Clear, clean

none

After more than two years, choosing these speakers was one of the best choices I ever made. COmpared with costly (and hyped) alternatives I personally found them to provide the most accurate sounds imaging. These are most suitable for those who want to enjoy classical music at its best.
If you want a sound that is "better than" live chamber music, go buy Bose...

Good clarity, tone quality, stereo seperation and imaging.

none found yet, one choice of cabinet unless you pay more.

Hooked up to a new Onkyo-797 and it sounds great. I am listening to all my old cd's with new joy and hearing things I have never heard. Matched up with the center channel and the sub-one for home theater and it is great. I can't think of a better system for the money.

Similar Products Used:

cambrige soundworks,polk, infinity

nice styling - sturdy cabinet

power hungry and become fatiguing quickly

my initial impression of this speaker was quite good. but going on 3 years of ownership i find myself listening to them less and less. for me the sound does not draw me into the music. lately i find myself listening to my homebrew radio shack 1197 system run with el34 tubes. their sound is very involving and i can listen for hours whereas the nht become nearly unlistenable quickly. i might try them in a home theater situation where i think they would do quite well.

Similar Products Used:

bozak - klipsch - ess

nice styling - sturdy cabinet

power hungry and become fatiguing quickly

my initial impression of this speaker was quite good. but going on 3 years of ownership i find myself listening to them less and less. for me the sound does not draw me into the music. lately i find myself listening to my homebrew radio shack 1197 system run with el34 tubes. their sound is very involving and i can listen for hours whereas the nht become nearly unlistenable quickly. i might try them in a home theater situation where i think they would do quite well.

Similar Products Used:

bozak - klipsch - ess

Outstanding sound for a sub US$2000 speaker.

Nil.

After searching for the past few months, found what I was looking for. A speaker with a clean controlled bass & treble, smooth midrange and exceptional imaging/staging - coupled with excellent build quality and looks.

Moreover, the price was well within my budget of AUD3,500 (US$1800).

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Bose, Mirage, Wharfedale & Australian speakers

Clean, Controlled Bass
Exceptional Voice imaging
Smooth Midrange

Eats Amplifiers for Breakfast
Lengthy Break-In

Has anyone ever heard the saying don't bring a knife to a gunfight? Do not try to drive these speakers with some wimpy receiver and then whine about how they sound. Anyone that is considering these speakers should be considering how much amp you can afford. I am currently running these on a Rotel 100 wpc amp. That is barely enough power to wake them up.But, when the time is right I will be picking up a Bryston 4bST. I swear my speakers are leaving me subliminal messages to me to get them the amp :) The only regret I have about these speakers is that I have not given them enough clean power to this point.

Rant Over. These speakers are absolutely perfect multi-tasking speakers. They do home theater like they were born for it. Keep in mind that like me you will want gobs of separate power to keep their sound balanced for movies. I would recommend 2 separate amps in a HT setup, a 3 channel for surrounds and center and a huge 2 channel for the 2.5is. The music I listen to is diverse. And, the 2.5i's roll with the punches. These speakers were designed for music and it shows, HT was just a bonus for those that own this speaker. I want to reiterate how I feel about these speakers. Do not make the same mistake as me, spend the extra DoRaMi and get the amp(s) and surround processor to make these babies shine. By the way, I do not agree with anyone who says these are bright. What other speaker at $1,000 will provide you imaging this clear. Let's not forget we are reviewing $1,000 speakers here. Not to mention I noticed not many had given them a chance to even break in before commenting. I would say these speakers need a good 100 hours of good power to come alive. Also, I am not an Audio Historian, but, can anyone tell me any speaker companies that were doing side venting active subwoofers with separate enclosures before NHT? Pretty ingenious.
If you want to really shake the earth add a Velodyne HGS 12" or larger sub to these and man you will be shooting donuts in the Battleship scene of THE THIN RED LINE.

Enough Said. Power!!!Power!!!Did I mention Power?????

My System
Rotel 6 channel amp
Rotel Surround Processor
Pioneer Progressive Scan DVD
2.5i's - fronts
NHT center 2? - center
B & W 302 - rears
Velodyne HGS15 - Active Servo Sub - WOW!!!!!

The scary thought is now I have to consider new TVs and that looks like another couple grand.

P.S.: A bit of advice to anyone hooking up home theater with a tube TV. Either keep the Amp(s) below the TV or run the wires away(to the side) from the TV. Just spent 3 hours eliminating a hum in all speakers caused by audio cables from the amp running too close to the TV. The best thing to do is plan your setup and then make sure you keep like wires together, audio with audio, video w/ video, speaker w/ speaker, ac with ac. And, I have found that ac wires are the biggest culprits for stray sound in your speakers.

ACCURATE SOUND!!!

placement can take some work,but well worth it.

The BEST SOUNDING SPEAKER IN IT'S CLASS,PERIOD(under $2500.00) The 2.5i is picky when it comes to the source used to drive them. Please make sure you do your homework. When placing them try to get at least 12 inches away from a rear wall(if that is the case)this will affect the bass. I was using a older(approx.11yrs.)Carver Mag. Amp.(130wpc)with just fantasic results. I'm now using a Denon AVR-5800(170wpc)A/V reciever and the sound is even better.THE BEST SOUNDING SPEAKER IN IT'S CLASS,PERIOD(at least to my hearing). note: if you have poorly recorded music,DVD etc. you will have very very poor sound coming out of these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

many,many different floor standing speakers over the years

I'll make this short and sweet...NHT's 2.5i (in my opinion) is simply the best loudspeaker you can buy under $1,500 - maybe even $2,500. I listen primarily to rock and jazz. On such recordings, these speakers are magnificent - especially in the midrange and bass areas. Don't be mislead by Joseph Cierniak's article in the Nov/Dec '97 issue of The Sensible Sound. These speakers have more than adequate bass (if present in the recording) and must be auditioned to be appreciated.

I have listened to B&W DM604, AR HO312, Boston Acoustics VR40 and was about to put my money on the Boston Acoustics VR40. Then I had a listen to the NHT 2.5i, Wow! couldn't believe my ears.... The bass is very tight, and the clarity of the midrange is absolutely beautiful. Finally decided to charge them to my plastic. They are the best speakers in their price range. Highly recommended.

I was just passing the store in whitch i mostly buy my hifi-stuff and walked in. I dont no why, i was in the city to buy somthing complitly diffrent but you know how it is. Looked at the speakers and thoght 'oh NHT, i have read about those. They should be good.'"sir can you help me. I want a par of these." what did i just say, what did I say. i was just
going to be out of money fore mounts. But what a hell,I need some new speakers.
They came home twoweeks later and i was absolutly satisfied. They were as good as the paper said. They are the best speaker i have ever heard. I have listen to many diffrent speakers in my days, expensiv and cheap, but the NHT 2.5i is most music fore the money and is long ahead no. two. I think I am going to keep those. (to my grave)
Mvh Victor.