Good news! "Online Speaker Company Face-Off" coming up soon. (1 Viewer)

[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Actually it hasnt been canceled. We had troubles cause Audioholics decided not to participate in the article thus we are looking for someone else to get involved in order to have more than one opinion. We hope to solve this real soon.
Sorry

 

[Torgny Nilsson]

I hope this test can be done. No one else has done anything close to this, and I think any magazine with this test would sell out, and then sell a lot of reprints.

I do have some comments on the test though:

1. It should be a blind test for sound based on the price of the speaker alone, using both movies and music. That way, you could look at the rankings and see that bookshelf x beat tower y, or, if a tower wins, that the best ranked bookshelf is z. A blind test gives everyone the most useful results.

2. While the sound rankings should be 1-10, the test should also give you more subjective thoughts as to which speaker looks the best, is the best built, has the warmest sound, the best bass, etc. Putting that together with the 1-10 ranking would give readers more useful information.

3. Two tests should be conducted: speakers under $500 and those under $1,000 or perhaps $1,500 (if a speaker is close enough to the price range, it should be included, i.e., a $550 speaker should be in the under $500 test and not the under $1,000 test). I think most people have a need for both types of speakers: the more expensive set for their home theater or media room, and the less expensive set for their bedroom or another room. Neither test alone would be useful enough.

4. The tests should cover as many internet only speakers as possible that are being discussed on this site and on AVSforum. So the tests should include speakers by companies such as EFE and GR-Research. I assume the point is to answer lingering questions about internet speakers that can't easily be listened to and some of the smaller makers like EFE and GR-Research need to be included as people have an even harder time getting info on them than on Rockets, etc.

5. It would be great if the test gave info on how each of the tested speakers compares to a well known speaker (I know this is subjective, but so is the whole test). I.e., the test should say that the $399 Rockets are comparable with $2,400 B&W speakers, the Axioms are comparable with another speaker at a different price, etc. If the whole point of this is that it is not easy to hear an internet speaker before buying it, it does not do anyone any good to hear that the best internet speaker is brand x if you can't find out that it sounds similar to some speaker you can more easily hear at some local store.

Thanks for the chance to give input. Keep us informed if this actually gets done and published.

 

[EricRWem]

Still waiting...

 

[EricRWem]

Still waiting...

 

[EricRWem]

bump

 

[Jimi C]

Good... any new info here?

 

[EricRWem]

We need to start bumping this thing daily. There was all this hub-ub in several forums over this and then it just died. I hope it really happens.

 

[Craig Chase]

To date, I have tested at length the Axiom M22-Ti, The Rocket ELT-Cse, and the Ascend 170, all are posted on Home Theater Spot... I can tell you I compared all three to some pretty highly thought of speakers (ie, PSB, Def Tech, VMPS, etc...) and they did very well.

 

[CurtisSC]

Craig's reviews can be found here.

 

[paul clipsel]

Its actually refreshing to see any media coverage not just praising everything they get in the door to review. Its very rare a magazine criticizes a product, and if they do its made out to be minor criticism. Certainly they seem to go out of their way to make it seem like its has not got any problem/s. Case in point was my old Jvc D-Vhs unit which had more than its fair share of glitch issues out of the box.

PC

 

[Chuck_W]

Craig,

Thanks for the reviews at the spot. I am currently eyeing the ELT-Cse, but, are they really suggesting these be used as mains in a horizontal position?? How is the sound affected if used vertically?

 

[Craig Chase]

Chuck... I know it is not very popular to use that old blind testing technique... but when I tried them both ways, I could not hear a difference (in blind testing). My son telling me I was nuts for making him switch the speakers from Horizontal to Vertical... THAT was special... "Dad, it is still the same speaker, you really think you can tell the difference from 14 feet away?"

We bet Dad buying Pizza, vs. Son giving Dad $1...

Dad bought Pizza...

If vertical works in your system, you will love them !

If Horizontal works... see above.

 

[Chuck_W]

That was worth a pizza to find out! My primary concern for my next set of speakers (besides good sound) is quality on and off-axis performance from the center. I've heard good things about this center...did you try it as a center for HT or mostly just for the mains music testing?

Thanks again (and to your son) for the info.

 

[Craig Chase]

I just hooked it up as a center channel Saturday, and it is excellent, dialog is crystal clear, and it also handles movie spectaculars better than a center channel in its class should

 

[Chuck_W]

Doesn't sound like there's much to not like about these speakers! My current center does not handle dialog well for seating positions outside the main speakers. My old center was nothing to write home about, but dialog was always clear outside the mains. I have been looking at 2.5 or 3 way centers (and building around the center this time) with the hopes of avoiding this problem in the future.

Thanks again for the thoughts and reviews Craig...if you have any more to add in the future keep it coming!

 

[EricRWem]

Wow! This thread sure came back to life! Now I'll dig in!

 

[EricRWem]

I notice that the review for the Ascend CMT-340 is still pending? I'd sure like to hear about that...

I am contemplating an all 340 front and center with 170's in the rear and probably an STF-2 sub would be sufficient.

Naturally, I am weighing this against HTD, Rocket Onix, and one or two other brands...

 

[Craig Chase]

I have sent Ascend a request for the new 340 Mains and matching center channel, and the HTD stuff seems worth looking into.

From my experiences to date, Axiom, Rocket, and Ascend are all the real thing. All have excellent speakers which do compete against more expensive stuff from other companies, and I also have heard the more expensive stuff.

I always get a kick out of the reviewer that says: "The Acme XXX speaker, at $500, is superior to many $1500 speakers"... and, of course, he never mentiones the $1500 speaker by name.

For the record, I have listened to PSB Stratus (all four), Paradigm 100 V.3, VMPS RM-2, Legacy Classic, Def Tech 2004, 2006 and Pro Ponitor 700, etc....

And any of these bookshelf designs with, say, a VTF-3/2 or a 20-39 PCI will be very competitive for around $1000, with the PSB Stratus Gold, or the Paradigm 100 V.3... They will give up some dynamics (not much, but the towers will get louder before getting "congested"), but will have even better bass... (you can put the sub in the best spot for bass) ...

 

[EricRWem]

Hey Craig, you may also know me on AVS as Q. Good to see ya! Good stuff here!

 

[Craig Chase]

Thanks Eric - I just spoke to Chris (the customer service manager) at Home Theater Direct. We will be putting together a test of some of their speakers. So...... What HTD speakers would you guys like tested ?