Compact size

Side firing woofer limits placemant adjacent to obsticals

Excellent value at price paid ($550/pr). Very nice large sound, compact design. Must choose location to accomadate the side firing woofer. Also have bass leave response controls on rear. The speakers accept bananna plugs on rear. The power cord is another wire that you must hide. The bottom line is you can't loose at the closeout prices.

Similar Products Used:

I have owned many pairs of Infinity bbokshelf and floor standing speakers.

In the last few weeks, I've been actively looking at different speakers to replace my NHT 2.5i's. The NHT's are very nice, very neutral, but the bass isn't very well integrated with the midrange and treble -- and it has a tendency to sound very exaggerated in smaller rooms.
What I was looking for is a small floorstander or a high quality bookshelf on stands, preferably a sealed enclosure speaker. I've looked at a lot of different speakers, but frankly, I want high value, because I can't afford to spend more than $1500 for a pair, and that's even pushing it.

Infinity, which lately has gained a reputation for pushing a bunch of mid-fi crap, seems to have realized that most hi-fi enthusiasts want a quality speaker at an affordable price, so they seem to be trying to upgrade their image for that target market. Enter the Compositions Overture series.

The Compositions Overture model 1 caught my eye because the speaker is physically small -- they claim it is about 1/3 of a cubic foot! It's a 3-way, 4-driver design, unusual for a speaker this small. The front baffle is populated with a silk dome tweeter mounted dead center, and two 4" midrange drivers arranged symmetrically above and below the tweeter. On the side of the enclosure is an 8" long throw woofer, powered by a built-in amplifier.

Yes, you read that right. These tiny speakers have built-in 150 Watt power amplifiers for their woofers.

On the back of the speaker, you'll find heat sinking for the power supply and power amp, a pair of 5-way binding posts for your speaker cables, and a high-grade potentiometer to adjust woofer volume levels. There is no bass reflex port -- these little loudspeakers are sealed enclosure. The cabinet, aside from the metal heatsinking on the back and the grille covering the woofer, consists mainly of plastic. Rapping it with my knuckles surprised me -- it sounded very dead, which is a Good Thing.

I auditioned a pair of these in Circuit City, which unfortunately was the only dealer in the area I know for sure carries them. They were mounted on a pair of stands that appear to be designed specifically for these speakers. I tried them with a wide variety of source material -- Sting's "Nothing Like the Sun," to test soundstaging; Enya's Shepherd Moons, specifically the track "Caribbean Blue"; Oingo Boingo's "Boingo Alive" album (CD 1); and Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe (the self titled album), specifically the track "Fist of Fire."

My impressions? Well, the soundstaging was nothing spectacular, but it was better than any mid-fi speaker I'd ever heard, and better even than several "hi fi" speakers on the market. The tone was remarkably uncolored. And, despite the fact that there's a large subwoofer in such a small cabinet, the bass is full without being godawful overpowering. The speaker was detailed and transparent. (Incidentally, the speaker is rated at 92 dB sensitivity, 8 Ohms impedance, and the bass extends down to about 35 Hz.)

Currently, this speaker retails for $600 EACH -- that's $1200 for a pair. Circuit City is running a sale on these for $500 EACH ($1000/pr), which is more in line with reality. The stands will set you back another $150 for a pair, though you can probably get the salesman to knock another $50 off that price.

Is it worth the money? That's a tough one. I've heard some better speakers in this price range, but nothing that looks quite so elegant and which works so close to walls. If you're like me, and have limited space, you could do a lot worse. The D'Appolito driver configuration and the narrow front baffle makes for a wide horizontal dispersion, but a narrow vertical dispersion, ideal for home theater and music applications in less-than-ideal rooms.

I'll give this speaker a rating of 4, only because I still have some reservations about the cabinetry and the soundstaging. Still, bi-amplification on the cheap -- it's a neat concept! And some reviewers have even run these speakers off of tube amps. Something to consider...

Compact size with 150 watt powered subwoofer

none

The Overture 1 speakers are agreat value for the $225.00/pair price I paid. They are compact and provide a wide frequency response given the powered subwoofers. The only problem I encountered with these speakers was the auto on/off function, which turns the amp off if no signal is sent for 3 min. I use the speakers as surround speakers in a home theater set-up. While watching movies with little rear sound signals the speaker would 'pop' off. Needless to say this was distracting. I called Infinity and they told me to take them to a local dealer where they would fix the 'problem', free. The dealer performed a mod which increased the auto on/off time to 45 min, problem solved.

Similar Products Used:

Overture 2

love these speakers. I'm a music lover first and foremost and these speakers sounded the purist and most natural of the ones I auditioned. excellent for music /also great for home theater combined with a good subwoofer. my system consists of sony str80es reciever, infinity ov3's,infinty cc-3 center, ov-1 for the rear, and mirage bps400 sub, sony dvp7000, pioneer sd-p5795w rear projection monitor. i choose these speakers over energy, polks, definitive techs, and klipsh.

Just went out and purchased a home theater setup, Sony DA80ES receiver, CDP-CA80ES disc changer and and ES DVD. I shopped around for a while looking at speakers... tested out Energy EXL28's, Klipsch's etc... couldn't find anything that I really liked until I came across the Overture 1. What an amazing bookshelf speaker (picked them up for 600/pr @ www.sounddistributors.com). Also broke down and bought a Infinity HPS250 12" sub, Infinity CC-2 center channel and QPS-1 Surrounds. Love the setup and I'd highly recommend the O1's to anyone in the market looking for a mid to bookshelf size speaker. Transients are brilliant and the base (not including a 250 W 12" sub is terrific).
Eric @ www.soundditributors.com really hooked me up on the speakers and gave me a package deal... highly recommend doing business with them.

full of details and a lifelikefeeling

none

I was an Quad ESL63 user, but now having heard the ovtr 1 i cannot live without her anymore. She needs less room in my house and she gives a wonderful life sound with classical music also with jazz and pop. It is astonishing such a small onen with a BIG sound. Never souns "boxy" but very true. I play them with the Quad 66 606 combination. Ik like to hear them with an other American such as the Harman Kardon.
By the way I sold my Quads ESL63!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

none

to those who have not yet bought into these speakers after all the other good reviews. get them if you can they are getting harder to find but are worth every penny.

trust me. they truly are wonderful

Sound

none

Well Let me tell ya thease r some Incredible speakers. I had Them for fronts and rears. I just upgrade to their flagship speakers The prelude series. If u are lookinf for bs speakers U will not lose out. I also recommend anyone thats uses thease for the fronts get them for the rears also. If u guys and gALS get a chance listen to their prelude series. They are floor standing WILL BLOW U AWAY. I have them for fronts and rears. Ot1 are know in bed room

Similar Products Used:

Dont know

On a tight HT budget, the Oveture 1's are one of the best deals around. Of all the speakers that I've audtioned in this price range, these simply sound the best. The high and mids are ever so clear, and these little guys can sure sure serve up some bass. Personally, I'm not one of those people who loves thundering basslines of most popular music, I don't need to feel every beat. Instead I prefer balanced, rich, complete, room filling sound and that's exactly what these produce. They do however shake the room when necessary (i.e. low end movie style rumble, explosions, etc.) but musically speaking these are just wonderful. I abandoned a two-way+ subwoofer setup (which needed constant adjusting depending on the type of music played) in favor of this three way speaker. The other reviewers are correct when they say that you don't need a subwoofer with this system. My only complaint with these speakers is that they turn themselves off too quickly, the delay time is only about three minutes, so in films which are not action oriented, they constantly click on and off during long moments of silence of softer music passages. I've only had these speakers for about a week and am still in the process of breaking them in along with my Definitive Tech. BPX2 surrounds, which incidentally are phenomenal themselves ,but needless to say I can't help but not smile everytime I fire up my HT system. Five stars unitl I can afford more expensive speakers.

When I went looking (listening) for speakers to complement my new Carver 880 receiver for listening to music, I realized the market has changed. The emphasis now is on home theatre. When you listen to the Overtures (1, 2, or 3) its obvious what the designers had in mind when they created these speakers. The extra bass amplification is for reproducing large boomy noises, such as trucks, bombs, thunder, jets, and etc. The overtures are quite adept at doing that. They amplify low frequencies well enough that you don't need an extra subwoofer in your system. But if you attenuate the bass amplifier in the speakers, and make some other adjustments in your system, then music sounds very good with them also. I found when I turned the bass down, I could not hear a difference between Overture 1, Overture 2 (street price $899 a piece), and Bose 301 bookshelf speakers (about $300 a pair), except for the relative loudness of the Overtures.
But once you have your tone controls adjusted to your liking, the Overtures uncover the true sound of the entire music spectrum. The voices and the musical instrments sound real. The midrange is really strong. The high frequencies are true.
Synopsis: These are true powerhouses; will inject sound into every nook and cranny in your house. Must be adjusted to get the best sound.