Doorway Speakers.....

TubeHiFiNut

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Kicking off the discussion regarding speakers that will fit the "Doorway" concept.

Please post your recommendations to this thread. :)
 
New or not-necessarily-new?
I looked at the "amplifiers" post, which specifies new -- and the top post in the subforum, which doesn't say.
 
New - I am thinking that the game probably starts here:
https://www.parts-express.com/dayto...kshelf-speaker-with-amt-tweeter-pair--300-651

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The Daytons are a very worthy nominee.

Do we have any other recommendations?

Maybe the Elacs should be in there, albeit at the very top of the price range?
 
The Daytons are a very worthy nominee.

Do we have any other recommendations?

Maybe the Elacs should be in there, albeit at the very top of the price range?
Oh, I definitely think so (not that I've heard those, either)!

elac-b4_7f353a93-f287-4983-b523-1b6ec3ab20dc_1200x.jpg

That said, I am curious to see how the 'cheap' (and they are inexpensive, relative to all of the buzz they've generated) ELACs will look in retrospect in, say, a year or two.

Remember Andrew Jones' previous "low price leaders"?

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And the famous "Insignia" brand coaxes before them?

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JBL has a small 2-way, the Arena B15.

5.5" 2-way. $69/pair.

Haven't heard them.

With this segment of the speaker market, we sould be able to listen to most of them at Magnolia.
 
Has anyone given these a listen? So far only good things read for what they are:
Micca MB42X
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Remember Andrew Jones' previous "low price leaders"?

pioneer_SP-BS22-LR_7.jpg

I remember them well, and while I think the ELAC better (and the Insignia worse), the Pioneer BS-22-LR are still readily available at $99 and, at that price, are still a stunning bargain.

Add decent stands, and you've got more than a taste of what good 2-way small monitor type speakers (i.e.: many people's default audiophilia) can offer. As long as expectations are kept in check with regards to bass output and maximum volume, I think they're very hard to go wrong with.
 
I came really close to picking up a pair of the Pioneers at a town yard sale in nearby Cornish NH (long-time home of late, reclusive author J.D. Salinger) last summer.
 
In a small area full range drivers are not bad.

First of all I have a small full basement it's only 28 x 20 feet.
Part of my house is built over a 4 feet high block and concrete crawl space which is used for storage.

When I am in the basement looking for spare tractor parts, lifting weights or doing woodworking I like to listen to my receiver.

I built these little Bose Cube Killers.
They use Sony 2.75" full range drivers with butyl rubber surrounds.
These are the same Sony drivers once used in a Sony Cube speaker surround system sold in the late 1990's.
Since they roll of at 10khz I added two Tonegan 2" paper cone tweeters that I crossed over at 8khz.
I used 1/4" particle board for the enclosures I found in the basement.

I purchased the drivers from Martin Sound Prouduts back in 2001.
The Sony full range drivers were $3 each and the Tonegan 2" paper cone tweeters were 25 cents each since I bought a case of them.
These are the same 2" Tonegan tweeters used by Bose in their 201 model LOL.

These little DIY speakers can't beat for their price of around $10 a pair.

I also purchased quite a few other buyout drivers.
I used them in other DIY speakers I built for experiments in damping material and for my master bathroom stereo.



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Well seeing as how I have been looking at speakers that would be considered Doorway products (Small Bookshelf Speakers) I thought I might add something here. I have read about PSB speakers and admire Paul Barton, his decades of speaker design experience and his design philosophy that is strongly influenced by the work he did with Floyd Toole at the Canadian NRC. It is my belief that because of Barton’s experience, and his use of the NRC facilities, he can design a speaker whose performance is better than the sum of its parts. Problem for me was his Doorway products were only available in a black ash finish; I HATE black ash. Now with last years introduction of the new Alpha series a walnut finish (yes it's vinyl, but hey it's an inexpensive speaker) I am considering either the P3 or the P5 bookshelf speakers. FWIW the Alpha series has received almost universal praise by reviewers, and when available has shown to have very good measurements. I am seriously considering purchasing these for my current needs.

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I regularly recommend the early Infinity Primus speakers - the 250 and 360, specifically. Many were sold and can be had used for less than $200. They're relatively efficient and pair well with solid state or tube amplification, should someone want to weigh amplification topology decisions while starting out.
 
I regularly recommend the early Infinity Primus speakers - the 250 and 360, specifically. Many were sold and can be had used for less than $200. They're relatively efficient and pair well with solid state or tube amplification, should someone want to weigh amplification topology decisions while starting out.
I'll second this. I had a pair of P360's for a while. They were very easy to listen to and sounded equally good whether powered by an 8 wpc 300B tube amp or a big-iron 200 wpc solid state amp. These speakers were entirely non-fatiguing with a nice, smooth treble and excellent bass weight and extension considering the smallish woofers. But probably what surprised me the most was their ability to throw a really nice soundstage. The P150 and P160 bookshelf speakers in the same line were also quite good and very well reviewed in the audio press. A real audio bargain in a speaker lineup that flies way below most people's radar.
 
I guess I should say something that would qualify my statements.

I've been playing with a lot of gear lately. As things have come and gone, bought and sold as a way of sating my curiosity, my Infinity P250's have remained a stable center. They kind of occupy this nice little economic niche where they're not really worth much and not so worthless as to just give away; really, their best spot is right here. If not, then they'll go to a friend learning to love sound more.

Plus they were my uncle's (a really interesting dude who gave me my first headphones as a teenager), so I like them.

Motivations aside, their sound is worth something. They can do bass, and they can do some high sounds, nothing here verging on transcendent or earth-shaking, but they have range. The music comes through. There's a hint of neutrality, but with enough allegiance to tone that they don't sound bland.

This evening I'm running a McIntosh MX-113 through the paces. Never really tried a preamp out before. To practice neutrality I've set it up with things I know well - the Primus 250's and a Topping TP60, the things I started with when I just browsed Reddit for audio stuff.

And this is where the really is something can be said for these speakers - they're responsive enough to tell you when something's changed. The arrangement noted above? They like it. There's more to the sound. Not at frequency extremes, not centered in the midrange, but just a roundness to the full spectrum that makes sitting here with a nightcap all the better. Not flesh and blood, but the kind of difference you note when a bottle of bourbon tells you how old it is.

I've seen these speakers perk up before - with my Altec 128B's, the Arcam daily driver, with a McIntosh MC-250... and maybe with a new amp next week. (I'll report back.)
 
Reporting back.

With the Fi amp, I'm hearing a degree of clarity here I had not previously associated with these speakers. In a small-ish room, 8 watts is more than enough.
 
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