Onkyo TX-NR609 and front floor standing speakers

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

I have little experience in Hi Fi stuff.

I recently bought a Onkyo TX-NR609 at a special deal. I am looking for a 5.1 speaker package for it, but I will actually use them most of the time for classical Orchestral music, so the front floor standing speakers are important to me. Sometimes I like the music from 5.1 speakers too, I have a normal sized living room.

I can never get a conclusion of what speakers I should go, its been months. I visited a few local shops, each of them sell different lines of speakers, they sell nearly more than double the prices over the UK and US, I have found some UK and US websites sell speakers, most of them smaller boxes but some sell larger front speakers to Australia, however there is not enough variaty to choose from, for example I am still not seeing a website sells Tannoy Revolution DC6 TSE to Australia. It is a small global village this world, online shopping is there growing strongly, dealership protectionism will not work - that is how I believe but I am not here trying raise issues, just like to hear tips. At the moment I am continuing to explore what I should buy and where I can buy.

I have encountered these fronts:

Paradigm Studio 100 - too expensive for me. My budget for the front pair is US$1000 - 1500.

Kev Q500, Q700, Q900 - dont' know which pair suits the Onkyo 609 yet, in terms of output power etc.

Tannoy Revolution DC6 T (SE) - I like the look of it, never seen Tannoy production lines locally.

Tannoy Mercury V4 - Not sure it this is good enough or it will be similar to DC6 T(SE).

Monitor Audio RX6, RX8 - the local dealer sells the RX8 'at special' but still US$500 more than US.

Klipsch RF-82 ii, 62 ii, 52 ii, 42 ii - I like their golden colour cones but don't like black boxes local dealer sells, cherry finishes better. again, I still need to find out which one has a output power to suit.

Love to hear some comments. thanks in advance.

 

[ID.]

Kev Q500, Q700, Q900 - dont' know which pair suits the Onkyo 609 yet, in terms of output power etc.

Klipsch RF-82 ii, 62 ii, 52 ii, 42 ii - I like their golden colour cones but don't like black boxes local dealer sells, cherry finishes better. again, I still need to find out which one has a output power to suit.

Due to the size of speakers, shipping will probably add a lot to the cost. One of the problems in Aus. is that imported costs a lot, and they haven't adjusted the prices to reflect the fact that for the last few years, the A$ has been very strong (on par with the US$ rather than 70-80 US cents to the Australian dollar).

Rather than matching power ratings, or concerining yourself with whether you like the colour of the cones, you should be more concerned with how the speakers sound and get an audition. What matters most is whether you like the sound. Most speakers have grills to hide the cones.

For me, if music were my main focus, I'd forget about 5.1 and spend the money on a stereo setup that would give better music performance for the money, but you've already bought the Onkyo, so...

Have you considered Aussie speakers? There are good Australian speaker manufacturers providing better value for money in some cases. Don't dismiss them until you've heard them.

 

[Anonymous]

Adding the shipping cost will still be cheaper than buying in Australia most of the time, that is why I can see my friends, neighbours, colleagues, bosses are all going online shopping , parcels are coming in one after another, and the local retail shops are empty, sometimes I wonder if they don't change the way they do business they will be out oneday, it seems to me Australian business logic is - I need to make enough money if a deal comes up, but I won't reduce the margin to sell more.

I have been visiting a few local shops, including those I did in Canada, US during my holiday, I didn't buy as I didn't want to make quick decision as the family wanted to move on. I am not getting much out of auditions in all these half a dozen audio shops really. All those floor front standing speakers are all sounding similar to me, except one trip impressed me but they had those setups like tube AMP and suggested me to exchange my new Onkyo to one of those tube AMP, he suggested to me that my Onkyo 609 (has a what hifi awards I can see here) only needs an entry level speakers, he might be right, I can upgrade later, not ready now... OK, I need to go away from computer, will come back to write later. Cheers,

 

[drummerman]

I wouldn't worry about your Onkyo not being good enough. It received praise from a number of publishers and happens to measure well too, better than some hifi equivelants.

You have to make a decision at some stage. My advise would be to buy something that is known to work well with different amplifiers, is relatively easy to accomodate, well known and thus easier to sell on if, in the future, you want to change them.

For those reasons I'd be inclined to buy MA's BX5 if it has to be a floorstanding model. Probably the pick of MA's lower ranges and measures well too, better than it has any right to at this price even though I believe ports don't belong on the front ...

regards