Excellent bass and highs great all around speaker

none so far and I don't think I will find any!!!

I love these speakers. The sound is incredible for a small speaker. I bought them as my main speakers to start until I was able to buy some other speakers for my mains. The bass responce was surprising and I wish thay would still make them. The main speakers that I bought were the exl:25's They are awsome!

Soundstage, transparency detail. At 93db I would love to hear them with tubes!

Speaker placment, and a slight tendency towards brightness.

Wow, Wayne that is tough it seems as though this might have been your first speaker purchase. I have been using the the XL16s for a few years now. First, as surround speakers and more recently they have graduated to stand alone in the den. On their own they absolutly sing. The transparancy is wild, sometimes it feels like they disappear in the room. Detail is great, although they can be a bit fatiguing in close quarters. They have quickly become my new favourites for jazz, putting my XL25s to shame in terms of soundstage and openness. They don't quit have the same punch as the XL25s, but consider the cabinet size, and I suspect rear ports will tend to fill a room with bass rather than punch you in the gut. Overall they have been a joy both as mains and surrounds. On the bright side Wayne, you have a great start, find yourself some nice stands and I think your opinion will quickly change about these speakers.

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eXL 25s and XLC in an HT setup. Now with, Cambridge Audio A500 Yammy CDC-575

My friend has these and they sound smooth and precise when used as intended. Good bang-for-the-buck.

Treble can sound a bit rolled-off at times, but still very nice.

Wayne, you are a total and complete idiot. These are standmount speakers. No speaker will sound good on a bookshelf. Put 'em on stands where they belong, 15" (or more) from a corner and the mid-bass hump will go away. Learn how to correctly use a product before bashing it, please.

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Mission M72 and Infinity RS2000.3

Quality of Componants and low distortion at high volume levels. Great in your face horn sounds.

Boomy in upper base masks good qualities of speaker when this frequency occurs in musical passage. Sweet spot is very narrow. Manufactures recommendation for best sound quality is 15-inch from wall...not a book shelf or hang on the wall speaker.

The simple things must be done correctly first. Bad marks because the speaker designer failed to do the simple thing first: build a speaker with a flat response curve. The e:XL-16 has an annoying loud frequency hump that make kettledrums sound boomy and unrealistic. This hump masks other frequencies that make the speaker sound unnatural and dull. The frequency is in the range where if you want to boost the sub-base with tone controls, it is also boosted. Taking 4-6 dB off of the base modifies the hump to be acceptable but kills the sub-base. My mistake is that I did not negotiate with the store a money back return policy (yes I would gladly return these speakers.) This is necessary, as the listing conditions in most stores are very poor for low-end speakers. I had a policy that I also ignored, walk away and come back another day. Other bad marks for the e:XL-16 is that it was bought for a book-shelf speaker but the manufacture recommends it being set up 15-inches from the wall (they are rear ported) and not in a corner. The problem is that every bookshelf has corners. To set up 15-inches from the wall Energy has ugly expensive metal stands. This money can be more wisely spent to improve the sound quality. The e:XL-16 have a very narrow sweet sound listening position thus it is difficult to set for home theater as well as music listening. I could have avoided this mistake by walking away, looking up the manufactures web site, getting and studying the literature. Also by studying this website. Good marks must be given for quality of sound, when the boom is not overshadowing it. There is some solid sub-base that stays together at fairly high volumes. Horns including Tubas sound great. My e:XL-16 are for away from home use. At home I have had Walsh Ohm 4 which disperses the sound through 360 degrees. Thus I am enjoying the in-your-face projection of horns from the e:XL-16. If Energy could get rid of the boominess, the sub base could be increased with the tone control and these would be one fantastic pair of speakers for the size and price.

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Ohm Walsh 4

warmth, control, detail, bass (for such small speakers)

NZ$ exchange rate (450$US) gotta haggle with the shop ;) since the eXL-160's are out.

**Am only demo'ing these (99% will buy). Due to current living conditions (flatmates I dont trust) my Veritas 1.8's have been boxed up and for the last few months have listened to NO cd's :( Went into my local HIFI shop and mentioned i wanted some bookshelf speakers for my bedroom. Without taking any CD's with me or taking them home, i instantly recognised the incredible "Energy" emotion. Thankfully these will end up as rears for my HT when i find better flatmates :)

After reading all reviews, I decided to get these speakers. I am very happy. I got these speakers a week before Energy release the new Connoisseur Series. I don''t know how much better the new series are going to be. I am happy with what I have now. I am waiting on e:xl 15 and e:xl C to complete my home theatre set.

Clarity, Imaging, Price

None

I have had these speakers for about a year and a half. These are great sounding speakers in a small package. The imaging and clarity is excellent. I believe they will be discontinued soon so try and grab a pair before they are all gone.

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most competitors

Great sound and value

Bass didn't blow me away, by themselves

These are good speakers by themselves. But when I added the matching 10" Energy subwoofer & e:XL-C center speaker, they became a fantastic home theater setup. I'm a fan of explosions that rattle the windows and make your gums ache, so the subwoofer was a necessity for me. This setup might not be on the level of the big floorstanding units, but I'm extremely pleased with it and I'd recommend you listen to these before purchasing any comparable speakers.

Clear, room filling sound. Size and looks are a plus

lacks the low mid-range of towers

I recently purchased a home theatre set up that consists of:
Energy eXL-C2 Center channel (Review Page Not Made Yet?)
Energy eXL-16 For my fronts
Energy eXL 15 For surrounds
Klipsch KSW 12" Subwoofer
Denon APR 1800 Receiver
Sony S330 DVD Player

I'm more than satisfied with my set up. I debated at first on whether to get the eXL 16's or 26's. For the value, I decided on the 16's, they are hundereds less and I can use them as my surrounds when I decide on buying tower speakers.

The 16's, along with the C2 and 15's, sounded bright at first. After a few weeks of playback, the sounded much warmer to my liking.

The Denon APR 1800 is the best receiver for under $600. I thought about purchasing the Sony DB930 but was told by Magnolia Hi-fi and Good Guy audio experts that the Denon receiver is a higher quality receiver. It really came down to whether I wanted a surplus of options and a fancier look with the Sony or the clean sound and image of the Denon. I chose the Denon because of their fine reputation even though I had all Sony components (CD, DVD, Mini-disc).

As far as my subwoofer goes, the Klipsch is great. It produces so much clean tight bass. My only negative comment would be that since I live in an apartment, I can't use it to it's full potential. I would highly suggest this sub over the eXL 10" at the same price. The eXL 12" is nice, but the extra $250 isn't.

I spent countless hours researching what home theatre set up I wanted. I am more than pleased with what I have in the living room now.

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Sony, Bose

Price, crisp highs

Hard to find - see review

I bought two pairs of these from Audioshop in Canada a few months back. I originally intended to use them in my studio - a big concrete and glass space. I ended up using one pair there and bringing one home - I love em! In fact, last week I called Marc up at Audioshop to order a pair of xl25's, an xl-c, and the xl8 sub only to find out that ENERGY WILL NOW NOT ALLOW AUDIOSHOP TO SELL THEIR PRODUCTS TO CUSTOMERS IN THE US! I was shocked! Now I have to go pay full retail at Harveys. Damn! Anybody know where to get these for a more reasonable price?

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