Best speakers <$100

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#24
Ron E said:
I have a couple different versions of Sony's once lowest end speaker a ~5" 2-way
SS-MB100H and SS-MB150H, and a matching center. At the time they were ~$40/pair. No way I could design something at that price point. I have added some damping and swapped out the 'lytic for a film cap for a noticeable $2 + 15 minutes mod.

I listened to all of the speakers at Best Buy that day and the little sony's actually had the best tonal balance, but they distort some at very high levels.

My advice, listen to premade speakers in your price range and see what you think. You can always add a sub later to take some of the strain off the small speakers.
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I second the recommendation for the Sony SS-MB100H. I found a pair at a garage sale for $5. They sound incredible and I have seen them sell on the big auction site for under $25 a pair. Paired with another garage sale find, a $5 8" 100W Sony subwoofer they made a perfect starter system for my BIL.

Your best value by far is to buy second hand. I have JBL L7's and Pinnacle Aerogel Towers, both pairs were $200 from CL. You simply cannot build a speaker that good for that kind of money.

I think DIY comes into it's own when you get into higher end components, where you can build something for $1k to 2k that would cost 4x to 10x as much from a boutique audio manufacturer.
 
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#30
>>> For a similar price i much prefer the FF105wk, and if you are spending that much the Mark Audio Pluvia Seven is worthy of consideration.
dave

Yup. For $100 (or much more) a nice full range driver in the right cabinet really shines. The older Fostex 127e in a BIB is one of the nicest speakers I've heard. If the 105wk is better than WOW. Never heard the MA but obviously would consider it for it's full range chops.

A $100 two-way is not what I'd want to listen to.
 
#31
Cal Weldon said:
Always deal with the ladies at the garage sales while the 'he' is off doing something else.
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Truer words were never spoken. All of my best deals have been from the fairer gender or at their behest. Usually this has involved them standing with their arms crossed supervising the sale, though occasionally they will step in and seal the deal directly. The size and age of the speaker seems to directly correlate to the level of disapproval in their stance.

Go for big! Some great tower speakers are out there waiting to be had.
 
#32
FWIW...

I put a pair of Alpair 10 in sealed boxes (boxes from an old pair of B&W DM100 with additional MDF baffle glued on), which I use as my bedroom stereo speakers. I don't want deep bass in there, since I live in an apartment and these are for late night listening. It took something like a year for the Alpair drivers to loosen up, but I'm always impressed by how good they sound as near field speakers.
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#36
I have had dozens of A25 (A10, A25XL, A35 & A40 too). OK for the time but i could not live with a pair.

I would like to hear a pair with new properly built boxes, rebates, mirror imaged, treat the woofer, remove the metal grill on the tweeter, and rebuild the XO to see how they do.

dave
 
#37
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#38
Just read CNET to find the best speakers for you 🙂

Look speakers are by far the most opinionated component in any type of home theater or music only setup.

So instead of asking about a pair of bookshelf speakers for $100 a pair do your own research on CNET and other places online and in person.

Go to Best Buy and listen to some of the cheaper book shelf speakers they sell there and see what you think.

The most important thing is that you like the speakers your buying and to be frank my or anyone else's speaker brand and model suggestions are pretty meaningless.

Most of the people here are Audiophiles like myself and are willing to save up to get some really good speakers as speakers are the most important component as they play every source you will use.

Personally, I usually look for a discontinued line of speakers as you can usually get them at really great prices!

But in this instance where you are looking to spend $100 or less your options are limited. I picked up 2 pair of Definitive Studio Monitor 450's for $580 when a single pair retails at $630.

This line by Definitive is discontinued and thus they were selling at 55% off retail price. So I bought 2 pair for less than 1 pair would retail at normally.

I still think your best option is to buy used on Ebay as you can get some decent used book shelf speakers easily in the $100 price range.

The Definitive BP-1's that I bought for my rear surround speakers cost me $60 including shipping and are Bi-Poles with both a front and rear mounted 4 1/2" woofer and a 1" aluminum dome tweeter and they are front ported and rated with a 91 DB S.P.L.

Now I bought these on Ebay and they are in like new condition as some times a seller has no idea what a pair of small speakers is really worth or they just want to get rid of them and get some extra cash in their pockets.

So if you want some fairly new speakers go to Best Buy and listen to what they have that you like. Then look for them on Ebay at about 50% the cost they were at Best Buy.

Remember these are for you and all that really matters is that you like the way they sound! Building your own is too costly when you can get a barely used pair of bookshelf speakers on Ebay that are built by speaker companies that already have the design figured out.

This is my suggestion to you. Just buy a pair of decent book shelf speakers that you like the sound of and avoid building your own as it's always more costly than pre-built mass produced book shelf speakers.

Have a good one and hope this helped you out. Steven Level
 
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