Did my friend make a good choice? (Energy Connoisseur) (1 Viewer)

[WayneO]

That's interesting to hear, no pun. I had the RTi's in my house for a couple weeks before my brother's house was finished and A/B'd them next to my Monitor 11's during that time. They really were signifigantly brighter. Myself, brother and two friends agreed. As they were floor models and closeouts, they certainly had some time on them to be broken in. Even at a great price of $500 for the pair he got them for, I certainly couldn't live with them. I tell him I need to put my sunglasses on before he turns them on when I'm over at his house. Just shows a speaker can be something different to everyone.

 

[david wareham]

i would also recommend you look here

www.av123.com

Great prices for the rocket line. and kickass sound too.

 

[KenRen]

A spanking from Cees, whoa!

Anyway, I think there are threads on this forum about speaker placement for rear ports. If you put them too close to the wall, they muffle the lows and get "boomy." The Energy manual that came with the speakers will have information on distance from wall. As always, with space limited, try for the best placement the room size allows. Its always a matter of compromises.

The Yamaha receiver's slightly bright sound will bring the C-9s slightly laid back sound right to the mythical "even sounding" point, nice compliment. As a bonus, Yamaha receivers are usually conservatively rated as far as power. When they say 100 watts they ususally mean all channels driven, similar to H/K specs. Others rate their power using just two channels driven. Specmanship it is called in my venacular, not really lying. Users must be smart when making decisions and know the limitations.

As far as your freind choosing the Yamaha, man, he is just falling into luck, plenty of power and comnplimentary to the C-9s. Have him buy you a lotto ticket quick before his luck runs out.

Connect the speakers and have him tune to a rock radio station, volume medium, speaker size large, no sub, and head off to work for 8 hours each day next week. By the third or fourth day, when he comes home, he should hear the highs tame down and bass get fuller. Even better as the week progresses. From then on, enjoy!

KenRen

 

[Nigel Hooper]

Actually the Yamahas are known to overhype their power ratings achieving nowhere near rated output with all channels driven.

 

[TimB]

I have a set of C7's with CC1 on the front, and CR1's in the back, and the yamaha 1400 (last years 1500). Your friend did VERY VERY good, especially going in there without any idea what he was looking for.

You mentioned he did not have his speakers anywhere near the wall. That will affect how the lows are playing. Have him place them somewhere around 9 inches from the wall, you will hear more lows.

And yes, once they break in, they do sound much cleaner on the highs and better on the lows. About a week of long listening sessions and you will definitely get a different, VERY enjoyable sound.

Tell your friend he found a GREAT deal.

 

[Greg Thomas]

KenRen,
I just came from a local Good Guys and the C-9's were $325ea, $650 for the pair, which is basically half off list price. When were they ever $1000 each? Unless that was canadian dollars.

The C-5 was $378/pr.

 

[KenRen]

Greg,

Went out to the Good Guys web site and the C9s are listed for Your Price: $649.99 (Each)

So again, at the price you saw them, great buy!

I payed $750 (US) each for C7s from a local HT dealer, with his added profit and all. Guess I could have saved some money if I drove to Good Guys in POrtland and bought them there. Bottom line, I still love the c7s at whatever price I got them.

You guys are making me anxious for an upgrade to the Veritas series. Hold on.....pay no attension to this thread....look away....eeeeeeaaaa.....upgraditous.....

KenRen

 

[Lee Carbray]

Both Paradigm and Energy make a wide variety quality speakers in different price ranges. Both companies come from the same lineage and strive to achieve the same goals. Any difference determined between the two as better or worse when comparing similar priced speakers is more likely then not due to personal preference.

BTW I have Connoisseurs all around, C-5, CC-1, and C-1. I liked them before but since resently upgrading my low end Kenwood amp to a Pioneer 54tx I am in love with my system. Don't find them bright at all.

Cheers,

 

[Nigel Hooper]

Paradigm and Energy are two completely seperate companies and have no lineage in common at all.

 

[PaulT]

He's probably referring to the testing done at the Canadian NRC (National Resaerch Council) Lab starting in the 70's to the 90's from which most Canadian speaker manufacturer's derived their anechoic testing info.

API (Energy, Mirage, Athena), Paradigm, PSB, etc etc.

 

[Ray Tsui]

Your friend did well. I am a big fan of Energy C series now.

Energy has been one of the top brand names in the world of loudspeakers. They offer very budget oriented speakers to high value audiophile speakers costing thousands. They've been around for at least 20 years. Excellent performance, nearly unmatchable value. Unlike some other brands, they custom design their drivers using state of the art techniques (previously had been using Canada's National Research Council facilities for testing) and manufacture their own drivers in their own factory in Canada. No made in China parts here.

Canada has great reputation for making great speakers, search for reviews of PSB, Paradigm, Energy, Mirage and Athena and you'll see lots of happy owners there. A lot of these speakers will frequently push the boundary of good price/performance ratio.

As for as the C-series is concerned, your friend did amazing considering those speakers sell for a lot more.

I spent hours auditioning speakers recently. I listened to a whole bunch of Boston Acoustics, PSB, Energy, and Paradigm speakers

I was looking at bookshelf speakers....I was particularly interested in Paradigm and I almost settled for the Studio 20 which is one of their Reference series. But once I heard the little Energy C-3, I changed my mind. The C-3 that I bought was 33% cheaper and very close to the overall sound quality. In some ways I preferred it, it seemed a bit more lively without being overly bright. I definitely think it beats the Paradigm Monitor series (comparing similar sized speakers). I particular like how the Energy just sounded more accurate, the midrange was very neutral, the speaker isn't really laid back sounding, but is not overly forward either, bass was more well controlled and less tubby.

The C-series is a bridge line. It bridges the low-end mass market boxes, and the high end line. They are excellent sounding as a whole, and it wouldn't be out of line to compare the C-series to more expensive speakers. Supposedly, Energy has implemented some of the "tweaks" in loudspeaker design that they learned in building their very well respected high end Veritas line.

My friend that is really into higher end gear...has a B&W Nautilus 800 series, and Bryston front end, was quite impressed with my little C-3 also, and that says a lot considering his budget for one amp is my entire system. Although I don't tend to buy expensive gear, I do have a pretty good ear for it, as I spend enough time at my friend's place who has gone through many iterations of gear. I usually drool over the stuff he buys, but for once in a long time, I am happy to spend time at my own house listening to my own system.

 

[Ray Tsui]

And excuse me for saying this;



(Teasing on) where have you been living...under a rock (Teasing off)

Energy makes solid products. There are very few brands I would unhesitatingly recommend, but they are one of them.

Showing my age a bit, and since I live in Canada, I have liked Energy speakers since about 1989 when I first heard the Reference 22 series. I was a diehard Paradigm fan back then, I was convinced the Paradigm 7 was the best thing since sliced bread back about then. The very first budget Energy speakers weren't too good (their ESM was seriously boomy), they were all too "Energetic". But since then, thanks to innovation, hiring talented designers, and insisting on custom designing and building their own drivers locally instead of far east, they have really done well for themselves. Reviews have always touted Energy as a great value, and consistent performance across the line.

Tell your friend to go listen to other speakers, for the price he paid, I have my doubts that anything will match the C-9's. Actually, I prefer the C-7 myself, they are really great for their price. The right balance of price/performance.

 

[Danny Tse]

The Energy Connoisseur C-3 was Soundstage.com's "Budget Leader" component of the year for 2002.
Read the review and you will see this speaker being mentioned in the same sentence as Revel....that's pretty good for a US$500.00/pair speaker. I was lucky enough to pick up a new pair for US$300.00.

BTW, here's Soundstage.com's review of the Energy Connoisseur C-9, another "Reviewer's Choice" Award winner.

 

[Frank USP]

After reviewing a couple of different speaker brands (paradigm, klipsch, energy, b&w, revel) I found the connies to be the brightest. But I personally liked them the best. In being bright I also found them to be the most accurate overall (I know it sounds weird bright and accurate). I guess I felt like while they were bright and crisp they weren't so much as to feel like they were influencing the music I was listening to. I felt that the B&W I heard were too warm (600 series, but the 800s were phenom), and were imparting too much of a bassy response to the music. Maybe the connies were tuned to my ear and what I liked better, and therefore they sounded more accurate and like they weren't imparting as much? As for the sub issue, I personally would not spend 600 bucks on speakers to go low, just because I don't want to buy a sub now, but will in a couple of months. Personally I have a 20x18 with 15 foot cathedral ceilings. I plan on keeping my axiom m80ti or going with c-9s and getting a sub with either. But I think he made a good decision as the sub will definately help with the lower end, and in ANY HT set-up I would recommend a sub. I just don't think that should be his only reason for getting those speakers. The one thing I would tell your friend... SPEND for the receiver (I haven't looked up his). I just purchased a rotel set-up and it did wonders with my old (yamaha) speakers. It does wonders with the energys as well (heard the set-up in a store vs denon 3805). Just don't skimp in the receiver either. Granted your supposed to spend more in the speakers, but if you got 4 racing tires on a hugo, the car is still going to suck if you don't give it a good engine. Long but I hope this helps. And as one final thought, if your friend doesn't LOVE his speakers after a good 50-100 hr break-in, RETURN them. I can tell you their awesome, but YOU'VE got to listen to them for the next "X" number of years!