BIC Acoustech Owners Thread - Page 2

I'm glad you're happy with them I'm sure I will be too.Ive been looking at them for a while now

Superb pics. You did the collective a real service posting your experience with the BIC Acoustechs. The speakers look outstanding.

The 1 watt, 1 meter rating of 96dB and 98dB for the HT-75 and HT-88 are a solid -6 dB to -10 dB softer than the typical pro-audio rig with their powerful horn tweeter-midranges with 4" voice coil woofers. Those pro rigs sound extremely bright up close because they are designed to fill a club or an arena with loud sound and they have 1 watt, 1 meter ratings of 102 dB to 108 dB!!! But the BIC's have been designed with a "softening" of the mid-range/high-frequency horn and from your description (and others that I have read) it sounds like they were very successful in making an accurate, efficient loudspeaker without making it shrill or hard on the ears. I've also read that the tympanic response of the BIC's in film is quite profound...along the line of what we've all heard in the Bose Demonstrators in a small, confined space.

I just may have to give these a try. Really superb appearance and build quality and the towers sound like they've got the "right stuff".

I've had a few days to listen to my 88's and I love them.I've never owned any horn speakers so I didn't really know what to expect but they sound awesome to me,very smooth and the bass is better than I expected.I haven't really cranked them up yet but I'm sure they probably will play very loud,since they are so efficient.I'm powering them with a Denon avr-3806. I cant wait to complete the set and couldn't be happier with them.

Great review so far, now sell me. If you have War Of The Worlds dvd put it in and cue up the scene where the first tripod comes out of the ground in the beginning of the movie. Turn it up to reference volume and wait until the fog horn sound blows from the tripod. If this sound does not distort these speakers Im buying a set tommorow.

Insofar as the H100 is concerned, I found it to add a pleasant rounding to music, but it has neither the extension nor the punch that one would expect from a box that size. There are better choices for HT.

I've got a query for (hopefully) someone out there. I have a couple sonic impact t-amp (class T amplifier) and am hoping that these speakers (either the ht-75 or ht-88) will play nice with this little gem. It has pretty low power output, but it's sound quality is superb.

Is there anyone that's tried pairing the Acoustech's with the T-Amp?

Great review. Thanks for the high quality pictures. Can you tell if the HT-88 has bi-amp capability? Do you have a pictures of the back side of the speakers? I couldn't find any picture of the back of the HT-75 or HT-88 on the Web.

No you can't bi-amp the 88's

Well, the T-Amps are the plans. I bought them because they have excellent sound and do their job pretty well (in a small form factor).


I think maybe you don't understand. Read a little more about the T-Amp first. I will still be using some form of receiver (not integrated) and probably some sort of pre-amp so, yeah, there's still money involved.



Well, I've got a couple of integrated receivers and one is connected to some crappy in-wall speakers. I disconnected a couple of those speakers and tied them directly from a cd player to the T-Amp then out to the speakers. The difference in sound quality was, in fact, phenomenal. The T-amp won that contest hands down. More power, does not equal better sound. I can tell you from experience because I listened first hand.


You might want to think about trying one then.


I know I didn't give you a whole lot to go on in my post, but come on man...

sweet post

been looking for a pic review thread about the BIC H-100

cant wait to get mine

Fathers Day...ahhhh

lilmike2069,

I am glad that you are enjoying your BICs. BICs was my first choice before upgrading to the Rockets. I was wondering if you had a chance to test your BICs against the Klipsch at Best Buy? If you did, what is your thought? Which speakers sounded better?

What scared me away from the BICs was when I went to Best Buy and tested the Klipsch and the horns were too bright for my taste in music. What are your thoughts on BIC's brightness? Is it less or more than the Klipsch?

My brother likes my Rockets but he is not going to spend that much on speakers and so I'm pointing him towards the BIC's direction but wanted to hear your opinion on the difference between the Klipsch and BICs?

I would love to hear an impression as well. Not because I dont like klipsch...I like the klipsch reference quite a bit, but i am considering rounding out my surrounds with Bic speakers as they are a cosmetic match.

The only review out there I found seemed to indicate the Bics are much less forward than the klipsch.

thanks for the review and the pics! i think what bsmith was asking about is, in the movie War of the Worlds, when Tom Cruise steps out of the corner and looks up at the first tri-pod, it kinda poops (sorry) and makes a horn sound. i'm guessing with bsmith, like me, there is a slight distortion at the peak of the horn sounding off. and no matter what speaker i have used, even tried with a phantom center, it still distorted. i guess if you can't hear it with these speakers than that's really good. thanks again.

I recall that scene. I've tried it with my older Polk R50s before I sold them and did indeed hear that slight distorting sound. However, I have not experienced that with my JBL E50s and EC35, nor the JBL Studio L series.

Nice review on these speakers.....

I have had a set of these Acoustech speakers for about a year now and they are downright awesome. I am very satisfied and they are the best speakers I have ever owned. No problem running at reference level without any hints of distress or distortion. My home theater room is not the biggest and I am feeding them some horsepower so that likely helps. My receiver is an HK AVR-7200 with 100 or 130W per channel. A bit overkill with these efficient speakers but its what I had before the speaker upgrade. Reference level on my set up with the Acoustech is -26 on the dial so plenty of headroom. My old speakers where Wharfedale Diamond 8's. A very prestigious speaker line out of England. I am here to tell you the Acoustech blow them away in every respect. Grossly more efficient (84db vs 95db give or take on the Acoustech's) and much better imaging and crisp powerful but not overwhelming high's. The Wharfedales always sounded kind of bland and honky and it took a lot of power to make them dance. The Acoustech HT-100 sub kicks some serious bass as well. It may not be the bass king out there but its by far the most powerful sub I have owned.

Since the original 5.1 system purchase I have added a 2nd sub. You don't always get more bass but it does smooth out the standing waves. So you get a much cleaner and smooth bass response. Also also added another set of surround speakers for 7.1 capability.

I like the concept of larger front speakers they are making now. Because I live in a condo and depending on what movies I am watching and the time I can't always run the subwoofers (upsets the neighbors). A bit more bass response from the stage speakers would be nice. Since they are affordable I might try the new HT-88's and the matching center soon. However surprisingly when called for the HT-75 tower speakers can put out a fair amount of bass if needed.

Thumbs up to the dealer out of Las Vegas as well. He answered all my questions quickly and told me they were in stock no problem. They were already to ship as soon as payment is received. They shipped that day or next morning and I had the complete setup in 2 days.

BTW, I work in the movie industry and have connections at Klipsch. I can buy Klipsch speakers at wholesale prices. However even the wholesale price on the Reference Series is still way more then these speakers. Since my home theater budget can be limited at times I decided to give the Acoustech's a shot. I don't regret it one little bit. Even friends with Klipsch Reference Series speakers are blown away by my Acoustech's.

My Wharfedales were donated to a good friend in need. Its a permanent loan deal where I can get them back if I wanted but I don't think I will ever do that. Those speakers will make me ill if I listen to them again.

longhaul,do you use the ht63's for surrounds and if so how do you like them?I plan on buying these but I can't help but wonder if BIC will introduce new surrounds since they have new towers and center,or perhaps even a new(15 inch maybe?)subwoofer.

I use the HT-63's for the surrounds. I like them a lot and they do a good job of dispersing the surround information. I can never pin point the direction of the sound specifically and thats how this type of speaker should be. I am of the school of thought that even though Dolby Digital can have split surrounds you still don't want them to be directional. You still want to fill the room with surround information and not pinpoint the speaker specifically.

I was wondering myself if they would be coming out with new surround speakers with the new 8" driver. It would make a lot sense that they would. I bet they will soon.

A 15" subwoofer WOW!! That would be cool!!

I doubt I would opt for a 15" sub out of respect for my neighbors. A 15" would likely rattle pictures off the walls in neighboring units. 2nd thought it would be fun to fire it up anyway when everybody else is at work..LOL

Thanks for the info longhaul.I too will eventually go 7.1.I'm still loving my 88s,
I very rarely listen to music or movies loud,but a few days ago I watched Hitman and decided to see just how well they sounded being played at a level I consider loud and could not believe how much bass they produced, with great impact.Ive never heard the 75s to compare them to but from what lilmike says they sound pretty much identical except the 88s have better bass output,makes sense.I probably will wait a bit for the surrounds,just in case they make one with the new 8 in. driver.Thanks to lilmike for taking the time to post his opinion and pics because this thread did influence my decision and these speakers do deserve the attention.

lilmike,

Thank you for your response. Pretty soon your thread will have to be the Official BIC thread. Too bad not enough people give these little guys enough respect. Now, I will always be wondering if I could of save myself $2k by going this direction and still be just as happy as I am with my Rockets.

It would be especially great if they made a higher power sub,but I would like to see both.My room is not quite as big as yours(18X21X9),and the h100 would probably suffice for me,as I said earlier I rarely listen at very loud volume.I know most people will say that the h100 is not enough sub for that size room but I just came from a sony sub(saw-1200 I think) and believe it or not the output was enough for me,could've sounded better but I was fairly happy with it.I've never heard the h100 so I really don't know how much bass to expect but I'm sure it's an upgrade from what I had.I would love to have a castle or an A5-350 but I just can't spend that much at this time.

Just got done screening the Will Smith Movie I am Legend on Blu Ray. Because its evening I had to turn off the subs. This meant that the HT-75's and to a lesser extent the HT-65 center would be handling the low frequencies. A lot of details in the audio track with this movie and the Acoustech speakers did not disappoint. Also 3 scenes in this movie are loaded with some seriously low bass and amazingly my HT-75's kept up. Not like with the subwoofer on but no problem putting out bass I can feel. Only scene that caused an odd situation was towards the end (caution spoiler) when Neville blows himself up so Anna can get away. The bass was very tight and clean but then for a split second the bass completely disappeared and the sound for the most part was muted. It was like the bass frequencies dropped below what the speaker can produce. Not just a little bit but completely. This could very well be the case. However its also possible that these speakers have an aggressive internal crossover that completely filters out frequencies below a certain point. This is not a bad thing since it protects the speakers. The bad thing about is it keeps the speaker from producing frequencies below a certain point even at safe volume levels. Usually crossovers roll off to prevent this. Of coarse it could all be in my head and how its mixed as well. Others should give it a shot and see if they notice it as well. In a few days I will try it with the subs on. That will be a treat!!

Does anyone know anything about the construction materials of the tweeter and woofers for the HT-75/88 series? The Bic website just states the tweeter has a neodymium magnet, and the woofers are poly-injected (or graphite-injected depending on where you look).

What is the difference between poly-injected and graphite injected, if any?