Speaker info? (1 Viewer)

[Darryl _Scott]

I recently heard a speaker that I was impressed with. Can anyone give me a first hand review of the Venturi DV52si made by BIC America? Any helpful info. will be much appreciated.

 

[Valerie Brown]

Darryl,
Have you ever tried www.audioreview.com ? There's some review for a Venturi V52si.

 

[Walt N]

That basic speaker model has been around forever and for good reason, as whoever BIC hired to design them for their extremely low price point nailed it. Before a recent upgrade I used a pair of them in my bedroom for years and always found them to be outstandingly good for the money. Well balanced natural voicing, solid bass for the size with nice punch, detailed but not harsh in the upper registers, highly recommended. Quite frankly, I've heard bookshelf speakers that sell for many times the price that I didn't think were acoustically designed as well or sounded as good.

There's a high-end speaker builder in San Diego named Ed Frias ([email protected]) who also thinks highly of the BIC's as budget speakers, so he offers a very reasonably priced crossover replacement/modification for a higher degree of performance. I never did it as I found them to be quite satisfactory as they were, but I'm sure it would be worth the extra money of you have the time to mess with it.

 

[Aaron Smithski]

Walt,
Yes, the DV52SI's WERE a very nice out-of-the-box speaker up until about 2 years ago. After talking to Ed Frias, he said BIC did just about everything they could possibly do to the crossover to screw up the sound! He said they still use the same good-quality drivers, but really messed up the crossover big-time! This is why he receives business to alter the crossovers.
I own a few pair of the DV52SI speakers, in addition to 3 of the DV62CLR's, and they are close to being an excellent speaker for very little cash outlay! I purchased mine from uBid when the prices were still good and they had BIC. I use 3 of the DV62CLR's for center/left/right and a pair of the DV52SI's for the rear in my secondary system in the family room. The DV62CLR's are an unreal deal for $69 shipped from uBid! They are a decent performer stock, but you can tell that the voicing is not as natural as it should be and the highs are borderline shrill!
I will be sending in all 5 of the crossovers for Ed's mods at a cost of $100 total shipped. Added to the original $253 shipped that was spent for the 5 speakers, I should get an excellent performing 5.1 setup for $353!
Now, if there was a good way other than using a black marker to get rid of the white etched "ferrofluid cooled" logos on the tweeters...
Aaron

 

[Walt N]

Ah, the old dreaded "cost cutting measures" trick. I didn't realize there'd been a change to the x-over design. $25 a crack for modded crossovers is a hell of a good deal though, especially with Ed having designed the tweak and doing the work. The man certainly knows speakers.

Thanks for the update and enjoy your speakers. It's hard to imagine a better deal for the money, man that's cheeeeeeep!