I've been trying to research this out on the web for a while. I feel like there are so many choices, but so few of them are available for auditioning. Sometimes I can find one in the same brand family, but usually not the exact model I'm looking for.
I realize that these are going to be outdoors, and this will hardly be focused music listening. But I'm picky enough that when I'm sitting on my screened-in porch reading and listening, I want to enjoy it. So there needs to be good tonal balance, and some usable bass to what I would hope to be <70Hz.
And when we do have guests or a party, I don't want it to sound tinny, compressed, and crappy at louder volumes. The amplification won't be a problem.
I'd like to keep this to <$200. Many of the models that have the larger woofers run closer to $300-$400. And some of these manufacturers are weasely on their specs, showing the low end of the frequency response without a +/- dB rating (or using -9 dB).
Unfortunately, Axiom doesn't make any, or I'd get the outdoor equivalents of M3tis in a heartbeat. Brands I am considering/have read up on:
- Boston Acoustics Voyager series (preferably 6 or higher)
- Klipsch AW series (horn tweeter supposed to work well outdoors)
- Yamaha AW series
- Polk Atrium series
- Niles (OS20)
- BIC Addato DV52si (particularly if modified by Ed Frias)
Note: I've omitted the Rocket OD100 because they are out of stock until summer, and I really want to get speakers sooner.
Thanks,
Rich
PS Interesting tidbit: during my searches at AVSForum and Audioholics I saw lots of Axiom owners commenting on outdoor speakers, but I didn't recognize many of the user names.
