Crisp, clear sound at any volume. 1" tweeter provides great highs, 7" bass unit provides great midrange and more than acceptable lows if you don't have a subwoofer.

None at all.

I was going to get these for $306 but since Boston is rolling out the CR85 now in replacement of these, they knocked them down to $289 for me. Excellent deal.

The new Boston CR85s look like they have the same specs as the CR8s but go for $60 more MSRP, get these on closeout if you can, while you can :)

I got these speakers to start off my home theatre and used them for over a month without a subwoofer, but they produced more than enough acceptable bass, and it is crisp and accurate to boot. Great speakers for movies, music, or anything you throw at them. Once I did get a sub though, the PV600 made a great match.

At their $340 MSRP I would be more than pleased at the value. At the price I got, they rule.

My System so far:
TV: Sony WEGA KV36FV16
Reciever: Yamaha HTR-5240
DVD: Sony DVP-S360
Mains: Boston Acoustics CR8s
Subwoofer: Boston Acoustics PV600
Cables: Monster Speaker Cable, Bettercables.com Ultra Component Video

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None (First highquality speakers ive had)

Front Grille is superhard to get on and off

This is the first good pair of speakers I've owned, so if this sounds incredible, remember I'm comparing them to my previous pair of $80.00 Sonys. The first thing I'd like to say is that even after listening to them for months, I still can't believe the quickness and clarity of the tweeter. I'm using them with a Sony 100W/ch low-end receiver, and have yet to get distortion when turning them up(I'm 14, and I turn them WAY up). I have them each about 3 inches from the wall and the bass is excellent, it reaches much lower and is more defined than the larger Sonys. They image like crazy (In comparison to the Sony's). My only complaint is the front grille, which is incredibly hard to remove and then put back on.

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First high-quality speaker I've ever owned. Moved up from a pair of low-end Sony Speakers.

male vocals, nice soundstage.

A touch dark on some femal vocals and classical music.

I thought I would check out what some have said to the match to the mini monitor from Paradigm, as they are priced about the same and are both 2-way bookshelf speakers. A solid speaker for your run of the mill rock music and pop music, with a laid back sound that some listeners will simply love. I carefully measured the spl's while listen to the Mini Monitor and the CR8's so as not to be swayed as to which sounds better based on volume. I can not stress the importance of investing a few bucks in a Radio shack SPL meter, as it has proved to be a usefull tool in evaluating speakers for me. My frame of reference for entry level 2 way bookshelf speakers is the paradigm mini monitor, so I rotated back and forth, playing the same songs at the same volume on the CR8's and then the Mini Monitors. I noticed that on a few recordings the CR8's were a bit darker than mini monitors and had a tigher mid bass. The highs were subdued on Cannon in D minor, most notably in the Violin Crescendos and in Tom Petty's "Its good to be King", the Cymbals were sort of lost in the upper midrange along the way. The CR8's really shined with Sting's vocals in Brand new day, a more mellow presentation than that of the Mini monitors. All in all, a well balanced speaker well suited for pop, rock and lite jazz.

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more then a few

Seems to be acurate speaker with excellent accuracy from the highs down to the 100 hz lows.

Not a speaker for those who must have lots of it. On the other hand what is there is accurate, you can tell the different notes of a bass guitar for example.

These are excellent speakers. Not perfect, but excellent. they are accurate, but can get boomy if placed in the wrong place and some people may find them a little bright.

I use mine in a music setup that I also use for home theater. I have a 6 year old Sony Dolby Prologic Surround Receiver which puts out 80 watts per channel in the front, 50 into the center and 20 into the rear. The system is used to support a 6 year old RCA 52 inch projection TV, but its primarily used for driving the music from my Dual turntable, Yamaha cd player and TEAC tape deck. Note the order, yes I still use my turntable more than any other source component. I am a music fanatic. I have over 1500 LP records (at last count) dating from the LP's birth thru TODAY. They are in mono, stereo and even quadraphonic (hey wha's that? ;-). I have several different phono cartridges (Audio Technica, Empire, Osawa, Shure and Grado) which I switch out depending on type of music, whether I am using the changer functions and whether the records were recorded in mono, stereo or quadraphonic. I listen to pop, classical -- including operas, all types of jazz and fusion, hard rock (Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Who, Metalica, Led Zepplen), but not much rap or country.

I have a strange combination of speakers. I used to use both Yamaha speakers as the front left and right speakers, but the 14 yr old woofer on one died. The rears were tinny Sony surrounds and the center was another tinny small Sony "center channel" thingie. As I mainly listened to music in stereo I didn't care much about the cheapo center channel and rear speakers. But with the dead Yamaha I replaced the front speakers -- with the Boston Acoustics.

And then while shopping for speakers I realized how bad the Sony home theater speakers sounded. So after considerable experimentation with the speakers listed above I settled on the following music and home theater speaker set-up: The one remaining Yamaha is the center channel, the two Optimus speakers are the rears and the Boston Acoustics are the mains. The old Yamaha is a much better center channel speaker than the old Sony was. It approaches the Boston Acoustics for voice and bass. I then replaced the woofers in the old Optimus towers. The receiver's Dolby settings are on Wide, Long Delay, the center channel -5 db, the rear speakers +5 dbs. I listen to only the Boston Acoustics CR-8s when listening to stereo records and CDs. When listening to old mono LPs and TV shows I also use the rear Optimus speakers with the receiver set at "synthetic" surround.

I only wish I could have bought 5 of these CR-8 speakers, plus a Boston Acoustics sub. They are clear, accurate and the stereo imaging is amazing. They truly bring out the best of my best LP records. For older mono recordings, the sound seems to come out of the dead center of the two speakers where ever you are in the room. I do strongly reccommend that they be put on stands, not on a shelf or on the floor. They have a false sounding "boomy" bass if put too close to the wall or floor. These are NOT really bookshelf speakers. For home theater nuts who really want to pump out the bass I'd suggest a subwoofer with these things. These will drive low well only if the base knob on my amp is at about 3/4 of the way up and with the "bass boost" on. I'm going to get a sub when I get a DVD player and the three other CR-8 speakers. Someday.

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1981 Yamaha NS-4 two way booksllfs
1987 Optimius 3 way "tower" speakers
KLH two way weather proof speakers
Sony Center channel and Surrounds (cheap 6 years old)

Nice highs and acceptable bass for their size.

None for their price.

Just purchased these today open box and they sound very good. Good detail and acceptable bass responce for a bookshelf. I always liked the Boston Acoustics sound and these are keeping up with the tradition. Tight (a little deep) bass, clean mids and detailed highs. Waiting on the floorstanding VRM series that are suppose to come out and probably trade these in for a pair of those. I like these so much though that I might keep them also. To my ears when I did an in-store comparison between these and the Klipsch and Mirage that where next to them the CR8's blew them away (no surprise to me) in terms of clarity, detail and clean bass. No comparison. Do yourselfs a favor if your looking for a bookshelf in this price range audition these first and I think most of you will agree they beat the competition hands down. Good luck with your search.

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NHT 1.5

Overall sound is Great for the cost and size of this set of speakers.

I personally own a set of Boston VR-30's and love them. When my parents were looking for speakers they asked me to pick out a set of small bookshelf speakers that would sound decent. I had previously owned Polks and really found their sound to be muddy and their build quality to be inferior to that of Boston. I listened to the CR-7's but the 8's are a much better deal for many reasons. One they have DCD bass unit, and second they have a Kortec tweeter.
I have found their sound to be as clear and well imaged as that of my $850 VR-30's. They have a decent amount of bass for a small 7in bookshelf speaker. For the money thery cant be beat.

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Polk RT 35's Boston VR-30's Boston CR-7's

These are great little speakers, and inexpensive (<$300/pair discounted). Don't get the CR6's or 7's since they have a worse tweeter. And don't get the CR-9's since eventually you will want a subwoofer (try the BA VR-500) anyway, and the 8's and 9's have the same tweeter.
Especially good for home theatre but great for music too.

I bought a pair of CR-6's, and for the money and size, I was amazed. These little speakers can really perform. I listned to some comparable Klipshes and Infinitys, but picked the Bostons. They make a great, accurate surround speaker for a mid-size theater. 99 bucks a speaker, not a bad deal!

GREAT sound from medium-sized speakers for movies and music. The tweeter is unbelievably crisp and defined (great on bringing out the nuances in movies) making highs absolutely great. The woofer gives out an excellent midrange (a subwoofer is a MUST, but who DOESN'T have a sub?!) I listened to Paradigms, Infinity, Polk..... IMHO the Boston's beat them all out.

Great sound for limited size apartment. Added a M&K Sub and what a difference. Compared them with Polk RT 7 and they are much warmer and cleaner sounding in my opinion.