Help with speakers

[Woundup]

Ok guys I was looking around today at some speaker setups and I am thinking about upgrading some of my system starting with speakers. The ones I really liked so far are the Focal Chorus 826 V floor my front mains $2300 and the Chorus 800 V for center $600 paired with either the chorus SR 800 V Bi-pole speakers $1000 or the chorus 806 V bookshelf speakers $800 for surrounds. I have been out of the loop with new equipment for quit awhile and really haven't heard of this brand so my question is are.

Is this a good brand?
If so, what should I expect to pay for them?
Are the prices I listed fair?
What other brands of speakers should I look at?
If I decided to buy only 2 or 3 right now and waited longer for the rear speakers will I be able to find a pair of timbre matched rears in say a year? and if not does it make that much of a difference if the rears are not timbre matched?

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance guys.

[alter_ego_trip]

Woundup. The problem with this is that everyone has different tastes on what a speaker should sound like. I am personally a huge fan of Axioms. Some have described these as being a bright sounding speaker. I feel that they are truly accurate to the source and not bright at all. I would recommend sitting down and trying to demo as many different brands as possible before settling on a purchase. For the price you are looking to spend there are a whole lot of speakers out there that would fit the bill. Speakers are one of the few HT components that are not going to be outdated as technology advances, so whatever you choose make sure you are happy as you are probably going to have them for quite some time.

Timber matching the rears is nice but not nearly as important as the front soundstage. Some speaker mfg's give you a break when you buy 5 at a time so this is something to take into consideration. HTH

[Woundup]

How is this brand though? They dont fall into the Bose category where they are overly priced crap do they? I mean I am still going to listen to other speakers I just want a good starting point. As far as price goes I am still not 100% sure I want to spend that much money on speakers. I am still completely undecided on anything right now.

[alter_ego_trip]

I have heard of them but will never give someone a recommendation without listening to them first hand.

The speakers I've heard that I'd recommend are:

Bose (JK not in a million years )
Def Tech
Axiom
SVS
Rockets (if you like a more laid back sound)
Klipsch (you need to listen to a horn though as they are a love hate speaker)

I went with Axiom because of their service and price. A 5.1 system will run you around 1500 bucks and their quality is up there with speakers costing thousands more. This leaves a lot of free cash for other areas like a good sub, projector, etc.

[MadBryan]

Don't you have a wedding to pay for?

[Woundup]

lol, yeah but we pretty much got that taken care of now.

[Jon Liu]

Woundup, I will second Axiom Audio's speaker lineup! They are cheap comparitively and they are fantastic speakers. They are detailed speakers and very accurate speakers.

If you want laid back speakers, go with the Onix Rocket series. Another fantastic online speaker company.

The nice thing about those two are they are a lot cheaper than they should be. Esecially Axiom. If I am not mistaken they have free shipping included and it's like 2 day shipping!

[Peench]

I'll throw Paradigm speakers into the mix. They are a great quality speaker for a relatively nominal price. I started my HT with a basic Paradigm setup and moved on to a Studio set for my main theater. I still have my basic setup in the office (moved em up there when I upgraded the main speakers to the Studio line). They're a great bargain IMHO. If you can find a local dealer, definitely take them for a listen.

[KEEZY]

SNAP those are some expensive speakers. For that price, you could buy 5 37" LCDs and use those as speakers!

[GoatMother]

Focal's are amazing speakers, they are definitely not similar to bose. They are expensive as you've stated but not in the bose type way. I've had the pleasure of auditioning some a while back. Of course then you'd need all the dedicated gear (pre-amp, amp, etc) as well for top performance like the store had them setup, I don't think they'd sound nearly the same on a $500 HT receiver.

Everybody else's opinions seem to be pretty similar with what I've read at AVS, very popular recommendations. And of course, like stated earlier definitely listen to any speaker before buying and make sure you bring a variety of music types with you. Be consistant when comparing to other speakers as well.

[pickleL7]

I have SDAT speakers.they were cheap and sound cheap.you get what you pay for.But they do sound ok at low volume

[laxgod]

I'll second Peench on the paradigms. I've had two sets of their speakers. I started with the Monitors and now the HT has Studios. They are definitely a good price for what you get.

[Woundup]

Yeah I listened to the Monitor 9's yesterday and I was very impressed. I will probably end up with those. I loved the studios but they are a little more then I want to spend right now.

[alter_ego_trip]

If you're looking at purchasing the monitors (which imo are a big step down from the Studios), I would seriously recommend at least taking a look into the Axiom lineup. They even give you a 30 day return if your not satisfied (your just out return shipping). JMO