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Review 2 of 3
Price Paid:
$100.00
from UBid Summary:
The Acoustech HT-63 surround speakers are an interesting departure from the popular bi-pole/di-pole diffuse-surround idea as they are direct radiating but with an angled enclosure (like the Klipsch surrounds) for getting the sound out into the room. They are sold as mirror image pairs with each speaker having an unique oval passive radiator on the side adjacent to a 6.5 in. copper-colored injected graphite woofer and the angled design seems quite an ingenious way of getting the most drivers and performance into a small speaker. The cabinet is very similar looking to the Bose 301's and BIC DV-26 and is ideal for wall-mounting with the integrated hardware already attached to the back of the speaker. These have the attractive gloss tops and bottoms and on the company site they say they can be used as bookshelfs as well, but I use them on a handy built-in ledge on the rear wall of my 12 X 20 apartment living room. In order to get an idea of the frequency range I decided to set them up on stands as fronts first and found out that they had pleasingly bright undistorted treble and mids, very open-sounding and clear. These surrounds actually had more highs than my Klipsch SB-2 bookshelfs. The mid-bass on the other hand didn't have a lot going for it, sorry to say, with a noticable lack of transient punch with drums, guitars, etc. and woefully unable to hold a decent bass line, even with the Boston sub added. I remember thinking that 'if only... they would be a great front speaker' but I quickly realized that these were mainly for surround duty, what most people will use them for, anyway. I then experimented in the small bedroom with much better results as fronts and I thought that maybe if placed in a bookcase they probably wouldn't be too bad. So back to the living room I went with my big Acoustech center in the middle of the action, along with my Acoustech rears and Klipsch fronts I quickly settled in for some surround-sound and it actually proved to be quite an improvement over my Wharfedale Crystal 40 system that I owned previously. Movies sounded great with lots of detail, impact and spaciousness, and I credit the HT-63's horn for much of this and while the enclosure is flat against the rear wall, the horn is angled in toward the listening position to focus the sound. Music is also well-served, blending in nicely with the front-channel information from the other speakers. The Acoustech surrounds are definitely a good investment, in my opinion. Lets face it, with all the competition out there making home-entertainment equipment in China and elsewhere there are many tremendous values out there. Even name brand companies are issuing their own foreign-made products are lowering prices and that's not factoring in the technology improvements made over the years. It'll probably be hard to find a store to audition the Acoustechs; you'll have to buy them sound-unheard. Get your speakers at a good price, and if you don't care for them or want to upgrade later, you can easily sell them on-line. See my other review on the HT-75 Center and check out my audio page (under construction) at
geocities.com/dlazer11/cheapaudio.html
Enjoy the music! Strengths:
- Nice, clear undistorted mids and highs
- smooth, uncolored sound
- solid, well built enclosures
- attractive gloss-finished tops and bottoms (Don't forget to protect them with rubber feet or pads.) Weaknesses:
None at the price I paid for them Similar Products Used:
Wharfedale Crystal 40 Towers and Crystal Center
Wharfedale Sapphire 83 Bookshelfs and Sapphire Center
Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 and Diamond Center
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