Best Active Bookshelf Speakers under 15k?

Rezep

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Hi members, my first ever post on this forum and I hope there's many more to come in the future.

TLDR - What's the best bookshelf speakers that I can buy for living room usage with a TV under 15K (tv connected with a pc via hdmi, and from TV RCA output into speakers via rca input)

Long story now :p
My dad had given me a budget of 15k. At first I was going to buy a pair of swan m10 plus ( Saw Z reviews rave about it, albeit he isn't the most objective of reviewers) but found only the swan m10s which are far far too old now and I felt that there must be some better ones out in the market today compared to what was popular on tech forums a decade back.
I start searching around. Eventually spent hours comparing edifiers r1280db, r1700bt and r2000db. I bought the r1280db on amazon only to find out that according to some people, the r1700bt is better for music and considering that my dad won't be purchasing any more speakers or even plan to upgrade this for another 10 years, it had to be worth the value.
I cancelled the r1280db but unfortunately the 1700bt 2nd hand advert that I was going to purchase for 10k was fishy, seller was absolutely paranoid and he wouldn't even give a single day personal guarantee to test it out which probably meant there was some issues with it he was hiding. I'm also waiting on a reply from a person selling a 3 year old r2000db but his responses are very erratic and selling the speakers seems to not even be his 2nd priority.

My requirements :-
Something which is balanced yet fun to listen to, the prior speakers we used to have were artis speakers my dad bought for 2k rupees back in 2008 lol so anything would be impressive (albeit those speakers really had some room shaking thump)
Mid range would be important as my parents listen to a lot of regional gospel music so there's a lot of emphasis on vocals, male voice female voices and choir music. I was planning on buying the edifier m4 as an audiosciencereview forum member said that those were the only ones he woul consider "decent" however due to a lack of volume or bass and most people said that they were more ideal for near field desktop usage, I couldn't consider it. However, anything would be a massive improvement over the TV speakers.
We don't watch movies so there's no requirement for any surround sound setups (at this budget it wouldn't even be possible)
Budget is extemely strict, I cannot go beyond this, the max 15k is only if it's absolute VFM. I understand that a 15k amp + 15k passive speaker (such as micca rb42) would be an excellent choice but I simply cannot.

Living room setup is basically this

Old 42" LG LED TV with no 3.5mm output, only a HDMI and RCA input for video and RCA output for audio
Old Lenovo Thinkcentre used as a sort of family PC for music, streaming, youtube etc
Living room itself isn't big, it's smaller than what an average living room in a city apartment would be

Speakers that I have considered :-
Edifier 1700bt - There was a refurbished one being sold on flipkart for 9k but my gut feeling and news about flipkart terrible customer service thought it woul be best to avoid. Spoke to some dealer in mumbai for a brand new one for 14k but I feel like at that price point it's a bit steep (considering it used to go on sale for 9-10k back in august according to some reddit threads). However if I can find one used it would be great

No clue on other speakers, the r2000db is only one that I've considered for used as it is currently going for 25k (but it used to go for like 13-14k 2 years back?)

Another thing I've noticed is that the distributors have changed or something. DV Technologies in mumbai used to be the distributor but now all the new DB with the sub output (or the S at the end of the model name) are being distributed by a either Nikita Distributors/Extreme Adventure Sports In Pune. So there's another problem on whether the 1 year warranty is guaranteed by the distributor as the 1700bt is not sold by the current importer (that is if I am correct)

Overall, I would really appreciate it if you guys could help suggest any other speakers or if you have a pair of active speakers that are still in good condition, I'll be happy to buy it :)

Thanks in advance!
 
Edit - Well I'm still waiting on mods to approve my post but until then, I have just ordered an edifier mr4 from amazon. It has a 7 day return window (and yes I made sure it was return and not replace) and will test those out as I feel there's no harm in doing so. I also looked into JBL 305s but there's no used listings on olx and just a 1 new unit is my entire budget.
 
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Edit - Well I'm still waiting on mods to approve my post but until then, I have just ordered an edifier mr4 from amazon. It has a 7 day return window (and yes I made sure it was return and not replace) and will test those out as I feel there's no harm in doing so. I also looked into JBL 305s but there's no used listings on olx
 
Edit - Well I'm still waiting on mods to approve my post but until then, I have just ordered an edifier mr4 from amazon. It has a 7 day return window (and yes I made sure it was return and not replace) and will test those out as I feel there's no harm in doing so. I also looked into JBL 305s but there's no used listings on olx and just a 1 new unit is my entire budget.
How are the edifier? Keeping or returning ?

MaSh
 
Apologies, will try and reply to all but you'll probably see this after a mod approves it

i was looking for R1855DB model, contacted Pune distributor
Yes do contact them, but I believe the seller on amazon by the name of Atlantis Shoppe is from them too.
How are the edifier? Keeping or returning ?

MaSh
They are in my opinion pretty good! I'm not good at describing sound that well but the instrument and sound seperation is great,Vocals are clear but honestly the regional songs that my dad listens to, the production quality on those is just not good enough to bring out the nicer qualities on the speakers (compared to western releases). Unfortunately though my dad really wants to feel that thumping bass, I will either have to return these for some generic 2.1 system that has a subwoofer so that his old ears are happy or spend another 10k on an edifier t5 and somehow jugaad it into working.
 
Alright update, I feel like there wouldn't be a better speaker. My dad's old artis 2.1 system seems to still be working (especially the main subwoofer), it's not great but atleast it gives a kick still. I just noticed that there's just a 3.5mm input on the subwoofer so there must be some weird way to connect the subwoofer.
I read this guy's post on the similar thing. However I'm getting confused with all the wiring. Could someone explain it to me how I could potentially make this work for my use case?


In this case I don't have any audio interface. My output is the TV RCA output, what should I do?

Edit - I've seen some suggest to use RCA outs on the subwoofer (in this case the artis does have it) but I believe the RCA output from those would be terrible
 
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Will this work? Wait, why am I even adding an rca to 3.5mm when I can just directly plug 3.5mm in anyways?
 
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I've bought this two. It was far more simple now coming to think of it. The thread that I shared above was far more confusing than it should be. Basically just going to do a y split and share the output for the speakers more or less.
 
Alright update, I feel like there wouldn't be a better speaker. My dad's old artis 2.1 system seems to still be working (especially the main subwoofer), it's not great but atleast it gives a kick still. I just noticed that there's just a 3.5mm input on the subwoofer so there must be some weird way to connect the subwoofer.
I read this guy's post on the similar thing. However I'm getting confused with all the wiring. Could someone explain it to me how I could potentially make this work for my use case?


In this case I don't have any audio interface. My output is the TV RCA output, what should I do?

Edit - I've seen some suggest to use RCA outs on the subwoofer (in this case the artis does have it) but I believe the RCA output from those would be terrible
You are so wrong if you think a mass consumer focused speaker is any good than any of the edifiers you mentioned.

Edifier R1280db was my best and amazing speakers for a long long time.

And R1700bt is regarded as a very significant upgrade over those.

And unfair to say that they are not worth 15k.

Perfect is the enemy of very good.

Listen and trial some speakers before feeling that a 700% more expensive speaker wont be any better
 
I have been using Edifier R1855DB for music in my bedroom. I was happy with it until I built the dedicated home theatre setup and listened to some music with Denon X2600 and Polk ES20 in stereo mode.

That's when I realised that Im clearly missing something with Edifier's. I know it is great for it's price, but it lacks in the mid region. I would say if you can stretch your budget, go for a stereo amp(as simple as Fosi Audio amps costs around 8k) with a good pair of bookshelf speakers.

I'm planning for a bedroom setup with integrated stereo amp and 3 way speakers.

If you are not looking for a hifi system and just want to enhance your TV sound with a strict budget, then go with Edifier's.
 
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