jvc's wood-cone speakers
 

has anyone gotten a chance to listen to these?? They just came out last month and I'm thinking about getting them, except that they're a bit pricy (450-499) and I don't know if I'll get a chance to listen to them in a store since I don't live near any large cities that would actually carry them. So, has anybody gotten a chance to listen to them? If so, are they worth the money? Thanks.

I haven't heard these, nor do I have any interest in doing so. I'll leave speakers to those that specialize in it.

What Brandon here is trying to say is that JVC isn't especially known for their speakers, or even the quality audio, barring their surround recievers which are passable. I remember hearing about the wood cones, and they seemed like a gimic to me. Cone's need to be as stiff and as light as possible. And they are using some novel process to make them.

Those jvc's come in a little "executive" desktop system. That desktop system seems like just a gimic to compete with teac systems (kevlar cones). If you really want it, demo it beforehand. Compare it to TEAC, Denon, and Sony systems, maybe even a Tivoli, and see which one you like. I personally would rather get Acoustic Energy Aego's and a quality cd player off ebay for half the cost, but that's just me and I can't say for sure without hearing those.

that's the problem. I won't get a chance to demo it or compare it to others. I know JVC isn't that great, but I thought they might've actually done something decent with this. I don't think i'm gonna get it though now. It's more expensive than what I want to pay anyway.

So then, what would be a good bookshelf system (just 2 speakers and cd player with nice features) for around $300? Also, this is going to be in a very small room so it doesn't need to be too powerful. I looked around awhile at the brands you mentioned, but I'm pretty new to this and don't really know what's good and what's not.

Well if you want dirt cheap and simple, for awhile TEAC had a great system for the price, with 3 cd changer, multiple inputs and outputs, and nice little 2 way, kevlar cone desktop speakers. It was at costco for about $150.

If you have a chance, check out the acoustic energy aego 2 speaker system. It's a little set of 2 multimedia speakers and a sub (think computer speakers) and it's simply the best sounding system I've ever heard. And completely unobtrusive. Buy a separate cd player, plug it in and it sounds amazing. Those are being clearanced though, so you might have trouble finding them, except for full price ($500 or so).