dragonwhipstail

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Ebay

Summary:
After all these years, this system is still the one to beat. It's strength is in the imaging dept. It picks up every little sound from a movie or audio soundtrack. Watching the Transformer DVD was a treat because everything was clear and present. It really pulled me in. The sound stage was big for such a small system. It is my reference system in my 13x18 ft family room and they are powered by an Integra DTR 7.1 THX receiver. Sure you can use a less expensive receiver but I wanted the most out of this system and it delivers. Also at 88 dB sensitivity, it was a good choice to use a receiver with a little more power. The ES-8 sub is very musical and starts and stops quickly. This makes for a great home theater experience because there is no overhang. The only down fall is that the sub does not go low enough for me which is remedied by a second sub that is more powerful and crossed over at 50hz. The ES-8 is crossed at 120hz. This system can be bought for a very good deal on Ebay so a second sub would be feasible. If you don't have this system, get it. Sell your other small system and replace it with this one. The Energy Take 5 is the system that should be passed on from generation to generation.

Strengths:
Imaging, cohesive sound between all speakers, sub and satellites blend well,
big sound stage for a small system

Weaknesses:
Low end but can be resolved by adding second more powerful sub.

Similar Products Used:
M&K, Polk Audio, Bose, Paradigm, Klipsch

Price Paid:  $225.00 from Ebay

Summary:
as a 19 year old, my budget is kind of low. I had been running a sony 200watt 2 channel amp with a pair of bose 161s. they were great and sounded, to me pretty good. I received the energy s8.2 sub as a gift a couple months later, and my home theater was shaping up. for two years now, i had been eying the energy take system and hoping to upgrade my speakers to match my sub.

finally the time came I shopped around online and found a decent amp, because there's no way my "hi-fi" sony amp would handle these prestigeous speakers. I found a 1988 onkyo 909sv. retail $2700.00 in '88(w/inflation about $4650.00 today) I got this perfect visual and working condition 7.1 channel amp for 186.00 w/shipping. pumping 270 watts of <0.02%THD sound per channel.

that night i found a set of the 5 speakers, with four stands for $225. i bought it, and when my amp came i hooked my bose up to it, and discovered what a difference a very expensive amp made. at this point i was worried that the energy wouldn't be needed...just the new amp w/ bose. two days later when my speakers finally came I witnessed the richest fullest and clearest sound I have ever in a small set up. this system blew my mind. I had no idea that such sound and power could come of such a small box.

I am 100% satisfied and glad that i ordered my speakers before testing out the amp, otherwise i would have just settled with an onkyo amp and my bose 161s

Strengths:
response range
power
quality
low distortion

Weaknesses:
None

Price Paid:  $50.00 from Thrift Store

Summary:
Love these speakers. I have owned so many sets of speakers in the last 5 years I can't count them. I ran accross these at a thriftstore for $50 and didn't expect much from such a small speaker although they are pretty heavy for their size. I have 4 Take 2's a Take 1 center and ES-8 Sub. 1 word WOW these are the best small speakers I have ever heard. I've had al of the good brands like Polk, Klipsch, Paradigm etc and these are the best for home theater I have ever had. I've had much better for music like the Klipsch KG4's these replaced but even those could not hold a candle to these in a movie. I've seen these selling for $150 on ebay. I'd say if you can get a set of these for less than $200 than you are going to buy the last set of speakers you will ever need. My living room is very large and these fill it just fine.

Simply amazing for their small size.

Strengths:
Very crisp highs. Small size. Wife friendly.

Weaknesses:
The PS8 is a little weak in my large living room. I'd suggest getting a 12".

Price Paid:  $950.00 from Dubai

Summary:
What can anyone say after all the reviews? I bought Take 5.1's on the strength of the postings here about 2 years ago and am as delighted with them today as I was at purchase, if not more so considering the listening pleasure they continuously provide. A fantastic product at the price and no intention to upgrade for years. I bought them in Dubai at V V Sons in a package with a Sherwood DVD VD4106R and AV Rx RVD8090RDS for about 950 US all in, plus a later addition of a good sub connection and a Crisp programmable multi remote (also excellent). This set-up may not be up to the high spec of some outfits mentioned here but I find value for money excellent, with no complaints. Both DVD's and CD's are superb, with DVD's in DD or DTS and CD's in Stereo, which sounds a little more spacious. In Oman we have a v. large lounge and find the 8" sub more than enough connected active on 90 LP and vol. 7. There is perhaps a small weakness in mid range, but nothing much, and the finish is tremendous. Even my wife thinks it looks good as it is smart yet unobtrusive.

Strengths:
Excellent sound and appearance. Beautiful piano black finish and good stands.

Weaknesses:
None worth mentioning for the price.

Similar Products Used:
None - first time HT buy based on comments on this site!

Price Paid:  $750.00

Summary:
I was stunned when I heard these tiny speakers reproducing a big sound stage in the showroom with incredible dispersion, clear highs and surprisingly strong lows from the e:XL S-8 sub it's paried with in the Take 5+1 package. Than I saw the price...Sold! For those of you with a 6.1 Receiver, you can still buy the Take 1 Centre Channel seperately from Energy if you know a good dealer (extra centre channel is included in the purchase price above in $CDN). I've been with Energy from the beginning, I still own the original Pro22 Reference speakers I purchased as a teenager (The Mirage M1's were a bit out of my reach at the time). The wife wouldn't have towers all over the living room, so a satellite system was the only way to go. The Take 5.2 system looks better, but I didn't hear enough difference to justify the premium. Besides, the Take 5+1 can be wall mounted with a standard picture hook. How easy is that! More than enough for most home theatre listeners and when you consider the price they're in a class all their own. Do yourself a favour, save your time and money and buy an API product (Energy or Mirage).

Strengths:
Price, size, flexibility, sound stage, dispersion, accuracy and will make the wife happy.

Weaknesses:
More choice of cabinet finishes would be nice.