**** NOTE: Many members have posted pics of their acoustech setups throughout the pages of this thread
For anyone that is interested, I had ordered the following:
Pair BIC Acoustech HT-88 Mains
BIC Acoustech HT-85 Center
Pair BIC Acoustech HT-75 as rears
BIC Acoustech H100 Sub
I'm running them on an older Pioneer VSX-D709S... Not the best reciever in the world, but certainly not the worst either. Debating on upgrading that to the new Elite VSX92, the Yamaha RX-V3800, Denon 3808CI, or Marantz SR7002. Any comments on these 4 recievers are welcome.
H100 Review:
When i first pulled this out of the box, my first impressions were just wow. The fit and finish of the subwoofer looks far better than the majority of the ones i have seen available. This includes the competitor klipsch and even higher end brands such as paradigm as the majority of these only use the vinyl and contain seams at the corners which usually end up peeling or getting rough. The H100 has a very nice high gloss black lacquer finish on the top and bottom with the vinyl on sides and back. They strategically install the vinyl so that no seams are ever visible unless pulling off the grill in which case they are still very hard to notice. This is also true of the HT-75s which do not have a seam at any of the corners.
When I first plugged the H100 in, I experimented with locations but already knew of the best location from already having a sub. Keep in mind for this review that the room is large at 24'x26' and it is fairly open to the kitchen which is another 10'x20' or so. During the first couple of hours I had already noticed a good amount of bass coming from the sub but it wasnt what I would really call 'impressive'. UNTIL... after 5 or so hours of play, it really started to perform. Even with the size of my room, the bass started to become very full and deep and this newly impressive performance remained. From the pictures in the link you can also see how configurable the sub is by its back panel. I'm debating somewhat on purchasing another one of these subs to fill in some of the voids left due to the size of my room but if i do get another, it will definately be the H100 based on its appearance and performance.
HT-75 Review:
The finish on these speakers are also top notch. I was VERY impressed with the appearance of these speakers. As stated above, there are no visible seems, they are all consealed behind the grill and are not even noticeable when removing the grill and also have the black lacquer finish on top and bottom. The pictures that are on BIC's website and even the ones that i took myself do not do these speakers justice. The copper colored cones also look amazing. Earlier today i was at the local audio/video store looking for a new receiver and stopped to assure myself that I made a good decision on the speakers. Just for comparison, they had some paradigms (I think studio 40s) on display and i must say that I personally like the looks of the Acoustech's better. The paradigms had the vinyl seams at the corners and in a couple of places it had already become quite noticeable from rough/peeling edges although the paradigms. The HT-75s are somewhat light and could benefit from something as little as dead weight at the bottom inside the cabinet.
The sound coming from the HT-75's is very crisp and clean. The highs are crisp and very very detailed. Contrary to what i've heard, they are not too bright. I honestly did not know how poor the quality of some of my media was until playing it through these speakers. If there are any flaws in any tracks, you will hear it. The mid range is also very good, warm, and full. Vocals, and instruments sound amazing through these speakers. The only flaw that I could find with these speakers (other than needing a lower center of gravity) is its bass response. You really need to accompany these speakers with a subwoofer (my opinion for all setups really). The speakers do produce very tight very quick bass, but there is no extension of the bass. I thought perhaps at higher bass frequencies in the low hundreds of Hz would perform better through the speakers. The response was a little bit better but still lacking. I'm hoping that the HT-88s will be a fix to this problem as they will be my front speakers, and these HT-75's will become my rears. Even without the bass response from the HT-75's, the accompanied H100 subwoofer makes the combination give a great wow factor. Their seemed to be absolutely no distortion at high volume either. Overall i was very very impressed with the performance of these speakers, and i dont mean just because of the price. They may not outperform some high end speakers, but I think that the difference will be negligable or of no concern to most people.
HT-85 and HT-88 Review:
The HT-85 and HT-88 came in and they have the same finish as the HT-75's. High gloss tops and bottoms, the horn driver is -i think- the exact same driver as in the HT-75's. The HT-88s have the 8" drivers versus the 6.5's. Instead of a black dust cap like the 6.5's, the 8" drivers have a flat copper colored dust cap. I actually prefer the LOOK of the 6.5" drivers over the 8"s but i'm sure there is some reason they chose what they did. With the grille on, theres no difference in the appearance when comparing to the HT75 other than the cabinet being noticeably larger. In addition to the larger cabinet, the HT-88s are much much heaver, which I liked. They are almost exactly twice the weight of the HT-75's at 51 pounds each. These do not seem easy to tip over as the HT-75s kind of did. Now on to performance. It took several hours of play to break them in but once they were they performed very well. The highs were prominant and crisp and the mid bass drivers provided more warmth and depth than the HT-75's The sound matches the rest of the system almost perfectly. Be advised that if you are looking toward the HT-88's as a bass-y substitute to getting a sub, you might be slightly dissappointed. It may be due to the size of my room (24'x26'x14' vaulted) and they may sound bassier in a smaller room. The drivers do not seem to provide a lot of bass extension. They do provide a nice full sound and would be a nice upgrade/addition if you already have a sub. If you are looking to get a 2.0 system, then skip the HT-88's and grab a pair of the HT-75's and the H100 for practically the same price as a pair of HT-88's. That 2.1 setup provides phenominal value and you will be very pleasantly surprised with it. The HT-85 center speaker has all the same drivers and pretty much an identical sound. You can really push a lot of power through these with no distortion. The center speaker was surprisingly heavy as well for its size. Overall I'm very pleased with the entire package. I'm still contemplating purchasing an additional H100 because at VERY high volumes, the Acoustech towers overpower the sub when listening to music, again this is only due to the size of my room, most anyone with a traditional size room would be more than happy with the output, and with movies, it provides me with plenty of bass. Its just kinda nice to have the extra power in case you wanna use it.
For anyone that is interested, I had ordered the following:
Pair BIC Acoustech HT-88 Mains
BIC Acoustech HT-85 Center
Pair BIC Acoustech HT-75 as rears
BIC Acoustech H100 Sub
I'm running them on an older Pioneer VSX-D709S... Not the best reciever in the world, but certainly not the worst either. Debating on upgrading that to the new Elite VSX92, the Yamaha RX-V3800, Denon 3808CI, or Marantz SR7002. Any comments on these 4 recievers are welcome.
H100 Review:
When i first pulled this out of the box, my first impressions were just wow. The fit and finish of the subwoofer looks far better than the majority of the ones i have seen available. This includes the competitor klipsch and even higher end brands such as paradigm as the majority of these only use the vinyl and contain seams at the corners which usually end up peeling or getting rough. The H100 has a very nice high gloss black lacquer finish on the top and bottom with the vinyl on sides and back. They strategically install the vinyl so that no seams are ever visible unless pulling off the grill in which case they are still very hard to notice. This is also true of the HT-75s which do not have a seam at any of the corners.
When I first plugged the H100 in, I experimented with locations but already knew of the best location from already having a sub. Keep in mind for this review that the room is large at 24'x26' and it is fairly open to the kitchen which is another 10'x20' or so. During the first couple of hours I had already noticed a good amount of bass coming from the sub but it wasnt what I would really call 'impressive'. UNTIL... after 5 or so hours of play, it really started to perform. Even with the size of my room, the bass started to become very full and deep and this newly impressive performance remained. From the pictures in the link you can also see how configurable the sub is by its back panel. I'm debating somewhat on purchasing another one of these subs to fill in some of the voids left due to the size of my room but if i do get another, it will definately be the H100 based on its appearance and performance.
HT-75 Review:
The finish on these speakers are also top notch. I was VERY impressed with the appearance of these speakers. As stated above, there are no visible seems, they are all consealed behind the grill and are not even noticeable when removing the grill and also have the black lacquer finish on top and bottom. The pictures that are on BIC's website and even the ones that i took myself do not do these speakers justice. The copper colored cones also look amazing. Earlier today i was at the local audio/video store looking for a new receiver and stopped to assure myself that I made a good decision on the speakers. Just for comparison, they had some paradigms (I think studio 40s) on display and i must say that I personally like the looks of the Acoustech's better. The paradigms had the vinyl seams at the corners and in a couple of places it had already become quite noticeable from rough/peeling edges although the paradigms. The HT-75s are somewhat light and could benefit from something as little as dead weight at the bottom inside the cabinet.
The sound coming from the HT-75's is very crisp and clean. The highs are crisp and very very detailed. Contrary to what i've heard, they are not too bright. I honestly did not know how poor the quality of some of my media was until playing it through these speakers. If there are any flaws in any tracks, you will hear it. The mid range is also very good, warm, and full. Vocals, and instruments sound amazing through these speakers. The only flaw that I could find with these speakers (other than needing a lower center of gravity) is its bass response. You really need to accompany these speakers with a subwoofer (my opinion for all setups really). The speakers do produce very tight very quick bass, but there is no extension of the bass. I thought perhaps at higher bass frequencies in the low hundreds of Hz would perform better through the speakers. The response was a little bit better but still lacking. I'm hoping that the HT-88s will be a fix to this problem as they will be my front speakers, and these HT-75's will become my rears. Even without the bass response from the HT-75's, the accompanied H100 subwoofer makes the combination give a great wow factor. Their seemed to be absolutely no distortion at high volume either. Overall i was very very impressed with the performance of these speakers, and i dont mean just because of the price. They may not outperform some high end speakers, but I think that the difference will be negligable or of no concern to most people.
HT-85 and HT-88 Review:
The HT-85 and HT-88 came in and they have the same finish as the HT-75's. High gloss tops and bottoms, the horn driver is -i think- the exact same driver as in the HT-75's. The HT-88s have the 8" drivers versus the 6.5's. Instead of a black dust cap like the 6.5's, the 8" drivers have a flat copper colored dust cap. I actually prefer the LOOK of the 6.5" drivers over the 8"s but i'm sure there is some reason they chose what they did. With the grille on, theres no difference in the appearance when comparing to the HT75 other than the cabinet being noticeably larger. In addition to the larger cabinet, the HT-88s are much much heaver, which I liked. They are almost exactly twice the weight of the HT-75's at 51 pounds each. These do not seem easy to tip over as the HT-75s kind of did. Now on to performance. It took several hours of play to break them in but once they were they performed very well. The highs were prominant and crisp and the mid bass drivers provided more warmth and depth than the HT-75's The sound matches the rest of the system almost perfectly. Be advised that if you are looking toward the HT-88's as a bass-y substitute to getting a sub, you might be slightly dissappointed. It may be due to the size of my room (24'x26'x14' vaulted) and they may sound bassier in a smaller room. The drivers do not seem to provide a lot of bass extension. They do provide a nice full sound and would be a nice upgrade/addition if you already have a sub. If you are looking to get a 2.0 system, then skip the HT-88's and grab a pair of the HT-75's and the H100 for practically the same price as a pair of HT-88's. That 2.1 setup provides phenominal value and you will be very pleasantly surprised with it. The HT-85 center speaker has all the same drivers and pretty much an identical sound. You can really push a lot of power through these with no distortion. The center speaker was surprisingly heavy as well for its size. Overall I'm very pleased with the entire package. I'm still contemplating purchasing an additional H100 because at VERY high volumes, the Acoustech towers overpower the sub when listening to music, again this is only due to the size of my room, most anyone with a traditional size room would be more than happy with the output, and with movies, it provides me with plenty of bass. Its just kinda nice to have the extra power in case you wanna use it.