>I would like to buy a pair of speakers for under $300 and have checked the
>local stores. One carries Boston Acoustics HD-8 for $250. These are
>two-way speakers with 8" bass/midrange. Has anyone listened to these
>speakers? I would appreciate any comments you might have. Also, if
>you feel that there are other speakers in this price range worth
>considering (I recall seeing small Infinities, Energy, Bose, Acoustic
>Research), I would appreciate your advice. I listen to classical as
>well as rock and blues. Thanks!
>Regards,
>Stevan
Consider Mirage 260 and Celestion 3. These are great values at their price;
Mirage that I bought about a year ago was $250/pair and Celestion 3's are listed
at $279/pair(I believe Cel's can be purchased at a bit lower price). The
sound quality of these are among the best in their class.
The Mirage's that I own have high to mid frequency reponse better than majority of speakers at twice the price. As far as bass is concerned, they are 'good'.
They are not going to shake any rooms but they give good, honest and clean(
which is important to me) bass considering the size. The company might have
updated the line since I bought (yes, they made me enjoy music and forget
about hardware), you should check'em out.
Celestion 3's were one of the final choices that I had back then after some
research. Although I listened to them only for a day(yeah, the dealer wouldn't let me audition for longer time), they sounded very good especially in the
trebel. In fact, they're one of few low cost speakers recommended by the
Stereophile which I usually trust.
If you listen to classics and jazz a lot, well, in fact any kind, and are
in need of clean sounding speakers under $300, I think you should try
listening to those. Other speakers that I didn't have chance to listen to
but are believed to be pretty good are Wharfedale Diamond IV's.($300) They
are supposedly smooth sounding. Again, any speaker under $300 probably won't
give you overwhelming listening experience. However, there are many
speakers on the market and some are definetely better than others even when
they are cheaper. Wish you a good buy. Oh BTW, if you don't know yet, be awareof what seems to be best deals usually offerd in the back pages of magazines.
Sometimes what they send you is not what you want. I learned by mistake
when I *twice* had to return defected speakers and finally ended up getting
marginal refund weeks after. Anyhow, have fun shopping!
