WOW!!! For the price these are amazing speakers. The mids and highs are outstanding. I keep hearing thigs for the first time (a recurring rheme) and I also echo the common sentiment that if a recording sucks the Superones are gonna let you know!! The one inescapable deficiency is in the lows. The day after I bought mine I went back to the store for a Paradigm PS1000 sub. Now, for the moderate sum of $700 i have what i consider a GREAT sounding system. Truly butt-kicking bass and open, spacious sound above that. I reiterate - there is no such thing as a free lunch - if you listen to music with bottom end you will need a sub. In facy without it the sound is a little strident. But when you do add a sub you get sound WAY ebyond $700 speakers IMHO!

Highs (usually), mids, bang for the buck

The occasional harsh high and boomy bass, but could be related to other electronics

I'm no audiophile. After all, I bought and have lived with Pioneer receivers and Bose 901s for over 10 years. Had a love-hate relationship with them. I've had the Superones for 6 months. I'm in love again!

I will not reiterate all that everyone else has said in the reviews here. I will say, however, that if you are considering buying these and you read all of the reviews here you will know exactly what you are getting. I bought the superones for my home office for use with a computer and mp3 music. They sounded so good I replaced the 901s with them in my HT and music setup. Everything sounds better and I am enjoying my old CDs I would never have dreamed of listening to with the 901s. Contrary to what some others have said, my experience has been that the superones actually sound better in my larger room (26 X 20 with 20' ceilings, a glass wall, and open on two sides to the rest of the lower level of the house...very large space and very acoustically challenged!). Aside from the occasional harsh high and occasional boomy bass, they sound very rich. And they are mated to cheap electronics and cheap cable which probably account for the harshness and boominess (a $300 Pioneer receiver which has the volume turned up 3/4 of the way). And despite it all, I still love the sound.

Many folks who have posted reviews here have said that these speakers need to be mated to good quality electronics and some say you need a sub to really get the highest quality sound experience.

Can do. Tommorrow they will be mated with an Onkyo TXDS-787 receiver, a Velodyne CT-150 sub, and Monster cable and I'll be back with an update.

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901s

beautiful sound

I like them better with my subwoofer

I've had my SuperOnes for five years now. I use them with a low-end Velodyne (120 watt) subwoofer, Kenwood receiver and Technics CD changer. So you see I'm no audiophile. But I trust my ears, and the sound of this system thrills me to no end. I'm at this site researching for an A/V receiver to replace the Kenwood, because I now have a DVD player and two VCRs, and I'm tired of temporary long-path connections. Reading all these reviews spurred me to champion my SuperOnes.

The sound of these speakers is clear and detailed to no end. I listen mostly to Emmylou Harris and acoustic country music now (although I've listened to lots of rock and some classical in my life), and the SuperOnes do for me a superb job of reproducing Emmylou's beautiful voice. If the current batch of SuperOnes are physically identical to the ones I purchased, I reaffirm what most of the other reviews here say: you can't go wrong. Even if you have $1000 to spend on speakers, you should try to listen to a set of SuperOnes matched with a decent subwoofer.

I would rate them five stars, but I haven't really listened to enough speakers in a setup such as mine to make such a perfect rating valid; I, however, wish for no better sound.

highs very detailed, finish, and overall sound quality

none

All that I have for the NHT SuperOnes is praise. The highs are what really make these speakers shine. I now hear notes that I never knew existed in my music. The SuperOnes have amazing sound quality and have fairly decent bass, although a little deeper would be nice. Those looking for a great pair of speakers and a little cash to burn should look no further. Highly recommemded.

Similar Products Used:

first pair of decent speakers

Build Quality, Appearance, Flat Clear Sound, Size/Weight

Made in China.

As said before, if you need a VERY nice pair of 2-ways and you have $200 to spend, buy these. Don't be afraid of the 86db rating, I run these off of an H/K AVR110 with 40 wpc in H/T, 50 wpc stereo and yeah, I have to turn it up a bit more than before, but the sound comes across very well.

Compared to the Polks, they are softer and flatter. The Polks seemed quite a bit brighter, which seems better right off the bat. But when my ears got used to the NHT's (and I think they broke in, too) I learned flatter is better, accuracy is king.

I like the fact that it's a sealed cabinet, nice and accurate. Great tweeter. This is a newly manufactured pair, and they were built in China. I thought NHT built their stuff in the USA, up Northeast somewhere. What gives? Recoton bought NHT a while ago, maybe they moved the ops overseas. Too bad. The build quality is still there, but the woofer is a bit different than the woof in the Zeros, which are from 1993. Also - when I balanced out the levels with the SPL meter (A MUST, if you haven't, yet) the right channel had to be boosted +1 db. I don't know if the right speaker is actually less sensitive or if my room has something to do with it, but I thought I should bring it up.

My center is -6db, and according to the specs on paper, it should be.

If under $200, 5 stars.
If better than 86db and made in USA, 5 stars.



System -

H/K AVR110
Sony DVP - 300 (1997)
Sony 27V42 TV
SuperOne Fronts
SuperZero Rears
Yamaha NS-AC300 Center
SV 20-39CS Sub

Similar Products Used:

SuperZeros, Polk Monitors

imaging, clarity, very musical midrange

physically larger, pricier speakers will outperform low bass, project scale/weight more effectively

Accompanying equiptment:
-Onkyo TX-904 Reciever
-Sony XE500 CD Player
-Radio Shack Speaker wire
-Interconnects that came with Sony CD Player
-Electrical outlet

Listening conditions:

-Small to Medium sized room with carpet, furnature, and very fat furry cats.

-Air conditioning turned off.

I haven't heard any other speaker at or near the NHT's SuperOne's price that is as enjoyable to listen to.

In particular the NHT speakers are able to organize complex musical textures and project the sound layers in a most nimble and accurate way. If you want geometry / spacial presentation from your hi-fi, the only comparable speakers I've heard in ANY price range are the Martin Logan electrostat type speakers, and of course, these are NOT in the same price range.

Another strong point, from my perspective, is the very fast, lively upper midrange of the SuperOnes. I am a pianist, and really like a speaker that is not mushy with respect to this instrument's articulation. The SuperOne is the only small speaker I've heard that can give a satisfying reproduction of piano music.

As other reviewers have pointed out, you will not get a complete realization of deep bass from these speakers - they are best suited, I think, to chamber music, vocals, i.e, small to mid-size ensembles of accoustic instruments, music with intricate voicing and layering. Symphonic music has the wonderful staging and imaging qualities, but the authority and weight that you'd get from bigger audiophile speakers isn't happening with the SuperOnes.

I'd characterize the SuperOnes generally as delicate and clean, a bit cool - so if you want really warm speakers or speakers with tight deep bass, the SuperOnes might not be your cup of tea.

Other reviewers have gone on ad-nasuem about the requirement for pairing the NHT SuperOnes with heavey-duty amplification / tubes, expensive interconnects, etc. My opinion is this - you shouldn't run them off a boom box, but any decent integrated amplifier or reciever (40 watts+ per channel into 8 ohms) and a inexpensive Sony CD player from Circuit City will bring out all that is available from the SuperOnes, (or, for that matter, any other reasonably manufactured speaker, humble or mighty). Just buy hardware with what extra digital features you want, decent speaker posts, and remote controls that you like!) If you pay for a more expensive supporting cast, the speakers will doubtless sound better, but I assure you that this is only psychological.

If you have the patience and skill to mess around with a subwoofer, that might finish off the issues related to the limited bass response of the super ones, but a more sensible solution is probably to shell out for the more expensive, floor-standing NHT models.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Paradigm, PSB, Mission

I've recently bought a set of 5 Superone Xu and 1 SW2Pi for home theatre application, as well as for DTS encoded music. The Superones were chosen over several contenders like Boston Acoustic, Rock Solid and Energy, all of which also offer sat/sub combos at an attractive price and performance package.
I've currently hooked up a pair of Superones for music listening only (source is a Parasound CDP-1000 transport and D/AC 1600 DAC, speaker cable is Nordost Flatline Gold), as I've yet to receive my laserdisc player (Pioneer DVL-90) and receiver (Yamaha RX-V2092). Suffice to say, I am very pleased with them. Even with their limited bass response range, the Superones sounded right in my room (don't have the exact dimension, but it is about 20' by 15') without having to hook up the SW2Pi sub. Their soundstaging, imaging and accuracy are great (bearing in mind their price range). While shopping around for a pair of "music only" speakers, I've heard speakers ranging from ML Aerius i, Magnepan 1.5, 2.7QR to Vandersteen 2Ce and so I know what these speakers can do in term of soundstaging and imaging (I'm still shopping around for a pair of "music only" speakers). These qualities are the reasons why I chose to have the Superones for reproduction of Dolby Digital and DTS encoded software (I must add that stereo music also rocks on them as well).

So, the bottomline is that the Superone is a rather remarkable little speaker for its price. It offers no pretension, only honest reproduction of whatever music/sound source you throw in its way. For its attractive price and performance packaging, I give it a 5.

Try mating SuperOnes with inexpensive (but otherwise excellent) NAD electronics,add a Cambridge Soundworks Power Subwoofer II, and you won't believe you're listening to a $1600 system. Then, get Cassandra Wilson's 'Blue Light Til Dawn' and Patricia Barber's 'Cafe Blue' CDs and honestly tell me if Paradigms, PSBs, or Signets can come even close to the clarity and astonishing detail of the SuperOnes.

If SuperOnes sound a little bright to your ears, use Esoteric Audio's Musica 500 interconnect between your CD player and preamp. It will slightly roll off the highs, and you won't hear those unpleasant 's' sounds anymore.

Highly recommended.

I have owned five SuperOnes and a SW1P sub for almost a year now. These are the best speakers out there for the price. Period. Take my word for it because I sell audio equipment for a living. I have several hundred different pairs of speakers at my disposal ranging widely in price. The SuperOnes, like the rest of the NHT line, have excellent imaging, accurate sound (they demand at least 100 watts of input power as they only have an 86db efficiency rating), and do justice to both music and home cinema. Despite the fact that NHT claims they can be used alone, I feel a sub really rounds them out. The only speakers I've heard that sound better is NHT's own model 2.5i. Excellent choice.

For the money, these are tough to beat. Not too many speakers in this price range can be used to listen to audition different amps. Accurate, attractive, and solidly constructed, my only gripe is power handling. 4-stars.