Very musical sound. Price.

Alpha A/V. I really like the sound of this speaker. It makes music and it’s a pleasure to listen to. The sound is CLEAN, CLEAR, SMOOTH, OPEN, FULL, RICH, BALANCED...MUSICAL. It has a nice smooth balance from bottom to top. Instruments and vocals are coherent and full. They have a natural, easy way of sounding BIG. There is no weird phaseyness in the midrange or treble, no graininess, no scratchiness, no piercing treble, no boomy port. I can hear everything yet I don’t get any sense of in-your-face detail. I don’t hear anything annoying from them. I can relax and just play music. I am listening to everything. I listen to tracks that I would normally skip. I forget about the sound and find myself enjoying the music. I don’t necessarily have this experience with some of the hi-end stuff I have gone thru over the past few years. Actually, some of the mega-buck speakers can be quite annoying and disappointing.

I was looking for an affordable small shielded speaker that my sister could use for music and video. I checked out KEF Q15, AE Aegis One, NHT Super One, B&W 302 (not shielded). The KEF sounded okay, but it was hard to sense the overall balance because the room was huge, warehouse size. The Aegis were set up well in a normal sized room, but sounded kind of sharp/bright even driven by tubes. I heard the NHT and 302 back-to-back with the Alpha. The SuperOnes have noticeable grain/scratchiness, almost like they added permanent record noise to the upper mids. Not a bad speaker, but ultimately, that graininess can get to you. The 302 are not too smooth either. They sound okay at low levels, but the sound quickly becomes hard at any reasonable level. And they sound kind of small/thin. I didn’t find them to be particularly special.

The Alphas retail for $250 and you can easily find them for around $200. They sound better to me than my Concertos at ten times the price. What is wrong with this picture? I am still trying to figure this one out.

Associated Poop:
MSB Link III
Parasound 800 II

Similar Products Used:

Recently Auditioned:
NHT Super One, B&W 302, Acoustic Energy Aegis One
Proac 1sc, Proac 1.5

Have owned or currently own:
Vandersteen 2ci, Spica TC-50, Spica Angelus, Totem Model One, B&W 601, ADS L300e, NHT Super One, Sonus Faber Concerto

Very good price, sound, look, and power.

Lacking in bass

This is a great speaker. I have a Yamaha 400 series receiver (70 watts). The speakers sound great with it. All you people who think that you need a crazy amount of wattage for your receiver, that's not true. 70 is plenty. Depending on the room of course. The speaker sounds great even at high volumes. I turned it up as loud as i thought it could go with out damaging it and the sound was cristal clear. It was half way to the max volume of the receiver. The sound was plenty loud. WHAT EVER YOU DO, FOR ANY SPEAKER, DO NOT TURN YOUR RECEIVER TO FULL JUST TO SEE WHAT YOUR SPEAKERS SOUND LIKE AT MAX VOLUME LEVELS. THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR THE SPEAKER.
Soon you will learn what your speaker is capable of doing. The only weakness i found was the lack of bass.

There is good bass when you crank the bass up to the receiver's max. (Make sure the volume is not too loud) but again, this is not good for the speaker. ( Only If it's loud )If you are listening to the speaker at high volume levels, do not set your bass and treble to the max.

If you like bass, a sub is needed for this unit. On the other hand, if you like to listen to classical or acoustic music, the bass is very good.

For the value rating, I gave it a 4 because of the bass. ( I like bassy music ). Overall it's a 5.

I highly recomend the Alpha A/V for any cunsumer. For home theatre, classical, acoustic. It's even good with bassy music, it would just sound better with a sub. Thank you and have a good day.

Similar Products Used:

Not sure

Excellent bass for its size! Great sounding, not harsh at all! Super Value!!!

Only one, MY first pair was damaged during shipping and had to be returned.

I purchased the Aplha A/V's to Replaced the Infinity RS-3.
The PSB's are much smoother, and much less harsh, or bright than the Infinities. I love these speakers. They are a unbelieveable Bargain! You can not beat the Alphas in thier price range.
Try them, You will like them!

Similar Products Used:

PSB Stratus bronze, Infinity RS-3

well balanced, smooth and musical

6 ohm impedance can be difficult for some lower end receivers to drive efficiently

I am tremendously happy with these speakers. Extremely well balanced and "listenable" sound, leaning more towards lush than lean but very pleasant on the ears. Ideally matched with brighter sounding equipment. Reasonably good soundstage for speakers at this price level, very tolerant of less-than-ideal listening rooms. Place close to the rear wall for best bass response. Generally tolerant of amplifiers but I've noticed that at higher volumes my Sony ES receiver seems to be straining to provide enough current to keep these clean. Bass is impressive for a speaker this size but noticeably rolls off at 65 Hz. If you enjoy drums or rock music, I would recommend a sub to go with these (the PSB Subsonic 5 is a VERY nice choice). These speakers are good enough to make the weaknesses of my other equipment quite noticeable.
System:
Sony GX57ES receiver
Parasound CDP-1000 CD player

Similar Products Used:

PSB Image 1B, B&W302, Paradigm Atom

power handling, neutrality, musicality!!

Will sometimes tend to emphasize rough edges on some recordings

I read John Atkinson's review of these amazing little speakers in the April 2000 issue of Stereophile (the article is available online (for free) at www.stereophile.com). Was intrigued by his rave review of speakers that retail for $250 US. Purely by chance, I had the opportunity to pick up a good quality used receiver from a friend of a friend, and so to complete my second system (albeit somewhat scaled down from my HT) I went to the local dealer to listen to these speakers. I was absolute amazed, especially by the power handling, and purchased them for $275 Cdn. I listen to a variety of music, from classical to blues rock, and I especially enjoy acoustic music. If you listen to a lot of acoustic music (especially chamber music) give these speakers a listen - their size works to their advantage with a more intimate musical environment. Large orchestral works, I've found, can get muddied compared to the larger floorstanders I have (Stratus Bronzes), although that is partially the fault of the premap, I think, and even so the speakers never sound unmusical or incapable of handling the load - they just don't possess the same overall smoothness. (Not that I would expect them to for the price.) Nevertheless, I am always amazed by the musicality of these speakers. And while they are bookshelf speakers, the bass reproduction is quite remarkable - it reproduces the bass frequencies down into the bottom octaves of the piano, and that bass is in proportion to the rest of the sound - provided they don't reside too near room boundaries (they tend to become a bit boomy for my tastes if they're backed right up against a wall). Don't shy away from these because of their size - these supposedly 60-watt speakers put out enough sound to fill my listening room (25' by 15' by 8') with no signs of strain or distortion.

5 stars. Highly recommended if you are on a budget....and even if you're not, but still interested in getting good value for your money.

crisp sound, handles any type of music, excellent rear speakers for home theatre, great economic speakers

cannot mount on walls,

these are speakers that you will not be disappointed with. It has an excellent price tag to go with superb sound. These speakers have to be rated a best buy.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 302, Bose AC.