ACI Sapphire III LE (1 Viewer)

[Jason_S]

Anyone have experience with the ACI Sapphire III LE bookshelf speakers? In my quest for a new set of home theater speakers, these are the latest recommendation. I'm currently using Paradigm Reference LCR-450's for the fronts and Paradigm Monitor 3's for the rear (5.1 setup). My room is 14' x 12', so floorstanding speakers are likely inappropriate. I'm basically looking for one speaker to surround the room; i.e., seven of the same model. So how might these ACI's compare to the LCR-450's or the current Paradigm Studio 20's and 40's?

 

[Phil M]

The Sapphires are an excellent speaker! Click on my profile and you can read of my experience with them and the B&W 805 and Paradigm Studio 40's, or simply do a search on this forum.

I wish I still had them. It was a good lessen in, "costs more" doesn't necessarily always mean "sounds better"!

Phil

 

[Gregory S]

Hi Jason,

I can't comment on the comparison between the Sapphires and the other speakers that you mention. Comparing them to my Infinity SM-110 floorstanding speakers, the Sapphires top end is not gritty and harsh, as is the case with the Infinity's. The Infinity's, when played loud (they do that well due to their sensitivity of 100 db/W), is an aggressive and fatiguing sound - not so with the Sapphires.

The Sapphires are very smooth and have good bass extension and impact for a bookshelf speaker. Primarily sold as a 2-channel speaker, they do home theater incredibly well. They play loud with lots of impact and excel with musical scores. They blend beautifully with my M&K MX-80 subwoofer.

I looked at M&K 150THX's for home theater and 2-channel, before deciding on the Sapphires. Hard to beat M&K for home theater, however the Sapphires had nearly the impact , if not the equal, but also were not as bright sounding. Music sounded better through the Sapphires. Not to mention that the Sapphires were about $400 a pair cheaper and look much better.

Good luck,
Greg

 

[John Desmond]

I owned Sapphire IIIs fo quite awhile until moving up to ACI Jaguars last year. The Sapphire III is a really amazing speaker. Musical and refined, non-fatiguing, gutsy and they image like crazy. Like ACI products in general, they perform far beyond their price. I'll also mention that ACI is one of the classiest companies you can do business with. They've probably sold speakers factory-direct, longer than anyone.

 

[kevitra]

I post earlier today in this thread, but the post is gone. Anyway...

I also own the Sapphire IIIs. They are wonderful speakers. I auditioned pretty much every 'major' brand (B&W, Dynaudio, Paradigm, etc) and end up with the Sapphires. The midrange and trebel are amazingly smooth, and the soundstage is large.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to audition the Rocket 750s side-by-side with my Sapphires. The Rockets have a very tight and 'real' bass. The Sapphires had an edge in the midrange. Both speakers are great and either would make me happy, although for my taste I prefer the midrange over bass.

Since the Sapphires are discontinued, you should check with ACI to see if you can get 7 of the same color. Last I heard they were running low on inventory.

I am interested to see what ACI comes out with as a replacement to the Sapphire...