Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Thrift Store Find: Definitive Technologies Pro Monitor 1000 Bookshelf Speakers

It's not every night that you find high end audiophile speakers at a thrift store.  But, on one recent night, I found a pair of Definitive Technologies Pro Monitor 1000 Bookshelf Speakers for $6.96 apiece at a local thrift store.




After a quick peak under the speaker grills revealed that the foam surrounds appeared to be in perfect condition, I snapped them up.  New, the speakers would have been $219 each according to Crutchfield.  But, for $14 and tax, the thrift store gave me a chance to be a full fledged audiophile!



Of course, there are some minor caveats to my thrift store find.  First, in the listening room of a 6500 square foot mansion with a big gate and stone lions, the Definitive Technologies speaker cabinets would be a perfect piano-finish ebony.  In my local thrift store, the speaker cabinets had lots of little scratches.  Perhaps the installer messed them up?  Fortunately, the blemishes are of no consequence in my hovel.  In the manor, the speakers would ideally be matched with a subwoofer, a center channel speaker, and a couple more bookshelf speakers as part of an exquisite surround system that would allow some busy executive to find inner peace in his office or listening room.  I don't know about all that.  But, in our spare bedroom/home office, the speakers instantly displaced those B652 speakers I wrote about in my last post.


My initial impressions are the they sound great for bookshelf speakers!  I don't know that I am enough of an audiophile to use words like rich and full, etc.  However, these speakers reproduce sound well and sound wonderful to my ear.  Like most bookshelf speakers, these do give up some on the bass end of the spectrum.  The frequency response is rated as 47 hz to 30 Mhz.  These do provide better performance on the higher end than most similar speakers.  Overall, these speakers are excellent.  For less than $15, these speakers were an incredible find.  You can also find them at current new prices on Amazon here.


Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Speaker Review: Dayton Audio B652 Bookshelf Speakers

I found a pair of Dayton Audio B652 bookshelf speakers at a thrift store about a year ago.  Since I had heard that these speakers were revered in the world of dirt cheap audio, I immediately picked them up.

Dayton Audio B652 Speaker Description


These are very basic bookshelf speakers.  They are basic black vinyl laminate boxes with removable cloth grills.  The speaker enclosures are not ported.  These compact speakers stand just under a foot tall.  According to Amazon the exact dimensions are 11-13/16-Inch (H) x 7-1/16-Inch (W) x 6-7/16-Inch (D).  They have a keyhole hanger on the back to make them easy to hang on the wall.  The speakers are made in China.

Dayton Audio B652 Bookshelf Speaker Specifications


According to the back plate on these speakers, the recommended amplifier power is 5 to 40 watts and the speakers are built for 8 Ohms impedance and provide a frequency response 70hz to 20khz.

The current Amazon description claims the following specifications:
Power handling: 40 watts RMS/75 watts max ; Impedance: 6 ohms ; Frequency response: 70-20,000 Hz ; Sensitivity: 87 dB 1W/1m 

Dayton Audio B652 General Impressions


These are basic bookshelf speakers and they sound o.k.  While they received mostly great reviews online, I don't really see what the big fuss was about.  They don't provide much bass.  For music, I generally use my much larger and more powerful speakers.  However, I find these speakers great for listening to talk radio during the day and in the evening when I don't want to generate any bass that might disturb neighbors late at night.

Since these speakers are only $30 for the pair new (in 2018), they are a dirt cheap audio bargain and they'll get your stereo system started.  However, in a world gone to bluetooth and earbuds, there are lots of great speakers available second hand in thrift stores and on ebay for similar prices.  Certainly you can start out with these and keep your eyes open for better.