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Since posting my guide, I've received many e mails seeking some guidance on speakers; and my thoughts on the receivers peddled with this garbage. First, let me say that when I said that paying less than $ 200 for these things was not a total rip off, (after all, it is winter as I write this, and in a pinch, they might be better as kindling wood than speakers) I did not mean that you could not do far, far better for the money.
There is a reason why you won't find these speakers in stores and they are sold out of the back of White Vans, E Bay and Craigs List- if you have the chance to listen to them, and to compare them to anything else, no one would buy this junk - you can do far better for the price.
I'll give you a few examples, but first, be aware that US, British and Canadian companies continue to be the best in the business, and even the best of the major Japanese companies have not been able to catch up.
Due to research done by their National Institute, there are many outstanding speakers made by Canadian companies such as Energy, PSB, Mirage and Paradigm (beware of White Van Scam speakers known as 'Paradyme').
For example, even at full price, the PSB Alpha ($279) and the Paradigm Atom at ($199)/ pair are vastly superior to any DiVinci, Kirsch, Genesis Media Labs, Digital Research, Theatre Research or other White Van trash - in fact they are superb values, and beat 90% of the stuff you'll find at the big box electronic stores at almost any price. The Celestion F-15 is another good small speaker - if you find them used- grab them. Speakers from California based NHT and Athena also offer great bang for the buck. California based NHT makes an incredibly good powered speaker system for direct hook up to a PC or I Pod, and you can form the basis of a really nice surround system using their 'Super Zero' small speakers - they look nice as well for those of us who must get past the esthetics police, a/k/a "she who must be obeyed", lol.
For home theatre, some of the '5.1" and "6.1" systems I've set up for friends with very pleasing results include speakers from the the Energy "Take" series, the Polk RM series, and the KEF 1005 -3005 series.
If you are looking to set up a surround system, it is a very good idea to get a receiver with an auto set up function - these will have microphones included and are programmed to set up you system for optimal sound- examples include two of my favorite AV receivers: the Denon 3805 and the Pioneer AVX-912.
The other key tip - get an excellent center speaker as for movie watching, the dialogue will come from here- I use the older KEF series, but the other brands mentioned are fine (and the list is far from exclusive- Definitive Technology is excellent, for example) .
As for the Home Theatre in a Box systems, these can be simpler to set up, and in a shoot out between a 33 watt Yamaha system that sold for less than $ 300; and a "White Van Scam " Genesis Media Lab offering claiming to retail for over $ 3000, the Yamaha system trounced the Genesis in every parameter, leaving a couple of E Bayers who paid over $ 500 to a powerseller for these pieces of junk feeling, correctly, that they had been had.
Read the ads for the White Van garbage carefully - from the names of the items, to the 'technical descriptions' - decoders for non-existent systems - you won't find Dolby or DTS but "DTC"; not progressive scan but 'active' scan, whatever that is, and no HDMI or component video outputs thus the claim that the stuff is "HD compatiable" is a fraud - as are the 'favorable reviews' and 'awards' - this stuff is worse than the Lennox Sound, Yorx, or Coby stuff you will find in dollar stores. That's why these products are the subject of jokes and derision in the online audio forums - the White Van Scam has been around for years.
If you are looking for a basic 2 channel set up, or are willing to mix brands to get a nice system to use for either 2 channel or surround sound, vintage speakers are the way to go. For you rockers out there, the vintage Klipsch speakers such as the KG-4 and KG-3.5 that you can acquire here for $ 300 or so provide excellent value - we tested a pair of KG 3.5 's versus the mighty Kirsch Prodigy 803 being offered today for as much as $ 2000 - it was like comparing the New England Patriots to a Pop Warner team.
The one thing you have to watch with vintage speakers are the speaker surrounds - if they are made of foam as opposed to rubber, the ozone levels (smog) in many US cities hastens the rotting of the foam surrounds - not a major problem to fix, but it is the one thing you need to look for. I mention this because at E Bay prices classic speakers such as the Klipsch, A/D/S 710 or 810, Polk 10's, AR, KEF, Ohm (especially the Walsh series- one lucky E Bayer got the very nice Walsh 2's for $ 199) and other great names can you give superb sound at a great price. There is a good reason these speakers have stood the test of time: its called sound quality- and I hasten to add that the idea that a speaker's 'wattage' or power handling capability has anything to do with sound quality is a marketing gimmick- read the reviews and try to listen before you buy - the Southern California businessmen cleaning up by importing this White Van junk would be toast if the stuff was in a place you could hear it first.
Having good electronics always helps - while not as good as separate components, especially the vintage electronics from the 80's and early 90's- receivers from Yamaha, Denon, Sony ES, a few Pioneer models, Nakamichi's (if you can find them) provide the best quality, as well as bang for the buck.
I've posted a separate review of the worst piece of audio gear I've ever seen, a frequently posted item in Home Theatre Receivers here : the DiVinci AV-2098 --- the other diVinci and Genesis Media Lab models we have listened too are equally bad- the best use of the DiVinci or any of these 'receivers' is to take the sheet metal, hammer it into a usuable garbage can, and toss the useless electronic components into it.
I am at a loss to determine how the manufacturers and sellers of this stuff get away with the claims they make- an old friend from Britian (home of the world's best speakers), an audio writer and reviewer- thought it was a joke or prank when he saw the claim that "the DiVinci name was on half the speakers in Britian' - he had never heard of them, and his reaction to hearing the speakers was ' Rubbish- utter Rubbish'. I see from Google that the White Van crowd is posting a 'review' site- as usual, full of meaningless techno-babble that causes knowledgeable audio fans to laugh - but getting scammed is no joke.
The response curves of every White Van speaker -Dahlton- DiVinci-Kirsch-Theatre Reseach-Digital Research that I or others such as GR Research have measured are in a class by themselves -- simply the worst I've ever seen- and no amount of modification magic could save these things- see this link:
http://www.gr-research.com/diyevents/white.shtm
In conclusion- do your homework- sites such as Audio Review.com will give you consumer feedback on many items - and if you stick to the quality brands I've mentioned, you won't go wrong. Note the latest White Van Scam speaker uses the name "Genesis Media Labs"- this was a decent speaker brand in the 80's, anything you see with high 'list prices' is the new White Van Scam version.
UPDATE: I was leaving a Long Island Home Depot where I had bought a 14 ga. outdoor extension cord that makes a really good speaker cable when I was hit by ... the White Van Scammers .... with the DiVinci 606 system - they originally asked for $ 1000, I negotiated down to $ 200 + beer money, then dropped the hammer. Even the box is a fraud- it lists 'awards' deceptively similar in design to the AudioVideo Grand Prix Award , and an engineering award that I've seen on some E Bay postings - too bad that engineering group does not exist... I wonder if William Hung can declare himself the winner of American Idiot... err Idol , lol. The legit DaVinci speaker company, a small Swiss outfit, is now posting a warning about this scam... Last Word- I would not take these things if you paid me.
There is a reason why you won't find these speakers in stores and they are sold out of the back of White Vans, E Bay and Craigs List- if you have the chance to listen to them, and to compare them to anything else, no one would buy this junk - you can do far better for the price.
I'll give you a few examples, but first, be aware that US, British and Canadian companies continue to be the best in the business, and even the best of the major Japanese companies have not been able to catch up.
Due to research done by their National Institute, there are many outstanding speakers made by Canadian companies such as Energy, PSB, Mirage and Paradigm (beware of White Van Scam speakers known as 'Paradyme').
For example, even at full price, the PSB Alpha ($279) and the Paradigm Atom at ($199)/ pair are vastly superior to any DiVinci, Kirsch, Genesis Media Labs, Digital Research, Theatre Research or other White Van trash - in fact they are superb values, and beat 90% of the stuff you'll find at the big box electronic stores at almost any price. The Celestion F-15 is another good small speaker - if you find them used- grab them. Speakers from California based NHT and Athena also offer great bang for the buck. California based NHT makes an incredibly good powered speaker system for direct hook up to a PC or I Pod, and you can form the basis of a really nice surround system using their 'Super Zero' small speakers - they look nice as well for those of us who must get past the esthetics police, a/k/a "she who must be obeyed", lol.
For home theatre, some of the '5.1" and "6.1" systems I've set up for friends with very pleasing results include speakers from the the Energy "Take" series, the Polk RM series, and the KEF 1005 -3005 series.
If you are looking to set up a surround system, it is a very good idea to get a receiver with an auto set up function - these will have microphones included and are programmed to set up you system for optimal sound- examples include two of my favorite AV receivers: the Denon 3805 and the Pioneer AVX-912.
The other key tip - get an excellent center speaker as for movie watching, the dialogue will come from here- I use the older KEF series, but the other brands mentioned are fine (and the list is far from exclusive- Definitive Technology is excellent, for example) .
As for the Home Theatre in a Box systems, these can be simpler to set up, and in a shoot out between a 33 watt Yamaha system that sold for less than $ 300; and a "White Van Scam " Genesis Media Lab offering claiming to retail for over $ 3000, the Yamaha system trounced the Genesis in every parameter, leaving a couple of E Bayers who paid over $ 500 to a powerseller for these pieces of junk feeling, correctly, that they had been had.
Read the ads for the White Van garbage carefully - from the names of the items, to the 'technical descriptions' - decoders for non-existent systems - you won't find Dolby or DTS but "DTC"; not progressive scan but 'active' scan, whatever that is, and no HDMI or component video outputs thus the claim that the stuff is "HD compatiable" is a fraud - as are the 'favorable reviews' and 'awards' - this stuff is worse than the Lennox Sound, Yorx, or Coby stuff you will find in dollar stores. That's why these products are the subject of jokes and derision in the online audio forums - the White Van Scam has been around for years.
If you are looking for a basic 2 channel set up, or are willing to mix brands to get a nice system to use for either 2 channel or surround sound, vintage speakers are the way to go. For you rockers out there, the vintage Klipsch speakers such as the KG-4 and KG-3.5 that you can acquire here for $ 300 or so provide excellent value - we tested a pair of KG 3.5 's versus the mighty Kirsch Prodigy 803 being offered today for as much as $ 2000 - it was like comparing the New England Patriots to a Pop Warner team.
The one thing you have to watch with vintage speakers are the speaker surrounds - if they are made of foam as opposed to rubber, the ozone levels (smog) in many US cities hastens the rotting of the foam surrounds - not a major problem to fix, but it is the one thing you need to look for. I mention this because at E Bay prices classic speakers such as the Klipsch, A/D/S 710 or 810, Polk 10's, AR, KEF, Ohm (especially the Walsh series- one lucky E Bayer got the very nice Walsh 2's for $ 199) and other great names can you give superb sound at a great price. There is a good reason these speakers have stood the test of time: its called sound quality- and I hasten to add that the idea that a speaker's 'wattage' or power handling capability has anything to do with sound quality is a marketing gimmick- read the reviews and try to listen before you buy - the Southern California businessmen cleaning up by importing this White Van junk would be toast if the stuff was in a place you could hear it first.
Having good electronics always helps - while not as good as separate components, especially the vintage electronics from the 80's and early 90's- receivers from Yamaha, Denon, Sony ES, a few Pioneer models, Nakamichi's (if you can find them) provide the best quality, as well as bang for the buck.
I've posted a separate review of the worst piece of audio gear I've ever seen, a frequently posted item in Home Theatre Receivers here : the DiVinci AV-2098 --- the other diVinci and Genesis Media Lab models we have listened too are equally bad- the best use of the DiVinci or any of these 'receivers' is to take the sheet metal, hammer it into a usuable garbage can, and toss the useless electronic components into it.
I am at a loss to determine how the manufacturers and sellers of this stuff get away with the claims they make- an old friend from Britian (home of the world's best speakers), an audio writer and reviewer- thought it was a joke or prank when he saw the claim that "the DiVinci name was on half the speakers in Britian' - he had never heard of them, and his reaction to hearing the speakers was ' Rubbish- utter Rubbish'. I see from Google that the White Van crowd is posting a 'review' site- as usual, full of meaningless techno-babble that causes knowledgeable audio fans to laugh - but getting scammed is no joke.
The response curves of every White Van speaker -Dahlton- DiVinci-Kirsch-Theatre Reseach-Digital Research that I or others such as GR Research have measured are in a class by themselves -- simply the worst I've ever seen- and no amount of modification magic could save these things- see this link:
http://www.gr-research.com/diyevents/white.shtm
In conclusion- do your homework- sites such as Audio Review.com will give you consumer feedback on many items - and if you stick to the quality brands I've mentioned, you won't go wrong. Note the latest White Van Scam speaker uses the name "Genesis Media Labs"- this was a decent speaker brand in the 80's, anything you see with high 'list prices' is the new White Van Scam version.
UPDATE: I was leaving a Long Island Home Depot where I had bought a 14 ga. outdoor extension cord that makes a really good speaker cable when I was hit by ... the White Van Scammers .... with the DiVinci 606 system - they originally asked for $ 1000, I negotiated down to $ 200 + beer money, then dropped the hammer. Even the box is a fraud- it lists 'awards' deceptively similar in design to the AudioVideo Grand Prix Award , and an engineering award that I've seen on some E Bay postings - too bad that engineering group does not exist... I wonder if William Hung can declare himself the winner of American Idiot... err Idol , lol. The legit DaVinci speaker company, a small Swiss outfit, is now posting a warning about this scam... Last Word- I would not take these things if you paid me.
Guide created: 02/16/07 (updated 09/04/08)
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