I could stay here all day listing the strengths of these speakers, let's just say that I am thoroughly impressed by what they are capable of.

Are you kidding?

I am running these with a Yamaha RX-V795a amp. using Kimbre Cable as speaker wire. The sound that I get from this combination in unbelievable. I am using C4's as surround speakers, an AC-3 centre and an eXL-S10 sub. John at A & B Sound suggested that I cross the grounding wires to my C4's in order to spritz the sound around the room the way that true surrounds do. This works marvelously well. I have a Dual turntable and I am hearing things off my vinyl that I never heard before. As for the sound when watching DVD movies, this system sounds better than the systems I hear in most electronics retailers theatre rooms. And when it comes to listening to classical music, the combination of a Marantz CD changer and these speakers is wonderful. All in all I am extremely pleased.

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Mission

Excellent

I'd been in the market to replace my front (10yr old) Paradigm "Studio Monitors"as they were beginning to sound a bit muddy. I was dissapointed in the B&W line as a whole, even though I could have gotten them at a great price. After quite a bit of listening, I found the Energy C-8's being closed out at the Good Guys ($1200)

My problem is that I listen to about 70% video and 30% audio sources including a big dish (4dtv), S-7000 DVD/CD (I use a toslink to connect the S-7000 to a tube Cal Audio Sigma I D/A converter. For some strange reason the Sigma likes the toslink over its coaxial input. Music listening is strictly 2 channel stereo!

All are attached to a Yamaha 2095.I also have a Paradigm PS1200 sub and Polk FX500 for rears for the HT.

Anyway the C-8 struck just the happy medium I was looking for in audio and HT. Good bass,mids and highs...and... oh boy do they image well!

Bad news was that they are back ordered and I'll have to wait 3 weeks or so to get em. Apparently at this price the're being snatched up (Reno store had 12 of 18 pair coming in sold!)I must also comment on build quality which is excellent, while the newer Energy's use the "Sock" which is ok for my Energy AC300, but an obviously cheaper approach. PS: I also prefered the C-8 sound wise to the newer Energy line!Did not see anything else in the price range that got clos.

For the last five years I have been listening (with great satisfaction) to a pair of Camber Laser 7's. The only thing missing was bottom end and I found it in my new Energy C-8's. It was an impulsive purchase (scratch-and-dent sale at a local audio shop) and I was a little nervous when I unpacked them and hooked them up, even though they had auditioned well in the shop. My fears were unfounded - they sounded even better at home! I have listened to quite a few speakers over the years and I don't think I've heard anything that beats them. The highs are smooth and clear, and the base is magnificent. If you are in the market for speakers, I strongly urge you to give them a listen and judge for yourself. (Used with Adcom 545-II amp and Adcom pre-tuner, Rotel 965B CD)

Any one who has seen my messages for these speakers, Please only email me, don"t phone A&B direct, they cannot mail order direct, I will let you know how. Well I'm here, I must let everyone know that the energy speakers sound better with age. I have mine bi-wired with kimber Kable, and hooked to a yamaha a/v, these are speakers you can live with for HT and Music for years to come, until you can afford a pair of Vertias 2.8's,(my next goal). Real natural sounding system, and you cant beat the price!

Well. I've lived with the Energy C-8 s for a couple of months now and I am still enamoured with them. They are definately the best value/sound that I was able to locate. My stereo system (Yamaha 2095, Sony S-7000/Musical Fidelity X-24 DA, Energy C-300 center and Polk FX500 surrounds) never sounded better!!
Thanks again to Bruce Abar who recommended Len at A&B Sound in Canada. About $800 USD delivered to my door!! Hi Bruce!!

The usual, soundstage, airy, imaging, deep bass, blah, blah, blah.

Wankers who rate these with 1 star after listening to them in their bedrooms with Zenith 8 track stereos.
They do require some juice to open them up.

Second posting. Dumped the integrated amp, finally got separates to do things right. ATI 1502 and the Cambridge Audio C-500 Pre-amp. After a month of breaking things in, I started some evaluating.....

- good, clean power take these speakers to a new level
- placement, room size and acoustics are important to all good speakers and the C-8's are no different
- as usual, the end results are only as good as the components feeding them

To keep this short, these are very good speakers at a great value if you can find them. I ran these speakers for 1 year through 100 feet of cable downstairs (amp upstairs for living room speakers) from a scratchy old Technics (80wpc) and they still sounded decent. They would distort easily at modest levels so I never really new what they were capable of. After purchasing the above and a Denon DCM-370 CD player (on par with the Cambridge CD4se), well, things changed a little bit. I reduced my speaker cable length by 94 feet, have all components in my modest sized L shaped lower level and bought some sound panels to experiment with. Many hours of listening later with a few other trusted ears came up with proper speaker and panel placement for my enviroment. Sound improved dramatically, volume levels increased (holy crap) with the ATI's 150wpc, but at the same time was very easy on the ears. The imaging and soundstage opened up as I would expect with the new components. Bass is a bit deeper and definately tighter than before. These speakers are NOT boomy with the right setup. We tested various styles of music and the C-8's handled them all very well. As one reviewer below said, these speakers are for reproducing music, if want home theatre speakers, look elsewhere, (even though they do a fine job with 2 channel playback through my DVD). Another reviewer said they have no "oomf", well come and sit in my sweetspot and be prepared to be moved. My system cost me $2800 canadian and I am very happy with the results. These speakers produce wonderful sound when setup properly and are driven with decent equipment. It bothers me and I'm sure many others when Doh-heads review speakers after tossed in a room and cranked on and say these are boomy and harsh and have no bass and have to much bass and are smooth but rough etc, etc. These speakers were favorably reviewed by many sound magazines in controlled rooms with good components. What does that tell you? The end result is up to the listeners ears, but be fair to these and all good speakers by getting the right system for your enviroment and setting it up properly.

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Energy Ref. 22's, Altec Lansing 14's, Klipsch LaScala's.

Great Sound!!!! Clean and Pure, Great Highs, Full round tone, killer bass!

None Yet!

The very few people who did not like these speakers obviously don't have ears for music. I've been composing. producing and mixing music for years (have had several #1's) and use high quality studio monitors for mixing. I bought the Energys for hi-fi playback and they are amazing for that.

Don't be fooled by the few people who didn't like these speakers cause for what they are designed to do (music playback) THEY DO IT GREAT!!!!

Value for money and can handle all types of music and movies.

Needs power to unleash it's full potential

I have a pair for fronts and a pair for rears with an ac300 for centre front and another for centre rear with a Velodyne ct150 subwoofer running off a Denon Avr 3801 receiver and it kicks ass . The speakers do sound better with more power and I may add a 2 channel power amp in the near future for the fronts. The speakers need at least 50 hours before they loosen up but it's worth the wait.

Dynamics, imaging, soundstage, you name it!

Slight heaviness on the bass

At first, I was running these speakers using a Sony ES CD player and Onkyo Integra receiver w/120wpc and they just did not have the slam I was looking for. Eventually upgraded to using 2 Parasound THX1000A amps (as monoblocks) connected to the receiver pre-outs and changed the interconnects to the DH Labs BL-1. Wow is all I can say. The soundstage really opened up and is now a lot wider and deeper, the imaging just incredible. BTW, I had to turn the bass adjustment on my receiver 1 notch lower, and now the sound is just wonderfully balanced. Also, the slam/punch/dynamics that were missing before are now there in spades. Yes, definitely these speakers need lots of clean power to make them really sing!

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Bostons, Infinity, B&W