Buying advice on speakers

[MayDay]

I'm interested in getting a nice, Bluetooth-capable speaker for music listening at home. It will go on a shelf, so I don't need portability or battery-powered speakers. I'm not interested in getting a full-blown stereo system. I like the simplicity of a single box. But I want a serious upgrade in quality from the cheap (sub-$150) bluetooth portable speakers out there. I'm targeting a price range of around $300-$400.

My dilemma is that there are SO MANY damn speakers that fit the above description that I am having trouble sorting them out. Here are some I found that fit what I'm looking for.

Peachtree Audio DEEPBLUE2 -$349

Aiwa Exos-9 -$299

Marshall Stanmore - $293

Klipsch Heritage Wireless Three - $399

Sony SRSZR7 - $298

Audioengine B2 - $225

Bose SoundTouch 20 Series III - $349

Cambridge Audio Bluetone 100 - $299

OPPO Sonica - $299

I'm also possibly considering the Apple HomePod that comes out later this year, which falls right in my price range ($350) and is reported to have excellent sound quality for music. Pros: Siri functionality. Cons: no Bluetooth.

So...thoughts? Any of the above stand out? Any to stay away from?

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[Plural]

I have Bose at home and Harman Kardon in car and both are excellent quality. Would recommend both brands.

 

[MayDay]

I have Bose at home and Harman Kardon in car and both are excellent quality. Would recommend both brands.

Do you have the Bose model I listed?

I have a cheaper Bose portable (the Soundlink Color), and that's what I'm seeking an upgrade from.

FWIW, I wasn't especially pleased with the Soundlink Color. The sound didn't really stand out versus other speakers in that price range. Plus the battery went to hell after just a year of use, defeating its purpose as a portable. So I'm a little wary of Bose.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Question to consider with this purchase, since that's a fair bit of money. Do you want to or plan to at any point in the future having a whole home system and want this purchase to fit into that?

There's some good brands building up the Sonos-like brand at home which use bluetooth and have app support. Sonos doesn't, but it's something to consider.

As for the ones above, they're not going to give you any significant benefit relative to their price. I've had everything from $40 to $500 bluetooth/wi-fi/wired speakers of varying brands (none of the ones above) and while there is an upgrade as you add more speaker/tweeters/better components it isn't significant enough to me to warrant paying a premium for a standalone bluetooth speaker at that price.

In fact, the best sound I've had is when I went bookshelf and set-up my own bluetooth system. I bought a pair of $150 Polks and wired them up to a bluetooth capable amp. Now I've upgraded to Sonos and still maintain two bookshelf are better than 1 speaker after comparing their Play 1 pair versus a single Play 5.

So if you have money to burn, check out Klipsch. If you want to save money, Polks are good. From your list I'd focus on Klipsch, Sony or Oppo. Those are the better brands there at least. But ultimately I'd probably recommend a pair of the Denons HEOS 1 HS2 Wireless to give you what you want. There's a Bundle Pack to add a battery base.

 

[MayDay]

Question to consider with this purchase, since that's a fair bit of money. Do you want to or plan to at any point in the future having a whole home system and want this purchase to fit into that?

There's some good brands building up the Sonos-like brand at home which use bluetooth and have app support. Sonos doesn't, but it's something to consider.

As for the ones above, they're not going to give you any significant benefit relative to their price. I've had everything from $40 to $500 bluetooth/wi-fi/wired speakers of varying brands (none of the ones above) and while there is an upgrade as you add more speaker/tweeters/better components it isn't significant enough to me to warrant paying a premium for a standalone bluetooth speaker at that price.

In fact, the best sound I've had is when I went bookshelf and set-up my own bluetooth system. I bought a pair of $150 Polks and wired them up to a bluetooth capable amp. Now I've upgraded to Sonos and still maintain two bookshelf are better than 1 speaker after comparing their Play 1 pair versus a single Play 5.

So if you have money to burn, check out Klipsch. If you want to save money, Polks are good. From your list I'd focus on Klipsch, Sony or Oppo. Those are the better brands there at least. But ultimately I'd probably recommend a pair of the Denons HEOS 1 HS2 Wireless to give you what you want. There's a Bundle Pack to add a battery base.

Yeah, I'm not really interested in investing in a whole stereo system or home theater set-up. I'm not really a super audiophile and like I said, I like the simplicity of a single standalone box. I don't think I'm going to be investing in a more elaborate set-up anytime in the near future.

I'm a little surprised by your response. Are you really saying that $400 standalone speakers are not substantially better than a much cheaper $100 bluetooth speaker? I find that a bit hard to believe.

One thing I like about the Klipsch is the design aesthetic. The mid-century modern design fits the style and decor of our house better than anything else on the list. Certainly better than a featureless black brick from Sony. Obviously that's not the most important factor - build quality and sound quality matter more. But it's an added bonus, and I've heard that Klipsch are supposed to be good speakers.

Thanks for pointing out Denon, which is a brand I hadn't come across in my searching. What about this one?

Denon HEOS 5 - $399

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

It's really relative to the individual, you may want to read reviews on head-fi or avs about the speaker to see if the manufacturer actually took into account bass and acoustics in the design. I have $150 speakers I would put up against my $300 speakers anytime, dollar value is not the metric but rather the drivers the company used and the design of the unit. There's good reviews on this creative for example Creative Sound Blast Roar 2

To me, two $150 speaker in 2-channel mode spaced apart a bit are 5x the experience of a single speaker. The sound hits you from two locations and feels more immersive and sounds better. I return to my example, I directly compared a Sonos Play-5 to two Play-1's, same brand, same quality, only difference is the number of speakers. Two Play-1's sound better.

That HEOS 5 is a good speaker, but if you're not buying with even a slight consideration to potentially adding more Denon into an ecosystem approach (not sure why you wouldn't... but yeah) then I would focus on known good brands like Klipsch which produce the best sound quality for the money. Bose is overpriced outside of their QC line (even then you're paying for the NC).

 

[MayDay]

It's really relative to the individual, you may want to read reviews on head-fi or avs about the speaker to see if the manufacturer actually took into account bass and acoustics in the design. I have $150 speakers I would put up against my $300 speakers anytime, dollar value is not the metric but rather the drivers the company used and the design of the unit. There's good reviews on this creative for example Creative Sound Blast Roar 2

To me, two $150 speaker in 2-channel mode spaced apart a bit are 5x the experience of a single speaker. The sound hits you from two locations and feels more immersive and sounds better. I return to my example, I directly compared a Sonos Play-5 to two Play-1's, same brand, same quality, only difference is the number of speakers. Two Play-1's sound better.

That HEOS 5 is a good speaker, but if you're not buying with even a slight consideration to potentially adding more Denon into an ecosystem approach (not sure why you wouldn't... but yeah) then I would focus on known good brands like Klipsch which produce the best sound quality for the money. Bose is overpriced outside of their QC line (even then you're paying for the NC).

It's hard to know how much stock to put into reviews, since they all have glowing 4-5 star reviews on Amazon.

I appreciate the advice. As far as "ecosystems" go, the one consideration I have is I may want to at some point in the future get something like a soundbar for my TV.

Of the brands we were discussing above, Klipsch, Sonos, Denon, Sony, and Bose all also make soundbars. In that case, would it be a big advantage to have a standalone speaker together with a soundbar from one of those brands? Any added benefit? They should work together well, no? Sorry, I'm just a little clueless about this stuff.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

It's hard to know how much stock to put into reviews, since they all have glowing 4-5 star reviews on Amazon.

I appreciate the advice. As far as "ecosystems" go, the one consideration I have is I may want to at some point in the future get something like a soundbar for my TV.

Of the brands we were discussing above, Klipsch, Sonos, Denon, Sony, and Bose all also make soundbars. In that case, would it be a big advantage to have a standalone speaker together with a soundbar from one of those brands? Any added benefit? They should work together well, no? Sorry, I'm just a little clueless about this stuff.

No worries, I'm just glad all my wasted time on this is useful for someone. I really like audio, but I'm not to the extent of user audio wizard like some audiophiles.

I would plan in advance of the soundbar, that's why I dropped my money on Sonos. Bluetooth was not of concern nor price, so I bought into some Play 1's to test the ecosystem and just added a soundbar a couple months ago.

Denon's HEOS line is the 2nd best ecosystem right now, so if you buy the 5 or the 1's from them, you can combine them all into multi-room audio eventually. Or combine a soundbar + smaller speakers into a 5.1 experience for movies. Big advantages to going in that direction and slowly stacking speakers. Plus the Denon have the battery base and other features. Had I not wanted to go with the established brand in Sonos, Denon would have been my 2nd choice since they're still very much playing catch up and are better for bluetooth users than wi-fi.

 

[MayDay]

I need some help parsing technical specs.

1) How much does watts matter? I see speakers listed at around 80, 200, or 400 watts of power. Does that just affect how loud it can get?

2) How much does the number of drivers matter? I see speakers with 3, 4, or 5 different drivers.

3) How much does the size of the woofer matter? If I'm looking at one with a 5.25 inch woofer and another with a 6.5 inch woofer, I assume the larger one is better (better bass?), but I don't know how much difference that makes.

Just trying to compare specs but I dont really know how to interpret specs.

 

[Led Zappa]

From my experience.

Bose - These tend to have a very homogenized sound. They were good for what they were, but now they are competing in a market with others.

Sony - These tend to have sound I like, but the tend to excel in the higher and mid-range frequencies.

Denon - My last to receivers have been Denon's in the mid-range level at a price point of around $800 retail at release. These receivers, IMO, have the clearest/realistic sound. I can't speak for the speakers themselves.

Klipsch - That box you linked is sweet and every Klipsch speaker I've heard was AWESOME.

Without doing a lot of my own research, I'd probably go with the Klipsch. My experience with them has been great and the ascetics of that model is also AWESOME.

 

[Led Zappa]

I need some help parsing technical specs.

1) How much does watts matter? I see speakers listed at around 80, 200, or 400 watts of power. Does that just affect how loud it can get?

Most useless number in audio.

2) How much does the number of drivers matter? I see speakers with 3, 4, or 5 different drivers.

AIUI, more drivers means more separation of sound. But if the drivers suck it won't make up for lower end drivers.

From Wiki

For high fidelity reproduction of sound, multiple loudspeakers are often mounted in the same enclosure, each reproducing a different part of the audible frequency range

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_driver

3) How much does the size of the woofer matter? If I'm looking at one with a 5.25 inch woofer and another with a 6.5 inch woofer, I assume the larger one is better (better bass?), but I don't know how much difference that makes.

The difference in size of those 2 shouldn't make much of a diff. It's the quality, but that's hard to tell without hearing. You'd have to read a lot of reviews. You can parse it out.

 

[MayDay]

From my experience.

Bose - These tend to have a very homogenized sound. They were good for what they were, but now they are competing in a market with others.

Sony - These tend to have sound I like, but the tend to excel in the higher and mid-range frequencies.

Denon - My last to receivers have been Denon's in the mid-range level at a price point of around $800 retail at release. These receivers, IMO, have the clearest/realistic sound. I can't speak for the speakers themselves.

Klipsch - That box you linked is sweet and every Klipsch speaker I've heard was AWESOME.

Without doing a lot of my own research, I'd probably go with the Klipsch. My experience with them has been great and the ascetics of that model is also AWESOME.

Thanks.

Yeah, I think I'm narrowing it to a choice between the Klipsch and the Peachtree.

The Klipsch looks amazing (just in terms of stylish design), and it has some great reviews for how it sounds too. I like the list of features. And great brand reputation.

I'm giving strong consideration to the Peachtree though, on the basis of this glowing recommendation from the Wirecutter where they rated it "Best of" out of the whole field of similarly priced Bluetooth speakers.

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-home-bluetooth-speaker/

From what can make out, the specs on the Peachtree are amazing for that price. No wi-fi connectivity though.

 

[Kestrel]

I need some help parsing technical specs.

1) How much does watts matter? I see speakers listed at around 80, 200, or 400 watts of power. Does that just affect how loud it can get?

2) How much does the number of drivers matter? I see speakers with 3, 4, or 5 different drivers.

3) How much does the size of the woofer matter? If I'm looking at one with a 5.25 inch woofer and another with a 6.5 inch woofer, I assume the larger one is better (better bass?), but I don't know how much difference that makes.

Just trying to compare specs but I dont really know how to interpret specs.

1) Watts matter, but only if you know how they are being calculated, and only to a degree. If the speakers are rated in watts RMS, the rating means something. If they are rated in any other way, the number is meaningless. If they are rated in watts RMS, then you have an idea of how much power they can accept from the amplifier. How loud they get will be more a function of their efficiency - that's an entirely different spec, and once again, you need to know how it's rated. Unless you're looking to pound out some serious, potentially hearing damaging power, unless you're looking at computer speakers, or very small speakers though, you're probably not going to have a problem with the watt rating.

2) Like Zappa said, more drivers potentially means more separation of sound - but there are VERY high end speakers with 2 drivers that are going to sound much cleaner and clearer than some speakers out there with 3, 4, 5, or more drivers. Are you able to see the speakers in person? If possible, take music that you like and know well, and get a salesman to demo your music on the speakers you are interested in. There is no 100 percent right or wrong with speakers - what sounds better to you is a better speaker for you, even if someone else thinks it sounds awful.

3) Surface area of the woofer is going to impact how strong the driver performs in putting out bass. If all else is equal, a 6.5" woofer will be significantly more capable in putting out bass than a 5.25" woofer - it doesn't look like a huge difference, but the 6.5" woofer has about 50% more surface area. Once again though, it comes down to what you listen to, and how it sounds on the speakers to you, and one model of 5.25" woofer may seriously outdo another model of 6.5" woofer.

So - to reiterate - if you're able to, listen to the speakers you're interested in, and choose the ones that sound best to you - make sure you get a chance to listen to them at volumes that you are likely to listen, so you're not surprised in a bad way when you get them home. Everything else is going to influence that sound in one way or another, but you won't know if it will be in a way you like until you hear them.

To expand on item 1 - as long as they are moderately capable speakers, you're far more likely to harm the speakers by pushing your amplifier beyond its capabilities than you are to harm the speakers by simply putting too much power through them. If you push an amplifier beyond its ability, it distorts, or "clips", and puts out a signal that is damaging to speakers.

 

[Led Zappa]

To expand on item 1 - as long as they are moderately capable speakers, you're far more likely to harm the speakers by pushing your amplifier beyond its capabilities than you are to harm the speakers by simply putting too much power through them. If you push an amplifier beyond its ability, it distorts, or "clips", and puts out a signal that is damaging to speakers.

He is looking at a closed system speaker system. The output watts and receiving watts are designed for each other, so watts, from my experience, mean little. It's how the entire system is designed.

I had an engineer friend who built his own speakers after months and months of research. His 25WPC Pioneer system made the sliding glass doors shake at around 3 on the volume knob and it was clear as day. Truly one of the most remarkable systems I've ever heard.

 

[Kestrel]

He is looking at a closed system speaker system. The output watts and receiving watts are designed for each other, so watts, from my experience, mean little.

Ah, I missed that part. I've got bookshelf speakers on the brain at the moment

 

[MayDay]

Old thread, but to update, I ended up recently getting the Klipsch speaker. The Three.

I love it. Sounds great and looks great. I put it on top of the liquor cabinet in my dining room.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I can vouch for Klipsch. Picked up some bookshelf speakers a year ago and, in parallel with my big ass old school speakers, sound excellent.

Klipsch remains the best bang for your buck out of the "big name brands" AFAIC.

 

[Morbo]

I got a Naim Mu-So recently. obviously quite a bit above the OP's price point, but the sound is top notch for a 1-piece unit. highly recommended.