D. Paul Navigator

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
PRICE PAID: $300/PAIR

Summary: These speakers replaced HTD Level 3 Towers, and are now in use for over 40 hours. I experienced some change in the sound from day 1 until now, and now provides very good detail and excellent transient response. The bass of these speakers allows me to cross over to my subwoofer at 40 hz, and this has tightened up my sub's response as well. I won't compare these to other speakers, as not to show any preference to a brand. I've played both CD's and Records, and the speakers perform very well with either medium. The receiver driving the speakers is an Onkly TX701, and the power is sufficient to drive the speakers to very loud without any perceivable distortion. They handle voice, violin, piano, horns, drums with ease, and efficient (meaning I have the volume at a lower setting than my previous speakers). I feel the price on the Net are very good for the quality you receive. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone looking for a retro design, not depending on high price leading technology to deliver good sound.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I've read everyone's review and I immediately noticed a consistent issue. "I hook them up and started listening", another said "I turned them on for a few hours". I'm sorry folks, these are old style speakers with butyl surround and you can't do what you're doing and judge what these speakers can do sound wise. Mine didn't smooth out until I had about 40 listening hours (I kept a running tally of time, as I always do), and that isn't unusual. The tweeter was the same, somewhat bright at the beginning, and smooth and detailed now. Ed Frias must be making a fortune of the BIC buyers, who want their sound and want it now. What he's doing is changing the output of the speakers emphasizing one part and de-emphasizing others. The sad news is that the speakers will do that for you if you just hang in their. Oh well, I listen to alternative rock, classical, jazz, etc., and these speakers are a dream. The greatest attribute about their sound is they don't fatigue your ears (after break in), having just had a 5 hour session, and I really hated to stop then. I would recommend these only to folks that have the patience to allow the speaker time to reach their potential, and I wouldn't let Ed Frias close to them. In listening to my vinyl collection, I've heard details that I've never heard before, usually somewhat startling when they pop up. I have Decca, Phaze 4 albums that never sounded right with AR's, Infinity's, and KEF's, and I stopped playing them. However, that has changed with these BIC's, and thank goodness I listened to my friend's speakers, who got his 8 months ago.

arctikdeth

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $300.00 from online store

Summary:
ill start by saying the guy below with the shipping problems, granted this is not your fault, but this should not deter your opinion of the sound quality or build of the speakers, for which you tared below because you were mad at the shipping service!

These speakers came a little slow from the shipper, but thats to be expected these days. UNpacked these bigger than I thought speakers, and did notice a bit on the chepap side for packing, although I have definately seen worse packing than these. Unpackes and put on the nice rubber stick on squares on the bottom of the speakers which are nice and make for a NON-STICK on my hardwood floors which is a plus. I just purchased a new pair of mono-blocks rated at 500W into 8/ohm.
I started a Rick Derringer cd, and turned up the volume on my B&K PRO-10MN pre-amp, i right away noticed the nice tight bass from these, and the VERY CRYSTALLINE highs from this highly praised tweeter. BIC has been known for their bass since the mid-70's, and now I know why.
I continued to turn up the volume to a higher than usual volume, and left the house for a several hours, I returned and turned the volume down right away, I became situated on the couch, and forgot i have no remote with the B&K so i had to get up again, i turned up the voume after changing my cd to Judas Priest's - Defenders of the Faith remastered cd- i gave the volume a nice almost halfway on my B&K, i sat back and was shocked--The bass was very nice sounding, the midrange was very good considering there 8 inch woofers, they were a tad muddy, but not to bad for my ears, the dv-64's I have heard are much better. I noticed the ear splitting hjighs of these speakers, now I know the term "bright" the trebble was so overpowering, i had to get off the couch and turn it down, im not sure about you, but this is VERY uncomfortable to listen to at high volumes, as its hard on the ears and makes one feel unease because of the high pitched sound. I emailed Ed Frias, and did the crossover mod from him. I had my crossovers back in a rapid 4 days, i was shocked at this. Put the speakers back together, and put on the same Judas Priest cd as the highs on that cd as you can imagine are very loud. I was JUST STUNNED at what ED had done, THERE WAS NO MORE BRIGHTNESS, and the bass was extended, midrange was more seperable from the other instruments, from which the trebble from the stock crossover was hiding. No matter what i put on the brightness was gone, I was now in audio bliss, and I can honestly say these NOW are audiophile quality sound. yeah, again we go into the " no way there audiophile because of the price,...yada-yada - yada. the difference Ed had made was just amazing, it rivaled my ALtec Lansing 508;s which are very nice sounding, and my much older B&W bookshelfs which are looking pretty shabby these days, but the drivers are all new and have been replaced, but still the BIC's just outshines all my speakers. This IS due to ED and the crossover fix he has done. I assure you this mod is a miracle for these speakers, and you will be shouting praises from the top of a mountain.
bass had much more detail & slam, midrange was so clean sounding, and all the harshness is gone, highs were very nice now and rolled off very nicely. the soundstage amazed me, it was EVERYWHERE, as the tweeters have been recommended in audio mag , as well as stereophile mag for its lifelike and pristine sound. I would suggest the dv-64's if you wanted a pair, this is Ed's specialty, b ut Im not complaining about my NEW dv-84's very open sound, and very real sound, alsomt scary real, if you didnt know better, you wouldnt know this was a stereo, youde think ALL your LP's were of the band in your home. I am shocked at these now, and am definately keeping them!!!! hey if you dont want them, thats finr to if your a brand name hi-fi snob. but these are excellent speakers now. I recommend these, butu you must pay the little extra for the crossover mod from Ed. Will be worth your time and is worth every penny!!!!

Strengths:

great sound, soundstage is everywhere, no dead spote, unless you get carried away and try to get sound from behind them!

stock speakers at low volumes are very pleasein and sound awesome!!!!

Weaknesses:

cabinets seem cheap, but have almost no resonance, as we have light plants on top of them, and even at high volumes they donr rattle or move about.!

stock sound is appaling and VERY bright, it hurts your ears at high volumnes

high volumes - forget it, have the crossover mod done!!!!

Similar Products Used:
second time buyer of BIC America speakers, had a pair of Venturi bookshelves back in late 80's. those were fantastic, and had the bass of a 12 inch woofer , bookshelves had a 51.4 woofer i think, or maybe a 6.5, venturi port is probably the best ported design of the late 70's through late 90's.

Price Paid:  $125.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:
I was looking to buy a new pair of main speakers on Amazon and came acrossed the DV-64's which eventually led me to the DV-84's. I received the speakers in good condition without any shipping damage like the person below described. I hooked them up and WOW what a difference. They reproduce everything so clearly. Yes, the treble seems to be a bit high with these speakers but thats easily fixed by turning it down a setting or two. I primarily use these speakers for DVD's and music. Let me say, these things can get rediculously loud. They have yet to handle anything I can give them. I have had them as loud as my receiver will allow without any distortion.

Strengths:
Great acoustics
Low price
Handles anything

Weaknesses:
Treble a bit too loud

Similar Products Used:
Too many to list

deejmic

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $292.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:
I had posted last week about my negative experience with the shipping and handling of these speakers from Amazon.com. I originally ordered 2 speakers via 2 day shipping and to my disappointment, 1 of the speakers was extremely damaged in transit. After dealing with their customer service department a replacement speaker was sent. I received the replacement speaker today and to my extreme disappointment , once again, the speaker cabinet has extreme damage to the lower corner as if it had been dropped. Needless to say it has been a very negative experience overall as of this point... But then I hooked them up anyway, just to try them out These speakers sound really, really good. At less than $300.00 per pair, actually quite unbelievably good. I had to try them out before I send them back. I'll rate them in a few catagories for you. My rating system is something like this... Horrible - Poor - subpar - average - good - very good - excellent Build Quality: good Well, its hard to quantify this one subjectively at this point. I had 3 speakers shipped to me and 2 were damaged. However, the one that made it intact seems upon lifting it and overall feel to be fairly solid. They weigh a little over 40 lbs each. The finish is average overall, but good for this price point. I would have to think that under normal circumstances they would last a very long time. The (2) 8" woofers and (2) 8" passive radiators along with the 3/4" soft dome tweeters appear to be of good quality. No floor spikes and they slide easily on carpet. Good sized, look intimidating without the grills. I consider that a plus... First impression of sound: good - slightly bright yet detailed. I've audtioned 3 cd's through a Panasonic DVD player/ Kenwood VR107 receiver I've used in my bedroom system. My Harmon Kardon receiver and Sony player are packed away (I'm in the middle of a move) Toto - Greatest Hits Billy Idol - Vital Idol Staind - Break the Cycle The first thing I noticed was the imaging. Very distinct. Great seperation between each speaker. The treble is slightly bright but very clean and in my opinion reproduced every detail. I decreased the treble setting down one notch from flat and the mids down 2 notches, the bass was kept at the flat setting and then everything was smoothed out considerably from what was a slightly overpowering mid/mid high. Not "tinny", but more in your face like a horn speaker might be. The bass at first seems a little light (conversational level), but then you give it some volume (movie theater level) and all of the sudden there it is... and ALOT of it. The extreme lows come out nice. I'm hearing things that I used to need a powered sub to hear albeit not at an extreme output, but it blends nicely with everything else. Bass lines are independently audible and kick drums translate with authority. The midrange output seemed to be little much. Like I stated previously, I needed to back it down a little bit for my tastes. Room size and listening location could be a factor here though.... 15 x 13. with me 10 feet away and speakers 7 feet apart. In a larger room the mids might be considered more "room filling" than overpowering. As I'm listening, I have to say that the imaging is better than average, pretty good but not excellent. But I am really liking these. High volume ********: They rock nicely - very good. All I can say is WOW! I unloaded a good portion of 115 wpc on them listening to "Eyes Without a Face". They ate it up and asked for more. No audible distortion, no popping, clipping or high end harshness. Bass may have gotten ever so slightly muddy at top volume, but I was pushing it hard on that bass line. They stayed clean all the way until the point where I know the amplifier had reached in working peak. I'm a loud music junkie. My car audio system has 2 12" subs and well over 350 watts total power output and I was approaching those loudness level with these speakers.... the "just about to lose my sanity" volume. And they still sounded very good. I would venture to say these are better for acoustic/jazz or classic rock based music as opposed to extremely bass heavy "metal" or rap. I've heard Cerwin-Vegas ********ed with type of music and they do really well with it. These seem to be a little more detail oriented and more suited for intricate musical pieces. Overall impression: Yes, very good indeed. If you can manage to get them shipped to you without sustaining damage and you're looking for an affordable floorstanding speaker set that can play loud, yet detailed and if your looking for a great speaker instead of a great piece of furniture that reproduces sound ..... look no further. This is one hell of a deal. Final thought I was very upset when I received a second damaged speaker. And my first thought was to send the whole works back and say "screw it" and wait for a different deal to come around, but after scouring Best Buy's, Circuit City's and Ultimate Electronics I found that there was absolutely no way I was going to find a speaker that sounds this good at this price from one of those places. I'll suck it up and play the return game until I get another good one... they sound good enough that it is worth it for me to go through the hassle. I'm really looking foward to receiving my Bic DV62 center channel and rears to round out my system for theater use. I'll post again on them when they are received.

Strengths:
Power handling, crisp 3dimensional sound.

Weaknesses:
Large cabinets may not fit your decor. Rather week cabinet build.