Dayton speaker kit or JBL Arena Venue

[LilBassGuy 10+ year member]

Hey guys

I am looking to build a small speaker system for my apartment home theater. I am getting a basic 100W per channel stereo receiver, and I need to buy some mains. I am trying to choose between

the JBL Venue Arena bookshelf speakers

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4103972&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.JBL+VENARENA

OR

the partsexpress.com Dayton two way monitor kit

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-640&dotd=110207&orefer=dotd&orefer=dotd

Both are within my price range, and I know how to put a speaker kit together. My question is, which do you think would sound better? Who has heard either of these speakers, and what is your opinion?

Please, no suggestions to pick a different project and what not. I do not have the tools necessary to cut baffles and build boxes and countersink the drivers. That is why I either want to use the Dayton kit, where enclosure construction is already done, or buy the JBLs which are already built anyway.

Note: I plan on adding a subwoofer very soon, so low frequency extension should not be too much of a factor.

Thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[LilBassGuy 10+ year member]

My apologies. This should go in the Home Audio section, and I did not even think about it.

Sorry //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Linky no workey for the JBL...

Honestly I would go with the Dayton. Their product has amazing quality for the price.

 

[LilBassGuy 10+ year member]

Well I took your advice, ordered a pair of the dayton speakers. Made a mistake though, forgot to get the shielded version, so now I gotta be extra careful not to get it too close to my TV.

I will post back a short review once I get em built.

Thanks

LB

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I really have never had an issue unless I set the speaker directly on the television...

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Linky no workey for the JBL...
Honestly I would go with the Dayton. Their product has amazing quality for the price.

+1 Excellent quality drivers...

 

[brandontw 10+ year member]

nice purchase, you'll probably be happy with them.

I was also going to recommend Athena AS-B1.2's or Infinity Primus 150's for anybody looking for some decent budget bookshelves

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

+1 Excellent quality drivers...

Indeed...

Dayton some how builds drivers that will easily compete with drivers twice the money.

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Indeed...
Dayton some how builds drivers that will easily compete with drivers twice the money.

I have one of their 25 dollar DVC classic subwoofers, when I received it I was blown away by the quality, best 25 bucks ever //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif Their tweeter selection is especially good, with quality tweeters ranging from 5 dollars up //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I have just been blown away by the RS mid/midbass series drivers...

 

[LilBassGuy 10+ year member]

Well I got some packages in the mail today. It was the Dayton BR1 kit and the 8 inch powered dayton subwoofer I ordered. The BR1s looked great, everything was there, nothing damaged during shipping.

However, the corner of the Dayton powered sub enclosure is banged up a bit, plus one of the ports was knocked loose inside the box. I took out the sub, reset/reglued the port into place, and gave it a listen anyways. Sounds fine, so I am reluctant to send it back.

Will post back a few build log pics and final setup pics once I have time to work on them. I oughta take a day off of work just to build them and tweak the sound. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Fast1one 10+ year member]

Most likely the shipping company that messed up on the damaged sub...

Pics?