I had a cc-10 center speaker and replaced it with the AC-300. All of a sudden it was low the mic a singer was singing into had a cable directly into this center channel. The difference was astonishing. After all these years later it still blows me away. I moved to atmos with veritas mini's for my upper speakers and the AC-300 still grounds the whole system and everything sounds fabulous.

I dont know of any weakness's this center speaker has. It is wonderful for music and can crank it up for action movies. You want to set it as a small speaker when you calibrate even though you may be tempted to assign it as a large speaker because it will handle some pretty good base, it can be overloaded on really big scenes with lots of explosions. It handles it 98% of the time but I still suggest small speaker setting. I dont consider that a weakness but that is the only limitation that comes to mind.

This AC 300 is a sleeper. This speaker is one strong performer with crystal clear dialogues and very capable to be used as stand alone front or rear speakers. I still have the full set with the APS 5+2 and these little gems in the garage, just tested the AC 300 and I was astoundingly surprised by the sound it was putting out. If anyone in the market for a budget center look no further, this is the real deal and good Canadian stuff.

I purchased these AC300 speakers L/C/R + RVSS rears. when they first came on the market . They are perfect for cinema. You really need to spend big $$ to get equal sounding speakers for cinema.

Strengths are in the mid range band . Vocals are amazing. Sound stage is big for a small speaker. You really get the feeling you are there in the movie. Every sound , every detail is reproduced with pin point accuracy. Unbelievable really when you consider the size of these .

They almost fee like electrostatics , as far as sound stage goes.
Imaging is excellent but not perfect . ( they don't go as deep as models that use 8" drivers)
If your listening to classical music you will be pleasantly surprised on how they perform.
Rock music - Excellent if you have good source . You can hear the guitarist plucking stings.
RnB very sweet as the bass is tight and deep .
These speakers are considered to have a flat frequency response. Both woofer x (2) are polycone with injection molded baskets. and tweeters are 25mm metal dome, hence the detail in the upper register. Both are good quality and magnetically shielded so you can put them near the old TV's .
Cabinets are made of 25mm MDF and build very solid. Two rear firing Bass reflex ports tuned to roughly 35hz that's why they have such good bass.

The Surrounds RVSS surrounds are amazing also. There really reproduce the surround affect without taking your attention away from the front sound stage.

Give the AC300's a good quality amp , sit back and enjoy . If you get a chance to buy a pair do not hesitate. If you only get a chance to buy one your just teasing yourself. But still buy it cos you might get another chance to buy another single unit. You will be smiling I can assure you.

I audition many brands of speakers and find it difficult to match anything to these. You have to start going into +$5K AUD range for an overall comparison. Sound stage, imaging , clarity , response, balance. Even then its hit and miss .

Till this day I still use these AC300 for home cinema & Scanspeak Transmission Line towers I built myself for Stereo listening.. But Scan-speak drivers are another class altogether.

I would give them 5 Starts on value for money. You really cannot buy a better speaker for the price. After you listen to these don't waste your time looking at speakers under $5K AUD . I would compare these to be similar to the Even the dynaudio reference bookshelf models don't have the overall balance. In my opinion that's what makes a truly great speaker. Good balance of attributes.

I was looking for a very high quality, high performance small speaker, and like most people, I wanted it for a reasonable price. Well, these energy speakers may not be the cheapest small speaker you can buy, but considering the engineering, build quality and performance, I think they are a very good value. I drive them with a ati 1505 channel set-up. Most use is with 2-channel CD's via Dolby Pro Logic II Music mode, but they do also see quite a bit of use with video. (sat TV and DVD) I would characterize their performance as accurate. They are not a speaker designed to sound one way or another, or to work best with one kind of music or another. They are simply designed to faithfully reproduce what is fed into them. And they do this very well. In fact, they are rated So any serious deviations from neutrality you are likely to hear, you can blame on the room or something else; not the energy ac-300 Of course, low bass is rolled off. These are quite compact speakers, after all. But if carefully placed near room boundaries, their acoustic suspension design will surprise you with their smooth, usable bass down to about 50Hz. But still, they are best used with a good sub or two. This will let you "have it all": Outstanding imaging AND solid, deep bass. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who wants better than average quality and performance in a small package with an affordable price.

I purchased this center, along with two pair of C-2 bookshelf speakers, in 1999 while working at goodguys!. Well, that company may be gone, but these speakers still sound great! I have always loved the sound from the center, and wished that I had taken the advice of a co-worker who told me to buy 5 AC-300's for my surround setup. I paid about $240 at discount, we charged $399 to regular customers. What strikes me about these is how clear and efficient they are, without sounding over the top, like some of the klipsch speakers we carried. Not a tremendous amount of bass, but considering the size it's pretty good. Dialogue leaps off the screen, and sound effects sound transparent. The woofers are paper thin, and every now and then sound a little unnatural, kind of 'boxy', but still I am completely satisfied with them .I remember when I first got them ten years ago and first hooked up the system, how clear the shell casing's falling to the ground in move 'the matrix' were. In fact I have been scouring ebay trying to find a few more .The C-2's are good match, but are a bit lifeless and restrained sounding in comparison. The drivers are similar, but not quite the same. I found some A5+2's which I now have setup with it, and it just rocks! I believe those have identical tweeters, to the AC-300, so its a better match. If I can find a couple AC-300's for the rears, my 5 speaker system will be complete.

Excellent sound quality for movies and music alike

The sock that wraps around them, catches dust, impossible to clean.

I've had these speakers since 2002 and i would not trade them in for anything. I have 5 of them running with a Denon 3300 receiver. The sound quality is awesome after all these years. I would definitely go back to Energy again. Glad I did not buy the Paradigms.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm

sounds great

sock sucks

nothing can beat these..like it more then infinity.have infinity 50ils front .bose 201 back.play it loud and they handle it better and claerer. wish i had five of them.they are loud and clearrrrrr. had them three years still cranks for me

Customer Service

none

Magnificent speakers. I bought two for two channel use only. Stereophile class A rating well deserved. A steal

Bass & midbass quality, soundstage.

Imaging

I bought three of these "sight unheard", as well as a set of matching RVSS surrounds. I made this decision based on the reviews here and SGHT''s solid recommendation in the latest "recommended components" issue (I think they were A rated, and they said the AC/300s were "borderline AA"). I know that''s one of the most pathetic ways to buy speakers, but I figured, I could always sell them for what I paid, plus, I can''t listen to AC-300s anywhere around here. Also, I was so dissatisfied with the sound of my B&W DM602 system (2pr 602s and one CC center speaker), that I figured these MUST be at least a little better based on what I''ve read, and the surround effects should be a LOT better due to the bipole design of the RVSS. As it turns out, I am MUCH MUCH happier with the overall sound. The surround effects are wonderful out of the RVSS, the of course, the AC-300 have a matching timbre. Also, the AC-300s put out a suprising amount of BASS themselves. While I have an incredible Bag End 18" sub, the bass out of the AC-300s really adds to the punch. The AC-300s are extremely detailed speakers, especially in the high-end. I am hearing things in material I never heard with my B&W 602s. This may be a blessing or curse, depending on the quality of your source material. What I''m not so impressed by is the imaging of the AC-300s. I feel they throw a big soundstage, but imaging is not as "pinpoint" as I''d like. This may be a function of my amplifier though, which is simply a H-K AVR510 receiver. My next upgrade will be to a Carver 705 or Rotel 985 dedicated amp. Well, that''s about all. I''m much happier with this speaker than the B&W DM602s, which by comparison, sounded "flat" and lifeless to my ears. Please bear in mind I do 90% movies and only 10% music. Oh, one other thing, and this may seem trivial-- but in a home theater environment (with LCD projector, etc), the wraparound black acoustic grill is invaluable-- as it absorbs excess light from your projector, especially when the center speaker is right below your screen. The finished veneers of most speakers cause annoying reflections in front projection systems.

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM602

build quality, sound

expensive? a little large

Someone traded this speaker in and I snatched it up right away as it is a perfect match for my C-series speakers. I haven''t used other centers before, so I can''t provide a well rounded comparison to other center speakers. All I can say is that dialogues are clear and blends well with my C-2 speakers. The price I paid for a slightly used speaker is a steal. Reading the other reviews about this speaker sounds accurate as the comments I would give to this speaker. Once I get my DVD-Audio system hooked up, I''ll really have a chance to test this speaker