Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I have had these speakers now for 2 years,for home theater I would rate these a 5.0 for sacd music 4.0 I recently purchased a rotel rb993 amp to hopefully get better sound for music listening and dont know how movies could get better.Awsome speaker,and for the price it is the best I have listened to.

Strengths:
Home theater,WOW.

Weaknesses:
Music

Price Paid:  $1248.00 from MAGNOLIA A/V

Summary:
I HAD LISTENED TO THESE SOME TIME AGO AND WAS NOT OVERLY IMPRESSED. ADDITIONALLY, THE SALEPERSON DID NOT RECOMEND THEM. SO YOU ASK WHY I RECENTLY PURCHASED THEM ANYWAY. WELL, THE PRICE WAS RIGHT. FIRST, THEY WERE ON CLOSEOUT, NEW IN THE BOX, AND IN CHERRY. SECOND, ALL OF THE REVIEWS COULD NOT BE WRONG. I WAS ABLE TO SET THESE UP QUICKLY AND HAD THEM POSITIONED WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT FOR IDEAL LISTENING. MY ROOM IS 21 X 17. I NEW IT WOULD TAKE SOME TIME TO BREAK THESE IN, BUT THE INITIAL HOME AUDITION HAD ME WONDERING IF I HAD MADE A BIG MISTAKE! I DECIDED TO READ THE MANUAL!!! I FOLLOWED THE MANUALS ADVICE AND RAN A PAIR OF RCA OUTS FROM THE PREOUTS ON MY AMP TO THE FULL RANGE LOW FREQUENCY INPUT ON THE SPEAKERS. NEXT I REMOVED ALL OF THE JUMPERS AND RAN A BIWIRE SET OF SPEAKER CABLES TO THE MID/HI FREQUENCY INPUTS AND STARTED OVER. THE DIFFERENCE IS NIGHT AND DAY. THESE SPEAKERS THRIVE IN THIS SETUP AS RECOMMENDED BY THE MANUAL. THE SOUND IS VERY DETAILED, FULL, AND SPACIAL. I HAVE RUN THESE FOR OVER 100 HOURS AND THE TWEETERS ARE ACTUALLY ON THE SWEET SIDE. SOME ADDITIONAL RESEARCH HAS REVEALED THAT THE ACTUAL BREAKIN TIME FOR THESE IS OVER 200HRS. I AM RUNNING THESE STRICTLY AS A 2 CHANNEL SETUP FOR NOW. THEY ARE MATED WITH A MUSICAL FIDELITY A308, SONY SCD-XA9000ES, AUDIOQUEST GIBRALTAR SPEAKER CABLES AND AUDIOQUEST CORAL INTERCONNECTS.

Strengths:
IN THE ABOVE LISTED CONFIGURATION, THE BASS IS FAST AND DETAILED, WONDERFUL IMAGING, SUPERB DETAIL.

Weaknesses:
VERY LONG BREAK IN PERIOD. AT 100LBS, DIFICULT TO POSITION WITHOUT ASSISTANCE.

Similar Products Used:
MONITOR AUDIO GR60, BOSTON VR965, EPOS ES22, PROAC STUDIO 125, SPENDOR E9S.

Price Paid:  $1450.00 from Audiogon.com (Used)

Summary:
I have wanted to purchase these speakers for 3 years and I finally got the chance. I purchased them used online. And just as I remembered they are awesome! The imaging of the left and right is incredible. If you are looking for a well defined, well built speaker for both music and HT these are the speakers.

The built in subs allow them to sound like speakers of much greater cost.
If there is a weakness, it's in the fact that placement is critical to good listening. They need to be able to reflect for the bipolar design.

On a final note, these speaker like power. Make sure you drive them witha quality high end receiver or even better a seperate amplifier.

My system:
Onkyo Receiver
Def Tech CLR 2002 Center
Klipsh In Wall Surrounds
Toshiba DVD
Samsung HDTV receiver
Mitsubishi 55" HDTV

Strengths:
Sound for music and HT. Sleek look.

Weaknesses:
Time required for setup and placement. Easily toppled.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $1999.00 from StereoExchange

Summary:
After owning these speakers for about two years, I am really impressed iwth how good they are. I had started questioning them but realized that othe weak links in the system can cloud your judgement. I repalced by sony ES receiver with a rotel 1095 five channel amp and immediately realized that I need to upgrade my comonents to get optimal sound from these guys. They need quality componet to really shine and the amp is the only thing I changed. I will upgrade to the Rotel 1066 or 1098 pre/pro and only expect things to get better.

Strengths:
soundstaging, imaging, dynamics, clarity.
Prodigius bass

Weaknesses:
Heavy, can tip if not grounded well

Price Paid:  $0.00 from audiocraft

Summary:
I have to say that after living with theese speakers for 3+ years and having them in 3 different rooms that they are very good at reproducing both ht AND music if properly set up. I had them in a small room and frankly they sounded confined. I now have them in a 11x16 room, 6 feet apart, slightly toed in, 18 inches from the rear wall and tri-wired. I ran a seprate rce line from my pre amp to the full frequency imput and 12 ga canare cable to the mids and seperate 12 ga to the tweeters. This configuration works very well. They are being fed by a yamaha rx-v2095 which has enough clean opwer for the room they are in. Listening to the Corrs version of little wing brings out the many layers of this song. The vocals seem to be coming from the c/l/r 2300 center channel in stereo mode. I actually got up to make sure it wasnt on . It is easy to pick out the harp and flute as well. They also perform on movie soundtracks as well.They can be subtle when called on but pack a punch when needed as well. They are well worth an audition. I listened to some other prominent manufactors systems as well but thought they performed the best for the money all around.

Strengths:
Full, open soundstage. Bi-polar configuration really opens up the room.

Weaknesses:
Tip over easily. Can be a challange to set up for the best possible sound,(if you consider that a weakness)

Similar Products Used:
paradigm, b&w, pinnacle, klipsch, jbl