Best 2ch system for under $1200?

I know I'm "fashionably late" to the party, but here's my two cents if still applicable.
Perhaps the CSS Criton 1td IF DIY is okay, and IF something that isn't super sensitive is alright. https://www.css-audio.com/online-store/CSS-Criton-1TD-Kit-Pair-p109862382

WIth a flatpack this should go for $710 USD, ~$150 can be used for additional equipment for woodworking and finishing if you don't already possess it, and ~$350 can be spent on an amplifier- something such as the Yamaha as301 or Onkyo A-9110 should do fine, or an alternate option, most probably being a used unit from a local dealer if available.

The Criton is a pretty serious speaker. Bass extension should essentially be akin to the Buchardt s400 (or in other words, very, very good), with a slightly rolled-off treble presence. They shouldn't be super picky about placement, but they like a decent amount of power. I won't go off too much about them, there should be plenty of reviews out there in the world. ASR has also measured them, but CSS has pointed out discrepancies between the measured performance and what they were expecting, claiming that something wasn't right with the speaker. The 1TDX also has an upgraded tweeter, which should have more presence and extension than the standard tweeter.

 

@Cspirou You could save yourself even more $ by building the Wild Burro Audio Betsy yourself. The drivers are like $125 per pair. Open baffle with zero crossover is as simple a speaker build as it gets.
https://wildburroaudio.com/speakers/
Open baffle is great for apartment dwellers due to the bass cancellation and you can reduce baffle width to limit extension further.

 

Yamaha HS8 is big, warm, dry, punchy, indestructible, and you can buy it anywhere. All the producers and metal guys love these.

Edit: home theater on a credenza????????????
I’m not even butting into this. Discard my rec but they are good speakers.

 

True, they are pretty nice and the color scheme is iconic, although it does have a lot of competition these days, with stuff from Adam, Kali, and Tannoy on the table (among others).

 

Adam went bankrupt and is now owned by Focusrite and their low end stuff is crap, Tannoy is Behringer thus crap, smaller Kalis are okay but they are just darker JBL 300 series successors with worse waveguides.

 

Damn. What about Eve? (which corny as it may sound, is an Adam spin-off!)

Good grief. What about the hand-made-carpentry stuff that looks like it is made for stately homes? I heard a pair, once, sounding good in a small apartment.

 

"Adam lowend is crap" What models specifically and why? My only real complaints about the T series specifically are the treble shelf and rear port. Featureset is essentially the same, but T-series has RCA inputs, which'll probably be helpful here. Hs series to me sounds dry and lacks presence in low treble.

"Tannoy is behringer thus crap" Behringer Bad? Sure, those guys are pretty scummy. Product bad because parent company bad? You'll have to be more specific.

"Kali is a darker lsr30x" I mean, If you want to consider something that is essentially neutral as "dark," It is darker relative to the lsr series it seems. In comparison, Amplifier noise is significantly lower, and seems more neutral overall. As far as I can tell, "worse waveguides" isnt' really substantiated by measurements, Looking at vertical and horizontal dispersion graphs of lsr and lp-series speakers there doesn't seem to be a huge disparity between either one of them.

Comparing measurements I don't see the silver bullet that the HS series has anywhere. Hs7/8 seems to keep up pretty alright with the rest of the options, but at $700/ $800 it's easily the most expensive relative to the aforementioned comparable models- Gold 8 (600/pair), T8v ($600/pair), lp8v2s ($500/pair)

 

I don’t have to explain myself. Stop jerking off to graphs on the internet and use this stuff in the real world.

The op’s JBL LSR 305 mk II are used in the real world and better than almost everything else you listed.

The Yamaha HS8 are used in the real world and are good.

That you equate the Kalis with the JBL LSR 305/705/708 or the HS5/7 (they have a reason to exist unlike the LSR 306/308 and Kali 8” but are not good sounding speakers) with the HS8 shows you have not used these as tools or listened to these speakers in the real world.

‘Nuff said.

 

Eve and Hedd are the Adams spin offs with the original ceo and designer. Expect better quality than the Focusrite owned Adam but distribution and support sucks

Old Tannoy are entirely different speakers. They also used Fane drivers for a bit pre Behringer after they stopped making their own and made some good models with super tweeters but those are all old and will mostly have deteriorated surrounds and dodgy crossovers/electronics now

 

An AMT speaker will be the worst f'ing thing for a home theater system imaginable

two way passives from 1000-2000 dollars new (within op budget used on a good day) won’t leave any room for a decent amplifier. Most of them are inefficient and most class d amps totally underpowered crap.

Must get cheaper passives and decent amp used or active solution that will work in his setup.

 

Rate my post as misinformation when you jerk off to asr graphs, try to apologize for Behringer products because you can’t afford better than something made with jrc4580, fake caps, no pcb qc, and SUICIDE NETS, and dark kali wave guides that lead to etched weirdo treble and phasey sound

LOL

 

@Entropy youre newish so allow me to explain that getting ‘disliked’ by @Psalmanazar is good fortune. I cant validate but there isnt a person on the forums more generally knowledgeable than him with this stuff so appreciate the advice. Read his old posts and youll find it hard to disagree.

Ive only been ‘disliked’ once by Psalmanazar. I wrote impressions about some vintage Stax electrostats. I didnt even get an explanation for the ‘dislike’. Psalm’s ways are sometimes mysterious.

 

edit: timestamp didn't work, relevant section at 0:34

 

Dude I am just stoked Psal even commented here, and gave a really good rec, I used to lurk here in 2017 and he's legendary lmao. It rly do be good fortune if he interacts with you in any way, esp. a dislike @Entropy.

 

Well heck if we're talking powered monitors and you happen to come north of the maple syrup line, Yorkville stuff ain't half bad. The YSM line of monitors is our Canuck equivalent of the JBL LSR series.

 

LOL, the guy is human. (Wait, I have not actually met him!) But he's a human with vast experience of being on the working side of speakers, and I'd buy blind (or deaf) on his recommendation.

Personally, I like his blunt style too. It is what it is: take it or leave it.

All that aside, I don't think that graphs are an answer to ears-on experience.

Now, where were we?

 

Not a whole system recommendation but the Sony SS-CS5 bookshelf speaker is pretty decent, especially if you can catch them on sale for around $100 pr. They look like cheap HT speakers but I have a pair in my office hooked up with a dac and a 40 yr old NAD integrated and the sound is enjoyable. Especially for streaming from a laptop.

 

I guess I should have added that others have a right to other views too. And that we are never going to all like each other.