My dad listens to a lot of records and likes a surround sound experience even if most of his records don’t take full advantage of it. He needs new rear speakers but isn’t looking to spend much money. He’s specifically looking for 8ohm passive speakers but doesn’t have specific needs beyond that. He tends to prefer floor speakers but is okay with bookshelf too if it’s a much better value for money (and ideally if they can easily be wall-mounted). He hasn’t given me a price point in mind. I’m thinking around $150-200 CAD or less but I don’t know for sure. I sent him a link to a $350 pair of bookshelf speakers and he said that’s more than he wants to spend, so definitely less than that.
He likes my Edifier P12’s but they’re only 6ohm. I tried looking if they have an 8ohm equivalent that doesn’t have Bluetooth/preamp/whatever but I didn’t have much luck.
At that price you are looking used.
Edit what amp does he have? Assuming that is guiding the 8 Ohm guidance.
I’m not sure what he’s using. He has two surround sound receivers, one is from Pioneer, one is from Sony. They’re both probably 20ish years old. I think he’s currently running the Pioneer one.
Makes and models would help, but at normal volumes your speakers he likes would almost certainly be fine. I assume he isn’t trying to blast music at party levels.
He does actually sometimes have it pretty loud. His system is in the basement and sometimes he’ll turn it on and go upstairs or even to their sunroom so it gets cranked up pretty high sometimes. Not on 100 or anything but loud enough that it’s uncomfortable to be in the basement if the record is still playing.
If the record is still playing
Go dad!
Again, details on the amp would be helpful. Make and model so we can recommend something with a high enough sensitivity.
If I find out I’ll mention it.
What are his front speakers? Does he have a surround sound receiver powering the front and rears?
I’m not sure make and model, I just know they’re passive tower speakers. He does have a surround sound receiver. He’s had a surround system for many years but he no longer has his rear speakers so he’s looking to get new ones now.
You generally want your speakers to all match. Not necessarily the same speaker, but designed to work together. If you get two rears that are good independently but have very different characteristics from the front, it may sound worse than just the fronts. Or you might get lucky and it sounds great.
Maybe buy some used speakers, and if they don’t sound good, sell them and buy some more used ones.
Any idea how to match speakers other than trial and error? Are there specs or anything to look out for?
I think the options are:
- buy speakers from the same model line from a reputable manufacturer
- really know what you are doing and look at accurate objective measurements
- get lucky
Fair enough. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.
