Great bass in a small speaker, very smooth without irritation. Images well, no listener fatigue and built very well for the price. Haven't enjoyed abookshelf speaker this much since I sold my Royd Envoys!

None, I thought the spring clips would be an issue but they accepted standard banana plugs very well.

I needed a super compact speaker to mate with my KINGREX Class T amp in the bedroom. Space was limited. I remembered purchasing Ed's crossover for a pair of standard Bic 52's I had so I emailed him about the Adatto's the small indoor/outdoor version of the 52's. Ed had them at my front door within a week of recieving my payment.

Ed has done an exceptional job modifiying this speaker, I had been using my Classic Pyramid Met 7's with the T-Rex and it sounded great however, with the Pyramids trio's that featured a bass player lacked somewthing. It was almost as if the bass player didn't exist on some tracks. These Adatto's certainly fixed that.! After hooking them up using Zebra cable (the spring clips on the Adatto's actually accepted the banana plugs on the cables)

I put the speaker through a battery of different jazz recordings. I chose Sonny Rollins "a Night in Tunisha" and Kenny Burrell's "Midnight Blue" because these works are very revealing of poor bass. With the BIC's each sounded well rounded and clean, not boomy or flat like a speaker with such a small woofer should.

I also listened to tunes by the Bobby Battle Quartet, Vincent Herring andPat Martino, I chose these selections because they are favorites of mine and aren't your standard well known classics. "Impressions" by Pat Martino was amazing, it sounded clean but with a smoothness to it that $160.00 speakers shouldn't have. Herrings "Sound Check' showed the little Bic's could handle the alto and soprano sax without causing listener fatigue. .

I also played several vocal tracks through the Adatto's. Nat King Cole's "After Midnight Sessions" is a recording that I don't think any speaker could screw up. it is such a great recording I played it not to test the speakers but because I just felt like it. The Bic's didn't disappoint, they handled each track as if they were full sized speakers.

I returned to my demonstration with several male and female vocalist. I definately wanted to be sure the midrange didn;t make the singer sound like they were in a phone booth. Pamela Luss' version of "Our Day Will Come" is one of my favorite songs as is Claire Martins "the Keys to your Ferrari" the little Bic's were again up to the task. The vocals were remarkable coming from a speaker with such a small footprint. Julie London's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy' is a 50's recording that sounded clean and didn't have any of the fatigue that some poorly recorded 50's tracks can bring about. Finally I wrapped the marathon session of listening up with Bobby Darin's "Blue Skies," "Fly Me to the Moon" and a few cuts from Dean Martin (just because he was so darn cool!). There were several other tracks mixed in with these but I highlighted the ones that best demonstrated the ability of the Bic's. Throughout my listening at no time did I feel like Bic's couldn't keep up with the pace of the track or were overpowered by the song most importantly that "listener fatigue" that you hear about in many speakers just wasn't there.

For listeners like me that need a small speaker for the bedroom that won't make you long to be in front of your main system, the BIC's and the KingRex are a wonderful combination. Ed's modified version is a must, for all the work he puts into improving the speaker, the price is extremely reasonable. Before I decided on his speaker I was considering the JOHN BLUE3's at $350.00 and the ROLE KAYAH at $495.00 I'm so glad that I gave this speaker a try before plunking down more cash. By the way another thing to consider is the WAF, my wife likes the modern look of the Adatto's .

I recommend this speaker to anyone seeking a small speaker that is easy to drive, durable and sounds great. WHen I'm in need of a pair of bookshelf speaker to add into my main system, I'm sure I'll be purchasing Ed's 62's.

Customer Service

Ed Frias is great to work with, he was very patient and answered all my questions! He does a great job of double boxing.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Axiom, PSB ALpha's, Mission's, Kef''s, AV123 X-ls, Infinity qe, Royd Envoy, Castle,

everything

unheard of name

I purchased these speakers on ebay for a mere 86 dollars. the closest comparison i have to these speakers would be the paradigm cinema 90 speakers that i had and they dont even come close to these. These speakers are so rich and colorful and u can just imagine any music you are listening to.

Similar Products Used:

paradigm cinema 90

incredible value if purchased from uBid

not enough insulation in the enclosure

If you own these speakers do yourself a favor and stuff the enclosure with more insulation and they will sound fantastic. I used some stuffing from an old pillow (very close to the same material BIC uses) and don't know if I blocked the port, but they sound great. Prior to adding more insulation they sounded good, but some mid-bass frequencies sounded muddy. I was playing Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" and the snare drum just didn't sound right. After adding more stuffing it sounds perfect.

Price, Size

Highs are way to high and lacking an the mids, but there is a cheap solution.

I purchased two sets of the BIC addatto 52si from Ubid. I use them with the BIC 52 plus Center and the BIC 1010 powered Sub. I am running them through a Onkyo tx-ds777. When I first hooked them up I was very impressed while wathching movies, but was a little dissapointed when I listened to music. I found after reading reviews of other people on this site about Ed Frias, and a "tweaking" of the cross-over. I sent him the speakers and he worked his magic and to say the least I am very impressed. The highs are not so high and the mids are better. He charges $40.00 per pair, and is very worth it. Ed Frias can be reached (760) 741-6525 or EFESPKRS@AOL.COM

Similar Products Used:

cerwin-vega, bose, pinnacle

size, bass is adequate compared to some other compaect speakers I've heard.

none yet, but I have not tried to play them loud

I originally bought these speakers to use outdoors. Both the KLH 970A and 980B lacked any bass whatsoever, so I thought I'd try these. The dv52 is too good to use outside! I mounted them on the patio gave em a good listen, and decided to use them as surround speakers in the house.

The highs were clear but not bright. The bass was adequate for a speaker this small. They image very well even when new and not mounted for optimum soundstage. I have not yet ventured into surround sound but now that I have these speakers I'll give it a try.

If anyone has any information on the best way to mount these speakers for a surround sound application please email me. Thanks.

Similar Products Used:

KLH 970A, 980B

Easy to mount, good bass extension for size, small and unobtrusive, can be mounted so that drivers point to listening position, come in white or black

Port noise and rattling when driven hard, tweeter clear at low listening levels but piercing at higher levels

I bought these to use as surround sound speakers. They work well in this application, with enough bass extension to reach the 90 Hz active crossover of my AV receiver to the powered sub. I played them with a little music (Dave Mathews, Steely Dan) and they actually did OK by themselves at low listening levels, did well when mated to the sub, but really work best as surround sound speakers.

Bought a second pair from uBid (yet to arrive) to mount on the wall on our bedroom for casual morning listening -- traffic reports, l-i-t-e jazz, etc.

Great value, nice sound when damping material is added

-The treble is overemphasized
-Sounds nasty until you add damping material

I got these speakers from uBid because they're cheap and I needed an extra set. I hooked them up, and they sounded rather nasty. The best way to describe it is "non-musical". I don't mean that in a snobby, $1000-power-cord-buying, audiophile kind of way either, I mean they were downright painful to listen to! Lots of screeching highs and boomy upper bass that drowned out the midrange.

When I first got the speakers, the plastic cabinets would resonate with drums, acoustic guitars, etc. I opened a speaker up and saw one thin layer of a cotton-like material for sound damping. I stuffed one speaker with loose fiberglass insulation, put my receiver in mono mode, and used the balance knob to switch from one speaker to the other. The fiberglass-filled speaker sounded much less boomy; it didn't resonate like the other speaker. So I did the same thing to the other speaker, and they're much more satisfying. They are now well worth the $40 I paid for the pair. The speakers are still better suited to home theater, but now they are quite enjoyable for listening to music too. I recommend them, as long as you make sure to stuff them with cotton or fiberglass batting first!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha sub/sat somputer speakers, Klipsch KG3.5

almost everything, from design to sound quality; astronomical price/performance

too inexpensive, obscured brand name

This review is of DV 52si with modification on cross-overs by Ed Frias, not of the original ones, which can be rated 4/3 if modified ones are rated 5/5. But such a comparison isn't fair and doesn't make sense at all.

Before starting, let me clarify the confusion about the identify of the product being reviewed: BIC DV 52si are small BOOKSHELF speakers, not indoor/outdoor speakers at the top of this page.

Okay, Ed Frias's modification on BIC speakers is just amazing. I can't believe what I got just for as little as $30. The DV 52si got transformed into a completely different animal after the modification. The more I listen to the new DV 52si, the more I love them !!! I can't stop smiling, and can't sleep. Hey, give me a break.

To be honest, I didn't expect so much. But my expectation was greatly betrayed in a good way. I would enthusiastically recommend his x-over modification and modified speakers he is selling to everybody who loves audio AND doesn't have prejudice against "lower priced" audio gear.

To be honest, the modified DV 52si outpeform a number of much more expensive speakers from reputable brands like B&W, Boston Acoustics, Celestion, Dynaudio, Mission, Rega, Sonus Faber, Pathos, Vienna Akustics, and probably others which I haven't auditioned yet. So, why don't you try these marvelous guys, or some other modified speakers that Ed modified, if you consider yourself a real audiophile or audio enthusiast?

Now, it's my pleasure to tell how much I love the DV52si with your x-overs. Let me discuss my likes (and dislikes) in some detail.

In my opinion (and with my audio gear explained later), the sound of the modified DV52si is:

1) EXTREMELY RICH, especially in terms of outstanding nuances with superb imaging. the new speakers beautifully handle acoustic details, especially "overtones" that most other, even pretty expensive, speakers fail to pick up.

I give one fact to support this point. I usually hook TWO pairs of speakers with the amp, making one pair in reserved polarity to play in the reversed phase. My aim is to get richer soundstage that results from this. To my surprise, I didn't feel like doing this to the new DV 52si. They already sound so rich and so natural that they just didn't need such augmentation.

2) UNUSUALLY PLEASANT and SMOOTH (and even tender). I noticed two things related to this point:

3) I HAVE NO TIREDNESS even after a long, intensive listening with a pretty large volume of whatever kind of music.

4) I DON'T FEEL LOUD even if the volume gets pretty large. Actually, it's very hard to keep the volune at low enough at night.

5) If there is something missing (if not wrong) with the new speakers, that would be the LACK OF VERY HIGH RESPONSES. for example, "tzi tzi tzi" of cymbals don't sound so real. I know this "weakness" kind of "compensate" good features like 1) and 2). But I wish I had some more crystal-clear highs in certain kinds of music, if not in all kinds.

6) One more thing to add, if any, would be that the sounds from the modified 52si are very pleasant, but they nevertheless sometimes felt not to be so "tense", even they are feel to be somewhat "watered", sometimes. Some kind of music with "higher strung" may suffer from this.

For your information, let me specify my gear:

speakers: DV 52si with new x-overs
speaker cables: QED Silver anniversary
amplification: Nikko Alpha II (2x100w into 8 ohm)
preamp: Yamaha MVS-1 (purely passive pre)
CD player: Rotel RCD 955AX, Soundstream DAC-1
interconnect: Ixos Bronze twisted pair RCA cables

Sorry, I have already written too long. Maybe, I got too enthusiastic! Thanks again for his marvelous modification. It was really a wonderful experience that I had Ed modify the x-overs and will save hundred bucks to get other speakers to prove they aren't as good as these wonderful guys. I am looking forward to comparing them with Joseph Audio, Jean-Marie Reynaud, Merlin, ProAc, Spendor among others.

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Energy Aegis 3, Cabasse Galiote, Missin 771 (or 771e), 773e, Rega Model 2

Price, looks, easy wall mounting

Rattles with Heavy bass

Bought these to use on the back patio by the pool enclosure. They sound great outside and I can be all the way in the back yard and they sound good. Beats the heck out of a jam box by the pool. Was to bassy with the set up I have for my home theater, but actually, putting the bass at straight up 0 made them sound perfect. Cant imagine a better deal for the purpose.