Arande2

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $20.00 from A Garage Sale

Summary:
When I was twelve, I was at a garage sale one day when I noticed these speakers along with some Bose Model 100s. A few days later, they were in my house.

Let me tell you a bit about this in case you happen to run into some at a garage sale.

The plastic plate on the tweeter resonates at 186hz on one of them. The internal wiring is high gauge, the motor structure of the woofers is quite weak, less than some tweeters. 350 watts? An amplifier that powerful certainly will not hurt anything. If you have good amplification, 5 watts will do with these.

I started out with a Yamaha HTR-5740 receiver. There was no bass and no good "sound picture." There wasn't much of anything below 50hz. Movies were boring. Music was not moving. At the highest volumes, you could barely hear it outside. There was no real detail.

I bought a subwoofer for $800, which made it sound a huge amount better. The problem was it did not have enough output. I blew it soon after I bought it and back it went.

Instead, I bought a Pioneer Elite Vsx-91txh Receiver. I was SHOCKED by the huge improvement it made in the sound quality of these things!!!! Suddenly there was bass down to 30hz and everything came to life. The highs weren't harsh anymore, they were quite good. The sound really draws you in now and is quite realistic. The receiver has phase control and delivers around 150w RMS to each of these in the bass range. When turned up close to maximum limits, you can barely hear it outside. The same was true for the subwoofer I had. There's something weird with that...

A VERY IMPORTANT lesson is that what you use for amplification and processing matters a whole lot! If your amplification isn't up to snuff, you might want to look into better amplification before you snag some speakers unless they're dirt cheap.

Strengths:
The sound actually can be quite decent and it can do it at a pretty high volume with proper power.

Weaknesses:
They're what you might expect from this price range.

Similar Products Used:
JBL 4311 Control Monitors

Price Paid:  $195.00 from American Electronics

Summary:
Good quality speakers. Decent power handling. Good all around speakers.

Strengths:
Price. Great starter speakers. For the person without a lot of money.

Weaknesses:
Power handling is off the mark. Probley handles 200 watts max.

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Factory Clearance Ce

Summary:
I have never really considered myself to be a discerning audiophile, so after reading all the glowing reviews on these speakers, I decided to buy them. My primary motivating factor in this purchase was that they're good looking and black - they fit my decor perfectly. They replaced a very beat-up looking set of vintage Altec-Lansing Model Sevens that my dad gave me long ago when I was a kid. Honestly, my first impression was not very good. Maybe I'm being too picky, because I always loved the way the old Altecs sounded and these sound very, very different. The mids aren't nearly as smooth as the Altecs and seemed almost overpowering. The bass, although tight and fairly clean sounding, was barely audible over the mids. I expected a lot better bass response from a 12" woofer and 12" passive radiator. I mean, the speaker just looks like it was made for bass! The very low frequencies were barely audible at my normal listening volume, I had to crank up the BASS control on the receiver. In contrast, the old Altecs had 10" woofers in a large ported box, yet the woofers were very efficient and the low frequencies came through loud and clear. I don't even think the bass output is as good as a pair of vintage EPI 100V's (8" woofers in a sealed box) that I have in the other room. Who knows, it could be that I've gotten too used to the sound of vintage speakers or somehow the woofers on my 5001's got wired out of phase in the factory. I even took one of the woofers out to see if they put any polyfill in the box (they did, but not much). When I took the woofer out, I noticed that they look fairly wimpy - tiny voice coil (not much over 1"), tiny magnet, and very lightweight, probably doesn't weigh over 1lb. The crossover looked pretty cheap as well, a couple coils and a capacitor. Overall, they're okay, but if I had to do it over again on the same budget, I probably would have just had some custom cabinets made by a woodworking relative and I'd pick out my own drivers and crossovers.

Strengths:
Cheap price, contemporary good looks, very tall tower speakers look more expensive than they are.

Weaknesses:
Weak bass, super cheap drivers, overall cheap speaker, you get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:
Altec-Lansing Model Seven, EPI 100V

Price Paid:  $76.00 from Rex

Summary:
After listening to many speakers at REX, I made a definite conclusion that I needed a pair of these. Problem was, REX didn't have any in stock in the entire state, so I ended up purchasing the display models for a much reduced price, which is a good thing because they needed a little work. The woofer mounting screws were stripped on one cabinet and the cabinets rattled something aweful at high volume. Some new screws, a little duct tape to tie down the internal wires (which, by the way, are VERY small and will be replaced when I get the time), and some weatherstrip around the drivers, and some feet made these things sound miracles better. I have had no problems with them at high volumes since cleaning them up. I am very satisfied with my purchase. These sound nearly as good as a friends Klipsch speakers, I don't remember the model, but he paid $950 each for them, so value wise, these are about as good as it gets, and certainly good eneough for me.

Strengths:
Great sound, great value, good looks (could use a little accenting, they are completely black)

Weaknesses:
Cabinets are 1/2" particle board and factory woofer screws only bite 5/16" so they strip out easy.

Similar Products Used:
KLH model 6, Klipsh floor speakers (2 10" drivers with horn in between)

Price Paid:  $220.00 from rex

Summary:
very nice sound. being i listen to everything from rap to bluegrass and big band music. i havent found anything to really distort them. very good for the price. just want onother set but rex doent carry them anymore

Strengths:
very clear and the bass responce is great dont bounce across the floor(kinda heavy) and the stuff on top dosnt fall off

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
jensen pioneer