I was looking at these or some bose. the bose sound was unclear and muddy. next I tested these and they were great, they put out a very clear, sharp sound. they have excellent bass mids and highs and are $300. the boston cr8's are a great bookshelf speaker. they have a 7" woofer and killed every other 8" I lisend to.

Tight mid-bass & detailed highs. Great sound for music and home theater. Excellent product at a great price!

None

Bought these when my A60's foam surrounds dried up. Sorta happy they did, as I am digging these speakers! Great sound for H/T & music. From Husker Du to Herbie Mann, these speakers to the music justice. Coupled with a VR500 subwoofer, CR2 center & HD5 surrounds; I'm very pleased with the H/T performance. Be sure to spring for decent speaker cable to enjoy the most from these fantastic speakers!

System :
Sony STR DA30ES receiver
Sony CA7ES CD changer
Sony DVP-S360 DVD
Sony SLV-799-HF VCR
Toshiba 27 inch TV (36 Sony Wega on the way!)
Monster Cable MCX2 speaker cables and Monster optical & digital coax interconnects.

Similar Products Used:

Genesis 1+, Boston Acoustic A60 & HD5

clean and crisp, good mids

none so far for the price

I'm getting ready to move and have been acquiring some new toys. Decided I couldn't wait to hear these so took them out of the box a few days ago and hooked them up to an old Sony receiver with a Sunfire Sub Jr. They are sitting a couple of feet apart on stands and sound wonderful. They do need a sub though. Mids are good and tight and the high end is crisp. I bought these to be used as rears but may swap them out with the Klipsch's from the bedroom and make these fronts on second system. I anticipate that the better amp will really make these shine. Very pleased.

Similar Products Used:

Boston, Klipsch, Polk, Paradigm

The imaging in the CR 8's isn't exactly awesome? Geez, I thought this was one of their strongest points! I'm using a McCormack DNA .5 Deluxe along with a CJ tubed preamp and have them placed on heavy speaker stands and the CR 8's image like bandits, even better than my much more costly Alon Petites. Sounds like you have problems with the rest of your system Mike. These just might be the best speakers Boston makes right now including the CR 9's and their bigger more expensive floor standing models. They're good enough in fact that they deserve great electronics. I just wish the cabinets were real wood instead of that cheap paper that is suppose to look like wood. For 300 bucks they're hard to beat though .Spend the bulk of your money on your electonics folks instead of blowing it all on your speakers and then cheaping out on the electronics and you'll wind up with a much better sounding system.

I basically agree all of the reviews posted here except on one critical point. Several people have complained about the low-end being a little anemic, although very accurate. Since the CR8s have a rear-firing port, speaker placement is *very* important. Be absolutely sure to place your speaker at least two feet from any wall...When I was demoing these speakers I wasn't going to purchase them due to the lack of bass power, but then noticed the port and had the sales rep move the speakers away from the wall. When you do that, the speakers become so powerful you almost don't need a sub (almost). And you still maintain the incredible bass clarity that other people here have commented on.

Natural sound reproduction, output capability vs. size

None

I originally purchased a pair of CR-9's to use as surrounds for my new HT set up. The plan was to replace my aging Boston A-100's with VR975's up front. As my listening habits have changed over the years, I discovered that the CR-9's were a much better speaker than I had thought. After realizing that for my tastes and room size, the CR-9's would more than adequately serve as mains, I added these CR-8's as rears. I am still amazed at the sheer musicality of these smallish bookshelf units! I have a fabulous sounding system, and that includes two channel listening as well. I have always favored the clean neutral sound of Boston products, but am awed by the technology that allows a speaker nearly 1/3 the size of my old Boston's to out perform them. At the very least these speakers deserve a test drive. I got my at a warehouse sale for what I think is an incredible price. Boston, to listen is to love!

My system:

Panasonic 32 monitor
Panasonic HI-Fi vcr
NAD 761 80 wpc receiver
NAD 550 DVD
Boston VR-912 center channel
Boston CR-9's - front
Boston CR-8's - rear

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega, JBL, Klipsch

Natural sound reproduction, output capability vs. size

None

I originally purchased a pair of CR-9's to use as surrounds for my new HT set up. The plan was to replace my aging Boston A-100's with VR975's up front. As my listening habits have changed over the years, I discovered that the CR-9's were a much better speaker than I had thought. After realizing that for my tastes and room size, the CR-9's would more than adequately serve as mains, I added these CR-8's as rears. I am still amazed at the sheer musicality of these smallish bookshelf units! I have a fabulous sounding system, and that includes two channel listening as well. I have always favored the clean neutral sound of Boston products, but am awed by the technology that allows a speaker nearly 1/3 the size of my old Boston's to out perform them. At the very least these speakers deserve a test drive. I got my at a warehouse sale for what I think is an incredible price. Boston, to listen is to love!

Similar Products Used:

Cerwin Vega, JBL, Klipsch

Wonderful highs, good full and powerful mids

None....

I picked these up to round out my home theater. Also got the Boston CR6's for my surround speakers. I am very impressed!! The highs are so crisp it can be painful. The midrange is good and solid. Bass is a bit weak but who cares. Anyone with a decent systems going to use a sub anyway. The speakers also have a good look to them, nice and modern without being to gaudy. I would recommend this setup.

Just a side note: I originally got the metal 'tube' stands but they vibrated way to much. Took them back and got the basic wood stands....love them, much better, doesn't detract from the sound quality.

Similar Products Used:

Klipsch KSB 1.1, various KLH's, JBL's and Sony crap

Clearity

None so far, these are my first jump into better components.

I recently picked up an unused pair of Carver components (HR-742 receiver and PSD-36 CD changer) at to good to pass up prices and decided to get good speakers to match them.
For a reference, my old system was an Aiwa NSX-V90 surround system with an Aiwa TS-W5u 8" powered sub.
It should come as no suprise that I find these speakers much more to my liking. I'm not an Audiophile or even an enthusiast, but they do everthing very well without being "in your face". The upper frequencies are real clear, the midrange is nice and strong and the bass is well rounded. By well rounded I mean that it almost sounds like there is a subwoofer connected, but without the heavy oomph I used to hear from my TS-W5u. I listen to everything, from Aerosmith to Tangerine Dream to George Benson to Mancini, and they have just wowwed me. I hooked the old Aiwa SX-NV90 mains to the B channel for comparison.... no comparison, even with the sub hooked in.
I tested comparably priced speakers from Polk (RT55), Klipche, Infinity, and yes, even Bose (501). I think the CR8's are equal to them all. I am happy that my girl and I agreed on these speakers because a couple of days after setting them up we found that the metal front grill even makes them cat proof! Damn cats!

Similar Products Used:

None, I'm upgrading from an Aiwa mini-system.

Before I started shoping for speakers I read the reviews for bookshelf speakers in the $200-$400 dollar price range. I read reviews for the Paradigm Titans, the Boston CR8's, and the Klipsch 2.1's. After reading the reviews I was leaning towards the Klipsch 2.1's. I went down to my local higher-end stereo shop with the intention of buying the Klipsch but listened to the Boston's as well. After an hour of auditioning every thing from Pink Floyd to Beethoven I ended up walking out with the Boston's. I found the Klipsch to be a little harsh in the high end and not as full in the midrange. After a few day's of breaking them in I am very satisfied with my purchase. These speakers are great! Five Stars!!!