Price Paid:  $200.00 from DSS Systems

Summary:
At first I was hesitant to get these surrounds. I auditioned the AE Aesprit 300 bookshelf speakers and was blown away by their imaging, dynamic range, and smooth crisp soft dome tweeters. Originally I was in the shop to check out Monitor Audio and PSB speakers for my HT setup. Once they plugged in the AE's I had to reevaluate my plans. Since they were in my price range I thought I would buy the these 5 speakers (I didn't need a sub). Well, here's the catch. Acoustic Energy doesn't have a bipole or dipole speaker in the Aesprit line. I had some trouble with that. I was set on getting a nice diffusing speaker for ambient sound. Long story short, the Aesprit fronts sounded SO GOOD that I reconciled this issue and bought the 301R's anyway. I'm not regretting that decision. For such a small direct speaker, they are surprisingly beefy. Their low frequency response is solid. For instance, on "LOTR: The Fellowship," the bellowing of the black riders horses produces bassy sound effects in the rear channels...I noticed the 301r's handled that superbly. They are strong dynamically but are still passive enough to disappear and blend with the AEsprit fronts. I give it a 5 for movie sound reproduction. As far as music goes, if you go for 'all channel surround' or DVD-audio, which I'm not particularly fond of (and don't yet have the equipment for), I'm sure they will fit the bill as well. They're direct speakers (after all) so I would wager that they would be well suited for this role. Again the dynamics are great. After discussing the dipole issue with the shop owner, he suggested I still get rear dipoles with soft dome tweeters and the same efficiency as the fronts. He mentions that the tweeters are generally what balances the timbre/voice in HT. Luckily I have a receiver with 7 inputs to faciliate this. Try these speakers out! My Equipment: Onkyo TX-SR800 A/V Receiver Acoustic Energy AESPRIT: 307c (Center channel) 300 (Bookshelf L/R Mains) 301R (Surrounds) Velodyne SPL 1200 (sub) Analysis Plus 12 Biwire for front channels Audioquest Type 4 for rears

Strengths:
Good dynamics, nice bass response, still passive enough to be enveloping for HT.

Weaknesses:
None.