Please compare Rocket 450's in <$600 range

[NCDave]

Hi guys,

I know this might be a little below your preference, but I was wondering what opinions there were for other speakers in the price range of the Rocket 450's (<$600/pr). Talking towers right now.

I listened to 450's (and for comparison, 760's but not 850's) over at 45minaudio's shop last night. I was very impressed with the 450's. Very full sound, detailed, really nice midrange, highs not at all harsh. Not too fond of the 760's. Little heavy on the low end. 450's seemed more refined.

I have ELT-1's right now with their center and surrounds. I don't want to change out the whole set. Rocket's Bigfoot is just too big in a center. With another brand, I would probably eventually change the center to match the L/R, but would keep the surrounds. With the Rockets, I would keep the ELT center. Mine are in two shades of rosewood (got them on clearance at AV123 and didn't have a choice). Would be nice to get something like rosewood or similar shade of woodgrain.

What recommendations do you have? If not many good choices in this range, I think I would be very happy with the 450s.

Thanks!

[Eric D]

I don't have a comparison for you - I settled on Rockets quite a few years back. So I looked in here, and have a couple of other thoughts.

Maybe you can ask to bring your ELT center over to his place to see if you like how it plays with the 450s, and if that works well then you have your decision. It would also allows you to make a direct comparison of the 450s to something you listen to every day (as well as how the finishes go together).

If you go off chasing different sounds with different speakers, your budget is going to quickly get blown if you find something else you like and then have to replace the whole set. I'm not saying, "don't do it." , just trying to add a little dose of reality to the fun of new speaker shopping.

take care,

P.S. FWIW, I do think the 450s are one of the two sweet spots for Rocket Mains - the other being the 850s. A 450/ ELT center front end sounds very nice to me at first thinking.

The one other thought would be to see if you can find a pair of the ELT525 Towers - they also have a rosewood finish. I don't know that I've heard anyone's opinion on how they would go with the old ELT center, but it's probably out there somewhere.

[nova]

I'd also suggest the ELT525T, most likely it will be a better timbre match to your current speakers. Sorry I cannot offer much else, I have never heard any of the ELT's, Rockets or Onix speakers. The ELT525T is a bit over your budget at $699 but I'm sure you can catch them on sale, seems like AV123 has some pretty good sales throughout the year.

[NCDave]

Thanks guys. Actually, 46minaudio DID try to get me to bring over my ELT's for comparison, and I was considering it, but they are attached to the PBS with that white, sticky putty from 3M and I was not too keen on pulling it apart (and putting it back together afterwards). Maybe I should have, because I could have maybe tried to figure out if they would be an ok match with the existing ELT center. Oh, I could have brought the center. Duh. Well, maybe I'll stop by again.

However, when I sat down and heard the Rockets (and not loud, either), the difference between them and the ELTs was immediately noticeable. No comparison, really. We played some of his stuff and some of mine which I was familiar with. You know, I can't remember how things sound after hearing them. There has to be a huge difference for me to notice unless side by side, so there you go. I was thinking I would be saying "Well...it's hard to tell..." But there was none of that for sure.

I hear ya about spiraling costs, replacing other speakers in the setup after these. Not wanting that, for sure.

I think if I'm going to change from the ELT-1's, I'm not going to be interested in going to the new ELT525 towers. (Although 46minaudio mentioned he might get some ELT525's in and then I could listen vs. 450s.) I actually don't expect much difference between the ELT525T's and my existing ELT-1 w/PBS. The specs on mine are better, IMO. They are all good speakers, especially for what I paid, but I was looking for a fuller sound, and geez, those 450's sounded so nice.

And he had the XLS there, too. I'm not too fond of the overall shape of that speaker but it looked better in person. Didn't get a chance to listen to it. He likes them, though. Not going to change out everything, though, so no point on that one.