Good tight and fast bass with very good definition. Good (but not great) soundstaging, relatively transparent: Will reflect the quality of the rest of the system.

Lower midrange / upper bass colorations: Lack of dynamic contrast in this area, probably due to crossover problems which are apparently fixed in a mark 2 version out now. The treble may sound a bit shut-in if paired with wrong equipment.

Overall a very good value. Needs pairing with a high quality amp with a solid power supply, (due to low impedance dips and relatively large phase swings). Paired with the right equipment this speaker will sound very good, otherwise it is likely to reveal every weakness of the equipment used. In conclusion: If your amp is up to the job, try it out (you'll need at least 100 Wpc).

Tight bass, clear and crisp

None yet

Bass response, dynamic punch & overall detail is great. Sandwich W for Mid & Bass drivers same as used for the Utopia series.

Excellent speakers for the price I paid $2700.

Similar Products Used:

Cobalt 815 and 820
Electra 920
Utopia Mini

Overall balanced articulate sound with nice mid ranges and highs. Bass is full and unmuddled. Beautiful design and construction.

Weight.

Interesting that other reviewers have pointed out room dimensions have affected the sound of these magnificent speakers.

At home the room they are in is much more cluttered than in the auditioning room as I heard the 915's in and is shorter as well. At the store where they were auditioned at they were played through an YBA Class 3 amp & pre-amp and YBA Integre' & California Audio Labs CL-15 CD players.

The 915's don't sound as nice as I remember them being in the store, but I'm using a Marantz SR-18 receiver and Marantz CD65E CD player to play them, so some of the magic lost is attributable to the CD player as well as the SR-18(?).

In any event I hope to recapture some of that magic when I purchase a single CD player like the Cal or YBA with a more open sound and upgrade my connectors from Monster Z series digital coaxial to some high end Ultra Link cable.

I still think that the speakers are excellent sounding with nice imaging, articulation and clarity, and would recommend them to anyone who likes clean, articualte full-bodied sound. Still five stars, because I know the weak link in my system is the CD player.

Similar Products Used:

KEF C30's.

Musical, beautiful design, and great fit and finish.

none so far

Going on second year with this speaker and I have to say "one of the best investments I've ever made". It took a long time to break them in, because I only play them about an hour a week. If your thinking of purchasing new speakers, you MUST audition the Electra 915. I think the only speaker that can compare to it is the B&W 802s, but we're talking about $8,000 dollars.

My System:
McIntosh C15 (pre-amp)
McIntosh MC352 (amp)
Sony SCDC333es (CD/SACD player)
MIT Terminator 4 series II Bi-Wire(speaker cables)
MIT Terminator 2 (interconnects)

Similar Products Used:

B&W 802 at $8.000.00 and Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy.

Tight bass, glorious midrange, holographic feel and sound, beautiful cherry finish side panels, excellent drivers (same as in the Utopia line).

Takes a long time to break in.

The only speakers that beat the hell out of the E.915's are the Kharma Exquisite's, but these cost $80,000.
Bought them as a demo pair, these have a gorgeus large and sweet sound once they are broken in.

Equipment used:
-Linn Axis TT, with Itook LVll Plus arm & K9 Cartridge, EAR 834P Phono preamp with Telefunken 12AX7 tubes.
-C.E.C. TL1X CD Transport and Museatex Bidat DAC.
-Lamm L1 Preamplifier (the best)
-Quicksilver Silver Sixty Amps (with EL34), Quad ll 40 (with KT88) Lamm ML1 tube amps.
-All Harmonic Technologies Pro-Silway Interconnects,
-Harmonic Technologies Pro-9 Speaker wire (biwired)
-All electronics connected directly to the wall outlets with The Absolute Power Cords(awesome).

I spend about 12 hrs per week listening to mostly world traditional and popular acoustic music, jazz, blues, classic, opera and some rock music.

Similar Products Used:

Wilson Watt Puppies, Avalon , Proac, Quad, Kharma Exquisite, Dynaudio, Medowlark, Vandersteens.etc.

Tight bas, crisp n´clear sound

NONE!!! (not so far:)

I doubt you can find a better par of speakers in this price range. All I can is if you have the mony GO ORDER A PAIR FOR YORSELF!!!!. You wont be disapointed!!

full image great bass response. Surround home theater package is impressive

Big and heavy.

Got a great deal on these speakers as J.M. distributer was offering a $1000.00 off the price of a home theater package.

Hooked them up and right away stereo imaging and surround effect with di-polar speakers filled the room. I can't wait till they are broken in.

Similar Products Used:

Keff Q50 surround package

I can't afford them yet.

I listened to these while visiting the local dealer in Roanoke (www.uptownaudio.com). A very cool shop with a care-free and fun atmosphere without all the snobbery found at some other places. These were hooked-up to Audio Refinement gear and then to Bryston amps per my request as I had bought the Bryston amp earlier and wanted to hear it with their gear as well. The sound was heavenly and I wanted to run to the bank, but alas there are no funds there in my name! We listened to some guitar works and some fun rock pieces as well. The Electras are very revealing and you could really hear the difference in the recordings if they were over-produced or mixed like some pop records. The speakers had a wonderfully fast bass response that was massively deep as well. I have never heard bass that fast and that deep from a dynamic speaker ever! They are as fast as electrostatics it seems, yet have the weight and dispersion to allow easy listening from a nice big sweet spot. Beautiful build quality, they must weigh a ton! A little larger than the Tannoys that I ended up buying and also twice the cost. The Tannoys are easy to listen to also and were not really embarrassed by the dynamic and rich sounding Electras considering the price. The 915's did handily outperform them however and just lay waste to the magnpan and b&w speakers, even the Nautilus series! These are expensive (about $3500.00, I think)and though not the very largest speakers as the footprint is on the narrow side, they have the most involving sound and resolution that I have heard next to the Mini-Utopias. Definately worth the price and make other speakers seem way over-priced and sound distorted by comparison. These also appear to be easy to drive as they were sounding quite nice with the Audio Refinement equipment when I arrived. The switch to a tube preamp and the Bryston 4B-ST made them just tremendous performers with huge soundstage and 3D imaging. The most accurate speaker at or above it's price that I have heard. Double the cost to get better!

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy R3, B&W CDM-1se, Magnepan, pSB Stratus Silver, others

In response to David's review below, the room is most likely the problem. I also auditioned the 915 at the same location, and the room is WAY too small for these babies. The room is even to small for the Cobalt 815 that they have on display. I'd approximate the audition room size at 12' x 16'; the 915 require much larger.
These speakers are beautifully constructed and sound heavenly (given the proper setting). The new JMlab lines (Cobalt, Electra, etc.) just came out in September, so not much circulation/exposure yet. One of the best kept secrets in audio, so far...

Listened to these speakers at Hi-Fi in Falls Church, VA. Connected to YBA 2-series amp and pre; fed by a plain NAD CD; interconnects and some serious looking MIT speaker cable.
All I can say is "wow" as well (see review of the 905s nearby). The only fly in the ointment was some lower mid-bass emphasis. This could have been the room, but was present on a number of CDs. Cutting the also connected Sunfire Sub in and out didn't change this emphasis. However, this system sounded as liquid as any electronics I've ever heard (maybe the YBA's magic). In any case, the speakers threw a beautiful image and a full response. I'd give these 5-stars, except that I can't explain the aforementioned bass emphasis.