AV123's 525T is a slender 37.8 inch tower with two 5.25 doped paper-cone woofers and a soft-dome tweeter with oversized surrrounds, superbly finished in real rosewood or cherry veneer. Shipped double-boxed, the speakers arrived securely packaged with ample foam, two to a box that weighed in at 78 lbs. The included heavy plinths are secured to the towers via four long screws and carpet spikes are included to decouple the speakers from the floor.

Positioning the 525T's one foot from the front wall and eight feet apart revealed a surprising quantity and quality of well-defined bass when run full-range but to achieve the best bass response I set my 75 w.p.c. Denon Dolby Digital receiver's crossover to small at the 60 Hz setting and adjusted my Boston Acoustics VR-500 subwoofer's crossover to mesh with the ELT's response. Sensitivity is rated at 87 dB with a nominal impedance of 8 Ohms.

Right out of the box I found the AV123 towers to be well-balanced with slightly forward upper mids and a nicely detailed treble which imparted quite a lively top end to the sound without the harshness or glare commonly found in budget speakers. The lower mids were full sounding without imparting any huskiness or bass overhang to vocals and other instruments such as keyboards or guitar. I listen to a lot of classic and smooth jazz as well as "new age" instrumental music, occasionally rocking out with some of my favorites like Dire Straits and Steely Dan and various classical CD's as well so I like a speaker that can do right by many types of music.

The mix of capable bass, warm, well defined lower mids and sparkly highs made quite a favorable impression on me and as a stereo pair they sounded both relaxed and dynamic when they needed to be and easy to listen to for hours at a time. Horns, bowed strings, vocals, drums and guitar all sound true, unhyped and refined, up there with some of the better speakers I've owned like the Energy RC-10 monitors. The wonderfully clear and detailed Energy aluminum tweeter bests the ELT's soft dome by a length but in terms of accuracy I liked the ELT's flatter overall response but the comparison of a three-driver tower to a mini-monitor really isn't all that fair. I suppose a shoot out between the ELT and the 33.5 inch tall Energy RC-30 three-way would perhaps be a more evenly matched one.

The ELT's fill my average-sized living room with a plenty of great sound with very good imaging and detail and I feel that they are an unqualified value. I recommend them highly for both music and movies for those that want a taste of the high end at a budget price.