - $500 but your friend would have to assemble the networks.

Good luck.

[eastcoast]

I'm so sorry, I forgot to mention that the speakers must be 8 ohm...but something like that is exactly what I was looking for...it also must be a bookshelf type speaker.

That AV2 would be perfect if it was 8 ohm