accastil

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $725.00 from 5th ave electronics

Summary:
bass is outstanding, mid/highs are very liquid, staging is perfect, looks beatiful with and without the grills, quite heavy, sensitivity, clarity, fluidity of sound is its main selling point

Strengths:
everything

Weaknesses:
none

Price Paid:  $2699.00 from Berkhout HI FI

Summary:
I had been looking for 'the ultimate' home cinema experience, without compromising on Stereo performance, and the whole set up had to be affordable also. So when i read about the THX select system from Mordaunt-Short i thought, this might be it!!!. So when i went to see my local dealer, who happens to be a MS dealer, i was surprised to see he had the 502 fronts and 504 centre all set up on an Marantz sr 14 av/receiver !! After a short session ( the mummy returns) i was blown away. How on earth could this be ? the Speakers sound far greater and 'bigger' than their size would suggest, the speaker's active woofers aid a lot in achieving that. After some numbercrunching to see if it would'nt be cheaper to purchase the 900 declaration series ( which are also excellent)with separate subwoofers, and allthough it should give you about the same results (given that they ar coupled with a good sub) with movies, it's very difficult to find an active system that integrates the subs with the front speakers as well as the 502's do. Also with movies and stereo, you barely can point out the subwoofers. You hear they are there given the powerfull bass, but anywone who wouldn't know the speakers are active would say : these speakers have great bass!!. I gave in to the THX select system and purchased the whole set. I had to wait approx 7 !!!months for them to be delivered to my dealer, and as soon as i got the liberating call that they had arrived, i raced to the store to pick them up. Like i already stated,the system's woofers sound devastating with movie's and ( if set correctly) sound excellent with a tight controlled fast bast response. The high's are very realistic and don't produce highly overreacted high frequencies. Great value for the money, and even greater value if you buy the whole system !! You can use the system with all kinds of a/v receivers and allthough they just sound great with 'lower end' a/v amplifiers, they sound superb when feeding them THX ultra amplification. I recommend using an a/v processor/receiver that has bass management so you can experiment with the crossover's for the active woofers. Allthough THX design would suggest 80 hz to be the ideal crossover frequencie, i found 100 hz to be a more realistic setting integrating the system's sub with the rest of the speaker. I currently use a Harman/kardon avr 7000 receiver, it's great!!

Strengths:
Active woofer design, looks great, sounds 'big'

Weaknesses:
are you kidding ?

Similar Products Used:
Mordaunt-Short vs-300 serie's speaker system. b&w 600 series. Tannoy Mercury series speakers

Summary:
I have been looking for a set of THX certified speakers over six months now and (to be honest) have not come across anything that has moved me enough to pay out the large $$$$'s that THX certification demands. Just when I was about to give up I came across these!

They just blew away the competition hands down and within half an hour of grilling the sales assistant and trying them out with every style of music and movie they had I willingly paid and had them delivered that evening.

If you're in the market to buy a set of speakers I strongly urge you to check these out before making a decision. It may be hard to find a retailer who sells these (only a handful in Australia) but it's well worth the effort.

Strengths:
Crisp sound, strong bass, a nice natural sound, nice presentation.

Weaknesses:
None Thus Far...

Similar Products Used:
M&K, Jamo, JBL, Mission

Summary:
Being that I was once a home theater dealer I have a tuned ear for these things, and I can honestly say that these tower's are unquestionally one of the best value out there. There are better speakers... but be prepaired to pay more than double to see any significant gain!! (I listend to atleast 8 other setups befor convincing myself that I couldn't do any better than the MS THX set)

It does take some time (and playing) to set the subs up correctly for the room. Eventhough they sound great right out of the box they will get better with a little effort. As per any speaker the high's did soften some after about 50 hours of use, and in my application now sound wonderfull.

I highly reccomend the THX center and surround's to match the 502's. For home theater this set up is outstanding. If you can't use the rear dipoles check out the 902's for a well matched direct radiating rear.

Strengths:
Tight mids, excellent highs, lot's of bass considering the small footprint.

Weaknesses:
Can sometimes be too crisp (only on certain tracks)

Similar Products Used:
Boston Acoustics, B&W, Totem, KEF, JM Labs... ect... ect...