Marimba by Music Hall were quite good. They don't make them anymore but they can be found for about $150 online used. Not much to look at and no bass but they're tiny and musical and better than most.
Music Hall is the North American distributor for Epos loudspeakers, many of which have found great success in the US. One of Epos's most affordable designs, the ELS-3 ($299/pair), was reviewed by Robert J. Reina in our January 2004 issue and held a place in Class C (Restricted LF) of our "Recommended Components" until it was discontinued, in 2009.
Had he entered the speaker market sooner, Hall would have been competing against himself—something that smart businessmen try to avoid. With the popular ELS-3 gone for good, and Epos making a turn up market, Hall sensed an opportunity.
On the face of it, Music Hall's strategy makes sense, but I've been told by several leading loudspeaker manufacturers that the time has passed for affordable passive bookshelf models, and that audiophiles now shopping for a sub-$500/pair speaker are more interested in powered desktop designs. What would Roy Hall say to those manufacturers?
"They may be right," he admits, "but as I never talk to them, I wouldn't know. I make decisions based on what I like to do. I've always loved two-way speakers. They fuck up the sound much less than more complex designs."
Gavin Collins
>only $13,000 >$1000 x 13 fuck that
ive heard these at best buy - they're good and larger but fit on bookshelves
These have no bass but they are excellent for music. Expensive but not real expensive ~500. From a maker of very high end larger speakers with ceramic and beryllium tweeters.
my nigga. i have 4 of those in my hometheater paired with their bigger tower brothers and a center channel from, the same series
Asher Green
their like $1000 on ebay so nevermind
Jordan Cox
how are they with acoustic music like guitar and saxophone
Austin Wood
What are the best budget stereo receivers/amps nowadays?
Josiah Turner
Are they still using fake Be tweeters?
Define budget.
Lincoln Thompson
You could also find something similar with dynaudio focus 110 but they're not always available. Very similar woofers and possibly the same tweeters. Dynaudio makes very refined tweeters without going overboard on cost.
Jonathan Flores
I don't know. I always look for lower end speakers from "house sound" makers with very high end speakers. I think the problem with the Ushers is they couldn't reduce the price enough for their entry level stuff. That speaker should probably be in the $300 range because there's many in the $500 range that are much better dynamically.
Cooper Kelly
honestly everything ive played through them has sounded impressive and natural sounding. though when im listening to music im normally using the two bigger towers and a subwoofer. but when ive used the meme 7.2 surround me with music mode its still sounded incredibly natural through all the speakers.
Leo Barnes
id say a low cost marantz, used and qAcoustic 2010 or 3010 or something