Energy C-300s vs. Polk Monitor 50 vs. Polk T90e

[lakingshockey]

Hi guys, I have a couple quick questions. regarding tower speakers. I'm looking to buy a pair of tower speakers to start off my home theater. The three models that i'm considering are:

Energy C-300 - ~$260 for a pair
Polk Monitor 50s - ~$180 for a pair
Polk T90e - ~$260 for a pair

From what i've read, the Polk T90e's are basically the European versions of the Monitor 60s.

Anyways, I'm looking for some advice? The monitor 50s would be a lot more budget friendly. Are the T90e's and the C-300 worth the extra money?

Also, my dad is giving me a center channel for free. Its an NHT VS 1.4. Would this be tambour matched to any of these floorstanding speakers. Here's a link to the specs for the NHT:

http://reviews.cnet.com/separate-spe...?tag=mncol;lst

For reference, I'm planning on getting either a Marantz 4002 or Onkyo 606 receiver to go with them. Thanks in advance for your help.

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

Hi guys, I have a couple quick questions. regarding tower speakers. I'm looking to buy a pair of tower speakers to start off my home theater. The three models that i'm considering are:

Energy C-300 - ~$260 for a pair
Polk Monitor 50s - ~$180 for a pair
Polk T90e - ~$260 for a pair

From what i've read, the Polk T90e's are basically the European versions of the Monitor 60s.

Anyways, I'm looking for some advice? The monitor 50s would be a lot more budget friendly. Are the T90e's and the C-300 worth the extra money?

For reference, I'm planning on getting either a Marantz 4002 or Onkyo 606 receiver to go with them. Thanks in advance for your help.

On paper,It looks like Polk is the winner But i will say,Personally i would go with Energy.I think there better made and better quality.Remember specs aint everthing.Go try to listen to both the speakers.

also Remember this is just my opinion and what i would grab between the 3 you have listed.I have owned Energy and keep them in high regard

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ENC300

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/t90e/

[lakingshockey]

Originally Posted by ozzman

On paper,It looks like Polk is the winner But i will say,Personally i would go with Energy.I think there better made and better quality.Remember specs aint everthing.Go try to listen to both the speakers.

also Remember this is just my opinion and what i would grab between the 3 you have listed.I have owned Energy and keep them in high regard

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ENC300

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/t90e/

Thanks for your reply Ozzman. I'd love to audition the speakers but there are no audio stores around where I live that carry any of these speakers (or any good speakers for that matter).

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

Thanks for your reply Ozzman. I'd love to audition the speakers but there are no audio stores around where I live that carry any of these speakers (or any good speakers for that matter).

Ahhh, Man That sucks
It so hard to just take opinions and go with it, instead of just listening for yourself.
I hope you get more replys and you can weight it out

Well You have one Vote For Energy

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Heard the polks... They sound good, but I opted for the monitor 70s instead because they offered better bass response. Haven't heard the engery ones, but like Ozz said, trust your ears. However that's not the case with you. I'll will tell you this. The polk T-90s have the better specs of the three...BUT those compared to the Monitor 50s...

Let me start out by saying I had monitor 50s as fronts and was impressed with them. Obviously anything is better than the HTiB speakers I had. Then my dad said you could always use those as surrounds when you upgrade to larger towers. He had a good point, and I'm tight on space so I opted for Monitor 40s which I used as fronts until I got my M70s and now I use the 40s as surrounds. The Monitor 60s or T-90s compared to the 50s in your case, the Monitor 60s sounded so much more clear and better than the Monitor 50s when I auditioned them. I think it is worth the extra dough if money isn't an issue. The M60s (T-90s) are great for movies and music and I think you would get more out of them than the 50s.

You'll want a good sub eventually though as the T-90s will lack in bass

[lakingshockey]

Originally Posted by Audiophile_At_Birth

Heard the polks... They sound good, but I opted for the monitor 70s instead because they offered better bass response. Haven't heard the engery ones, but like Ozz said, trust your ears. However that's not the case with you. I'll will tell you this. The polk T-90s have the better specs of the three...BUT those compared to the Monitor 50s...

Let me start out by saying I had monitor 50s as fronts and was impressed with them. Obviously anything is better than the HTiB speakers I had. Then my dad said you could always use those as surrounds when you upgrade to larger towers. He had a good point, and I'm tight on space so I opted for Monitor 40s which I used as fronts until I got my M70s and now I use the 40s as surrounds. The Monitor 60s or T-90s compared to the 50s in your case, the Monitor 60s sounded so much more clear and better than the Monitor 50s when I auditioned them. I think it is worth the extra dough if money isn't an issue. The M60s (T-90s) are great for movies and music and I think you would get more out of them than the 50s.

You'll want a good sub eventually though as the T-90s will lack in bass

Thanks for your reply. I'm planning on adding a subwoofer a little later. I currently live in a dorm, so I'm trying to stay conservative

I think i'm between the T90s and the C-300s. I just can't make a decision! Knowing my luck, both of them will be out of stock by the time i decide.

[lakingshockey]

hmmm. i just found the c-300s in black (which would asthetically work better with my setup than cherry) for $250 shipped. I think I might be ready to go for it. Any other suggestions?!?!

[ozzman]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

hmmm. i just found the c-300s in black (which would asthetically work better with my setup than cherry) for $250 shipped. I think I might be ready to go for it. Any other suggestions?!?!

http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en...pecifications/

Looking pretty sexy

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

Thanks for your reply. I'm planning on adding a subwoofer a little later. I currently live in a dorm, so I'm trying to stay conservative

I think i'm between the T90s and the C-300s. I just can't make a decision! Knowing my luck, both of them will be out of stock by the time i decide.

You should buy the biggest loudest Sub, and at nine in the morning when everyone is hung over from the night before, you should play some heavy bass songs...That's sure to make you a popular guy around campus.

[callas01]

c-300's not sure if your price is each or a pair, but here is a nice price for them each.

I vote whatever sounds better, but I know Energys are highly regarded. I am even considering the CF-50's but I also want to hear the eD's, KEF's and PSB and perhaps Paradigm if I can find what the price of the ALPHA line runs.

Good luck.

[lakingshockey]

Originally Posted by Audiophile_At_Birth

You should buy the biggest loudest Sub, and at nine in the morning when everyone is hung over from the night before, you should play some heavy bass songs...That's sure to make you a popular guy around campus.

haha. i get lots of looks from people when they here AC/DC or Metallica blasting out of my current speakers. Who cares though? "Rock N' Roll aint noise pollution!"

[lakingshockey]

Originally Posted by callas01

c-300's not sure if your price is each or a pair, but here is a nice price for them each.

I vote whatever sounds better, but I know Energys are highly regarded. I am even considering the CF-50's but I also want to hear the eD's, KEF's and PSB and perhaps Paradigm if I can find what the price of the ALPHA line runs.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. I think I'm going to go with the C-300s. I'm going to sleep on it and then decide tomorrow I guess. I wish I had the chance to listen to these speakers in person, but unfortunately that's not an option for me.

[callas01]

Dude, your in college, do what I did and don't go to class. spend 3 hours having one of your frat buddies driving you to the electronics store in the next biggest city with these speakers in them. Listen to them, then get in-n-out burger drink a beer. Your in college for heavens sake, have fun.



I am just kidding, to much coffee tonight. where are you? I see you have kings hockey and Cornell hockey.... No one from the east coast likes kings hockey, Gretzky is retired. give me your zip and I will look up some local electronics stores for you. if you want.

[Audiophile_At_Birth]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

haha. i get lots of looks from people when they here AC/DC or Metallica blasting out of my current speakers. Who cares though? "Rock N' Roll aint noise pollution!"

Dude +5. I hear you man. My friend and I are always getting weird looks when people walk by and they hear some Guns and Roses, Metallica, Old School Atreyu and Killswitch Engage and my new favorite, songs from Scream Aim Fire by Bullet for my Valentine! a great cd. Of course we have some AC/DC thrown in there among some other stuff. It's all good, especially when all you here from other people's dorms is some "superman that...." it's priceless and to me, rap and hip hop all sound the same.

[bajor27]

I love my Energy speakers, so my answer would probably be a bit biased

[lakingshockey]

Originally Posted by callas01

Dude, your in college, do what I did and don't go to class. spend 3 hours having one of your frat buddies driving you to the electronics store in the next biggest city with these speakers in them. Listen to them, then get in-n-out burger drink a beer. Your in college for heavens sake, have fun.



I am just kidding, to much coffee tonight. where are you? I see you have kings hockey and Cornell hockey.... No one from the east coast likes kings hockey, Gretzky is retired. give me your zip and I will look up some local electronics stores for you. if you want.

hahaha. I'm from L.A. (hence the Kings fan) and I go to school at Cornell. Its in a beautiful Ithaca, NY. We have a Best Buy, a Walmart, and a Target. Not much else.

Oh and now I want an In-n-out burger. Thanks a lot! I'm 3,000 miles away from one!

[callas01]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

hahaha. I'm from L.A. (hence the Kings fan) and I go to school at Cornell. Its in a beautiful Ithaca, NY. We have a Best Buy, a Walmart, and a Target. Not much else.

Oh and now I want an In-n-out burger. Thanks a lot! I'm 3,000 miles away from one!

I will send you some Animal Style Fries how about that.....

[lakingshockey]

ok so I was able to find a nice speaker store in my area. I ended up buying some bookshelf speakers. I decided that I'd buy some lesser front speakers for now and then convert them to rear surrounds when I have some money for some really nice floorstanding towers. I ended up buying the Paradigm Atom Monitor v.5.

I got them for $200 for a pair. They sound really nice. What do you guys think!?!?!

I'm also thinking of buying the Marantz 4002 receiver. Anyone have any experience with this receiver?

[prerich]

Originally Posted by lakingshockey

ok so I was able to find a nice speaker store in my area. I ended up buying some bookshelf speakers. I decided that I'd buy some lesser front speakers for now and then convert them to rear surrounds when I have some money for some really nice floorstanding towers. I ended up buying the Paradigm Atom Monitor v.5.

I got them for $200 for a pair. They sound really nice. What do you guys think!?!?!

I'm also thinking of buying the Marantz 4002 receiver. Anyone have any experience with this receiver?

Excellent choices!!!! Especially the Paradigm Atoms! They have a deep soundstage and image like champs!!!! You will love these speakers - they do need a sub.

[Sammy]

That's what I did about 8 years ago with the JBL's. The purchase of a new BD player has cost more than I thought!