Caligari

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Fry's

Summary:
Accurate, musical with deep and musical bass.

Strengths:
Stunning imaging and will shake the room. Very, very accurate. Truly untouchable for the price. You must audition these at least once. Blew away everything I heard under $3000 and I was going from Maggies, Martin Logan and Revel speakers. The sub is getting the reputation as the best under $1500.

Weaknesses:
None.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from abc warehouse

Summary:
I use a denon 1803 receiver. I feel this is probably one of the best values you can find. Its in a medium sized room. My PolkRm7500 sounds better mostly because of the better sub. This doesn´t mean the sub isn´t any good, it just means the 600 dollar sub is better. These speakers just keep sounding better as time passes. One of my friends was listening to Pearl Harbor and he commented "So thats what bullets sound like going over your head". If you want to spend $1000 dollars on audio, the Denon and HC6 should be in your sights. In circle surround on the receiver it makes 2-channel cd´s sound incredible. This system pushes a continuous 96 decibels of sound crystal clear. I highly recommend this product. Affordable high-fi!!!

Strengths:
mid range hi range

Weaknesses:
bass, still okay

Similar Products Used:
Marantz sr-7200 receiver Marantz mm9000 amplifier 4-Polk LSi-9 speakers Rm7500 home theater spkrs Polk LSIC center spkr Polk psw650 sub Velodyne ch-t 12 sub Kenwood htb-204 home theater package

Price Paid:  $359.00 from Local HiFi Store

Summary:
I have owned this package for about 6 months and feel that I can now leave an educated and honest review about these great speakers and sub. The HC6 is the best all-round speaker package that I have owned. About 14 years ago I bought 2 channel system that was considered to be The Giant Killer of it's time, the Snell Acoustic E-III's matched with the Adcom GFP-555II preamp and Adcom GFA-555II amp with a Denon DCD-1560 cd player that is still one of the best cd player values of all time in my opinion. The Snell's always seemed a little bright sounding to me but had very clean bass and the upper end and mids were nice and open. About 2 years ago I bought a Musical Fidelity Integrated amp that had a tube sound which tamed the brightness of the Snell's and was suitable for about a year, I was looking to get rid of the large Snell's and sell off my expensive amp and consolidate to a smaller Home Theater speaker but did not want to spend a couple of grand. So I bought a Onkyo HTS-650 speaker package that included speakers, sub and Onkyo 100 watt receiver that was highly rated on CNET. This is not a bad system for $450 dollars, but it didn't have the clarity or clean bass that I was use to having for 10+ years with the Snells and is not musical. So I sold the Onkyo system and bought the highly acclaimed Ascend Acoustics speaker package with their new dual woofer center and the HSU VTF-3 sub using an Integra DTR-5.3. This was definitely lounder and clearer than the Onkyo and very impressive for Home Theater use but was just too much bass even turned down and still missing something? I returned the package to Ascend which are very nice and understanding folks an went on the search willing to spend more money to get the sound that I was missing. Enter the HC6!! I was lucky enogh to run across a copy of The Perfect Vision Magazine Year End Editor's top picks at a local book store. One of the Editor's Best Buys was the Acoustic Research HC6 listing at $800. This was the cheapest speaker package that they had awarded the prestigious Best Buy award to in the $1500 range and less category alond with the Paridigm Atom speaker package. Fortunate for me, my local HiFi shop had one set left, a floor model which would be the last of the HC6's they would be able to get which they would sell for $359.00. Sold, I took them home not anticipating what I was about to here from these little Gems. Music had life again and the Home Theater sound was very impressive, not as big and loud as the Ascends but tonally much better and much more listenable for long extended periods of listening. I found that the HC6 will let you here weaknesses in your components as I did using the Integra DTR-5.3 receiver which sounded thin in the upper ranges on music and some movies. I sold it and bought a used Marantz SR-7000 rated at 100 watts thur 5 channels which is perfect for the HC6's. The combo of the HC6's speakers and the Marantz which is excellent for music and home theater is in my opinion about as good as you'll find for under $2000 total system price. I also use Analysis Plus interconnects and AP Oval-12 speaker cables with factory terminated ends which I had to crimp to make them fit in the small gold plated terminals on the speakers. Total sytem price: $359 HC6, $375 used Marantz SR-7000 and used AP cables $350 for fronts, center and AP Subwoofer cable. I can't imagine these speakers recieving anything less than a 5 star rating if you set them up correctly with good cables and receiver. Go find them if you still can and sit back and know you have found the True Giant Killer!!

Strengths:
Smooth and liquid, Detailed without being bright yet has a warmth that is very satisfying and engaging to listen to for long periods of time, bass is articulate, quick, tight, clean and strong down to 36HZ, thr beautiful finish is an added bonus, heavy for their size, sounds better overall than my Snells.

Weaknesses:
When setup properly with very good cables and receiver(I would rececommend Marantz from the receivers that I have had in my home auditioning over the last year)there really isn't any to be found. I'm sure there are better speaker packages that would sound louder but I don't believe you will find any speaker packagesthat are more satisfying, long term, to listen to day in and day out than these.

Similar Products Used:
Snell E-III's, Onkyo HTS-650 speaker package, Ascend Speakers with HSU VTF-3 sub, Denon AVR-1803, Integra DTR-5.3, Onkyo TX SR-600, Pioneer and Harmon Kardon

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is a follow up review. I own this system almost a year. The system still sounds great. I want to add some links from professional reviewers. You wil find AR HC6 is one of the best sub/sat under $1000 http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/rosarin1978/AR.pdf http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/acousticresearch_hc6.htm http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/Acoustic_Research_HC6/4852-6467_7-8726194.html Only thing, I can say is listen them for yourself and you will know how good they are.

Strengths:
Nice looking, Clear and Crisp Sound, Subwoofer complement the system well.

Weaknesses:
Make in China??

Similar Products Used:
NHT, Infinity, Pioneer, Sony, Kenwood, JBL, Polk.

Price Paid:  $299.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I research many surround speaker systems for under $500.00, and through reviews and specs. I chose these. The sound is excellent for movies and great for music. I have it connected to an Onkyo TX-SR701 reciever and what a sound. The clearity and fullness are incredible.Many review speak of a "click", "pop" or other sound from the subwoofer, I have not experienced this at all. If your in the market for a great sound at a great price you can't go wrong with these. Also AR will sell you an additional satalite speaker for 6.1 sound at $75.00.

Strengths:
The sound, quality, look, pri9ce

Weaknesses:
A-little tight securing the speaker wires to the posts.