Modestly priced bookshelf speakers for cabin.


I have a small cabin in the country where I spend weekends.

Current system is a 1980's Toshiba 25wpc receiver I got in high school. Bose 2.2 bookshelf speakers that are about 28 years old. They actually sound okay to me most of the time. $14 Sony DVD/CD player from Goodwill.

Even though this 'system' is sufficient most of the time, I've got the hi-fi bug since getting my home system and I've started thinking about slowly upgrading the cabin system on the lowest budget I can.....since I can't really justify doing it at all. ;-)

Rarely do I do any serious listening down there but would like to be able to when I have the chance.

So my first step is to replace the Bose speakers. Looking to spend no more than $350 or so. Is it possible to significantly improve on the Bose at that price? (I'm assuming yes).

The only thing I've even considered is the Klipsch RB-61 IIs or RP 160Ms. Why Klipsch? Back in the 70's my eccentric uncle used to have a massive pair of them that I thought were cool. Open to other options and advice.

Thanks for any advice.


n80

Showing 6 responses by glupson

I do not have an answer to sub question but, the way it seems from here, you will be replacing that Toshiba receiver much sooner than you now think.
Small Wharfedales are worth checking out for what you need them for. They have a few smaller/cheaper models that play well. Canton, as mentioned above, is another frequently overlooked manufacturer of such speakers.

n80,

I completely understand your feelings and am, pretty much, the same. I still use the turntable my father bought for me in early 1980s and the biggest reason is that it is "my" turntable I cherished when planning to buy it and ever since. Every time I get an itch to buy a new one, I realize it would not be it so I put a few drops of oil once a year and it still works. It runs on kryptonite, I guess. I barely use it, avoid it in some sense (records are very inconvenient, if you ask me), but could not let it go.


In your situation, I would just buy decent floorstanding speakers, again some Wharfedale or similar within a budget, and stop thinking about major improvements in sound. I doubt you go to your cabin to sit in front of the speakers for more than a minute or two. Just crank it up, and enjoy everything else while music is playing. Think of your home system as a "hobby" or "serious". This one in cabin a "guilty pleasure". What the heck, it is all processed sounds and "realism" in that setting is actually faked anyway. The things around you are real, not what comes from speakers, no matter how good the system is.


Loudness button is another thing we share affinity for. I rarely use it, but feel good knowing it is there and indulge in it from time to time. Everything sounds better with loudness button. More realistic. Exactly the way it sounded way back when...your, and my father bought us these things and that is what counts to me. Who ever listened to Poppa Joe without loudness? Some memories, time cannot erase.

n80,

You were lucky if you heard and used that spray only now. Just so you know, it does not last forever. More spray may be needed over time.


If Toshiba has outputs for two speaker pairs, I would buy two sets of speakers. Some that you are looking for now anyway and a pair of weather-resistant speakers to put outside permanently and forget about them. No more "bring them out". They are usually not obscenely expensive.

 Something like this..... https://www.crutchfield.com/p_107ATR4B/Polk-Audio-Atrium4-Black.html?awkw=75619821025&awat=pla&a...
"The room was not to change décor, nor set up in any way."
I am trying to imagine a room that had full Bang & Olufsen design style before even bringing audio equipment in it. It must have been really cool and unusual. Most of the time, Bang & Olufsen is an accent piece that gets noticed.