Awesome set of speakers. After a while of break in, these speakers are wonderful. Dolby Digital seems to sing through these puppies and for the price, you can afford some great movies to watch. Highly recommended for budget HTs. They totally blow bose away. I am an American, and I want bass too. The Take-5s /w ES-8 combo blows the AM-whatevers out the door (and into the next time zone) at 1/2 the price. Energy, your products are welcome here in the US!
btw, the local mall here has a bose outlet store in it, can you open an outlet right next door to it? :)

-ikiru

*enjoy the sauce*

These speakers (minus the sub) can be purchased for about $300.00 for a set of 5. That comes out to $60.00 per speaker. I am currently looking to replace my set, and have had to look at speakers costing roughly $230 each to find a large improvement. If you are looking to purchase a cheap pair of speakers from Best Buy or Circuit City to wire up to a cheap receiver that you purchased to get a cheap Dolby Digital system for your new DVD player, then drop those plans immediately and BUY THESE SPEAKERS. If, on the other hand, you are an audio enthusiast who likes warmth and depth of sound, the hole between 90Hz-150Hz that these speakers have before the sub kicks in at the low end will drive you nuts. Male vocals sound thin, and large orchestral pieces also lack some depth. These speakers aren't miracle workers, but for the money (and the size) they really cannot be beat. If you want more, be prepared to spend more.
Overall: 3 stars for objective sound quality
5 stars for value

I Bought the Bose AM-15 which sounded pretty good for home theater, but on playing music (Creed) I got that sick feeling that you have when you realize you're not going to be happy with a purchase no matter how hard you try. Unfortunately, I didn't listen to music when I demo'd the Bose as I was going to use the system mainly for home theater. I would like to reiterate the point I've learned since then: "Music is harder to reproduce well than movie special effects." The Bose AM-15's prove that point fully.
After reading the reviews on this message board, I just had to try the Energy Take 5. I tested the Bose against the Energy side by side in my apartment. The Energy's sounded twice as good for movies and about ten times as good for music. I purchased the e:XL-12 sub which gave the Energy's an unfair advantage in the bass department, but the truth is, that wasn't where I was the most impressed. The e:XL-12's bass *was* awesome (tight & deep), but the musical clarity in the upper sound range is what sold me.

In summary, I love the Energy Take 5 and am now trying to sell the Bose AM-15.

I've had the speakers for about two weeks. Good investment. I wasn't to looking for a "full size" speaker system so this fit my liking to a tee.
I have them hooked up to a Marantz 780 and a Sony 330 DVD. Compared to my old pro-logic system, actually there is no comparison, 5.1 is outstanding. Movie watching is a whole new experience. I would recommend them to anyone.

Based upon the highly positive press they received, I bought a set of these satellites for a HT. For the $$, they are quite good. Open sounding, detailed, and well focused. I have 2 caveats.
First, don't expect them to out-perform much more expensive speakers, no matter what else you read. I have a pair of $600 speakers from Sound Dynamics that these are FAR inferior to. As a corrolary, they are best with warm sounding electronics. Second, they are probably best with their native sub or a similar type. I have a Sunfire subwoofer and they just do not mate well. It may be a function of their having little output below 80-90 cycles.

That said, they are probably unbeatable at the price.

Wayne Drazk

WOW! I didnt know there are so many out there that loves this Take 5 HT package. I pick it after reading a review in some magazine and then finally seeing them at a Audio show. I didnt realised that they were that small and I love small small speakers. I also got suck into buying a Bose Lifestyle 12....pheww....
Anyway, these are great speakers for its price range. Unfortunately the distributor in this country will be discontinue bringing it in. What a shame others wont get to "experience" it.

I got a Paradigm PDR-12 sub to go with it. All the Energy's sub was out of stock. I am very happy with the PDR-12. Was gonna get the PDR-10 but it was out of stock too. But so much the better because I think the 12 inch rumbles!!! If you are into HT, get a 12 incher and you wont regret.

The only complain I have are the Mega Mounts. It droops as reported by others and even trying some of the tricks listed by others, it still droops. Help ! Any more suggestions? Lucky for me they droop to a location which is close to where I want them but it could be better. I feel that the Take 2 used for the rear really need to be directed at the listener for optimum sound, thats why I bought the Mega Mounts after just trying to hang them using the keyhole on the back wall.

I got it hooked to a Yamaha RX-V795a and its a good match (see my report on the Yamaha). If you are on a budget, go for the RX-V595a which now has DTS.

All in all, I am happy with my system for its price. I give these speakers 5 speakers rating. They are worth every penny and more so. If you dont want your living room filled up with towering speakers but you still want good quality sound, get these!!!

I got the Take 5 system after auditioning them against the Klipsch quintet and the Yamaha CLS-200 HT systems. I have to say I like the look and stands of the quintets and the size of the yama satellites are more impressive, but the Energy sats deliver a lot for their size. I listened to the Klipsch and energy systems at the two Goodguy's stores. At store 1 (Emeryville) the energy system was more dynamic than the quintets by far in both CD and DVD applications. At store two (Dublin) the Klipsch unit had greater depth with the DVD movie and held up during CD testing. Well now that made my choice tougher. I attributed the difference to the way the systems were set up in the store. At store 2 the Energy sub was behind me and the take 1 (center) was at waist level. The Klipsch sub was in front of me and the center speaker was just above eye level. Hey.. position is everything. Both were listed at $899 with their respective 10" subs. I got an online quote (Audioshop in Canada) for the Energy take 5(seconds) plus and e:XL-s10 and two megamounts (not the best) for $635 shipped. I could not find a reputable on-line distributor to get the quintet price down to that level. That made my decision easier…I now own the Energy's.
Once set up and in the home, I sampled my catalogue of CD's (Sony CD player) from Jazz to Rock to Pop this system delivered clear audible high end and tense gripping low end which at times exceeded my needs. I had to play with the sub settings to get the mix right, however for each type of music it still needs a tweak to get it as I like. Then a got o the reason why I bought these guy's… HT. I do not have a DVD..yet, so I set out to test the VHS movies. I was immediately impressed by the presence of the low end even during the previews I actually rewound to hear this again. Throughout the movie the dialogue was clear and the effects were striking during the various explosions and crashes. One small problem cropped up during all this testing…the sub kept cutting out and was loosing power as well. I narrowed it to, I think, the sub in connected on the sub. By turning the wire connection would regain and this happened a dozen times as I repositioned the sub throughout the day. Not to worry I contacted the distributor and they'll send a new one once I can ship this one back ( at my cost ).

Overall I recommend this system, however I would also look very closely at the quintets if you could get them (w/ sub) under $600. I rate the system 5 for sound but overall 4 for the sub mishap

I am a casual listener and a first time HT buyer. I bought the Take 5 System largely becuase I was told that it was a "reference" system for speakers in this class.
I've had the Take 5 system for about six months now. I opted for the 10in subwoofer instead of the orginal 8 in. I orginally purchased the system for HT, but now use it mostly for listening to music. The system is located in my bedroom.

I drive the speakers with a Denon AVR2700, Monster cable. I know that I can probably get better performance by upgrading my cables, but have been intimidated by the cost of "properly" wiring my system.

Overall, I have not been very happy with my system. While the performance of these tiny speakers is terrific and will blow away many larger speakers, they simply do not have the presense that a larger speaker projects. I listen to a lot of music on this system. When I listen to vocals, I don't sense the warmth that I normally do when I listen to systems with larger speakers. I don't always feel that I get the bass that I need although I've read that it might be due to the receiver.

I am still tweaking the setup. Please note that that fact that I live in a city apartment may cause some of the perormance issues. I have also been told that adjusting a HT setup properly is also quite difficult.

While the build, quality, performance, is good for a product of this cost, the bottom line for me is performance. I feel that I would have been better off buying better speakers and adding to the system as I could afford to do so.

I just had my set of KEF Coda home theatre set-up replaced with the Take 5 and it was a replacement well worth it's money. In fact it costs far less for the complete set of Energy speakers than my former speakers!! I like its build quality, as these speakers feel solid when held on the palm of your hand.
The Take 5 were simply astounding. All this while, I never thought that home theatre effects auditioned at AV exhibitions or even at the local AV dealer can be similarly replicated at our homes till I got hold of these little gems. And these gems do sound big. I was really surprised at the clarity of speech flowing out from the Take 1's centre speaker. The Energy's gave a new breath of life to my DVB satellite receiver. All these while I never knew HBO Dolby encoded movies sounded so great before this.

The Energy sounded incredibly musical with a tad of warmth. I put on my two favourite CDs consisting of Alan Parson's Definitive Collection and Eagles Hell Freezes Over and the clarity and sound quality was second to none with trebles sounding not too bright and bass just about right when adjusted properly while the mids were simply accurate.

Overall I would definitely recommend the Take 5 without any reservation and for the price, it's a steal. I would think the Take 5 deserves the max of 5 stars.

I've had the Energy Take 5 HT system for about a month now, and I love them. I bought with the intent of creating a home theater, less so for music. For movies, it's awesome. I have it hooked up to a Onkyo TX-DS575 (AC-3,DTS), and a Toshiba 3109 DVD player. The receiver and DVD are linked by a 75 ohm digital coaxial cable, and the sound is quite breathtaking, really. I first heard the sound in a store, and then found a great price at the all too familiar Audioshop in Canada. Marc is a nice guy and will give you a great deal. I got factory seconds. Sonically they are equal to the factory firsts, but have minor blemishes with the black lacquer finish. To be honest, I could not even tell but on one of the satellite speakers. Total package approximately $500 US dollars (WHOA!).

My apartment bedroom is 12x18 feet , and I was specifically looking for a satellite system for this small space. They fit great and sound awesome. I got the 8 inch sub and debated whether to get the 10 inch sub. I have found that the 8 inch sub is way powerful (Monster THX-certified sub interconnect)and playing Terminator 2 on the DVD player blows me away.
Overall, very satisfied, clean look, impressive sound.
My wife, who is "not interested in electronics" said, "Wow".
5 stars