Boardwalk Empire VFX Breakdowns of Season 2 from Brainstorm Digital on Vimeo.

Tip: The Loop

I’ve got a TiVo HD XL with Comcast CableCard hooked to a plasma screen. I got my TiVo upgrade from WeaKnees.com, incidentally.

A friend (who’s a professional audio engineer) told me a few things about speakers and my quest:

• Speakers are localized. U.S. speakers sound different than German, UK and Japanese speakers. Each sounds different and U.S. OEMs tend to emphasize bass.

• Surround sound systems (5.1, 7.1, 9.1) are over-rated and generally are a waste of money. A pair of really good speakers is much better than lots of cheap speakers.

• It’s better to “go old school” and hook up a component amplifier with two quality speakers.

• Most of the big speaker brands (Bose, Infinity, Harmon Kardon, JBL, and their ilk) are contract manufactured abroad. Probably in a factory like this. Not that that’s bad or anything, it’s just that the speakers sound good and not great.

• He recommended that I find a small speaker company that doesn’t contract manufacture abroad, because they try harder and are hungrier. JL Audio appears to make some of their speakers in Miramar Florida.

Based on his advice I’m looking for a really good pair of speakers (ideally less than $500) that are made in the U.S. that I can connect to my amp (a Kenwood KR-V8540).

Any advice?

Update: Here’s a good list of loudspeaker manufacturers from Wikipedia.