Energy Owners Thread - Page 4

I am in the process of finishing my theater room, and putting together my first real system. I went to a local shop yesterday and they showed me the new Energy C-Series. Now, I am not an audiophile or anything, but they sounded superb to me. The guys at the shop thought very highly of them as well. They did say the Reference series was a step up, but for less than I can get a decent system at Best Buy, I can get the C-Series:

C-500 Fronts
C-C100 Center
C-R100 Sides
C-50 Rears

Total MSRP was like $1400, and they said they'd work a deal with me to knock some more off. So, there may be better speakers, but for the money, these looked and sounded pretty sweet to me.

Also, picked up a Mirage S12 sub for $400 today, should compliment the Energys nicely.

Andy

Why do you say that? Have you heard a system w/ the C-C1?

Nope, but without going into too much detail, the off-axis response of the CC-1 just isn't very good, whereas the C3's is excellent. If you are going to sit right in front of the speaker I suppose it wouldn't matter too much.

Even if that wasn't the case, 3 identical speakers would still be better 90% of the time.

In fact, the ironic thing is that most center channel speakers are really bad at doing their job. The good ones will have a midrange above/below the tweeter. The CC-3 is one such speaker.

sajandrew - i have the c-500's and c-c100 and am very pleased with them. They didn't have the cr-100's in stock yet, but I am looking at gettting some. Just wondering where you live and what store you are buying from? Also, do you have the price on the cr-100's?
I was thinking of going with 4 cr-100's for my sides and rears, I see you are looking at the c-50's for the rears, did the store recommend these to you or are they your choice?
Thanks Mike

Okay, Went to one of the stockists for Energy here in West Australia and demoed the RC-70 and RC-50. IMO I think these are the best speakers I have heard since I started sampling what is out in the market atm. The RC-70 have nice lows, beautiful mids and crisp, clean and controlled highs, a real joy to listen to. The RC-50's are also up there, they lose a little bit of the lows but still have clean mids and highs. Cabinet quality is very nice too, real wood veneers looked the goods.

Also demoed the new C Series, and must say I am disappointed in the sound quality, IMO they lacked definition and sounded flat, good lows but not enough guts in the mid range. Loved the piano finish though.

The problem I face is one of cost, the RC-70s retailed for $4000.00 Australian Dollars, thats about $3420.00 CAD - I guess we pay import duty and tax to get these babies from Canada, but nevertheless, way out of my price range. Even the RC-50's are $3000.00 AUD ($2560.00 CAD).

So I cant afford my Energy's this time round.

I demoed some B&W's the DM603 S3 Floor stands and IMO (although not in the same class as the RC's) have a very nice sound, nice lows, good clean mids and controlled highs much nicer that the new C series IMO and comparable in price to the C-500's. So at this stage that is what I am looking at going with. I really would love the RC's though.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Yamaha RX-V2600 Amp

Cheerio,

MG

Energy Encore complete.

I have C7, CR-1, and CC-1. If anybody wants to part with a CC-3, let me know. I'd like to upgrade to that center channel and could free up a CC-1 for someone else.

I use a Yamaha RX-V1300 receiver and Paradigm PW2100 sub. I am very happy with my system.

Looking for online sites to purchase some Energy Take FPS and SAT for surrounds to go along with my 50" Panny plasma. Have only found 2 sites any others would be helpfull. Thanks. I have one local dealer still recovering from hurricane Katrina..

I got my Energy speakers(C3, C1, CC1) Monday. I haven't got the surrounds hooked up(just finished building shelves for them) but the C3's and CC1 are quite amazing. They're a definite step up from my Athena Auditions. I would say they're on the warm side of neutral and are a lot easier to listen to than the Ahenas. I'll have my surrounds hooked up tonight, and will be picking up a Velodyne CHT-12 sub this Friday. I can't wait till everything is hooked up and calibrated So far I'm a very happy customer.

Got the surrounds hooked up finally. I've only listened to them for about 2 minutes, but I'm very, very impressed with this setup. The CC1 is an excellent center. It can be sibilant, but not anywhere near as bad as my old Athena AS-C1. Dialogue is clean and clear, just as it should be. The C3's are amazing little speakers. I've never heard such output from a bookshelf speaker before. I could swear they were floorstanders. All that's left now is the subwoofer. I'll let everyone know how it sounds with the rest of the speakers this weekend.

I have not heard the RC series but was considering the RC-50's, but need to hear them before buying them of course.
I was wondering how do the RC series compare to the Paradigm Monitor 7's & PSB Image T55's?

For anybody who is going to buy RC-70's, $699 with free shipping on ebay.

Anyone know of a good place to get the Act6 system for a good price?

I would definitely prefer the RC to the Paradigms, no contest. In fact, I think the RC series give the Paradigm Studio's a run for their money, comparable in every way sonically.

I listened to the Studio 60's & 40's yesterday. The 60's overpowered the highs, the 40's were better. But I didnt hear the distiction of highs and lows like I like. I thought the Monitor 7's has more distiction between highs and lows.

I also am considering the PSB Image T55's. What do you think of those in comparison to the Paradigm Monitor 7's and Energy RC-50's?

I have owned the Studio 60's and the Energy RC-70's. I felt that the Studio 60's were a little brighter than the RC-70's and that the 70's had better mids. Both are great speakers and I'm sure some people would like the 60's better. The RC-70s matched my preferences better and have been very happy with them.

Thought I should point out, that if we were looking at the same auction, the RC-70's on ebay is for 1 speaker only. $699 for just one speaker does not seem like that great of a deal to me.

I've never heard the T55's, but I have heard the T45. The PSB's are pretty good , but I still prefer the RC50's by far. The PSB's don't seem to articulate the highs as clearly, but still manage to sound bright, maybe there was a bit of emphasis in the upper highs compared to the Energy. I think the Energy seems to strike a good balance between detail and smoothness better. The monitors never seemed as solid and tight in the bass as the Studio's which is why I like the Studio's a lot more. The Studio's tend to sound a bit drier for some reason.

[quote=Cdnhifi]ScottS, almost the exact set I have except I have the C-R3's for the back and a older XL-S10 Energy sub.

Other then the sub (which I have connected to the Take 5's) I still have not hooked up my Connoisseur line as we wait to move into our new place. Its tough just staring at them in their respective boxes.....

Question for Energy guru's.... I'm looking at either the new Denon 2807 or H/K 640 to replace an older Onkyo I have now and am wondering which would best match the Energy's?

I think for HT they will both excel, I'm more curious about stereo and music performance as I spend a lot of time (60/40 music to movie split) listening to music. I'm leaning towards the H/K but am curious which will give the best neutral sound?

My set-up again is:

2x C-3's - fronts
C-C1 center
C-r3's surround
XL-S10 sub

Thanks in advance....[/QUOTE

Those are the two recievers I am considering upgrading to. I had a HK 635 for a couple of weeks before learning of the 640, and it sounded real good with my old Energy speakers. I would say it sounded better than my old Denon did, but that receiver was 10 years old, and I think the EQ setup had alot to do with it. I didn't get to try much music with the HK, as we just got into the HD world with a new plasma...but the HK was a tad bright on the c-8's maybe. Would be nice to demo both receivers to know for sure. First they need to arrive!
By the way..my set up is this:
Connoisseur C-8's
EC-200 center
EFX surrounds
ES-12 sub
Soon to add R-CR's for 7.1

Siddavis - I have an act6 system for sale. Let me know if you're interested. Where are you located?

Hi!

Just joined the board. I've been an owner of Energy Veritas speakers for a year. I've been extremely happy with them. Below is my gear:

Pre/Pro - Anthem AVM30
Amp - Anthem PVA5
DVD - Denon 2910
Front - Veritas 2.2i
Cntr - Veritas 2.0Ci
Rear - Veritas 2.2WM
Sub - Velodyne HGS-10
Cond - Monster 3600
TV - Sony KDF60-655

Room size (ft) is: 20 X 14 X 10.

Thanks!

How are those 2.2 WM working for you? I've been considering replacing my Sonance in ceilings with the Veritas in-celings. Figure they will be a better match for my 2.3i, but the Sonance are very good so I'm a little leary about taking them down.

Hi Jack,

I've been very happy with the 2.2WM's. I went with these because I wanted the best match possible to the front/center speakers. I also considered the 2.1WM's, but at the end of the day decided to go with the 2.2's.

Regarding the replacement of the Sonance, if you are happy with them I would not replace them. However, if you have a good collection of SACDs and do listen to a lot of music using all of the channels, then it may worth the upgrade. If you use the rears just for movies, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Cheers!

I've had enough time to really listen to the speakers, along with the Velodyne cht 12. They are truly impressive speakers. They easily blow Athena out of the water. At first, the only major problem I had was sibilance. But now that they've had time to break in, they've really opened up, and sibilance is much less of an issue now. The midrange is full and the highs are incredibly easy on the ears. As for the sub, well, it's no SVS. But it's no slouch either. It hits low and hard, and it's nice and tight(insert female joke here). I do have to turn down the volume just a bit for music listening though. All in all though, I'm very pleased with my system. I doubt I'm going to want to upgrade anytime soon.

Nice to see there are other people using the Energy Connoisseurs for their Computers. Hooked upto my PC I have a pair of Energy C-3s for the mains, and C-1s for the rears with the newer C-C50 doing center-channel duty. The C-C50 is a fairly tiny speaker (4.5" drivers) as well, being that it only gets used during games the mismatch isn't very noticable.

The C-3 and C-1 pairs were a steal too, got them being cleared out for $300 and $100cad respectively. I'm hoping to eventually round up a C-C1 to match, it will just -barely- fit into the space i have for a center. Not sure how many others have seen them but the upcoming RC-Mini Center/Sat speakers with 4.5" drivers look very interesting, i would be all over them for a small setup.

One thing about the new C-series speakers is the binding posts and grilles aren't as nice as the Connoisseurs. The speaker grilles seem to be of particularly rough quality which is somewhat odd considering the otherwise good construction of the speaker.

I currently have the following setup:

(4) Athena AS-B1's
(1) Athena AS-C1
(1) Mirage S12 sub

I am considering upgrading to:

(2) Energy Connoisseur C-3
(2) Energy Connoisseur C-1's or (2) Energy Connoisseur C-R1's
(1) Energy Connoisseur C-C1
(1) Mirage S12 sub

or

(5) Mirage omnistats
(1) Mirage S12 sub

Anyone have any thoughts on which setup would sound the best or have any suggestions. My understanding is that that the Energy line has better internal components than the Athena speakers. I also know that the omnistats have a different sound than 1st two options.

Hi Musica
how's the Veritas 2.0Ci ? I have a 2 channel system with Vertas 2.2, I'm thinking of upgrading to 5 speakers. Based on reviews on the net, the 2.0Ci has issues, off axis they are not so good. What is your experience with them ?

If it's not so good, I might get a KEF Centre Channel. Q6c. They have the tweeter aligned with the mid. However, I have concerns matching the KEF centre channel with my Veritas 2.2 mains. Don't know how they will sound together.

One interesting hybrid would be the Energy in the fronts with Mirage in the back. That would give a nice full sound with a nice diffuse soundfield for the rear channels. I have such a setup and it works great.