Best Home Audio Speakers @ $300. Help!?

Without a doubt the Infinity Primus P362. It will beat the Polk, AV123, Energy, Klipsch and speakers costing 2-3X more. Audiophiles agree, they are the best for the money. Especially their eBay price. That makes them a huge steal.

Infinity P362

http://cgi.ebay.com/Infinity-Primus-P362-Tower-Spe...

Save 10%+ on eBay no strings attached.

http://www.rcrebates.com/ebaycashback.html

With Rebates, you are looking at $378. Considering they retail for $650 and they are a steal at that price, I wouldn't go any other way.

If you are looking for surround sound, I'd suggest getting the PC350 and a pair of P252s (considering stands alone cost $100 for a pair, go with the floorstanders)

Remember, driver matching is important. Imagine you have headphones, and one speaker is Denon and the other is Sennheiser. It would sound funny, right? That's the same with your home theater.

You didn't mention if you were only doing 2 channel stereo or full surround sound with rear speakers. If you are doing surround sound with rear speakers then all the speakers should be the same so that they can match in timbre. I can't really recommend anything without knowing the dimensions and furnishings of the room or whether you have carpet or hard floors. Room acoustics as well as speaker placement play a major role in the final sound. More than the actual speakers themselves. Also the type of music that you listen to if you plan on listening to music through those same speakers. Assuming that one uses a dedicated subwoofer, I always recommend to use nothing smaller than a 4" driver for main speakers. This is so the main speaker can get down to at least 100hz in frequency which is around the highest that you want a sub to play in order to not become localizeable and draw unwanted attention to itself thus ruining the system's imaging. In my opinion a 6 1/2" driver is ideal for the best transition from subbass to midbass. A good 6 1/2" will get down to roughly 50hz which means a lower crossover point for the sub. If you don't plan on using a dedicated subwoofer and given the power you will be driving the speakers with then I recommend at least a pair of speakers that have 8" woofers. 10" would go lower and have more impact. 12" even more if you don't mind big speakers. If you really want the best bang for your buck then you should consider buying used speakers. You can get a MUCH higher quality speaker for pennies on the dollar. New speakers always have to be broken in for hours anyways before they operate at their full potential. So a used set will already be broken in. For $300 you should be able to get some really good speakers. I recently bought an excellent pair of Klipsch KG 3.5 speakers for $135 through craigslist. They are a two way 8" floorstanding model made from '94-'97. A new comparable model would have costed well over $600 for the pair. When looking for used speakers I tend to stay away from models with foam surrounds on the woofers as these last roughly 10 years before they suffer foam rot. Look for rubber surrounds or treated cloth instead. Also only buy a speaker that is made in the U.S.A., Europe, or Japan. Period. Regardless of the brand. Check the speaker carefully to make sure where it's made. Quality speakers are only made in these three parts of the world. Bose is one brand that I never recommend. Good luck.

Check out HSU Research, mostly known for their Subs (I own one), they have a well reviewed bookshelf speaker currently on sale for under $300 a pair. AV123 makes some good stuff, if you can find them in-stock. Also check out Emotiva's ERM's, a little pricier but they make great gear, I own several pieces, 2 amps, 2 cd players and an HT processor. You will need a sub for most any bookshelf speaker though.

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/hb-1.html

http://emotiva.com/erm62.shtm

I would try buying the Sony STR-DG510. It has lots of inputs and outputs so it can be used for almost anything. It should be powerful enough to run your record player and speakers. It is priced at $200. You can also take a step up and get the Sony STR-DG710. It is priced at $310. For the money you get 130 watts more and 6.1 channel surround sound instead of 5.1 channel surround sound and a few more inputs and outputs.