Energy Owners Thread - Page 1367

You are so lucky with prices in the U.S. They just had the RC-70's at Futureshop for $1250.00 EACH and then had a one day promotion for two at that price.
That is the best I have seen them up here.

FS has had them on special for Boxing Day @ $500 each. Thisis what I paid for mine.

about a year ago, i got two RC70s from futureshop for $400 + tax brand new.

It seems that history is repeating itself... Last year around the same date I began reading this thread, looking to upgrade my Connoisseur-based setup all bought at FutureShop. I poured thousands of words in this thread lamenting the prices in Canada, to the point where people in this thread either never returned due to extreme boredom or implored me to buy anything just so that I shut up. Well in fact the good Energy Owner Thread people were much kinder that that to me but this is how I imagine things would have ended up if I had not realized the futility of my quest.

At the time I saw promos in the US for CF-70s at less than half the retail price in Canada and was mad that I couldn't get a hand on them. But then Christmas came and *bam* RC-70s pop up at $500 apiece at FutureShop. Piles of them. Considering this was an even lower price than the CF-70s I decided to pull the trigger. I managed to string two 30 day refunds when they slashed the prices first to 475$ and then to 400$. It seems this was the second (or third?) year FutureShop got a load of RC-70s at cheap prices for Christmas. The ones you can find at $1250 right now are leftovers from last Christmas, so I'd say if you're interested, wait at least until next boxing day... and keep your receipts and jump on the occasion to get a refund if they slash prices further to liquidate stock.

The problem with getting the RC-70s at FutureShop is that you'll soon want matching surrounds and centers. This is a problem because no one distributes the RC line anymore in Canada. You'll then learn how to use border mail services such as Kinek to order the RC-LCR and RC-10 through an online retailer in the US and get them shipped just south of the border.

I'm interested as well because even the RC-70s are pretty well known for being quite descent speakers, I really wonder if one can get something on the same level of quality, at comparable prices, in Canada. Energy has huge distribution gaps in Canada (the CF-70s are now nowhere to be found) and while I'm happy I finally got my 5.0 RC setup, this was still a waste of energy (pardon the pun) compared to just grabbing what you want from a canadian store.

I seem to have run into a little snag with my 10.3 sub, I hope one of you can assist me with it. What it seems like happened, my cable for a my sub seems to have been broken off in the port. It looks like you can use a wrench to remove the port, but I haven't tried that as yet. Have any of you ever done that with any sub, not just this one. Any suggestions on how to fix this situation? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The only other thing Canadian shoppers can do is keep an eye on the used market. In Ontario their are usually 2-4 pairs of RC-70's up for sale at any given time.

I highly expect one seller is a futureshop employee buying on his discount and then making a buck selling them on the used market, and he is usually asking a higher amount. Most guys are looking to get about $1000 for their set.

The LCR's are a little more sparse, but they are up fairly often as well. The RC-R's are a little harder to come by, and are usually a little higher in price.

RC 10's can be found for as little as $250 - $300, which is great because they were barely every on sale up here for less than $600.

I myself have been watching like a hawk for RC-70's in cherry.

kijiji.ca
canuckaudiomart.com
Edited by MuaySteve - 9/6/12 at 6:33pm

Had a question for the Energy owners - I just got a set of RC10 ( my low budget for now runs as 2RC10+RC-LCR+S10.3) and one of them has a visible lose wire inside with a foam next to it. Is this something I should worry about? It sounds normal compared to the other one in one hr of listening so far.

What do you guys say?

If it sounds normal I wouldn't sweat it. But if it really bothers you remove the grille and the drivers and move the wire out of the way.

Luckily, I did get a set of RC-70's , R-LCR and RC-R's used off Kijiji myself a few weeks ago and I think that is the best way to go. I just can't believe the cost differences south of the border.

would replacing my cf 70s with rc lcr's be a worth while upgrade?

Yep, we have been getting the short end of the stick, and it doesn't look like we will see anything close to Vanns pricing on the Veritas from Futureshop.

I have bough and sold several different speakers now via kijiji, canuckaudiomart and ebay. All have been good transactions, and a couple have been outright steals.

It is worth looking into for any Canucks who want to get into RC line. Especially when you look at the price of Veritas, Paradigm studio's, Totem's or any other speaker lines up here that might compare to the RC line (In quality at least.)

In my opinion yes. I had CB 20's which were nice enough, but the still pale compared to the refined sound of the RC line. And I liked the CB 20's over the CF 70's when I auditioned them.

Does anyone know what drivers are used in the RC line? Mainly the 3 drivers used in the RC-70??

There's people going crazy for the the Tekton Pendragon and I truly don't understand why. I would too if it looked nicer and wasn't $2,500!!!!!!! It uses 2 $100 Seas CA22's and a 3 Vifa XT25's. WTF people lol. A $2,500 speaker that uses less than $300 in speakers. I'd be interested to know what the RC uses. I wonder if they're custom though. With an R&D department like they had I wouldn't be surprised

What the heck does any of what you mentioned have to do with Energy speakers?

How do the Energy speakers sound to you? thats all that matters.

The parts list for the RC-70 is on page 29 of the link below. Doubt its gonna tell you what you want to know though.,
http://ndgservice.ca/data/pdf/energy_1.pdf

Maybe you can call the vendor for more info.

Energy was a major company which was a pioneer in speaker research and design (coming out of the national research facilities in Canada, along with designers from PSB, Mirage, Paradigm, etc). See here for more on the NRC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Research_Council_(Canada)

They always designed and built their own drivers, often with patented technology (e.g. the ribbed elliptical woofer)... they aren't some small internet direct company that needs to source their parts from external vendors.

You probably aren't going to see that level of R&D now that they have been bought out by Klipsch and then Audiovox, but even the newer post-buyout models (e.g. the new Veritas) use their own proprietary design drivers.

I never listened to the CF-70s but I'd say there are pros and cons for such a trade. First both of them are 3-way speakers so they are both likely to reproduce clear mids. The CF-70s is likely to have a more authority in the bass department. The RC-LCRs would need stands, but would have a higher overall quality, including finish and aesthetics. Else, the RC line is famous for its laid back, soft highs, whereas the CF-70s should be notably brighter.

Personally, I'd say that coupled with a good sub, I'd go with 3 x RC-LCRs over 2 x CF-70s + the CC-10 center, as the bass would be handled by the sub anyway, I like the sound of the RC line over the Connoisseur line, and the LCR would be a better center than the CC-10 which matches the CF-70s.

I'm not even sure why it is that there is such a high difference in prices on electronics good. I know Canada is a very small market in comparison to the US but there's a free trade agreement in place and we're on the same continent -- Canada's market should just be an extension of the US's. I never did business through Canuckaudiomart but I indeed see good things there. But you got to be patient; the RC speakers I saw when shopping for mine were rare and/or expensive. I ended up getting my LCR and RC-10s at Vann's shipped to a Kinek border point.

But the problem is, once you see that, you look at other pieces of electronics, and you notice that you can have about any other device at about half the price if you know where to look. I'm not sure I'd waive warranty on a receiver or risk damage by having UPS ship a TV, but considering the money at stake, it's worth considering.

The drivers make up the speaker do they not? If they use a driver I've heard and don't like then I'd be a lot more inclined to not purchase them. I figured (and Batpig has also confirmed) that Energy manuf. their own speakers. With the huge R&D they had I figured, but also figured someone might have taken them apart to see what they were. There is no way for me to audition the RC line and even if there was I would still like to know what drivers are being used. How they sound to my ears is the largest factor though, you're correct

Thanks for the link btw


Thanks. Yeah I figured they made their own. I hate not being able to audition them! I'm sure it's a large difference from my budget C-500, etc. Not that they're bad, but they just don't have what it takes anymore. I'm sure spending $750-800 on a pair of RC-70's, KEF's, etc is a much better option than spending that on lines like EMP Impression, etc.

In Canada, FutureShop has been the major reason why people know Energy as they're carrying the current Connoisseur and Veritas lines. Bizarrely though they did not offer all of the Connoisseur line: they have the CB-20 bookshelves, the CC-10 center, CR-10 surrounds, and CF-30 and CF-50 floorstanding speakers. No smaller bookshelves, no CF-70s, no CC-5.

I noticed recently that the CB-20s were in "final liquidation" at 199.97. Well they're still liquidating the CB-20s, and just introduced the CB-10. Right now the CB-10 pair is $330 so it makes little sense to buy those compared to the CB-20s unless size is a major factor. But it seems like the CB-20s will disappear from the canadian landscape too.

the RC70s were on final clearance when I bought mine. Now, a year later, the price has increased more than 3x. I try to avoid Futureshop due to things like this and some poor previous experiences, but sometimes they have deals that are just too good to pass up, plus their price matching policy comes in handy every now and then.

Well I'd say the RC-70s are a special case It seems that they get new stock once in a year, and any stock remaining after their clearance sale becomes "normal stock" sold at MSRP during the rest of the year. I don't remember ever seeing other Energy products in final clearance. The CB-20s are thus priced for more than 3 weeks now -- the $200 price was seen before but only a week at a time. Add to that the appearance of the CB-10s and I'd say it looks like FutureShop decided to replace the CB-20s with the CB-10s in their lineup. Thus this is an occasion for canadian customers to grab a pair of CB-20s on the cheap, and eventually when the CB-10s gets on sale, those too. To my knowledge the only online store carrying the CB-10 is TheSource.ca at rather steep prices.

I'd say you have to know exactly what you want to peruse FutureShop. You have to spot the exact item you want, then track its price over the longest period possible, then buy when the price is on a bottom. Pretty much like Canadian Tire When I bought my Connoisseur setup (which I sold to a friend) I managed to get rather good prices, especially on the CC-10 which I grabbed for $200.

Still, the RC-70s was my best FutureShop experience. I grabbed a pair for $1000; then almost a month later I see them at $25 off each, so I went to FS to claim my fifty bucks and get a new receipt (this is actually a virtual return of the product, so we get a new receipt with a new date of purchase -- this is the key to the following). Almost a month later not only the RC-70's get slashed to $400 each, but during three days, there was a free sub (ESW-C8) with any pair of Energy floorstanding speakers. I was amazed I had no difficulty whatsoever claiming the $150 back -- the new receipt's date was valid; I thought I was testing my luck when I asked for the sub as well, but the girl at the counter actually laughed out loud and gave it to me with an attaboy look when she spotted the deal on the flyer. I sold the sub NIB for $160.

So yeah, keep your FS receipts and keep watching the prices after you buy!

A big thank you to the person/people who recommended dire straits. I got my hands on the "brothers in arms" sacd. Very impressive. Eventually I will get the bluray. The only thing that sucks is that I ran out of belvedere . Gonna have to spike my drink with something else .

that's funny. i originally bought the RC70s for $400 each with the free sub. i put the sub on craigslist and kijiji and wasn't getting any action so i decided to take everything back a day before the 30-day return policy was up. i had my e:xl 5.0 speakers that had been sitting in boxes for the last 5 years and was going to put them back to work. i believe it was the very next day that the connoisseurs were advertised as buy one, get one free so i figured i'd try my luck and see if i could get the RC70s for that deal since they had connoisseur in their name. the associate that i delt with must have been new on the job because he questioned why i wanted the RCs over the CFs - the CFs had a more expensive sticker price and therefore must be a better speaker. he went to the stockroom and brought out the exact same speakers that i had just returned (could tell from the slight damage on the boxes) and when he went to ring it up, the computer wouldn't cooperate with the buy one/get one deal. he called a manager on the intercom and i thought my luck was over. the same manager that authorized my return from the day before shows up and manually over-rides the computer. that was a happy day.

I've heard RC-70's and C-500s. The RC-70's are much better. The C-500 tweeter sounds muffled by comparison.

So I'm ready to start my dedicated home theater. I have 4 rc70s, a RC-Lcr, a pair of def tech pro monitor 1000's, a pair of def tech SR 8080 surrounds, a nad t955 amp and two klipsh sw-450 subs. I'm looking to run a 9.2 or 11.2 system, not sure which at the moment. Room size is 15x20.

I am debating between the onkyo 5009 or 5010. I do have two cf70s that I am not currently using too. I also have the opportunity to buy another nad t955 for $450, would I need it for the surrounds or should I get it so that I can biamp. Not sure what would be the best setup or if there is something else I should try to buy? I appreciate the feedback

I would forget the extra nad. Either of those onkyos will supply enought power. And more importantly, provide xt32 to equalize your pair of subs. If you really want to splurge, get higher end subs . In reality, that money could go to room treatments.

I agree. All that money in fantastic tower speakers in an RC setup, and your subs are definitely not in the same class as the rest of your setup. You'll get an impressive performance boost in HT usage from 12" ID subs from HSU, Outlaw Audio, or SVS.

A lot of us got the pair of rc-70's for $1000 or less. So we under budget for subs. Forgetting the fact that we got those speakers for 60-70% off normal pricing. I made that mistake. And then once you hear a good sub, you get curious about better subs. And that becomes another journey. Lol. But then once you get to that point where you're sitting back listening to your setup and getting totally lost, with absolutely no sounds of struggle or distortion coming from your setup, you know you've arrived.

Thanks, Yea, I know the subs need to be changed out, I'm trying to sell the ones I have to offset the costs of dual Hsu VTF 15. Do I need to change out the def techs for or will they be fine with that setup. What's the best placement for what I have?

I would think that if you are going to use four RC-70s in an HT setup that you would want any additional speakers to timbre match.

BTW: Just one VTF-15H will significantly out perform dual sw-450s on SQ, SPL, and low frequency extension. No need to wait until you can afford two.

Just bought a old JVC ax-44 stereo intergrated amplifier,Toshiba digital synthesizer tuner ST-665, and a JVC stereo cassette deck KD-A33 for $40 from Value Village. Still looking for vintage Energy speakers.
Edited by nadenergy - 9/8/12 at 6:23pm