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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
fstein's avatar
fstein
77 posts
 
Dyna A25 at <$250 a pair
mrdecibel
1,244 posts
 
You buy a powered sub that has high level ins ( speaker terminals ), which connects from the speaker outs of the toshiba just as it were a pair of speakers. In most set ups, the Toshiba would feed the sub, the sub then feeds the satellites, were it the Bose or anything else. easy peasy.
builder3
145 posts
 
n80, what you get out of a "tower" speaker is the drivers up at a proper height, and the ability to move them around. You can have this with bookshelf speakers if you put them on a proper stand, but if they're just on a shelf, the sound will suffer. None of this matters, of course, if you're only looking at "casual" listening.
n80 OP
1,227 posts
 
Thanks mrdecibel. I tried this briefly with a B&W sub that I had but it was just a muddy rumble. But now I'm pretty sure I did something wrong. Gave the B&W back to its owner. 

builder3, good info. I asked this same question in another thread since it had not been answered here and it also seems like better and deeper bass is possible with the tower due to cabinet/port configuration.

In my specific case it would actually be easier to place a tower than a bookshelf so now I am leaning toward a lower end tower. If the bass is indeed okay (and okay is all I really need) then I might not need a sub at all. Which would also be good since space is tight.
glupson
1,794 posts
 

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.

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