Diva and Rocket Speakers (1 Viewer)

I would like to know from people who have owned them for some time what their opinion of the speakers are.
I would also like to hear from people who disliked them and why.
I have read a lot about them and have searched the forum for more info but I am still confused.
The Divas in particular seem to be a bit like the B&W speakers I like so much but can't afford right now.
Is this true?

I am VERY happy with my Diva's, although i just received them on monday and haven't had much time with them yet. If you are interested, there is some really nice package deals going on due to their discontinuation and the introduction of the rockets. I got the 6.1 mains, Center, and Dipole surrounds.

They do look very much like B&W 803's, but i can't make any comparisions as to the sound since i've never heard the B&W's.

According to av123, they are sold out of the Diva centers.

At this relatively inexpensive price-point, I've never heard a speaker as sweet-sounding as the Divas. Even my wife, who barely looks askance at every single new "music box" I bring into the house and generally rolls her eyes when I note what an upgrade this or that piece represents, is flat-out amazed by the Divas. Her words: "I love those speakers."
(Me, too!)

This thread over on the AVS Forum has more information that you will likely be able to stand about Divas. And this one has similar information on Rockets. You may notice that the discussion on this forum is somewhat more spirited than HTF. And a portion of one’s title, ‘best speaker ever?’ might tip you off as to how some feel about these speakers.
Regardless, many of these members are extremely knowledgeable about their subject and have spent a lot of time and effort in evaluation.
Searching on either speaker in this area will also lead you to some interesting threads.

Had the Rocket 250 bookshelfs as mains and a 200 center.
because of their size, and the porting in the rear, there wasn't any speaker in the line i would have been able to use as a rear.
my plan originally was to spend as little on shipping and see if i could get away with the bookshelves. if i they were everything that people were saying, then i could just send those back and step up to a pair of the floorstanders.
while i had them, i thought they were spectacular speakers.
i did a lot of speaker shopping that month and after listening to many many good brands, would come home and use the Rockets and see how close they came or where they frequently exceeded what i had just heard.
for HT: one of the qualities i liked most was that i felt i didn't need a sub with them. they had a lot of authority despite their small size.
the center was wonderful. full range, crystal clear.
it sounded wonderful with everything.
the front soundstage was very impressive and very consistent. sounds had a natural, seemless transition when panning left right or vice versa.
i had no complaints whatsoever with the HT performance.
Music was generally good, with solid imaging in the center, but the soundstage rarely seemed very wide and didn't extend past the perimeter made by the speakers. furthermore, for music they had a somewhat 'boxy' feel.
tone-wise, they were fine-excellant, but i found them lacking a bit in the area of holographic precision.
that really only applies to 2 channel music listening for me.
like i said, HT use was beyond reproach.
i think the 750s would address the concerns i had music-wise with the 250s, and would have looked a little sharper to boot.
the asthetics of the speakers were my favorites of all i'd seen so far. and they are solid and very heavy.
well built and even more beautiful in person than on the web-site.

for their class and based on everything else i've seen, they do seem to be a very good value.
you definitely won't find a better center for the money than the 200.

from what i've read the Rockets seem to be a little closer in the sound to the B&Ws than the Divas (which i haven't heard).

wasn't able to keep my rockets because of some other bills right now. Frankly, they are a little too nice for my living situation at the moment anyway. they are fine pieces of furniture and deserve a room that will show them off.

also had a very positive experience with AV123. even when i had to send them back.

I certainly love my Divas (4.1s, C3, 2.1s). The thing is unlike most people here I despise shopping, so I haven't really had a chance to compare them to (m)any other speakers.

The one comparison I have been able make is to my beloved Celestion 9s which are my living room "stereo" music speakers (the Divas are in the HT room) and the Divas are almost as good as the Celestion 9s. Or maybe better -- it's all so darn subjective... The Divas certainly look a 1000 times better.

Ted

I have Divas upstairs and Rockets downstairs in my main room. I'm very fond of both. Generally speaking, the Divas are more polite and considerate of lesser quality gear and recordings, while the Rockets hit harder dynamically and are more revealing. (But never fatiguing.) I also found the Rockets (when compared in the same room) had a bit more spacial acuity to their imaging, or less of a hard center image.

Overall, IMO the hype is anything but. They're every bit the speakers they're cracked up to be.

Dipoles wouldn't have worked because the whole right side of the ht is open to the rest of the basement.

two things after further thought;
finding the rockets to be as dynamic as they were while at the same time not fatiguing was one of their best qualities to me.
i would also concur about the wide sweet spot. all my viewing is off axis, and i still felt the front soundstage was one full, wide, sheet of sound.

i also have to ammend my first comment about the imaging on 2 channel stereo.
while it was stronger than what i'm upgrading from, it frequently seemed kind of muddy to me also.
because the sound in general was so pleasing, i dismissed the way some tracks just seemed to 'stew down' into a spatialy indiscernible mass of instruments and vocals.
i've since heard other speakers in my home, that place individual instruments distinctly with discernible depth and space between them, so i don't think it was wholly the acoustics of my room that was casuing the problem with the rockets.

That said, i still hope to someday own at least a set of 750s.
And that 200 center is the perfect beast for an FP set-up.
with so many packages, you usually find the center to be a weaker speaker, not so here. i swapped it out once with one of the 250s and was floored by the range.
to me an ideal set up (sonically, not asthetically) would have been 3 200s across the front.

Honestly what I am "confused" about is that the HT and audio enthusiasts on this board and avsforum (yes, I've been there too.) are purchasing a speaker from, for the most part, word of mouth alone. How is this possible and should I consider it?
If it is the great speaker it is touted to be, I wanted to hear from people who actually have been using them for a while and get some input. (not from the people on avsforum who seem to be a bit biased)
I find it hard to believe that nobody dislikes them.
Another thing, I don't like purchasing things online when I can get them from a local store where I can face someone in person should there be a problem.
That's not to say I haven't, I have purchased my DVD player from JandR.com my PC was built with parts from various online outlets, I get 90% of my DVDs from buy.com I bought a cool smoothie maker from Amazon, etc.. I am not old-fashioned just careful.
I am interested in these speakers and want to get as much info as possible before taking the plunge.
A lot of people have obviously bought these speakers sight unseen and I am trying to understand and possibly adopt their reasoning for making this decision.

David, you can go to www.audioenvy.com and see if there's anyone in you local area who can provide an audition for you. Failing that, it does come down to having the various (and voluminous) testimony available on the audio internet forums, and matching what you know about speakers to what you see in terms of specs and build to rely on. Of course specs and visible attributes won't tell you whether or not the designer blew the most important variable, the crossover design. To some extent, it's a leap of faith. No guts, no glory.
Such is the nature of the internet sales model. You can get much, much more than you pay for when bypassing the typical 90-100% dealer markup, or in some cases you can get totally hosed. I assure you however, no one is getting hosed here or you would have heard much more about that!

Paul,

I'm curious about the soundstage problems you had with the 250s. Most posts I've read about the vifa tweeter describe excellent soundstages. I have to wonder if placement may have been the trouble. The 250 is the speaker I'm interested in so I'd like to find out more.

Walt-
Exactly! That is what I was looking for. Someone who got "hosed".
I rely on this forum and a few others whenever I buy a component for my HT or home for that matter.
I am one of the saps who sits and reads a thousand opinions and reviews before deciding which
products to audition for myself.
I have read so many good things about the Rocket Loudspeakers that I am ready to buy them unseen/unheard.
They do look damn nice on their site.
It is a lot of money to spend even if they are great speakers for the price.
My proposed setup would be:
rs750s
rsc200
rss300s
svs pc+ 16-46
That is $3500 without shipping.
That is lot of money to part with if I get "hosed".

(btw, what does it cost to get a pair of 750s shipped?)

David, I'm not sure what the shipping charges are but don't hesitate to call AV123 for that info. Great bunch of people over there to talk to. The Rockets look even better in person than they do on the site. They're actually stunning to me still, and they sound as good as they look.

I see you've got SVS on your list as well. Another leap of faith for me, I have two of the very early SVS 16-46 CS subs (now sporting the updated drivers) and they've been a great source of audio gratification to me as well. These are some pretty well hedged bets here.

From what I've seen thus far, anyone who has felt dissatisfied for whatever reason with either of these companies gets personal attention until they're satisfied. Worst case scenario, you're out some shipping charges, but it's a gamble well worth taking IMO.

David,
shipping to NY was going to be around $110 for the 750s.
theres a bit more of a charge shipping them out (but far less than i was expecting) which accounts for the packing materials. these things are EXTREMELY well packed.

Bob,
at one point i went so far as to pull the 250's out into the center of the room- plenty of open space on each side- and went about toeing in and minor adjustments from there.
i didn't find much change.
for the amount of music listening i do (less than 25% at this point) it wasn't that big a deal.
i don't see how they could have been any better for HT.
it was the long slim asthetics of the 750 coupled with the stronger feedback as regards to music listening that were just too seductive. for those reasons i didn't think in the long run i would have been satisfied w/ the bookshelves.
and there was no way i could swing even a partial 750 package at this time, so i decided to send everything back.
if your curious at all, theres no way youre going to know for sure until you get them in your house.
maybe it was just the chemistry of those particular speakers and my room?
please understand , i'm being very critical here.
i asked about soundstaging and transparancy in another thread here and one of the responses was, "when you hear the right speakers for you, you will know it".
as much as i wanted to feel that w/ the Rockets in 2 channel, i just had to admit i didn't.
since then, i have found speakers that do make me feel "it".
thats one reason i'm a little more critical now.
for the few things that didn't work for me, the rockets did so many more things right, its almost impossible not to recommend them.
especially after everything else i saw during that month long audition.

Adam,
(shrugs)
:b