Price,quality of parts used in construction,
over all sound quality.

None at this price point.

I didn't build these speakers, but I did spend the better part of a weekend, listening to them at Ed Frias' house.

For those of you that have wondered what Ed's EFE speakers sound like, these would be a good example (in miniature).
These speakers produce clean, deep bass, with virtually flat, midrange response. I know, because I measured them. The highs are crisp and clear. For those of you that want a little more detail and and slightly less bass, there are two choices available in the parts list.

I listened to both versions of this speaker, and liked both. My personal preference is the one with less bass response, producing more air and detail in the upper regions. I would actuall choose this speaker over the B&W 805's (gives you $1500 to put into better electronics).

As I mentioned earlier, this speaker is a smaller version of EFE speakers. Ed's speakers are known for, deep solid bass, and are among the most dynamic speakers I have ever heard.

If you are looking to put together a small system, bedroom, den, or office, try mating these speakers with the Pioneer NS5, being sold on ubid, for about $79. I took one with me to Ed's when I listened to these speakers. The 18wpc is more than enough to drive the speakers.

For those adventurous enough to build these speakers, I highly recommend them.
(ps The more power you put to them the better they will sound. They have tremendous power handling capabilities).

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Paradigm, NHT, Etc.

I don't own these speakers yet, but, I was curious as to how these speakers would compare to
bose 301's which I believe have 8" woofer and 1" tweeter. The price for the bose 301's at
the bose factory outlet near where I live are selling these speakers for $258 a pair which
is less than the DIY kit.

dynamic very musical

can,t here any

Have been in this business for over twenty one years, and
have listen to many large and small speakers.I also have
worked and sold these speakers in high end audio stores.I am
writing this reveiw on the DIY speakers,and letting you know
this speaker is as musical of speaker as I have ever heard.
The designer Ed Frias has created a small monotor speaker
that holds it,s own in the high end world of audio, but at
a low cost.I my self own speakers that cost over fifteen
thousand dollars, which is the legacy whispers.The sonic
sound from the DIY are almost the same as my reference
whispers from legacy.Not only are these speakers musical
but are very dynamic, with out any trace of brightness,
just plain musical and smooth.I have compared these speakers
to the B&W 805,s which cost two thoundsand dollars a pair, side by side, the DIY,s sound much better than than the
B&W,s not ony that they outclass the Revel M-20,s and Linn
tukan,s which I have heard and sold. Now I know this is
quite a statment I am making but the ears tell the truth.
Every once in a while there comes along some one that does
somthing better than everybody else and that person in my
opinion is Ed Frias. He really knows how to build and make
a speaker sound better than speakers costing many times
it,s own price, also he is very good on his crossover network in his speakers.If your looking for this kind of a
speaker just E-mail MR. Frias or give him a call he will
save you alot of money and make you a speaker that outclasses the competion at a lot lower price.

Similar Products Used:

linn tukan, revel m-20, b&w805

Crisp, clean sound, beautiful and accurate reproduction, small size, diy, inexpensive

There is nothing to dislike

First, I want to thank Ed Frias and the owners of AR.com for making this high quality speaker design available. Altruistic acts like this, are rare and precious.

Just built a pair of these outstanding speakers with the help of my good friend, Keith. I ordered the drivers and prebuilt crossovers(4 ohm resistors) from Madisound and the cabinets from Speaker City. Received the Madisound order in 5 days but the cabinets were going to be delayed a few days. A rep from Speaker City took the time to call and tell me about the delay. Great customer service from both of these organizations.

Decided that I couldn't wait for the cabinets so Keith and I built a set of temp cabinets out of MDF from dimensions that Ed had given in an earlier thread. We spent a full day in the shop working on the cabs and installing components. I must say that the results are incredible. The second we hooked them up, I knew that I'd chosen the perfect kit. The sound reproduction is spectacular. It's as if the performer is in the room with you. One of my acid tests is when listening to an acoustic guitar, being able to hear the players fingers move up and down the wound strings. These little speakers reproduce that sound precisely. The entire mid and high ranges are covered cleanly, tightly and precisely.

There was a reviewer that reported a lack of bass from his speakers. I don't find that to be the case with mine. The bass reproduction is accurate, clean, full, and rich - and these drivers aren't even close to being broken in yet.

What these speakers do is provide a very real and enjoyable listening experience for music and home theater. What they don't do is shake the pictures off of the wall. That IMO, is the job of a sub. I highly recommend these speakers to anyone who wants an audiophile quality and very affordable set of speakers.

BTW, I'll be ordering 3 more sets of components for a center and the surrounds. I plan on doing a veneer on the cabs we built and staining to match the cherry cabs from Speaker City.

Now Ed, any chance of you doing a design for a diy sub??? Pretty please.....
Mark

Great wife acceptency factor. Compact 13 inches ht.Great finish, Dynamic range,not an off shore product,detil matches perfectly with my EFE c2 center channel speaker in tone nd timber.Purchase at the point of rapidly diminishing return begin.Good for music and home theater reaches up to 50 hzs thus I can avoid with c2 an extra box-sub woofer.Later when I get my T36 it will become a rear surround and I will be happy to use them in my den.Good for far and near field listening.

I tried some complex passages from symphonies.By virtue of its size it may be a bit shy in handling them

Ed frias DIY speaker kit
Assembled by EFE technology (efespkrs@aol.com)–designer of these speakers. (600$+40$ shipping).
Speakers used in the past B&W, Fried, Mission, Spica, Sony, Bose, Atlantic Technology T90 speakers with A.T Sub woofer.

Associated equipment
Outlaw audio 1050 receiver, Audio by van Alstine omega star pre amplifier, Omega star 120 watts per channel 3&2 channel amplifierAvahifi.com).,12 gauze speaker wires from Wal-Mart, Panasonic RP51 DVD player. Hitachi 53 inches projection TV. Sony cassette Tape deck...


Most of my past equipment is a mix of mid- fi and hi- fi. As it got stolen, I lost interest in music. I moved to US Virgin Islands in 97. I returned back to the main land last October. Since I have some free time, closer to retirement and ample collection of CDs my interest in music got rekindled.
I purchased Outlaw receiver 1050 and Atlantic research T90 speakers (1700$ including stands and shipping)).

I felt some thing is not right with my set up. I read all the reviews and I finally settled on Ed frias center speaker C2, and DIY kit as a first step in the process of upgrading from Atlantic Technology speakers. I realized I prefer full range speakers, not satellite speakers with a subwoofer for listening music. I feel if they are good enough for music they should be very good for a home theater.

I have not heard or seen them but thanks to the reviewers (Five stars) who kindly
E-mailed me their very favorable opinions. Many thanks to them.
I am not an audiophile, cablephile or equipmentphile but I enjoy music and DVD movies. I mostly listen to vocals, violin, flute, and guitar. Couple of hours everyday.
These speakers are well made, but they do not look expensive like EFE laminated speakers.

I waited anxiously for the speakers to see whether they really are five star speakers by all the reviewers.
For the packing the speakers with care, the finish and looks get 5 stars. If they look good and expertly packed I assumed they will be built with 5 star care and precision.

I connected them for the first 2 minutes the sound was terrible. I thought for a moment whether the multiple reviews are hyped and over enthusiastic reviews. After few minutes every thing changed. I realized the speakers are cold from the weather during transportation.

They are different –with excellent dynamic range, reasonable bass, the violins, sitar and female vocals sound natural and I do not get tired after listening for few hours. There is a kind of purity in voices and the various sounds are intelligible. The Wife acceptance factor is very high.
Yes!
Indeed they are five star speakers.
Their timber matches well with EFE center channel speaker.
The only shortcomings if any are when playing some classical symphonieswith complex passages---- limited by size and my initial hesitation in purchasing unseen and unheard speakers.

For me the speakers should be like a copying machine, it should reproduce as it is with out adding or subtracting any thing. And these Ed frias DIY speakers do this the job very well. When I used my previous speakers (Atlantic technology T90) either with Dolby, Prologic or DTS my wife used to ask me turn of the rear speakers
She said the voices are muffled and sound like some one is grumbling. There is too much of electronic processing with Dolby or DTS for music and the result is a Japanese sound.
I also purchased Ed Frias passive decoder.
I see there is no reason to hesitate in purchasing the DIY speakers. The money one can save can be used for purchasing software DVD and CDs

I got them assembled by Ed frias himself as I do not have the knowledge, skill and patience. Also I believe there will be subtle improvements as the components for the crossovers and drivers are matched and the designer of the speaker can do it better than me a--- Novice. What I read from other reviewers about DIY speaker is enough and it is close enough to his B 15 speakers (890$) and one can save either by purchasing it perfectly assembled with care and precision by Ed frias himself or substantially by purchasing the Kit if they have the time and skill.

I replaced the Atlantic Technology T 90 front surrounds and rear surrounds with the EFE DIY speakers. There is a big change. They are not restricted, efficient and more transparent and with an excellent Dynamic range. I think they will be a great speakers, cost efficient if purchased as a kit form (360$ times4.If purchased assembled they cost about 1260 dollars for four including shipping.).For the quality of sound they offer I consider them to be a bargain. This is a purchase at a price where the point of rapidly diminishing returns begins.

Ed Fries seems to be busy and there may be few weeks of waiting period. . Ed frias is a good communicator and a good packer. I even received a picture of the crossovers.

I will also post later my evaluation of this speakers using Omega star pre amplifier and amplifier built by Frank van Alstine (avahifi.com), EFE C2--T22) speaker as a center channel, EFE passive decoder.., EFE T36 speakers.

I am pleased and happy with the Speakers and thank all the reviewers. I was uncomfortable in my decision process of placing an order, I have not heard or seen the speakers and I thank all those who replied to my e-mails. Probably they are the last set I will ever buy.
V.R. Sola

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Mission, Fried speakers, Spica TC 50 Sony speakers

Great project, price, quality.

None so far.

I've only completed these units about 3 days ago and have auditioned them for about 8 hours, but wanted to get a brief review in. I was doubtful of the reviews (actually that I would get the same results). I was really sold on the VRM-60's and entered into this as an experiment with a "what have I got to loose attitude". Ordering all of the parts was a snap, and I received everything in about 3-4 days. I assembled them in about 3 hours total time (dremel tool recommended for relieving the grills for the woofer).

Auditioned them using Phantom of the Opera, Pink Floyd, Yellow Jackets CD's.

They were equal to the sound from the VRM-60's (maybe a bit better in the bass on Phantom). I pushed the power to them and never heard a break or a clip. Clear and crisp in all ranges with a great soundstage. I heard nuances in the instrumentals in Phantom and Yeloow Jackets material that I felt I had missed before (suttle sounds like the "decay" of guitar notes, piano, and bass instruments).

I'm not buying the VRM-60's at this point expecially since they are about $1500 more, but must say I was fully prepared too if the results warranted. I'm very pleased that I tried these units first, and also have to thank Ed Frias for his help and for donataing his design. I haven't tried them with video yet, but will update this review when I have used them for a few months.

Thanks again Ed! BTW - I used 5 ohm resisitance on the
tweeter circuit, and have no inclination to change it at this point, I felt that the highs were just right for my taste, and in fact thought they sounded equal to the VRM-60's in that range.

PS - don't you think we should be able to enter the proper year for these reviews??? Could only select up to 2000.

Used with:

Adcom GFA-750
Adcom GTP-760
Older Nakimichi CD changer

Similar Products Used:

Boston Acoustics VRM-60

Clean sounding, very dynamic, large soundstage, nice image.....

For this price, none.

This is one of the best two-way bookshelf speakers I have listened to. The midrange is very very clean and the highs are well extended with no signs of high roll-off. Originally, I have used 4 ohm on these speakers. When compared to my B&W602s, the DIYs highs were very extended and detailed. The 602s highs sounded somewhat harsh and limited (high roll-off). When I listed to more CDs. I was actually hearing new details that I have never heard before from the B&W.

On the other hands, the DIYs¡¦ mid range sounded somewhat distanced, and definitely not as balance as the B&W. Also the bass is definitely stronger on the 602s than the DIYs (this was expected as the 602s were twice as big as the DIYs and the 602s were front ported).

Given the evidence that the tweeter level might be too high, I added a 1ohm resistor to my tweeter (5ohm total now). After the modification, I must say the mid range sounded more balance and clean when compared to the 602s. I have lost a little air, but I think it sounded more balance than before. Any after two months of listening, I must say I love my DIYs. Except for the low end, the high, mid just embarrassed the 602s. As I have just added a sub to my DIYs, it sounded even better. With a sub, these speakers can be comparable to speakers costing $2,000. If you need a pair of bookshelf, give these speakers a try. You can go wrong with $300.

Thanks to Ed for such an outstanding job. This is the best $300 I have spent on any audio equipment or speakers.
Ken

Similar Products Used:

B&W 602s

Incredible value, since it is a DIY.

For an inexpensive speaker, none.

Description:

This is a two-way, ported, bookshelf speaker using a 7", sandwich cone woofer and a 1" fabric dome tweeter. The 8.5" x 9.5" x 13.5" cabinet is very well made, using 3/4" veneered MDF. I chose the cherry veneer since I'm getting very bored with black hifi equipment. The binding posts are gold-plated and will accept bare wire, dual banana plugs, or large spades. The crossover consists of 3 inductors, 2 capacitors and a resistor. Three different resistors are available; 3,4, or 5 ohms. The 3 ohm will yield the brightest balance, and the 5 ohm will have the warmest balance. I chose the 4 ohm resistor.

Specifications:

Rated frequency response (by Ed Frias) is 40-20k +0/-4 dB. Rated efficiency is 90 to 91dB. The speakers weigh in at 18lbs. That doesn't sound heavy, but for a speaker this size, they are very solid.

Building the "kit":

Building these speakers was relatively easy. The cabinets are already built, so you only have to slightly modify the grill to fit over the woofer and drill holes for some screws. The grill frame doesn't quite fit around the woofer (explained in the instructions) so to must cut away about 1/4 to 3/8" around the lower part of the frame. To protect the grill cloth, I cut the dense cardboard backing of a legal pad to fit between the cloth and the frame. I then used (of all things) a ghinsu knife to trim away the excess wood, and filed it smooth with a rattail file. The crossover was easy to assemble once I got over the anxiety I had about screwing it up. I hadn't soldered in years, but I did just fine. After the crossover board was assembled and mounted everything else was a piece of cake. Make sure to carefully align the drivers and watch polarity when connecting your wires! Overall construction time was about four hours (I could probably do it in two now).

Associated equipment:

I am using a Yamaha RX-V992 receiver as a preamp for my Hafler XL-280 power amplifier. Currently I am using my Sony DVP S-500D DVD player as my main source (my Sony ES CD player is on the fritz). I have a Denon DRM-800 cassette deck that sees very little use. Interconnects are Audioquest Ruby and Topaz, Monster Interlink 500 and MIT Musiclink. Speaker cable is Audioquest Indigo or Cardas Quadlink. My usual speakers are NHT 2.9's (front), 1.3A's (rear) and AudioCenter One (center). I have a Velodyne F-1000 sub that normally is only used for HT. Also in my home are Bose 601's (junk), Precise Audio 600's (designed by Keith Johnson of Reference Recordings), and some very old AR 2ax's. In addition, I use to work in a hifi store, and have heard quite a variety of loudspeakers.

The sound:

Right off the workbench, something was wrong. I had inadvertently wired one woofer out of phase. Within two minutes the problem was fixed and music was flowing.

I started out with the DIY's on 29" Lovan Affiniti stands, placed four feet from the rear walls and seven feet from the side walls. They were seven feet apart and NOT toed in. My listening position was about eight feet away. The sound was good, remarkably good for a $300 speaker. I had a very wide grin on my face. Okay, they weren't perfect. They didn't have earthshaking bass and the imaging wasn't as sharp as my NHT's. In addition I noted a little chestiness in the upper bass. Their overall tonal balance was very good. I'm glad I chose the 4 ohm resistor (more on that later). I only listened for about two hours since it was getting late, but I managed to listen to a wide variety of music. The first track I listened to was Rusted Root's "Beautiful People" from "When I Woke". This an excellent vocal track with a lot of dynamic range, and an excellent sense of space. The depth was very good, but the lateral imaging was less defined than I like. After toeing in the DIY's about 20 degrees, the soundstage was much more defined. Fantastic, in fact. I don't remember what I played next, but I managed to get in some Tracy Chapman, Dave Matthews, Phil Collins, Crowded House and Collective Soul before getting some shut eye.

The next day(s):

I filled the Lovan stands with lead shot. This seemed to help the slight chestiness I noted earlier. Then it was time to break in my new speakers. I simply started to fall in love with these speakers. They have nice punchy bass. It isn't "one-note" bass either. I tested the lower bass limit with the Stereophile Test CD2 and got solid response down to 50Hz. 31.5Hz was there, but not in great amounts. The specified 40Hz extension may be a little optimistic, but keep in mind that I have the speakers 4 feet away from the rear wall. As I listened the chestiness in the upper bass started to disappear, these speakers do need a little break-in time.

The midrange is the strong point of these speakers. Voices sound very realistic. I told my friend that "Sting was in the room" and he laughed at me. He hasn't heard these speakers yet. The accuracy of the soundstage is very good, again tested with the Stereophile CD. You get a really good sense of depth with these, better in fact than with my $2500 NHT's. Images also extend outside the speaker boundaries, a mark of a good speaker.

The treble may be as good as the midrange. It definitely is revealing of the source recording's qualities (or lack thereof). The treble is less prominent than that of my NHT's, but has some similarites. If a performance is well recorded, you will be rewarded. Conversely, beware Bon Jovi! My cousin (11 years old) brought over his NOW5 CD, and begged to hear Bon Jovi's "It's My Life". Talk about harsh! The recording engineer ought to be shot. When listening to a good recording like Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car", Sting's "Soul Cages" or Dave Matthews Band's "Crash", you will reap the benefits of this speakers high end. I am used to a "bright" loudspeaker. I think that with the 4 ohm resistor these speakers are fairly neutral. I can't imagine anyone using the 3 ohm option, but if you tend to like a mellower sound I would go for the 5 ohm version.

The bass from this little speaker is staggering. An eighteen pound speaker shouldn't have this kind of bass, but it does. Tight bass down to 50Hz (maybe a little lower) and dynamics. If I didn't have a Velodyne subwoofer I wouldn't be looking to improve it, but I do, so I did.

Prior to adding the sub these $300 speakers sounded like $1000-1200 speakers (no I'm not exaggerating). After adding the subwoofer they are comparable to my eight-times-the-price NHT's. Setting the bass management of my receiver to main=small (80Hz crossover) allowed these speakers to truly sing. They are incredibly dynamic (they are actually very dynamic without the sub) and image as well as any speaker I've heard under $3000. The sound is a bit like a Spica Angelus with some serious bass.

I listened to the DIY's with the sub for about a week. Since then I've listened to them without, in order to write a fair review. I really enjoy the way these speakers' sound, even without the sub. They sound great with any type of music. My only warning is that if you are into a lot of techno music, with ungodly amounts of deep bass, you should use a subwoofer. I have found that overpowering, ultral-low bass can really rob these speakers of their dynamics. You don't hear audible distress, but they just run out of gas. I first noticed this with Depeche Mode's "Songs of Faith and Devotion". Sarah McLachlan's "Surfacing" also has some killer bass that requires a sub. I didn't notice any problems with acoustic music however. I played Mussorgsky's "Night on Bare Mountain" at frighteningly loud volume with no problem whatsoever.

The Conclusion (finally!):

If you've got $300 burning a hole in your pocket, you could do worse things than buy these speakers. I can't think of a single speaker under a grand that I would rather have. My $550 NHT 1.3A's got embarrassed by these guys. I would have compared them to my Bose 601's ($1026), but I think Amar Bose has suffered enough humiliation on this website. I've spent a lot of time with Vandersteen speakers, especially the 1B ($750), and I would say that the Vandy has better bass, but loses in every other aspect (not by a wide margin, but by enough). Heck, these are only $50 more than the NHT Super Zeroes! The Zero is a great bargain, but isn't in the same league as this speaker (if you recall the "foot massage" quote from Pulp Fiction you get an idea of the difference!). Right now I don't know what to do with my NHT's. I guess I'll have to start a second system!

Ed Frias:

I don't know the designer of these speakers. I've never been to California. I would like to mention that he put in a lot of time designing these speakers and making the plans accessible to us. In addition, whenever I've had the urge to email a question his way, he has responded right away. I've seen him respond to countless posts on this website. Sometimes you don't get that kind of service from people you've paid a lot of money to. He's done it for free. He deserves a big thank you for his efforts. If these speakers are any indication of what his personal speaker line is like, he deserves our patronage.

Norbert Schmied:

Thank you for giving Ed the space to pull this off!

Similar Products Used:

NHT 1.3A, NHT 2.9, Precise Audio 600, Vandersteen 1B, Vandersteen 2Ce, B&W Matrix 3, Ohm 4xO, several others.

Bass! Clarity, detail, imaging, soundstage, you name it.

For $300, if there are any, they're quickly overlooked.

Man, where do I start? Jim V's review is a good place. :) First off, i'd like to mention that i've neither owned nor listened to audiophile grade speakers before building this kit. So, it's impossible for me to have a reference other than putting to shame all the other mid-fi speakers i've owned. Building the kit was a snap, it took me longer than expected because I was very careful when building the crossovers and wanted to get it right the first time. If you have a screwdriver, soldering iron, and a little time, just about anyone can do it.
As for the sound, let's just say it's amazing how much of the music you miss with lesser speakers. Also, I sat there in the chair just shaking my head a the amount of quality bass these speakers put out. I mean, from a 6.5" woofer, 30-40Hz range bass just boggled my mind. Crisp highs, and wonderful midrange finish out the rest of the list. Imaging is amazing too, let's just say my center channel is gone now. :)
Like I said up top, this is the first set of speakers i've heard or owned in this class so it's hard for me to critically review them and give a fair comparison. But so far, they've proven to be an amazing set of little speakers. A prior reviewer mentioned that you'll be looking for a hidden subwoofer, I doubted it too, but now know exactly what he means! :) I'm in the process of building 2 more for surround speakers as well. 2 words: Build Them!

Associated gadgets:
Sony STR-DA777ES
Sony 70ES CD player
Bettercables

Dax

Clear, crisp highs; Taut, full bass with no boominess; wide and deep soundstage; good imaging; non-fatiguing; solid enclosure; attractive veneer

At this price level, none.

I took a chance and built these speakers without ever hearing them and after only two reviews had been posted. I am glad I took a chance on these beauties.

Associated Equipment: Cambridge Audio A300 integrated amp, Sherwood Newcastle CD-980 CD player (dual Burr Brown 20-bit DACs, excellent CD player), Beldin OFC 12 gauge zip cord speaker cable. I have listened to the speakers almost all day long for 7 full days. I am using the speakers in an office system. I believe that they are almost fully broken in.

Initial Listening Impressions: My initial impression was very favorable. They sounded very good right out of the gate. I was using KEF Coda 7 speakers (highly regarded inexpensive speaker) and after I finished assembling the first AudioReview.com speaker, I listened to it and one KEF while I assembled the other speaker. They have similar high end characteristics but the AudioReview speakers have much tauter, solid bass response. I put on Diana Krall Love Scenes and was immediately impressed. Clapton Unplugged was next and even better. Miles Kind of Blue was third. I was in heaven! Crisp, clear highs, solid bass. A co-worker walked in and immediately commented on the bass response. She's not into audio, but she plays the violin. She thought the AudioReview speakers sounded very musical and that they sounded better than the KEFs, albeit without a lot of direct comparison.

Extended Listening Impressions: I like these speakers more as I listen to them. The sound is full, balanced and non-fatiguing. The highs remain crisp and clear, without any unnecessary brightness. The bass remains taut and full, with no boominess, but very good bass extension for a bookshelf speaker. I listen at relatively low volumes for most of the day and the speakers still sound great, providing detail and presence even at low volumes. I am sitting too close to the speakers in my normal seating position (about 4 feet from the left speaker and 5 feet from the right speaker), however, I do not experience any ear fatigue. These speakers are very smooth and easy on the ears. This may be attributable in part to having used the 5 ohm resistor, which softens the high frequencies slightly and is highly recommended if you use these speakers without a subwoofer, which I do. At the end of the day, I typically turn up the volume and enjoy a song or two before I go home. I really like the way they sound with the live acoustic version of What Can I Do on the Corrs In Blue CD (track 18). The soundstage is deep and wide and the imaging, while not pinpoint with all recordings, is very well defined. On good recordings, I can easily place musicians front/back or right/left. Most recordings do not sound like a bunch of voices and instruments jammed between the speakers. They are much better in both soundstage and imaging than the KEF Coda 7s they replaced. One thing that I really like about these speakers at louder volumes is that they seem to disappear. The sound seems to come from well beyond the limits of the enclosures. These do not sound like megaphones blasting at you from specific points. This is a very nice feature for a small bookshelf speaker to have. I have Energy C-2 speakers at home that are not quite as “transparent” (if that’s the correct characterization) in this regard.

I have listened to many kinds of music with the speakers in the past week. A representative sample includes: Diana Krall, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Radiohead, Edwin McCain, Train, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Vladimir Horowitz, The Rippingtons, Joni Mitchell, Aimee Mann, Sarah McLachlan, John Coltrane, Leona Naess, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sarah Vaughan, Bela Fleck, KD Lang, The Corrs, The Cranberries, Robbie Robertson, Annie Lennox, Six Pence None the Richer, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Dido, David Sanborn, Vertical Horizon. The point of listing all of these artists is that my taste in music is somewhat eclectic, with a heavy emphasis on female vocals, acoustic guitar and sax. Everything I’ve listened to has sounded very good on these speakers. I can honestly say that they sound as good with Horowitz tickling the ivories, Miles blowing some cool jazz or KD Lang crooning. Vocal are crisp and clear, with a complete lack of speaker-induced sibilance or chestiness. Acoustic guitars sound realistic. Pianos sound like pianos. In summary, these speakers reproduce sounds very true to the original, as a good speaker should.

Building the Speakers: As for building the AudioReview.com speakers, I think the process went very well. I used the dealers on the AudioReview.com web site and they all shipped correctly and promptly. Speaker City even shipped me a free replacement grill when I e-mailed them that the plastic fasteners had sheared on one of the enclosures in shipping (even though double boxed. No damage to the enclosure). The enclosures are much, much nicer than I expected for $100 a pair. Real wood veneer, 3/4" MDF, etc. The "kit" can be assembled by someone who has not done a lot of this kind of work if they can solder. The crossover was the biggest challenge, but not hard if you take your time to layout the components carefully and to make certain each component is connected at the right point. I'd estimate that I have about 3 hours total invested in the assembly process. All in all, this was a fun project. Pretty basic for the non-DIY crowd, but greatly satisfying sense of accomplishment!

Final Analysis: The speakers represent the best $300 I’ve spent on an audio purchase. Not only do they sound great, but the enclosures are really quite attractive. I got the Cherry to match my office furniture. It’s not a perfect match, but the speakers look much better than the flat black KEFs I replaced. The real wood veneer is a plus. I will be quite happy with these speakers for quite a while.

Thanks to Ed Frias and Norbert Schmeid at AudioReview.com for putting this project together.

Similar Products Used:

KEF Coda 7, Energy C-2, Paradigm Mini Monitor, Definitive Technology Pro Monitor 100, Phase Technology 4.5 VDT