These speakers are crazy. I didn't think I could hear the difference between anything in the $1000+ range, but there was a night and day difference between these and anything else I listened to. Everything is right there -- the midrange, in particular, is great -- very clear, very defined. And the imaging is amazing.
I also listened to a pair of PSB Stratus Golds in the store and I was shocked -- they just sounded muddy and ... I told him to turn it off after about 20 seconds.

I have just purchased my NHT 2.9s and I have absolutely no complaints about them. I am currently using a Nakamichi AV10 to power the mids/highs and an old Denon receiver to power the bass. Even with this lower-end mid-fi setup, the 2.9 creates an excellent soundstage and remarkable clarity. I find myself hearing things that I have never heard before. On Sting's version of little wing, I can hear the noise (what little there is) of the guitarist's amp during the solo. As a professional musician, this is a sound that has been farmiliar to me on stage and in the studio, but NEVER listening on a home system. If this is the performance I am getting with my current gear, I can't wait to upgrade to some serious audiophile stuff. Highly Recommended

The NHT 2.9 was on my radar screen for a long time. I initially stopped by Captain Video in Lake Oswego to check out the 2.5i since my price range was ~$1500. The 2.9 completely blew away the 2.5i in terms of clarity and detail. The bass was very tight compared to the boomy/less defined presentation of the 2.5i. Now my budget was $2500 :)
After that, I decided to widen my search. I auditioned speakers all over the spectrum: PSB Stratus Goldi, Meadowlark Kestral, Paradigm Ref. Studio/100, B&W CDM7SE, Linn AV5140, Vandersteen 2Ce Signature, Monitor Audio Silver Cinema 5, and the Hales Revelation 3.

In the end, it came down to the 2.9, Revelation 3, and Vandersteen 2Ce Sig. I managed to audition the 2.9 and Hales in my home. I think the 2.9 was a bit too large for my room. My lower floor is the typical suspended car-decking, which makes bass a bit overwhelming at times, and the 2.9 was difficult to control in that regard. I also found the 2.9 to be too crisp for long-term listening, even with a nice smooth Perreaux PMF-2150B (200x2) amplifier.

I wasn't able to audition the Vandy except up in Tacoma, and they did not give me a compelling offer. No matter since the bass was a bit tighter on the NHT and Hales anyway. As a result, I chose the Hales. It turned out to be the least picky about placement, it was smoother on the ears, and it imaged equally well.

Still, the NHT is an excellent speaker and deserves 4 speakers (stars).

Some background: This review is made after listening to Legacy Focus and Whisper (Elite DVD and CD Player - forgot model #, with Legacy monoblocks), Martin-Logan Aerius and SL3 (Marantz Receiver and CD Player, forgot amp and DVD player), Hales Revelation 3 and Transcendence 3 (Rotel Amp and CD Player), NHT 2.5i (Rotel Amp and CD Player), 2.9, and 3.3 (Sony 355ES CD Player and Sony TA9000ES amplifier stereo mode), Definitive Technologies BP2000, and BP3000 (Sony 355ES CD Player and Sony TA9000ES amplifier stereo mode), PSB Stratus Silver-i (Rotel Receiver + Amp, Denon DVD Player, and another config which is Bryston amp + Rotel CD Player + forgot what preamp), DynAudio Audience 40 (Krell CD Player and Receiver), Snell (forgot what model, but it's $1400 a pair with McIntosh amp + Sony 5 CD changer player), McIntosh ML4C (Marantz DVD Player with all McIntosh amp/receivers). See my other reviews on these speakers for a perspective of what I want in sound.
All the speakers above I've heard in different places/room/situations/conditions and might affect the judgement of that particular speaker, so take this with a grain of salt, and more importantly, LISTEN to them if you are interested. This is just an OPINION of mine of those speakers I've heard. Full disclosure: I haven't bought any of these speakers, but right now I'm leaning toward the NHT 3.3, since I can buy them (1 year old) at around $2500. All the speakers I've heard will either get 3 to 5 stars, since I don't believe any speakers at this price range is capable of getting 1 star (If they do, how many star is my $10 computer speaker? If it's also 1, I'm sure the speaker reviewed will be a LOT better than my $10 computer speaker). A 5 can only be achieved by live performance, so I haven't heard anything like a live performance (meaning: you cannot distinguish if the instrument sound came from an instrument or from a speaker)

The 2.9 is VERY similar to 3.3, but have more base feel to it. Looking at the specs confirm my conclusion, since it has the same drivers as 3.3 except for the woofer driver. The treble seems to be a bit shrieking, but only on the highest octave. If you hear violins a lot, you will definitely hear the higher notes coming out more than the lower ones. Materials with base will be reproduced well (not as full as in BP2/3000), but I like it more that way compared to the Def.Techs. It doesn't have a very wide soundstage, but it sure is deep (meaning you can sit and then stand and the difference in sound is minimal). I like the base better in the 3.3 than 2.9, YMMV. Strings sounds alive, I like it a lot in that department.

Pinpoint imaging, tonal accuracy, reproducing complex passages without congestion, greater room independence
than most speakers

Unforgiving towards poor recordings and
substandard associated equipment

Simply put the NHT 2.9 is an amazing speaker. 26hz - 26khz +/- 3db makes a
subwoofer unnecessary. In addition, since the speaker is not ported the bass
does not roll off quickly. Accurate beyond belief. In orchestral recordings
all instruments remain precise and unique (with none "bleeding into each other as common on lesser speakers.) For those who have complained of brightness, please check you room dynamics (are you in a concrete basement?) or your associated equipment
(are you using Marantz which tends towards a brighter sound?). Trust me,
the problem lies not in these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

PSB, Infinity, Sound Dynamics, Pinnacle,
Polk

Clarity, Presence + warmth

Good Bass but not overwhelming

Even running these with 5 year old Carver HR-895 110 watts
receiver, the sound is of very high quality. I would like to
Here these thru and ARAGON or SIM AUDIO amp to really get
a feel for their strength. Really have enjoyed them. I give
them a five star value rating because I paid $1600 for a
new pair. At $2600 ( list for a mahogany pair ) their value
rating would be a 4.

Similar Products Used:

PSB GOLD,

Very detailed, neutral uncolored sound, good tonal balance, accurate imaging

Soundstage rarely extends beyond the speakers, the speakers rarely disappear.

I've had my 2.9's for about 8 months now and I think they are great speakers for the money. Associated equipment:

Rotel 975 CD
Rotel 995 pre
Rotel 991 amp
Nordost solar wind cables and interconnects

I have money to upgrade but I have yet to find a speaker that performs significantly better up to a $5000 price range. I have done comparisons with the new Revel Proforma and found the NHT 2.9 to be better from an overall tonal balance--the Revels were somewhat lacking in the mid range and upper range.

I wanted to buy the B&W Nautilus 804's because of the B&W name and the status of ownership of B&W. The B&W have beautiful wide soundstaging and great mids and highs, but are sorely lacking on the bottom end. Even the B&W Nautilus 803's could not match the overall performance of the NHT 2.9's.

So I am quite happy with the 2.9's and guess I'll keep them until something comes along for $5000 to beat them. They can be had mail order for under $2000, and may be the best speaker value on the market.

Very good balance: highs, mids, good bass (to 25-30hz), imaging, soundstage. Almost impossible to beat at $1500-1800 street price.

Can sound harsh or bright with the wrong or insufficient amplification.

I listened to almost everything I could find under $2k street in March99 before getting the 2.9s. 2 channels of my Harman Kardon 2.1 100x5 was not enough; biamping with 4 channels did the trick. Adding the Parasound 1500a 205x2 improved the sound even more.

Rest of system: Sherwood 9080 prepro, AC2, superones, SW3P sub, HK sig 2.1, Adcom gdc700 cd changer, Denon dvd3000, paradigm x30 crossover. I moved, and ended up in a poor room and my 2.9s lost alot of bass. I added the NHT sub and integrated in 2 channel at 50hz--wow!

Alan, some tips: integrate your vel at 40-50hz (get a prepro with flexible bass mgmt or use a paradigm x30); parasound separates should be fine. However, I did find that the Citation 5.1 bridged to 300x2 (still stable for 4 ohm speakers) was better than the parasound's 200x2 (sold that to a friend also). Email me if you have any questions.

And I did get used NHT 3.3s last month, and sold my 2.9s to a buddy. Improvements: much more bass, more holographic/3D soundstage, less bright.

Anyway, the 2.9s deserve a full 5 stars!

Similar Products Used:

PSB Stratus Goldi, Paradigm Active 20, Hales Revelation 2 & 3, B&W Matrix 803 & CDM7, Energy Audisey 5+2

accuracy of sound

just a bit light in the deep bass

In order to better capture the deep bass required for Home Theater I recently took a step up from the NHT 2.5i to the bigger 2.9's. Without spending a fortune I've gotten rather lucky. Coupled with an Adcom GFA-7500 power amp my A/V experience has been tremendously improved.

As a "mostly stereo" listener I was concerned that the brutally honest sound of the NHT 2.9's along with the sometimes "harsh" Adcom would combine to produce an overly "live" stereo soundstage. Happily the result has been crisp, clean and thoroughly enjoyable music reproduction.

Unfortunately I still don't have that "thump your chest" bass for H.T. While the 2.9's do a much better than average job at pushing out the bottom end for "normal" listening I still need more to be able to compress a room with the bridge explosion from "True Lies".

I haven't tried bi-amping them yet...but I'll assume that although the 2.9's are just about the best speaker I've ever heard Danny Gatton "cruise" through, I'll need a sub for the Home theater.

TREMENDOUS value even if you might want to add some depth. But boosting the bottom end is definately NOT necessary for anything but the added fun of DVD.

Similar Products Used:

NHT 2.5i

The most talked about NHT product in So. Calif.

Design limitations for certain rooms and audio system set-ups

Being impressed with the NHT SubTwo to add the lower Hz's (40-21 Hz) to my Martin Logan SL-3 (mains), Logos (center), and Scripts (rears) stereo via HT audio system, I wanted to test and maybe buy a NHT full range speaker for my bedroom. The NHT 2.9 was the most easy found and talked about speaker in So. Calif. and it seems that most people that like music normally buy this speaker. I have met a few Audiomanics that have some of the top of the line products and they normally have a NHT speaker in their bedroom or as a back-up. NHT has one of the best sound per cost ratios in the market, great sound for the buck. The craftsmanship is outstanding with its high gloss white or black piano like paint over hard wood. I rememeber back when I had Polk SDS-2 and Bose 301 speakers in my front room, both had the cheap fake wood like wall paper over plywood. "What was I thinkng back then." I have a test; tap or ran your hand over a NHT speaker and then a Polk or Bose product and then ask yourself which will last longer and which should sound better due to material design. Rememeber speakers are like guitars in that they vibrant wood. The NHT 2.9 was one of the first fuill range speakers that I tested with the NHT product line, it was hooked up with a McIntosh soild state 300 watt amp (I forgot the model number) and sounded beatiful, but sadly the design of these speakers with the woofers pointed inwards, there would be no way of putting these speakers in my bedroom. I wanted to put a set of speakers in between some drawers and therefore needed the woofers to play outwards away from the drawers. I bought the NHT VT-2 for this main reason with the sound being very equal to the NHT 2.9's and with a video/audio switich for when I watch movies in my bedroom. I have a Theta Casa Nova sound processor pre-amp in my front room with the Martin Logan speakers, which I will Zone 2 out and hook up both video and audio in the bedroom, but only in stereo, because there will be no room for a HT system in my small bedroom. I wish I had the room for the NHT 2.9 speakers...therefore I give it a good rating and think "This would be a great sound per cost stereo speaker, or a great back up speaker for certain rooms that can take in the design of the speaker."

Similar Products Used:

NHT VT-2 & NHT SubTwo