For those of you looking for cheap speakers...

... I've been doing quite a bit of research for a second system to go in my bedroom and I've come across two companies that really interest me.

First of Fluance. I hadn't even heard of this Canadian company until recently... but geez are their prices ever good.

http://www.fluance.com/fluan5speaks.html <-- $259 for a 5.0 set with 2 towers, 2 bookshelves and a center.So what you may ask?

Check out the reviews.
http://www.audioreview.com/PRD_142844_4282crx.aspx

http://www.audioreview.com/Main Speaker/Fluance/PRD_125769_1594crx.aspx

Makes me tempted. If you look on google, there are other threads on these speakers too... mostly good, although I found several reviews in which people said "They don't compare to more expensive speakers"... well no ****. They cost $259!

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/3/13247.html <-- another random thread... with links to more reviews

Second on my list is homethearedirect
http://www.htd.com/

They aren't quite as cheap as Fluance (well... they do have this system here...http://www.htd.com/levelone51set.html .. but it's really a mini system and I wouldn't expect much from it).

If you take a look at their level 2 systems..
http://www.htd.com/levtwospeak.html

It's $300 more than the fluance.. but comes with a 10" subwoofer as well (oh.. I am tempted to try the sub)..

Could only come up with this review..
http://www.audioreview.com/Main Speaker/Home Theater Direct/PRD_124803_1594crx.aspx

Looking around the audio forums, these look to be pretty good buys myself.

Personally, I'm really torn. I was initially just looking for a set of bookshelves... but I might get towers now. Choices choices.

Anyways, I must get back to work. Hope this helps some of you out. More choices are always better and I see lots of you have the HK6's.

I'll post a review if I decide to buy them. Gah... I hate moving.

Here's a nice lil read about canadian speakers.

Back in the 70's the Canadian government set up and built a facility called the National Research Council (NRC) http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/main_e.html to help Canaidian companies design and build products that could compete with anyone in the world. One of the programs from that was a anechoic chamber that was the most up to date and sophisticated found anywhere. All of the major Canadian speakers makers use it aswell as companies from other parts of the world to design and test their speakers. Some companies such as Soundstage.com use it to measure speakers for their reviews http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/speakermeasurements/.

In one of the early experiments at the NRC a gentleman named Ian Paisley was hired to do some reserch into speaker design. In case you don't know Mr. Paisley is considered one of the worlds best and most respected speaker designers, within the industry he is thought to be the Guru of speaker designers. They brought in a couple of hundred people that ranged anywhere from folks that did not own audio systems and did not listen to music to people that listened to country, classical, rock and every other variety of music who had systems that ranged from boomboxes to ultra high end audiophile systems.

They then played them dozens of different speaker makes and types to get their opinions on what they heard. What they found was that regardless of their listening experience virtually all of the participants were able to identify the good sounding speakers. It did not seem to matter if they had never heard a good audio system before or if they were seasoned audiophiles everyone seemed to agree on the speakers that sounded best. I always tell this story to potential customers of mine that come into our store and tell me that they want an audio system but they don't need anything really good because they can't tell the difference anyway. Works everytime, research proves that they can tell the difference.

Mr.Paisley took this information and knowledge back to his company which was Mirage Speakers and went on to design award winning speakers. The rest is history. Mirage Speakers is owned by it's parent company called Audio Products International (API) which also owns Energy Speakers and Athena Speakers among others. API also designs and builds speakers for other companies from around the world that just rebadge them with their own name.

The one Canadian company that I'm sure does not use the NRC which is our dirty little secret and an embarrassment to the Canadian speaker industry is Nuance Speakers. Companies like Paradigm, PSB, Energy, Mirage, Athena etc all have the NRC right in their back yard.

I wonder if Fluance did their experimenting at the National Reasearch counsil?

Er, I can't really recommend the Fluance speakers... That's another one of the sets that were in my house but were sold to a friend (amusingly at the same price I paid) They sound pretty good but they're rather... delicate... you can't push them that hard and they feel a little... chincy. Btw they don't look like what they show on the website.. It's composite board with a plastic.. somewhat wood like film on the outside. Plus, for $259 you'd be better off getting some decent bookshelf speakers, for towers they don't pack the kind of punch you'd expect. That's why people say they don't sound as good as more expensive speakers i guess.

Also look at what the people say who give them 5 out of 5's... one who double posted claims that they rival $1000 setups. While another says he has no experience with this equipment. Obviously they'd sound great if all you had was a sony boom-box before them. For movies they seem great, really. But for music...they didn't feel really musical to me. The soundtage was a little forward and tight. Also a bit narrow.

To top it off, if you get the ones with the side-woofers like I did they are a real **** to place... If you put them in the corners prepare to be overwhelmed with blobby bass.

I'm just emphasizing the bad points of these speakers, they are of course a good buy for $259 bucks, but you could do better.

The second link you posted looks MUCH better.

AS a final note, on sites like that you will notice two levels of reviewers. On more high quality equipment / more musical equipment people tend to be pickier.. The audiophiles I guess (kind of stuck up). But the people who claim to be audiophiles buying $200 speakers then giving them 5's out of 5's with no weaknesses... I'd say they're a little suspect. They may be great speakers, but even the best have things that people should know (as weaknesses) which as you will notice event the B&W nauts, which some people claim are the best speakers in the world have weaknesses. Surely these do, even in their price-range.

Just something to look out for as I don't want you to be deceived.

BTW.. Nuance and Fluance are two companies that should not be confused. Nuance sells overpriced crap that is poor quality (see bad reviews everywhere). Fluance is a cheap company targetted towards a certain market (see decent reviews everywhere)

Rob: I just posted those reviews as an example. I'm really not expecting audiophile performance out of these speakers (well, the fluance at least), but at least better than an HTTIAB. They are good speakers as long as you keep in mind that they are really targetted at the entry level segments.

I agree that the hometheatre direct speakers look to be a better buy, but they are also more expensive... very interesting though. I emailed them about shipping to Canada so we'll see if I can afford them. Else I'll go with a cheapo set of fluances and see how they sound.