I have owned a pair of 15's for about eight months now, paired with an NHT SW3p and some Lovan stands. The sound of these speakers is superb. I auditioned just about everything available in my area, and the only comparable unit is the B&W 805, at three times the price! The midrange is outstanding, and, placed on stands, these little jewels provide a heck of an image.
Strong points: High end highs and mids, wonderful imaging, neutral sound
High end sound at a lower mid-fi price

Weak points; Bass will do in a pinch, but you won't really appreciate these
speakers without a good, clean sub.

In the words of the immortal Austin Powers: "YEAH, BABY!"
Seriously, these are great speakers for the money. I started out in my quest for a new system with the SWP2i and SuperOnes. After 6 weeks of the SuperOnes just really not inspiring me, I brought these home and instantly heard what I had been expecting from NHT all along.

Mated to a sub, these are fantastic for the price. Straight out of the box, I was impressed with virtually everything -- imaging and overall smoothness in particular. I was quite dismayed to find they were even brighter than the SuperOnes though, but this changed within the first few hours of use and they really became silky smooth IMHO.

Compared to the SuperOnes, they are better balanced, with a fuller low-end and midrange but no bloat/boom. I think they image better too. I also compared them to Snell K-5's ($900/pr) but they seemed just a tad too boomy in comparison, whereas the NHT's are really a nice neutral sounding speaker.

Electronics are:
Rotel RB-981 (130 w/ch power)
Rotel RC-972 (pre)
Rotel RCD-975 (CD)

As everyone above says, they are SERIOUSLY power-hungry. At extremely loud, albeit not deafening levels I did run out of juice while testing. Get a big amp!

Neutral, Outstanding imaging, Great for well made acoustic recordings, No Bass Boom, Can play pretty loud with powerful enough amps(given their size).

Sensitivity 85db, Power hungry, Revealing, Black gloss hard to clean fingerprints from.

When I tried the 1.5's in my system, I thought they would'nt be able to play as loud as the Supertwos, but I was wrong. Accept on heavy bass material, the 1.5''s play just as loud with less distortion, particularily in the high-end. Their sound is quicker and cleaner across the board, with better articulation of details, and near perfect response from center to side.

But what really struck me was their ability to spread ambient sounds forward in the room. I had never heard speakers do that like this. In addition, Vocals shoot out front and center, but naturally balanced and separated from the instruments. With male vocals, the 1.5's are awesome, to say the least. The sound is similiar to my razor-falt Sony Pro MDR-7506 studio monitor headphones($100 street), but with more natural spacing, of course.

Anyways, once I pair them with a sub, I can't imagine them lacking for all but the most demanding audiophile. The only downside is that they're revealing of lousy recordings and can sound flat and and un-emotional on music that's processed and unnatural sounding. I, however, prefer the music to provide the emotional link, not the speakers.

System:

Marantz Cd/ MSB Link
Audiosource Amp Three power amp
NHT 1.5
Monster HTS-2000 power conditioner
Homegreownaudio Super Silver IC's
Bettercables.com digital coax
Kimber 8tc(single runs)

Similar Products Used:

Super Two

Smooth, flat response. Low coloration.One of the most accurate tweeters known.

No deep bass.Somewhat dry character.Very revealing of problems in front end.

Impossible to beat for the price, though you might want a sub in all but a small room. Also-the tweeter is one of the most accurate-if you have a good smooth front end, they are great, but they will get annoying with components that are hot on the top end (and many cheaper components are just that!). Replacing or bypassing the capacitors with metal film or better caps also helps.Also not the most revealing of detail in the mids, leaving a small discontinuity between the sound of the mids and highs. More musical overall than the Paradigm Active 20, which I replaced with these for a bedroom system. Need a lot of power.

Similar Products Used:

Over 100 pair of hogh end speakers in 30+ years.

Imaging, soundstage, clarity, detail, accuracy

Weak bass in large room

I was actually in the market for 2.5i but was no where near ready to affort them. I saw that the store was blowing out the 1.5's at half price. I took them home to get a taste of the 2.5 sound. I have had Supertwo's for over a year and liked them very much. My listening room is small. L shaped. my TV and system is along the short wall on the bottom of the L, so the side walls are only 8 feet apart. Right now they are 6 inches from the side walls and about 6 feet apart. THey are sitting atop my supertwo's until I get good stands.

Very much better than supertwo. THe metal tweeter really helps cymbals, horns and bells. Bass in the small room is supported fine by these speakers. When used in a small room environment, they are good at $500, an absolute steal at 275.

Similar Products Used:

Supertwo

I have read some nice reviews on this speaker. Even Stereophile magzinereviewed 2.5 nicely. 1.5 is same as 2.5 minus 8" woofer. I prefer sub-woofer
so I naturally bought 1.5.

after 20 hour break-in (Being an enginner I tend to explain everything but
for now "break-in" is just a ritual to me) the speaker sounded good.
first impression might be that the sound is bit thin and bright, but as you get used to it it is very realistic and transparent. (The flat speakers tend to sound thin and maybe even dull). The Steinway piano sounds very realistic (stereophile test CD). (I'm familiar with some acoustic instruments sound as I setup stage at large church).
The overall detail is excellent for $600 monitors. The tweeter is one of the best I've heard. It's airy and accurate. The midrange was accurate as well upto certain SPL.
I hate talking about bass response of a monitor (specially in stereo review)
poeple don't buy small monitors to play bass! But this speaker can play string bass pretty nicely (forget pipe organs or bass drums). Joined with nice Sub.
this speaker is hard to beat.
Imaging is among the best I have ever experienced. The sound stage goes beyond the speakers and sound source is very stable. Depth is very good too if properly set-up.

Plus's are: relatively nice build, very flat response (I didn't test freq/response myself but from other reviews on the magazine), accuracy and detail, excellent imaging

Minus's are: below average sensitivity, not as heavy (weight) as some other monitors.

One problem I had with this speaker is that the speaker won't play very loud
without strain. Sure you can play Jazz/Pop or orchestras very very loud
But try playing female solo vocal/without background instruments past about
98 to 100 decibles. You'll notice distortion (sounds similiar to amplifier clipping) my guess is this is due to either cone-breakup either in woofer or tweeter
or over driven tweeter.

Anyway overall this is excellent speaker.

But most of the time I don't go near that loud

Detailed Sound, beautiful build

none - unless you listen to poorly recorded music, granted low bass is missing - but get real these are book shelf speakers.

I don't presuppose to be able to explain the technical side of these speakers - there are others that have reviewed them that are more qualifed then me.

The bottom line is that they sound incredible with my set up! Previously I used various AR's in the sytem (remembered them from my youth), unfortunately the AR's just never made it - they sounded okay - just not great. Then I started upgrading to NHT. Super ones first, then VS-2A, each iteration got better. Then finally these units - first 2 then 4. If I knew how good they sounded in the begining I could have saved a lot of money & aggrvation/disapointment and dirty looks from the wife. I can't wait to hook up a DVD Audio unit.

Ifg I had the room I would have used a 2.5i as fronts - but then again I would probably have been sleeping with them once the wife saw them. Just something about cold hard black laminate that doesn't make on those cold night at the Jersey Shore.

Yamaha RX-V995 Receiver
Harmam Kardon DVD5
NHT VS-2A Center
Yamaha Subwoofer
Technics SL1800-MK2 Turntable (still running great 18 years later)
Monster Interconnects all around
12 Gauge Recton Speaker Wire
Room Size 20x20

If you have a small room like me and want quality - try these speakers. Enjoy

Similar Products Used:

AR-15, Various other AR's, NHT Super Ones, NHT VS-2A

Very clean sounding

Very little bass

I bought these speakers in July over the Paradigm studio's that are 2-way. I just liked the way my cd's sounded on these speakers as compared to the Paradigms. The look of the speakers is nice too, very unique...but gather fingerprints easily. The sound quality is a little on the bright side, almost piercing if you crank up the volume too much, but I don't think these speakers are for parties and so forth. They excel at acoustic music at moderate volumes. Their relative lack of bass is expected, so a sub is needed if you want to listen to your music full range. All in all, I'm very pleased with my speakers, and I would strongly recommend them to anyone who wants a good shelf speaker for not too much money.

Clarity, finish, range

none (as rear speakers)

I am using the 1.5s as rear speakers in my HT Setup. I realise these may be overkill just as surround speakers, but I listen to a lot of music, and I have recently discovered '5 Channel Stereo' using my Marantz SR-700 receiver. This adds a whole new dimension to the sound and these incredible speakers add depth, clarity and spaciousness to the whole listening experience. They match well with my NHT 2.5i's in front and the sound just blows me away.

Highly recommended.

My equipment:
NHT 2.5i - Mains
NHT AudioCenter 1 - Center
NHT 1.5 - rear
Acoustic Research AR-S500 Subwoofer
Marantz SR-7000 Receiver

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge Soundworks Surrounds

Stable, detailed imaging. “Solid” feel to music. Incredibly life-like tonality, especially midrange.

Bass not to my tastes

After living with a set of NHT Super Zeros for over two years, I decided to replace them after realizing I had damaged them during a series of parties last year that apparently pushed them (or more likely my old receiver) beyond their limits. I was never terribly happy with the SZ’s, but I was kind of stuck with them since I live so far in the middle of nowhere (no kidding) that side-by-side comparisons with other speakers is really not possible, unless I want to spend hundreds of dollars and weeks of my time on shipping them back and forth. So I have been stuck with this website, primarily, as my method of choosing which speakers to purchase.

Anyhow, as I have said I wasn’t too happy the SZ’s overall sound; there was a “hardness” that just seemed to get in the way of the music. However, I loved the accurate mid-range and the natural sound they produced with certain genres, like acoustic guitar, vocals, and well-recorded blues. But they lacked the sonic “size” to play rock and full orchestral pieces to my taste. Set on replacing them with a speaker of different design philosophy, I decided to stick with Crutchfield (for customer service reasons – they have already offered to fix my SZ’s) and ordered a set of Polk RT35i’s, to see if the ported enclosure would give me that “big” sound I recalled from my younger days with big 3-way JBLs. Well, the Polks had more bass, to be sure, but nowhere near the tonal realism of the SZ’s. I put them in the bedroom and decided to stick with what I know, and ordered the 1.5’s. (to finish the story, I sold the Polks to a friend and ordered the Acoustic Energy Aegis One’s, which are phenomenal).

The 1.5s vastly improve on the SZ’s in several ways, most strikingly in their overall resolution, imaging, and detail. They are also apparently more efficient than the SZ’s, as both my receivers require much less volume to play them at similar levels. They also seem to be less sensitive to electronics, and improve upon the SZ’s already amazing midrange. Of course the bass is better than the SZ’s, but it is still of the flat “audiophile” quality which is reportedly accurate, but not very emotionally satisfying to me. Thank God for tone controls and subwoofers!

I recently performed a true A/B test with these speakers against the AE Aegis Ones and the SZ’s in my bedroom system, which for some reason images much better than my main system, which is set up for home theater (room acoustics, I assume). I performed the A/B listening with the tone controls defeated, and then with tone controls and the loudness button turned on to see how each speaker responded to additional bass. I have been listening to the AE’s in this configuration for about a month, and so have a very good feel for how they sound. I had grown accustomed to the very large soundstage and detailed imagery produced by the AE’s. For the first time in my listening experience, the AE’s actually allowed me to hear individual instruments and voices in large orchestral pieces, which amazed me. However, the image presented by the AE’s, while very large and pleasing, has a thin, illusory quality, like a hologram projected onto thin air (you know, kind of like the image of Princess Leia projected by R2D2 in Star Wars). Connecting the 1.5’s to this system, the image becomes much more solid, like a printed hologram – with the definite illusion of there being a solid object behind the individual sounds. Voices, both male and female, do not drift around the soundstage like with the AE’s. The imaging test on Chesky’s Stereo Review test CD finally did what it was supposed to – I heard the percussionists walk BEHIND me and exit the rear of the stage – spooky! The 1.5’s also presented a much tighter representation of stringed instruments, with the texture of the bow on the string quite clearly reproduced, as well as more realistic plucked strings, including guitar. For example, on the opening track of Richard Buckner’s first album, the guitar strings merely sound as if they are being ‘picked” on the AE’s. On the NHT’s, they are picked so hard it sounds like Buckner is about to break them. In comparison with the looser-sounding AE’s, however, this increased tightness, or quickness, or whatever, also seems to reduce (but not eliminate) the ability to distinguish individual instruments and voices from those around them, as if so much energy is being used to recreate the “attack” that it overwrites the finer locational cues presented by each instrument? That’s pretty subjective, though, and probably surpasses the actual ability of my ears. Also be advised that NHT’s recommended placement for these speakers is narrower than the usual equilateral triangle. I found that using this configuration (which I did for the test) resulted in much tighter imaging compared to the wider setup I had in my living room, which I have now corrected

Bass from the 1.5s sounds kind of thin and unconvincing to me. Tone controls and the loudness button on the HK receiver improved this a bit, but it was still nowhere near as enveloping as the bass produced by the smaller, ported AE’s with their high-excursion aluminum cones, which almost sound like little subwoofers with the addition of tone controls and the loudness button. This extra bottom end helps the AE’s project a bigger and more “pleasing” soundstage, even if it seems a bit more see-through and not quite as stable. Of course, once connected to my main system with the subwoofer, this was not an issue and the 1.5’s won the battle there. But in my bedroom, the AE’s at least tied with the 1.5’s due to their ability to stand on their own a little better, and especially because of their performance with rock and similar genres (reggae), on which it was clearly superior. NHT devotees like to blame the poor rock performance on the quality of the recording and use it as proof of how “accurate” the NHTs are, but I found the AE’s to just as accurately portray poor recordings, yet sound considerably better than the NHTs with rock. This may be due to the bass being better able to present kick drums, but I also found myself involuntarily “air-drumming” along to several of my favorites with the AE’s, on which the entire drum kit seemed to have more slam, not just the kick drum. Hard-hit snares sound amazing on the NHT’s, though, but the 1.5s just don’t seem to have the ability to put the whole kit together as well as the AE’s.

Overall, I would rate the NHT 1.5’s just a little better than the AE’s, above 80 Hertz anyway. They throw a very solid and stable soundstage, and just seem to be a little quicker and more detailed, as they should be for twice the price. And believe it or not, the AE’s are actually a little brighter than the NHTs, which I didn’t find bright at all. With a good subwoofer, the 1.5’s are better still, but only by a small margin because the AE’s still have the edge with rock, but neither are as absorbing as my old JBL 3-ways. (I am becoming convinced that truly satisfying rock listening can only be had if you forget about audiophile concerns like “imaging” and “resolution” and just go for big sounding, big speakers and big concert sound) At $600 for the NHTs vs. $269 for the AE’s, the NHTs clearly do not represent a “bargain” by any definition, but I am happy with them because I appreciate the areas in which they do excel. Some day I hope to purchase the 2.5’s and move the 1.5’s to the rear, but if I were to buy just one bookshelf speaker to use on its own, I think I would go for the AE’s. If you have a subwoofer and like the NHT sound, the 1.5’s are clearly a step above the Super series and I highly recommend them. If you are unfamiliar with NHT, I strongly recommend you audition these or the Super Ones before committing to another speaker.

Bedroom system:
Harmon Kardon AVR 25 Mk. II receiver
Sony something X-500 CD player
Cambridge DACmagic II
MIT terminator 2 interconnects and speaker cable

Main system:
Sony STR-DA777ES receiver
Sony DVD player
NHT Audiocenter One (the matching center for the 1.5s – excellent)
NHT Super Zero Xu’s for surrounds
Atlantic Tech PBM 162 8” subwoofer (not quite enough to match the 1.5’s)
Kimber 4PR speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

NHT Super zero, Acoustic Energy Aegis One, Polk RT 35i