spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Hi Guys, After posting this thread, and getting some great feedback on the various 'eBay speakers', I did what I said I would do in that thread, and setup an online guide to the speakers available. I hope that it's of use to people and guides people through the world of buying speakers through eBay. It is written by me, someone who has no actual first hand experience with any of the speakers in the guide, but then I think it might be a little odd if I did have experience with only one or two but not all (would make me biased I think, although if the manufacturers would care to give me review samples of all of them, I'd be more than happy to review them ). I base my findings on reviews from the good people here and also on those found in some publications (I went and bought a magazine especially ). So... without further ado: My eBay Home Theare Speaker guide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewW Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Nice work. Very well done. I've considered the Accusounds a couple of times myself, but have been wary due to not being able to test them out first. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty79 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 nicely done, good reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 Nice work.Very well done. I've considered the Accusounds a couple of times myself, but have been wary due to not being able to test them out first. Andrew. After doing the writeup I am sorely tempted to try and win an auction on some Accusounds. Sure I haven't heard any myself, but reviews and other's accounts of them seem to identify them as being some very nice speakers for the money. nicely done, good reading. Thanks very much, I do hope it helps people out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zorg1503559539 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 very nice thanks for the credit as well hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty79 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 just to fast track another opinion - i have a 7.1 set of accusound eclipse 55's at home, they good for HT but they lack dynamics for stereo use. They're a bass-heavy speaker (hence why they are so good for HT use) but aren't tonally accurate if you're an audiophile. I replaced the fronts and centre in favour of some Orpheus Aurora 3 MKII Signatures, which have the best soundstage in their pricerange IMHO (also australian owned and made). BUT - the accusounds represent great bang-for-buck, dont be shy now ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 very nice thanks for the credit as well hehehehe No problem, was good information. just to fast track another opinion - i have a 7.1 set of accusound eclipse 55's at home, they good for HT but they lack dynamics for stereo use. They're a bass-heavy speaker (hence why they are so good for HT use) but aren't tonally accurate if you're an audiophile. I replaced the fronts and centre in favour of some Orpheus Aurora 3 MKII Signatures, which have the best soundstage in their pricerange IMHO (also australian owned and made). BUT - the accusounds represent great bang-for-buck, dont be shy now ;-) I'll wait a little while to see if there are some further feedback or opinions on any of the speakers in the guide and then update it. I'll add yours to the Accusound section. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest EZYHD Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Well done good write up. I had a set of those Pure Accoustics, sold them as an option with a house, bloke who has them now thinks they are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 Just wanted people to know that I've already had feedback from the Managing Director of Audio Australia, Justin Frith, and have included it as an update on my site, he was keen to let people know what developments they've had in their speaker design recently. "We now have 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 sets with larger centre and rear speakers, and now 3-way designs in all of our front speakers.The Reference 6.3 sets now include 5" centre and rears. Even though they are the smaller of the 2 sets, the centre/surround packages are still much larger than any other product on eBay. To keep production costs well down, most of the cheaper brands on ebay have very small rear and centre speakers. Small centre and rears also keep freight costs down, particularly with the geographical diversity of eBay customers. Cheaper freight can entice a buyer who has absolutely no idea how important these other speakers are. Unfortunately, most buyers see huge front speakers as a sign of "a good thing". Not so, especially with modern surround audio formats. In 2005, both Alan Henning (Director of Engineering - Accusound International) and myself designed these new Reference packages and had them in production and ready for release in early 2006. This New Reference Series now shares the "top shelf" in the Accusound Range with the Theta Range (2006 Delta Replacements). Retail mark-ups are the only differences. Particular time was taken ensuring we had a complete balance in both of the systems. The centre & rear speakers were designed using the same mid-bass drivers as in the front speakers. Cabinet depth & volume (per driver) was carefully matched to ensure exact frequency equalization. Each set has it's own "tone matched" Subwoofer, designed to crossover at the correct frequencies for each respective model.. This was the only way we could meet the tough standards of Dolby Digital & DTS. As result, the packs became much larger than the other brand previously made available on ebay. The demand has been overwhelming, a sign that our factory direct Accusounds still represent the best value for money anywhere in Australia, by a massive margin." I have also contacted the other sellers, so would be good to see if I get further information from them also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martyr Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 very nice thanks for the credit as well hehehehe Like wise, it is really good that someone has put together a site with some information on it. When I was looking around it was very difficult to find any information. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheresbaz Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Hey Spoco, Mate you are talented with these web pages. Great job. Cheers Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autocrat Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Nice web page - I'd be careful about becoming a free advertising spot for the various manuafactures and sellers. Make 'em pay, I say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Great work Spoco and thanx for sharing with us - a nice open review of the data Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Smee Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Excellent guide. Very helpful info and well laid out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gymdirect Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 I won an auction for the 8.3 speaker set last week for $821. A little more than the $660 auction result about 2 weeks before, but that was a very low price looking through an advanced search on auction results. Last nights auction for the 8.3's ended at $860, so I am happy I didn't overpay, as I didn't want to miss out. The demand for these may push the price up as they only auction every week or 2. The transaction was very smooth, Justin was real quick with replying to emails. I picked up the speakers from the Kirrawee warehouse, lucky I only live 5 mins away. Very happy with the service and easy transaction. Haven't tested them out yet as I need to buy and AVR, I have never set up a system before. They look good and I'm quite confident I'll be happy and satisfied with them, 5 year warranty too. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 Well done good write up.I had a set of those Pure Accoustics, sold them as an option with a house, bloke who has them now thinks they are great. Thanks, and good to hear they became a value add during the sale Like wise, it is really good that someone has put together a site with some information on it. When I was looking around it was very difficult to find any information.Well done. Thanks, it's the reason I made the page, many speakers on eBay, not much info around, hopefully it'll end up being visible in Google and giving people who don't come here some info which can help them in their purchasing Hey Spoco,Mate you are talented with these web pages. Great job. Cheers Bill Thanks Nice web page - I'd be careful about becoming a free advertising spot for the various manuafactures and sellers. Make 'em pay, I say. I'm not going to charge them, helps with keeping the information impartial. Also there are Google ads on the page, and if they help to pay for the hosting of the page then that's fine by me, I'm not trying to make money from it. Great work Spoco and thanx for sharing with us - a nice open review of the data Thanks, I'll try to keep updating it, I'm attempting to line up auditions of all the speakers so I can add first hand experience of my own to the site to make it really complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 I won an auction for the 8.3 speaker set last week for $821.A little more than the $660 auction result about 2 weeks before, but that was a very low price looking through an advanced search on auction results. Last nights auction for the 8.3's ended at $860, so I am happy I didn't overpay, as I didn't want to miss out. The demand for these may push the price up as they only auction every week or 2. The transaction was very smooth, Justin was real quick with replying to emails. I picked up the speakers from the Kirrawee warehouse, lucky I only live 5 mins away. Very happy with the service and easy transaction. Haven't tested them out yet as I need to buy and AVR, I have never set up a system before. They look good and I'm quite confident I'll be happy and satisfied with them, 5 year warranty too. Good Luck. If you could reply to this thread with your opinions on them once your heard them, that'd be great (or make a review thread in the review section of the site)... I'd love to add your opinions to the site once you've given them a good thrashing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quijibo Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 looks good spock, I've only got one issue with my quote. This paragraph was in response to someone else and should be cut off the end. There was no low pass filter on the woofers and pretty crappy damping in the box. I soldered an inductor on the wires to the woofers and added some insultation into the box and the clarity improved quite significantly. Beforehand I tried the rears as mains and they were terrible to listen to, but after the mods they improved a great deal. They still arent great, but I dont have to keep turning up the centre channel in movies as much as I did beforehand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoco2 Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 looks good spock, I've only got one issue with my quote. This paragraph was in response to someone else and should be cut off the end. I shall do so, sorry, I thought it was useful information nonetheless... but it's gone as of... now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byte-me Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Nicely done spoco2 great work. I agree with others though, do not become a free advertising agent for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quijibo Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I shall do so, sorry, I thought it was useful information nonetheless... but it's gone as of... now. I could have given you a lot of information about a year ago on how to improve the sound from these speakers with only a few modifications. But it has been so long now that I cannot remember exactly what I did and what was already there. I even had photos, but I dont anymore, and I dont think I ever posted any pictures either. I noticed somebody said they think that dream acoustics may have fixed their problems, I can assure you they still havent. A friend just bought a set of their X5 speakers and although he wouldnt let me open the main speakers up, he let me look inside one of the surrounds where I found the typical minimal crossover consisting of a single 1.5uF capacitor on the tweeter. On listening to the speakers they dont sound bad, but we managed to find a massive dip in the upper midrange which is consistent with my older speakers, so it seems they still take the same shortcuts to save money. It is quite sad really, because for a small amount of money spent on a few new components for the crossovers, some better bracing and damping materials they could actually pass for near high end speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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