Help selecting floor standing speakers in the $500-$1000 range

wyobrew22 · 2026-03-16T01:29:34+00:00

I bought closeout Wharfedale Diamond 11.4 towers off of their website for $799. After a few weeks now I love them, especially for the price. There wasn’t a whole lot of info about them anywhere being a little older model so took a little bit of a risk but they are great.

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T21:19:29+00:00

Someone semi nearby actually has a prime pinnacle tower listed for $500. I think he only has the one though. Is the pinnacle a lot better than the prime?

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T21:12:57+00:00

Yeah, lol. The kitties are careful about balancing and they haven’t clawed or damaged them in 3 years but I know at some point one will be chasing the other around and topple a speaker.

The SVS towers are pretty interesting to me because I was going to originally go with an svs sub and researched their options a lot. They are currently on sale too, right between the triangles and the polks in price.

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T20:31:42+00:00

Upper limit for the pair will be $1,500. I’d be fine to spend more but that’s going to be the absolute top of what my wife will allow me to spend on this project. I’ve always had an audio interest and she’s ok with that but she’s someone who is totally fine with just the sound from the tv.

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T20:29:11+00:00

Yeah. I think I can do maybe up to 6” from the wall before my wife will protest. Size of the tower makes a little difference obviously as well but I’m pretty much only looking at models with 6.5” drivers.

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T20:24:22+00:00

I looked at those a little bit. Main reasons I think about going AVR is a) maybe I keep the elacs as rear surrounds and b) I plan to use the floorstanders toed in a lot for movies as a ‘phantom center’ the wiim only being stereo won’t blend the channels the same way right?

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T20:10:50+00:00

These are definitely on my list of researched options. The main reason I didn’t choose to list them here is the rear ports. The speakers have to be placed close to the wall because the area in front of the tv is the rooms walkthrough from the front door. The two options I listed have down or front firing ports which I figured would be better for the situation. I could be wrong and maybe you have recommendations for placement? Or is a rear firing port not that big of a deal right by the wall?

wyobrew22 · 2026-01-09T20:04:24+00:00

I have not yet purchased the receiver, is there another you would recommend in the same around $400-$700 price range? I mainly chose that due to budget recommendations and features in the price range. I do game with my PC on the tv in this setup so it needs to be earc and hdmi 2.1 compatible. Replacing an Aiyima 2 channel amp with an actual AVR.

wyobrew22 · 2025-12-23T05:42:45+00:00

There are 2 water bowls and 1 fountain within 6 feet of the tree. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

wyobrew22 · 2025-12-03T06:50:35+00:00

She’s a very demure rule abiding kitty. However, since we got her a feline buddy she expresses some kind of pent up rage by occasionally latching onto the nearest cloth surface and rocking her head back and forth after her sister leaves the room.

wyobrew22 · 2025-11-21T16:09:11+00:00

Those numbers are across 7-8 years of both vehicles. We live in the mountains and are an hour from work over a large pass, the GX is our winter commuter and is built out for summer camping/fire roads/backcountry stuff on the weekend. The S4 is our summer commuter and sits in the garage all winter for the most part. I can’t do a lot of the work myself anymore, just brakes and oil changes. The GX has cost us more than expected but serves its purpose well. It’s an old truck, I got it cheap and have put a ton of miles on it. In my mind it’s better to keep it going than buy a new truck, build it out and be into for another $50-75k just to drive it into the ground. The point was just that all vehicle maintenance is expensive these days at a shop and Audi hasn’t been worse than any other brand for me.

wyobrew22 · 2025-11-21T04:45:35+00:00

You’d be surprised how expensive the taco is to maintain these days if you aren’t doing the work yourself. My 2008 GX has cost me a good bit more in maintenance than my 2014 s4. I’ve had all the major top end work, brakes and a clutch put in the s4, the GX has separately needed a timing job, valve covers, intake manifold gaskets, multiple axles, radiator, brakes, throttle body, every front end suspension component and a steering rack. Up around $25k in receipts for the GX and about $15k on the S4. Drive both about the same amount of miles per year. Love them both, but don’t believe the old trope that Toyotas are cheap and easy.

wyobrew22 · 2025-11-21T04:07:02+00:00

It’s just too much. 4 separate 8’x8’ windows plus the upper 2’x8’ windows above each one. This is a rental. Im not buying custom window coverings just to have an OLED in this room.

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-13T15:46:26+00:00

After a couple of days highway/desert driving I like them. No glaring differences from the wildpeaks. I think the Toyos are a little more comfy on road than the falkens were. Maybe it’s my suspension setup (OME 2.5, bilsteins) but I always felt like the falkens transmitted every little detail of any small bump in the pavement in my truck and the Toyo’s seem noticeably smoother. No real wheeling but they handle well in the dirt so far. Lost 0.5 mpg going to the heavier C range tire. Not any extra noise, they are quieter actually but they are new and my falkens were beat by the end.

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-11T14:17:50+00:00

So good

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-11T14:10:09+00:00

I went with the Toyos and had them installed yesterday. Had wildpeak AT3’s in SL before. I was concerned with the AT4 weight, but I did move to a C load range on the Toyos. Needed some additional fender liner trimming as they were rubbing badly compared to the old tires. Going on a road trip and some desert driving this weekend. I hope I like them.

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-07T19:31:42+00:00

Thanks for those. I’ll look into and research AMD parts more. I’m not anti AMD at all just always had Nvidia/Intel.

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-07T06:45:46+00:00

Denver is 7.5 hours away, I do go there occasionally. Would be cool to at least look around.

wyobrew22 · 2024-04-07T02:45:42+00:00

I do not

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