A great speaker for the money (just under $700 with tax). I did home auditions of comparably priced Definitive Technlogy, Pinnacle and B&W speakers, but picked the C-2s because of their wide soundstage and uncolored reproduction. Mine are mounted on 18-inch high stands about 6 inches in front of the wall and are driven by my 10-year old Luxman tube amp. The bass is tight and impressive for this size woofer and enclosure.(I have an M&K 100-watt powered sub, but I turn it off sometimes and the C-2s sound great on their own.) I agree that the upper ranges might be a tad dull, but that compensates well for the hard tile floors and rock wall in my living room. It's the midrange, though, that really sparkles, even reproducing troublesome piano notes with astounding presence and clarity. All in all, a well-constructed and accurate speaker that handles classical, rock, jazz and movie soundtracks with ease. If you listen primarily to rock and want lots of boom and sizzle, look somewhere else. If you want a highly musical speaker that you can listen to for hours while effortlessly switching from jazz to classical to rock, give the Energy line a serious listen.

biwirable, bass extension, dynamics, crisp treble

lower mid-bass rise

Audio System:
Philips/Magnavox 825
XLO/VDO ER-5
Harmon Kardon HK6500
Original Monster 10ga biwired, braided
Energy C-2 on sand-filled 24" Target stands

These speakers are great. Crisp, detailed treble; excellent bass extension; and overall good tonality. They can play fairly deep while still remaining open in the treble. They have good dynamics and play plenty loud for my room. The Chemical Brothers and Les Miserables sound especially good now. Overall, I really love these speakers and probably won’t replace them until they die.

Contrary to some other reviewers I don't find them to be overly bright at all, just nice and detailed, but I am used to small British speakers.
Also, unlike some other reviewers, I find they have all the bass I need. (too much in fact--see below)
Furthermore, I found that biwiring gave them a bit more low volume energy--the only benefit I could detect from biwiring.

So why only a 4 rating? 1) They have a lower mid-bass rise that can cause problems, and 2) there are other speakers that offer equal value for the money, that is, the C-2 is not the clear winner.

1) They have a pronounced 3-5dB rise in the lower mid-bass around 60-100Hz, per Stereophile’s measurements. Unfortunately, my room dimensions and required speaker placement give a room response curve boost of about 5dB around 50-60Hz. This combination means I am experiencing a 5-6dB rise centered around 50Hz, and consequently boomy bass on some material. Luckily, my bass tone control happens to be centered at 50Hz so I can smooth out the response by turning it way down to about 9 o’clock and the treble knob up just out of its indent at about 12:30. If my tone control wasn’t centered at 50Hz I might have had to buy an EQ. (btw, My old speakers sounded perfect with everything flat and Interlink 400 interconnect.)

2) Competition. I bought these speakers used and so they were well worth what I paid. At that lower price-point, others I was considering were: Mission 731i, BIC DV-62siB, Sound Dynamics RTS-3, and used KEF Q55. The C-2s are better than any of those.
But, the real competition are the B&W 602 and the Paradigm Studio 20. I listened extensively to all three and I actually prefer the Studio 20 to the others, with the C-2 a close second and the 602 last due to its limited bass. Note that I would probably give all three of these speakers a 4 rating since personal preference would make the final cut.

Overall I think they are great speakers if matched well to your room and gear; with only the Studio 20 and 602 as serious competition on the used market.

4 for value vis-a-vis its used competition (5 against cheaper new speakers)
4 overall since it's not a clear winner against the Studio 20

Similar Products Used:

KEF C-25

Super highs, smooth mids, lower than you think bass.

none

I couldn't wait to buy these speakers. I was actually in the market for seperates. I ended up buying the amp and pre-amp from a local audio store, however the speakers that were used to audition the amp was the Energy C line. I heard the C-8's, C-6's, C-4,s and the C-2's. After spending $1,500 on my amp and pre-amp, it was only natural to go for these sweet sounding speakers. I choose the C-2's for two reasons: 1. Their size (although I loved the larger C-6's, I couldn't fit them in my application) and 2. The price, these are the BEST speakers I think I have heard under $600.00 a pair. The finish is beautiful and they sit at ear level on my stands. I have them matched up to a Rotel RB985 mkII amp rated at 110 wpc. These speakers kick ass, no kidding. Above and beyond what you would expect.

Similar Products Used:

nothing comes even close at this price point!

I haven't received these speakers yet but I wanted to let anyone know who lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area know that I went to the Energy Retailer in Dallas (EW Stereo East) on Preston just North of LBJ and will NEVER spend a single penny there.

I initially called their store to ask their price on the C-2's and the quoted me the MSRP price. When I asked for their price, they told me that I'd have to come into their store to be quoted "their" price. So... I drove over there to get my quote. I really didn't have any intention of listening to the speakers but I told the guy I wanted a quote on the C-2's and he told me to follow him and he took me to the listening room. He couldn't even identify which set of speakers were the C-2's so I pointed them out for him. He then turned on some music and went on to say how great they sounded. I agreed and asked how much they were. He told me that he'd give them to me for $499 + tax. That's $540.17 for the pair. I told him, "No thanks, I can order them for $383 total." He then proceeds to get extremely pissed off at me because I came in there and he demoed the speakers for me and then I am turning around and ordering them off the internet. What a jackass!

I appreciate all the vendors who have the showrooms and I even will pay a decent percentage more to "take care of" our local business people but please. I'm getting upset just thinking about how much of an ass this guy was. If he would have been even close to being "competitive" I might would have purchased them from him. I proceeded to confront him about his attitude and told him that just because I didn't buy these set of speakers from him that I might have come in some time down the line and bought something like cables from him but that I would never buy a $2 patch cable from him since he showed his appreciation for his customers.

There are three (3) Home Theater stores right next to each other in the same parking lot. I took my business elsewhere. I wholeheartedly recommend "Hillcrest High Fidelity" right next door. They are B&W, Paradigm, Pioneer, Marantz, Velodyne, and Klipsch dealers and are extremely friendly and helpful. The also have won all the awards in the Dallas area for custom installation jobs.

Sincerely,

W. Bloodworth

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601, Paradigm Mini Monitor, NHT SuperOne

Precision, accuracy, solid construction, bi-wire'able.

Speaker Terminals are too close together.

When I finally received the C-2's I was really excited to hear these superb set of speakers. I had previously (a couple of days prior to receiving the C-2's) purchased a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitors from Hillcrest High Fidelity (http://www.hillcresthifi.com/) and had both pairs in my living room to compare.

When I bought the Mini Monitors (MM), I listened to the B&W 601's in the showroom and was assured by the salesman that the 601's were in a completely different category and they were much better than the MM's. I listened carefully to both pairs and I like the warmth and the presence of the MM's over the more expensive 601's.

I tested the MM's and the C-2's in my carpeted living room which is roughly 14' x 12'. I powered them with the Pioneer Elite VSX-26TX that I paid ($599) for at Tweeter. Once again, I was suprised that the MM's had more warmth and presence than the C-2's. My wife also could notice the difference. I had the MM's hooked up on the B-side using crappy old "lamp cord" type speaker wire and the C-2's were hooked up (bi-wired) to the A-side using AudioQuest Type-2 solid-core copper wire (4 wires). The C-2's sounded reserved but extremely accurate. I had to dig through a ton of classical and vocal music in order to find short pieces of music where the C-2's were noticably better/cleaner than the MM's. Once I switched to Rock, Reagae, or something other than pure vocal or laid back, the MM's clearly sounded better to me (and my wife).

I called Hillcrest and asked if I could bring the C-2's in and try them on several difference A/V receivers. They were more than helpful! We hooked the C-2's up to the new Sony STR-V555ES (replaced the STR-DA777ES) which is extremely powerful, the Pioneer Elite VSX-39TX, the Yamaha RX-V2095, the Marantz SR-7000, the Marantz SR-8000, and the Marantz SR-19. Each receiver had a different sound but the basic results did not change. Even the salesman stated (before I mentioned it) that he thought that the C-2's were very clear in the mid and upper ranges, were laid back, had great imaging, and tighter bass, but lacked the lower bass and "presence" of the MM's. The C-2's just didn't "open up" and jump out at you (or me in this case). The Marantz SR-8000 and SR-19 sounded awesome on both MM's and the C-2's and would be the only receiver I would consider running these C-2's on. I guess it has something to do with the Marantz' ability to provide a lot of current.

Overall, I believe the C-2's are an incredible pair of speakers but the MM's just had the sound I was looking for. The speaker terminals are way too close together to use your fingers effectively and I had to use a socket set to tighten the terminals. Also, the MM's were a lot smaller but provided (I believe) the same sound with a little less imaging. Even though I am returning the C-2's, I am still going to use the AC-300 as the center channel.

If you are considering the C-2's, you will definetly need an amplifier than can deliver a lot of current such as the Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, etc.

After testing these on all these receivers, I returned the Pioneer Elite and purchased the Marantz SR-8000 because the sound difference is incredible.

Good luck,

- Wil Bloodworth

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Mini Monitor, B&W 601