Imaging, cohesive sound between all speakers, sub and satellites blend well,
big sound stage for a small system

Low end but can be resolved by adding second more powerful sub.

After all these years, this system is still the one to beat. It's strength is in the imaging dept. It picks up every little sound from a movie or audio soundtrack. Watching the Transformer DVD was a treat because everything was clear and present. It really pulled me in. The sound stage was big for such a small system. It is my reference system in my 13x18 ft family room and they are powered by an Integra DTR 7.1 THX receiver. Sure you can use a less expensive receiver but I wanted the most out of this system and it delivers. Also at 88 dB sensitivity, it was a good choice to use a receiver with a little more power. The ES-8 sub is very musical and starts and stops quickly. This makes for a great home theater experience because there is no overhang. The only down fall is that the sub does not go low enough for me which is remedied by a second sub that is more powerful and crossed over at 50hz. The ES-8 is crossed at 120hz. This system can be bought for a very good deal on Ebay so a second sub would be feasible. If you don't have this system, get it. Sell your other small system and replace it with this one. The Energy Take 5 is the system that should be passed on from generation to generation.

Similar Products Used:

M&K, Polk Audio, Bose, Paradigm, Klipsch

Imaging, looks, cohesive sound that is huge when properly placed

Low end bass which can be resolved by adding a second more powerful sub.

This system is the one to beat even after all these years. The take 5 is my reference system for small to medium size room. It is in my 13x18 ft family room. I mated it with the Integra DTR 7.1 THX receiver. Yes you can use a less inexpensive receiver. But with the speakers having a sensitivity of 88dB (which is not bad but could be better) I wanted a receiver that would get the most out of this system and it does. Imaging is this system's strength. It amazingly pulls out every sound from a movie soundtrack or music CD. Watching the "Transformer" DVD is a treat because the Take 5's pulled me in with detailing every gunshots, engine rumble, transforming robots, and of course the very important dialogue. Its second strength would be the huge sound stage it throws during movies. I just watched "The Dark Night" and the room was filled with cohesive sound. As the soundtrack pans left to right and front to back the timbre never changed giving you a great movie experience. The speakers blend well with the ES-8 subwoofer. The sub is very musical and tight. It starts and stops quickly with no overhang. The only downfall with the take 5 is the low end rumble. It doesn't reach down far enough for me. But this can be solved by adding a second more powerful sub and having that crossed at 50hz. I am using the ES-8 LFE input and the crossover turned all the way up to 120hz to pick up where the satilltes will leave off. Even at the 120hz I hear no voices in the sub. Have I mentioned how this system looks. Well it looks great. If you buy one get the piano gloss finish and not the wood grain finish which was used for a while. The original is the piano gloss finish. You can get these on Ebay like I did at only $200.00. My system has 4 white satellites, one black center (Energy only made black ones) and a black ES-8 woodgrain only.
At this price, adding a second sub is no problem. With the combined good looks and awesome sound the Energy Take 5 system is what Transformers would say "more than meets the eye."

Similar Products Used:

M&K, Paradigm, Bose, Klipsch

response range
power
quality
low distortion

None

as a 19 year old, my budget is kind of low. I had been running a sony 200watt 2 channel amp with a pair of bose 161s. they were great and sounded, to me pretty good. I received the energy s8.2 sub as a gift a couple months later, and my home theater was shaping up. for two years now, i had been eying the energy take system and hoping to upgrade my speakers to match my sub.

finally the time came I shopped around online and found a decent amp, because there's no way my "hi-fi" sony amp would handle these prestigeous speakers. I found a 1988 onkyo 909sv. retail $2700.00 in '88(w/inflation about $4650.00 today) I got this perfect visual and working condition 7.1 channel amp for 186.00 w/shipping. pumping 270 watts of <0.02%THD sound per channel.

that night i found a set of the 5 speakers, with four stands for $225. i bought it, and when my amp came i hooked my bose up to it, and discovered what a difference a very expensive amp made. at this point i was worried that the energy wouldn't be needed...just the new amp w/ bose. two days later when my speakers finally came I witnessed the richest fullest and clearest sound I have ever in a small set up. this system blew my mind. I had no idea that such sound and power could come of such a small box.

I am 100% satisfied and glad that i ordered my speakers before testing out the amp, otherwise i would have just settled with an onkyo amp and my bose 161s

Very crisp highs. Small size. Wife friendly.

The PS8 is a little weak in my large living room. I'd suggest getting a 12".

Love these speakers. I have owned so many sets of speakers in the last 5 years I can't count them. I ran accross these at a thriftstore for $50 and didn't expect much from such a small speaker although they are pretty heavy for their size. I have 4 Take 2's a Take 1 center and ES-8 Sub. 1 word WOW these are the best small speakers I have ever heard. I've had al of the good brands like Polk, Klipsch, Paradigm etc and these are the best for home theater I have ever had. I've had much better for music like the Klipsch KG4's these replaced but even those could not hold a candle to these in a movie. I've seen these selling for $150 on ebay. I'd say if you can get a set of these for less than $200 than you are going to buy the last set of speakers you will ever need. My living room is very large and these fill it just fine.

Simply amazing for their small size.

Excellent sound and appearance. Beautiful piano black finish and good stands.

None worth mentioning for the price.

What can anyone say after all the reviews? I bought Take 5.1's on the strength of the postings here about 2 years ago and am as delighted with them today as I was at purchase, if not more so considering the listening pleasure they continuously provide. A fantastic product at the price and no intention to upgrade for years. I bought them in Dubai at V V Sons in a package with a Sherwood DVD VD4106R and AV Rx RVD8090RDS for about 950 US all in, plus a later addition of a good sub connection and a Crisp programmable multi remote (also excellent). This set-up may not be up to the high spec of some outfits mentioned here but I find value for money excellent, with no complaints. Both DVD's and CD's are superb, with DVD's in DD or DTS and CD's in Stereo, which sounds a little more spacious. In Oman we have a v. large lounge and find the 8" sub more than enough connected active on 90 LP and vol. 7. There is perhaps a small weakness in mid range, but nothing much, and the finish is tremendous. Even my wife thinks it looks good as it is smart yet unobtrusive.

Similar Products Used:

None - first time HT buy based on comments on this site!

Price, size, flexibility, sound stage, dispersion, accuracy and will make the wife happy.

More choice of cabinet finishes would be nice.

I was stunned when I heard these tiny speakers reproducing a big sound stage in the showroom with incredible dispersion, clear highs and surprisingly strong lows from the e:XL S-8 sub it's paried with in the Take 5+1 package. Than I saw the price...Sold! For those of you with a 6.1 Receiver, you can still buy the Take 1 Centre Channel seperately from Energy if you know a good dealer (extra centre channel is included in the purchase price above in $CDN). I've been with Energy from the beginning, I still own the original Pro22 Reference speakers I purchased as a teenager (The Mirage M1's were a bit out of my reach at the time). The wife wouldn't have towers all over the living room, so a satellite system was the only way to go. The Take 5.2 system looks better, but I didn't hear enough difference to justify the premium. Besides, the Take 5+1 can be wall mounted with a standard picture hook. How easy is that! More than enough for most home theatre listeners and when you consider the price they're in a class all their own. Do yourself a favour, save your time and money and buy an API product (Energy or Mirage).

Size, Overall value

Some types of music. To be fair, at this price it already far exceeds my expectation.

Thanks to this forum I made a decision to buy the Take 5 system. I bought the complete system (6 pcs) $499 online in 1999. I've used it for more than 3 years now and I couldn't be happier. I used it both for movie and music. Both highs and lows are excellent. Mids need a littile bit tweaking on my Yamaha-995. No complaints for movies. For music, it depends on the types. Pop, Disco are fairly good, I give it a 4. Classical is not very good, it's probabaly a 2, again depending on the recording. Overall value is definetely a 5. What do you expect from a system at the price less than ONE tower speaker? Thanks to this forum again, I made a decision to buy a pair of Minotor Audio Silver 8i for Music and will keep the Take5 for Movies. It was tough to make a decision between Enery and Monitor Audio for the tower but I got a good deal on S8i.

Really great sound in tiny volume!

None if you factor in the price although could be matched with a better sub.

I purchased the original Take5 satellites, center and matched them with a 10" sub in 2000. I bought other speakers from Energy as well (C-6 and AC300) but I would say that the Take5 is the better deal. Very good sound from tiny packages for home theater or karaoke. The sub could be tighter but given the price it's great. The system can be played quite loud with little harshness. Obviously you can improve the sound with larger and more pricy speakers but you have to spend disproportionate price to get better performance.

Similar Products Used:

Energy C6 & AC300, B&W DM303 & CLR3, Mission M71

small and powerful

Energy needs a Take 6+1 package

Well for a speaker series that has been out for a few years this one still meets todays home theatre needs. Great range when paired with a good A/V receiver. I have a Yamaha RXV730 which is 6.1 so to the front center I added a Energy XLC100 and placed the Take center in the rear. Great balance to the sound field, I'm just worried to put these little things. No troubles at all with these speakers. Bought as Take 5+1 and the bass is great. Paid 600CDN$

Sound quality, construction and price.

none

With limitations on where I could place floor standing speakers I had no option but to look for speakers that I could place at ceiling height. I listened to Jensen which sounded good but were a little too big and obvious looking with difficulty in mounting also. The dealer showed me the Take 5 brochure and review and it looked to be spot on. I read all the reviews here and asked him to get a set in and liked what I heard. I matched it up with a Yamaha RX-V430. I have set it up in the room (6.5m x 4m) at ceiling height(toed in and down slightly with custom made brackets) and the system sounds fantastic. Mainly using it for HT, the sub at volume 7 and the amp at 1/4 power it really shakes the room. Very natural sound and impressive with music too. The speakers are quite small, more so than the illustrations would have you think. Highly recomended for almost any application and room size with the right amp.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer