Affiliate Links if You Want to Buy Anything... KEF Q150: howl.me/chErfTFc1On Polk R200: howl.me/cmyQr5oKOGd Klipsch RP-600M II: howl.me/cmyQsHkBKmd ELAC DBR62: howl.me/ckaQ1BALXxL Kali Audio IN-8 v2: amzn.to/45ML2Up Support the cause: Patreon: www.patreon.com/erinsaudiocorner Contribute via PayPal: www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=CLHSW4L9SBSLY A simple request: If any of you find yourselves shopping for anything sold by the retailers below please consider using my generic affiliate link. These can earn me a small commission which goes a long way toward helping me review items and make content. It is a great way you can help me continue doing what I enjoy doing without costing you anything extra. It is truly appreciated! Amazon: amzn.to/3v6i6ov Audio Advice: www.audioadvice.com/?referral=erins-audio-corner Best Buy: howl.me/ck2IPpcOp1h Crutchfield: shop-links.co/cgZmmT81jmh Parts-Express: parts-express.sjv.io/Y9zoEB Newegg: howl.me/ck2IQg52L5b Samsung: howl.me/ck2IQ5qe16w Target: howl.me/ck2IRDNsIqn Thomann: www.thomann.de/de/index.html?offid=1&affid=2577 Emotiva: shorturl.at/pBEU9 Monoprice: bit.ly/3yAY6NH Arendal Sound: arendalsound.com/store/?refer=hardisj Purchases through these links can earn me a small commission - at no additional cost to you - and help me continue to provide the community with free content and reviews. Doesn't matter if it's a TV from Crutchfield, budget speakers from Audio Advice or a pair of socks from Amazon, just use the link above before you make your purchase. Thank you!
Dude, you are becoming very polished. The content was always solid, but the delivery is far improved. You figured out how to provide the details that audio junkies want, while explaining the basic premise to newcomers, all in one concise way. Looking forward to seeing the future of Erin’s Audio Corner.
It’s good to see the sub $1000 list Erin. I suspect this is really the sweet spot for many of us when it comes to price to performance. I have the Kef’s from this video and have been very happy with them (Black Friday $299 purchase) but think I still prefer JBL Studio 530’s at least in my room. I really want to check out the Kalis now. Thanks for all you do for the community, I’ve been a fan for a long time dating back to car audio lol.
Hey, man, thanks for the kind words and especially for mentioning the car audio days. I still try to compete. Was planning on going to a show this weekend but have a cracked rim on my car that has to be replaced. 🤬🤬
@@ErinsAudioCornerummm.... We need coverage of this PLEASE. you specifically covering mobile audio for us old heads would be great!!!! Former competitor here!!!!
hey thillyard, sub $1000 is the only price range for bookshelf speakers (at least for me), so it was great to get Erin's input on that. Above a grand, I look beyond the bookshelf speaker mentality, but that's just me. That said, it looks like "the next" price range would be from about 3k to under 10k (7k?) .. I don't know if at this higher price category that it gets easier or harder to do.. at some point, it's got to be harder because of the additional difficulty for Erin to coordinate such an endeavor largely due to size, cost, and liability constraints..😉
I would put the KEF Q350 on the list, it is similar to the Q150 for almost the same price but less compromised in the bass region due to the bigger 165 mm driver (vs. 130 mm). For the KEF Q350 bass performance I just posted a little trick in Amir's review on Audio Science Review (page 27). If the bass is well balanced but not deep with the port closed and too boomy with the port open or half open you can try to extend the bassreflex tunnel by about 14cm to lower the port tuning frequency. This may give you a surprisingly deep and balanced bass extension. Of course the result is very room dependent. Details and in room measurements can be found in my Audio Science Review post. One can easily build it from a piece of slotted pipe isolation from the hardware store in a few minutes (if you don't care how the back of the speaker actually looks like) to give it a try.
The kef q350 is an amazing speaker, especially for the price, they can rival much much more expensive speakers, and personally I enjoyed them more than the ls50 and ls50 metas I had.
Both really good speakers, but many people (including me) prefer the Q150 to the 350. 150 being more clear, balanced and with a better soundstage. 350s may have an edge in larger rooms tho; I listen to the 150s from about 10 ft in a 15x15 ft room and they fill the room easily. I compared the 150s to my beloved classic large Advents in a much larger room, and the KEFs could not keep up.
I suggested Erin to review the KEF Q350 before too. Here in the EU they are as you say almost the same price as the Q150 (in the US, I think the difference is significantly larger though, and I think that's why they are not on Erin's radar). I have a pair and they are fantastic with EQ. They are too warm and muddy for me in the lower midrange default. But EQ'ed they play down to 35 Hz in my small room at adequate SPL to satisfy me.
I was surprised to see Ascend Acoustics here! I have the Sierra 2EX v2's, and they're without a doubt the best speakers I've ever owned. Their customer support is top-notch as well. Great work on this video!
I had the Sierra 2s and thought they were awesome. I ended up selling them and buying a pair of Lintons (mostly because of Erin's review). I am happy with the Wharfedales, but I do miss that Raal tweeter.
Happy to see an active speaker getting some love! DSP multiamping and calibrated measurements took my DIY man-loft system from nice to nirvana. 3(+)-way systems have many advantages but present major challenges to filtering passively while maintaining good phase response. Active presents powerful and affordable optimization tools to the designer, and I believe is the wave of the future.
@@miguelalonsoperez5609 In this case I used a modified bookshelf for the tweeter and midrange. It’s a 1 inch tweeter, 5 inch midrange and then I have a pair of small 8inch subwoofers and one mono 12 inch. So it’s basically a stereo 3 way and sub. I use dsp that has 8 outputs. I’m using 8th order crossovers and PEQ filters as well as some delays for precise time alignment. I didn’t actually build anything, just bypassed the internals of some off the shelf products. The powered subs are not modified, just used the LFE input to bypass the crossover on the sub. I didn’t use a tower speaker in this setup because it’s more of a stealth setup.
Hey Erin Another excellent comparison 👍👍 Have you tested the Monitor Audio Bronze 100 ‘s They could well be the favourite of those who place higher priority on bass and or value Pretty sure they’re the only small-ish bookshelf speakers with an 8” woofer. They also look sleek, and the tweeter has a small waveguide My reading around suggests they are the best value of the four different Monitor Audio bookshelves: a smaller Bronze 50, and two more exp Silver Usually $725, though at least one place is selling some colours for only 450.
Great list, Erin. I have the Polk R100s on my desktop set up and I love them! I have them crossed over at 80 Hz with a mini DSP and they sound fantastic! I am sure that the R200s would be very similar, but just more of the goodness.
I think this is the sweet spot. I just purchased the KEF Q150s. I use a WiiM Amp (small room so it’s perfect) and I have had a RSL Speedwooder 10s MKII. All in around $1200 and I don’t see my self going much higher than that for my needs.
Good stuff Erin 👍 And glad to see the Elac dbr62's getting some love. I was highly impressed by them. Got them for $500 "b-stock" in perfect condition. What a steal.
I like the Elacs too, Casey! The Polks would probably be cool too with the right subwoofer. I thought Erin did a great job coming up with pics that at least one of them would be preferred by anyone interested in this price range.
Thank you for the compilation. A long time ago I bought the R3 Metas because of your review and they've been great. i'm definitely looking to see if I can buy an IN-8s in the future for another setup.
I considered some ridiculously priced speakers but after researching for about 2 years settled on Heco Aurora 1000's as I am not interested in blowing money on a depreciating asset and could not ascertain why I should spend more. I am very happy with what I am hearing with them blended with 5 subwoofers in my room.
excellent vid! i have the older ascend acoustic sierra v1, love that the company uses bamboo, they’re so solid. and i mix on the kali in5s (which i bought based on your review couple yrs ago.
First time I've seen the Ascend Sierra 1s turn up in a list. I had these for a couple of years and they were great. Upgraded them to the Sierra 2EX with RAAL ribbon tweeters and the sound is stunning. Mind you they're no longer sub $1k speakers. But they now dissappear, with amazing horizontal dispersion.
I concur with the KALI IN-8 V2. Thanks to you, I purchased this as a single speaker for my 9 yo's electronic drum kit. Have used for general listening too, as well as party speaker (small wedding
Your review is for new speakers, but interested listeners should also keep in mind the pre-owned market. Both the Kef LS50 Meta and Elac UBR62 can be found under $1,000 used. Both are outstanding.
Good stuff! I love these comparisons. What I find interesting is your reasoning behind choosing these particular speakers instead of any others you've reviewed in this category.
@ErinsAudioCorner exactly what's important and what shows good transparency from your side! This is really hard to come by in this YT world - everyone is stating an opinion, which is subjective, but hardly anyone is ready to own up to it. That's perhaps why we have so much of those "this is the best..." titles on the reviews
I have just enough experience to recognize someone who has More! ha! I have never heard such a useful way of describing speaker measurements, amp power, room acoustics, etc in a complete picture with zero bull crap. Amazing. Where else can you go to see both $300 speakers and $30k speakers with all hype removed?!
I use Yamaha HS8 and I'm happy with them (before that I used HS5, and before that KRK Rokit8). But, wanna upgrade to bigger cabinets (12" or 15" woofers) when I have money. I'd love to see you review Yamaha DZR12 or DZR15... I know they're a PA, but wanna see their data results as a HiFi/home speaker (yes, its' unintended use). It may be a good alternative and a poorman's JBL L100 Classic or Klipsch Forte/Cornwall. I hear nothing but good things about them - the most neutral PA ever, super clear, detailed, accurate, not shrill/harsh like typical PAs, very pleasing sound, nice tone, etc.
I really like your reviews of speakers. While the Kali IN-8 V2 is a very good speaker, it's designed to be a near field studio monitor where the listener usually sits 1 to 2 meters away and on-axis. The looks are pretty utilitarian, which isn't a big deal for home studios, but wives might not dig seeing them in the living room. Lastly, they're designed to be used with a +4 db pro audio input signal, rather than the -10 db consumer audio input signal. It can accommodate the -10db signal, but it affects the internal amps' performance a bit. Once again, good job with the reviews.
It’s good stuff, but doesn’t quite make the list for me. With equalization they can really be helped, but I think I could say that for all the speakers on this list too.
🙏🔥Does Kali in-8v2 have soundstage and imaging depth better than Elac ubr62? I ask because you mentioned in the comments that if the Elac Uni-Fi Ubr62 met the criteria for a price under $1000 they would be on the list. ❤❤❤❤❤❤
I know not everybody will consider the used market, but what you can get for up to $1k is crazy. I’m grabbed a pair of beautiful Vienna Acoustics Mozart Grand’s for well under $1k!
@ErinsAudioCorner Excellent comparison. 👍 IMO one significant thing that I think should be noted about the KALI Audio IN-8 2nd Wave Studio Monitors (which also applies to most other active studio monitors), is that there are a good deal of frequency response shaping controls on the back panel of each speaker that can help to balance the response in your room depending on speaker placement and/or the acoustics of your particular room, as well as personal preference. I'm using the KALI IN-8 v2 in my "casual listening" bedroom setup combined with an iFi ZEN Blue v2 Bluetooth receiver and taking advantage of its LDAC codec 900/990kbps high quality wireless streaming. With my limited placement options for these speakers in the bedroom, those tonality-shaping controls made it very easy to balance the in-room response without having to resort to additional EQ in my playback source. For most setups like this, and/or smaller rooms, I would even say that KALI IN-5 2nd Wave is the better option AND value, as it's a bit smaller but doesn't give up much on the low end extension or in overall output capability (see Erin's reviews for both). If you really want those lowest octaves from 20-40Hz with authority, you'll want a subwoofer either way. But in my particular use case scenario, I don't feel the need for a subwoofer at all, and I think the smaller KALI IN-5 v2 would've been the better choice because I ended up switching the bass response down on the IN-8. I'm a drummer, and good kickdrum/bass drum reproduction with realistic impact & dynamics is important to me, along with realistic upright acoustic bass and electric bass guitar playing their lowest notes. The Kali IN-8 v2 have no problem bringing a smile to my face in this regard. Cheers
Great video Erin! Would something like a Neumann monitor make your list if we were talking about a tad higher price point? And in general, what do you think about something like genelecs or neumanns for purely music enjoyment. Appreciate your content and knowledge!
what avr would you recommend to pair them? im actually eyeing a pair of kef q150 now that prime days are coming, thanks for the amazing reviews btw, your content rocks!
Elac DBR62 is legit, you could run those as L/C/R in most a surround rigs without issue. As good as the lower tier Elac debut 6.2 is, the DBR is head and shoulders better. IMO it's better than the bottom two Revel books using the same size woofer, certainly for the $$.
Would you suggest bookshelfs with an amp or studio monitors. Just want accurate ish audio for a larger room. Mainly for mixing for videos but hopefully soon for some music
Another great video, on a subject near and dear to most of us these days. Keep up the great work Erin, I'd say you are prolly the #1 internet audio guy right now brother. From the devout ASR monks to the voodoo cable kooks, everybody loves Erin (even the Tekton guys).
Great list Erin, nice to see the variety of brands and costs. I don’t think I’ll be retiring my OG Debut B6 or RP600M anytime soon, but glad their lineage made the list.
I’ll answer my own question. Yes, that’s the setup. The follow-up is that I hope they also make the “home” version with digital inputs the way the MM-6 did for the LP6. Streaming digital music to go DAC, ADC, DSP, DAC is a bit silly.
Cheers! Great video with lots of information, love the practical advice as well (absortion, toeing in/out, etc.) I have to confess that I often need to watch your reviews several times to follow through and grasp the information (and that is great!)
I’d have to go back and evaluate why I recommended then. Odds are it was due to better crossover integration between the horn and midwoofer (which is easier with smaller drivers) whereas I had other recommendations here that capture that aspect better so I went with an option that has better extension and more dynamic range.
Can confirm Kalis are probably the best value speakers for many under $1000. They also look very nice with the white cabinet and black contrasting drivers imo. I've got 2 pairs of LP6v2 and am really impressed with their sound quality-the clarity/detail, dynamics and bass are all excellent and think youd have to spend quite a bit more to improve upon them. I'm considering getting some IN5/IN8s at some point but have read mixed reviews on how much of an improvement they are over the LP6v2...any thoughts? @erinsaudiocorner
Is there anything in a speaker's spec sheet that makes it appropriate for small spaces? I live in a Studio apt so it's basically a rectangular area & I'd be sitting around 7ft away or closer.
I presume that you were trying to offer a ladder of price from the power end KEF Q150 to the $999 Ascend, but it is kinda weird that the KEF Q150 $350 speakers are competing with $1000 Ascend or $800 Kali IN-8 monitors. How is this even a fair fight? BTW, I own the Kali LP-6 v2 for my home studio mix monitors. This speaker line was designed for nearfield listening, so i is stunning that the IN-8 3-way speakers perform so well in a larger listening environment. WOW!
Hi I'm your new suscriber.Did you listen Dynaudio Emit 10? I'm planing to buy them together with new model Rotel A11 MK II. I'm not shure do rotel have enough power to drive and feed them because they have 6ohms 150w declared. Rotel have 50w at 8 and 62 at 4 ohms. This is my first hi fi system. Later on I'm planing to buy streamer and turn table
Thank you, great Video, I love watching your style very informative. So I recently bought the Polk ES15's they are just ok... I'm trying to step my game up. Thinking of getting the KEF or Elac's. I have an opportunity to get a pair of Used PSB Imagine B's for $300 they where 1K new would you get them? or a speaker on this list? Let me know if you can. Thank you sir.
I watched all of your reviews and ended up getting dbr62. So happy with my purchase, i liked the bump as well around 100 it had. It will be awesome if you can suggest some good integrated amp or receiver under 1000$ matching dbr62 power needs.
I like the WiiM Amp as long as you don’t need a boatload of power. For most rooms at 10 feet away it should be “adequate” but it won’t rock your socks off if you listen really loudly. This NAD C 268 is a solid amp that I’ve had good luck recommending as well: howl.me/clfZeNZfiWG
Thanks for the suggestion Erin! One follow up question. I do watch movies at loud volume. Currently have paired dbr62 with svs 3000 micro and have set the cross over at 80. Now that subwoofer is taking off some load, do you think wimm amp will be sufficient? Or going for nad c268 will still make a difference irrespective of having a sub? Thanks in advance.
hi Erin, great video again, or as always! i need some help please. looking for my very first speakers to be paired either with marantz stereo 70s or denon dra900h in a 22 m2 living room, connected to tv. netflix vs spotify 50-50 usage, maybe less music. price ~200-400euro. which of below, or else? kef q150 q acoustics 3020i acoustic energy ae100
I have the DBR62 on stands at ear height, toe'd out by around 10 degrees, but they're in a very wide room. There is minimal side wall on one side, as it's open into a dining area. The other side is as far away from the speaker as they are apart, with a sofa running along that entire wall and round into the listening position (it's a large L shaped sofa). What effect will that have on the in room response? I'm using the room correction feature in Wiim Ultra but I'm not completely convinced by it's efficacy and resorted to using spectroid app and a tone sweep.
Hi Erin, i'm a huge fan of your work. I've probably watched 90% of the content.. quick question Kali in8-2nd or Elac UBR62 ? It'urgent as Elac on sale till tomorrow for 520 euros a pair thnx a bunch and keep up the good work
Wow, this review supports "for me anyway" that (very good, not excellent mind you) speakers can be had for below $1,000. As for me, based on downsizing to a smaller place I sold off my complete $10K system and replaced it with an approximate $550 integrated amp and the Elac dbr62's. This system provided me 80ish% the refinement, but 95%/ 100% overall listening pleasure to my previous system (maybe this is because of my room, or I'm getting easier to please?!?)
I have the RP-600M2s as my L/R mains. I recently replaced my "zipwire" Monster cable with a pair of 12G Mediabridge cables and noticed an immediate difference...the whole sound field lowered (more bass and less shrilly treble) I have them paired with an RP-1200SW and and an SPL-120 (along with the rest of my H/T system for multi-channel entertainment). My next upgrade will likely be a 65" OLED or Mini-LED to replace my 50" QNED. Looking forward to Prime Day or Black Friday!! I currently have the speakers on axis towards my single seating position.
Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I upgraded my speakers and bought the Klipsch RP-600M II based on your recommendation. Can confirm, they are great. They are also very versatile. For shows and movies, I like the "Klipsch sound" as it brings out more details in the dialogue (I don't like subtitles). Even my wife doesn't need subtitles anymore! For music, I use the EQ settings from your main review video (with some very slight modifications) and now I have excellent music as well! Thank you for doing such an extensive review of this set of speakers. It really helped with my decision making process. PS. I wish you had Canadian affiliate links. I wanted to buy them using your link, but I am based in Canada.
Love my KEF Q150s, glad to see they made your list. I run them with a Denon receiver as stereo speakers and as fronts in a 5.1 HT set up. The denon mellows the highs a bit (at least I think it does…) and the 150s make excellent HT speakers due to their spacial sound and wide soundstage. They do need a sub as you noted. I have them on ear height stands about 6” from the wall, would love your thoughts on optimal placement.
The KEF speakers I listened to out at Best Buy. Nothing to listen to them with except the crappy sound demos. And they sounded really dry. Jack White Lazerretto album. Just one song. Obviously not a fair listen.
So for home theater use only, if I wanted to use 3 identical bookshelves for my entire front stage what would be the recommendation? I was considering the HSU ccb-8 but these obviously havnt been reviewed by Erin
I would have to add in the klipsch nines (class d amps) and focal alpha 80 (class ab amps if early version, new 80 evo class d) if including powered speakers, both are very very good in my opinion.
They go slightly above the 1000€/pair, but I love my Genelecs 8030 cpm! Think they possibly can reach the budget barrier if B- stock Thanks for your video!
I understand that these are a significantly older pair of monitors, but I’d love to see a review on the Yamaha HS8s with your setup since I’m curious about the vertical/horizontal dispersion and the optimal off-axis position.
Good to know your definitions. A driver in theory is paired with a box of a cirtain volume. (Sorry no spell check and not my languge.)😢 That air volume of the box can take different shapes. So the exact same driver and that uses the same air volume but if it has a narower/slimer front baffle but the same height. Then it need to be deper to give the same air volume in the box.🥰 And you meassure the back of the box to the wall distance. So in the above example the driver will get further from the wall than another box with the same driver and air volume that is wider and/or taller but not that deep.😮 So to be more precice and not dependent that much of the box shape then meassuring from the driver (front baffle) to the wall behind it would be more acurate.🤓 For example Elac had the same speaker in two diffrent shaped boxes there one of them they called "slim" with just slimer front baffle..🤔 So if you talk about a elac model that is comming in two diffrent box shapes then your meassurement back of the box to wall is just apliying to that model you are testing and not the other model of the same speaker..😢 But if you use front bafle to wall distance INSTEAD then that will be more accurate for BOTH of the speaker models.👍 (I know it is little like doing a hen from a fether. But just a improvement thought.)❤
Whats your process for testing people’s speakers? I have Ascend acoustics 340SE2s it would be great if you could review them some time. I had a hard time picking between it and the sierra.
Presented very well. Have you thought about doing something like this for home theater sound? 5.1, 7,1 7.1.2. I really like your center speaker review. I'm looking for some speakers to put on the ceiling. I'm pretty happy with my 7.1 setup and the speakers I chose. It's not all that, NHT speakers with Energy RVSS for the back. I like silk dome tweeters.
All of these speakers would work well for Home theater. Especially the coaxial ones when it comes to ceiling speakers for Atmos. That’s where their wider vertical distribution really helps out.
I see the man itself beat me to it! I wanted to say, just get the best KEF you can afford for your HT. Their coaxial drivers design create good horizontal and vertical directivity👍 They are usually easy to EQ also because of that design 😎
@@1337sim1 I was looking at those KEF speakers. Not sure it their tweeters will match up well with my NHT speakers. I was nicely surprised that the Energy speakers for the back matched up really well.
@@anamerican1054 like I said, you can EQ them to your taste. But personally, I would just start fresh and replace everything with KEF, Genelec, Kali or other coaxial speakers. If you're patient maybe you could buy used LS50s and slowly replace your speakers everywhere (left, front, center, surrounds, etc) Those speakers need a good amplifier though. AVR+power amplifiers probably in your case.
Hi Erin from Athens, Greece, I always watch your videos with great interest, I just wonder what happens to speaker companies when they are not represented in Europe and it is very difficult for us to locate them, hear them and why not buy them. In this area, Klipsch and Polk are incredibly consistent... At some point if possible I would like you to mention it to them, besides I imagine you are not only targeting American viewers in your videos... Be well and keep on the good job!
Erin love the video, I've been on the fence about buying some DBR62s for my office but my setup does require the speakers to be about 6" from the wall, any thoughts on that?
Not sure if you see this in the large amount of comments but could you also test the speakers on lower db's? I don't know exactly how much you should do but I listen 99% of the time to music probably around speaking db's and I bet I am not the only one. It's nice if speakers are flat on 88 db but how about 40 db? And from experience speakers can sound very different on lower volumes. I ask this because you have an awesome channel and you are the only reviewer I trust to give unbiased advice.
