Summary: I went into Circuit City to buy the Bose direct-reflecting bookshelf speakers. I figured I'd listen to others, just for the hell of it. The Bose really sucked compared to these. It seems like the Bose were made much cheaper, paper cones, etc. The RS3s were head & shoulders above them. These really have have nice clean bass for the size. The highs are very clear. I had to take one of them back for warrranty work twice. The woofer stopped working completely, 2 times within the 1st year. Circuit City allows you to drop them off at the store for service, so it was really not a big deal except the week without the speaker. I have used them for over 2 years since, no more problems. Still going strong. I use them as the front speakers in my home theater and for music in stereo. You will probably want to add a sub to use these as main stereo speakers, but they are adequate without. A Sub will make them sound excellent. I don't know if I just just got a faulty speaker or the quality is questionable. The Infinity sound is great enough that I'd try them again next time around. I bought these when they first came out, they are much cheaper online now.
Strengths: Size, clarity
Weaknesses: For the price, none other than the repair work needed.
Similar Products Used: Pioneer Floorstanding.
Bose
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Summary: Picked these up on closeout of the model some time ago to upgrade Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers. At the time, I was amazed at how these were much more crisp and clearer than the Bostons. As an initial foray into home theater, they left something to be desired constantly distorting; however, at the pricepoint, one cannot complain too much, especially for mass produced speakers.
Have since upgraded to a Klipsch system and not looked back.
Strengths: Price, mid range.
Weaknesses: Not the most efficient speaker on the market, prone to distortion - especially when used for home theater applications, lack clarity on highs, require a sub to capture lows, cheap grill.
Similar Products Used: Boston Acoustics, Klipsch
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Summary: An excellent speaker for a decent price. This model is widely available as an overstock last season's model. That is what makes it a steal. The silk dome tweeter seems to produce very nice and crisp highs and the 6 1/2 woofer doesn't do too bad either.
If you do not have a lot of space for front speakers, using RS-3's as you main and a subwoofer for all the bass will do pretty nicely. As long as you make sure the RS-3's are placed on speaker stands so that the tweeters are about at ear level. Overall, the RS-3's seem to be more efficient than their 89 dB sensitivity rating would suggest. For their most recent price (under $200) it would be hard to beat these in terms of both sonics and appearance.
One last thing to note, while these speakers are attractive, their plastic, rather than fabric covered front grills, as well as the grey woofer (visible through the grill) may make it hard to match other non-RS Infinity speakers with them. (Especially the new Infinity line). But if you don't care that much about precicely matched asthetics or can find matching RS series speakers for home theater, this is definiately a speaker worth considering!
Strengths: Very Compact Speaker, Nice Appearance, excellent sound quality.
Weaknesses: A little bit expensive if you paid the original $350 price
Similar Products Used: paradigm, dcm
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