Monitorman

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Online

Summary:
Spirits have been well reviewed here as well as in "The Audio Critic" and other magazines. My only addition to all the other comments is that the speaker has a METAL DOME tweeter by Dynaudio, not a soft dome as commented on by others. At least MY pair came that way and the reviews I seen state same. 4-Star review only because some (much more expensive) speakers surpass this one. None in it's class, however IMHO.

Strengths:
Great cherry finish on the box. Strong box, well damped and vented according to ACI's a-periodic regime (suffed-up small ports).Grille can be removed for slight increase in output in the treble. Grille frame cleverly chamfered to reduce diffraction. Whole musical spectrum well represented with no peaks or dips noted. EXCELLENT imaging for a floor-stander. Speakers are mirror-imaged.

Weaknesses:
Not factory made anymore. Even at full price easily worth 2 to 3 times as much.

Similar Products Used:
Fried, SPICA, Rogers, QUAD, etc...

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from hollywood store

Summary:
that speaker is the best speaker i ever listen
very good speaker for rock music.big sound for big rooms

Strengths:
good bass and mid,great sound

Weaknesses:
not too good looking

Summary:
The ACI Spirits may be among the best buys in audio. Currently available only as a kit, the Spirits feature a column ported-vent design with a 10-in. woofer and 1-in. soft dome tweeter. These speakers often serve as backup monitors in a semipro recording studio, holding their own in terms of imaging with a much more expensive pair of Theil monitors. The Spirits offer a wonderfully realistic soundstage with excellent imaging. The midrange and high end are extremely flat (within about 2 dB) out past 18 kHz. It is only in the extreme low end that listeners will find any fault with the Spirits, and this can easily be augmented with a decent subwoofer.

Strengths:
Tremendous balance, with almost recording-studio-grade flatness across a wide audio range. The speakers occupy a fairly small footprint for ease of placement, yet offer superb imaging and clarity of midrange and high sounds.

Weaknesses:
The only weakness of note is a lack of truly deep base (below about 40 Hz), although this can easily be rectified by the addition of a passive or powered subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:
Ohm Walsh speakers, Theil monitors, AR-3a full-range speakers.

Summary:
I purchased the sprits about 3 yrs ago, At that time ACI was selling them finished for about 600.00 I listened to alot of speakers before I purchased them. Speakers that costed up 1000.00 and still I think that they are the best speaker for the money. I love the rich musical sound the produce. Good soundstage and over pleaseing quality. I will never sell them. I wont claim that they are the best speaker in the world but they are certainly for what they cost one of the best.

Summary:
I have just buily these speakers from a kit, and I must say that the sound has in every way met my expectations. While I was building them, I thought many times of how good they will sound but always temepered my enthusiasm with reason, saying to myself, they will sound pretty good, but lets be reasonable, this is a $229 kit! Well there is no need to be reasonable. Highs are silky smooth at any volume and bass is as tightly defined as any I've heard, also it extends quite low, in fact these speakers easily outperform my other system of NHT SuperZeroes with a SWP2I sub in every way. I can't say enough good things about them. The stereo imaging is phenomenal, I can hear panning and other effects previously only noticeable with headphones. I can't say enough good things about these speakers or this company.