Having downsized my house during a move from Texas, I also had to downsize my speaker size. After listening to many, many different small home theater packages, purchased the Energy 5 with the 10" sub-woofer. In the smaller room it gives a marvelous illusion of full range front and rear speakers instead of satellite-sub-woofer set-up.Although it is used mainly for movies, it has a pleasing, if not outstanding musical presence.

Handsome design, Great HT effects

slight lack of mid-range

I am very pleased with my Take 5 System. Energy has really created a great product to squash the god-awful nemesis to the speaker industry - BOSE! While I consider my system "budget" in comparison to most audiophiles, I think it beats the pants of any Bose Acoustimats system at about 1/4 the price. My white Take 5's blend nicely into my wall and the center speaker sits unobtrusively on my TV.

I'm in a little condo, and for the space, the Take 5's do a great job in H.T. effects. CD and radio listening is good too, but I notice a slight lack of midrange. I've messed with speaker placements and have duplicated a nice full field of sound, but really nothing can beat a nice healthy pair of fronts. I'm running the Energy ES-XL10 for a sub even though I'm sure the 8" would have sufficed. For the extra $40 I wasn't going to quibble. I Highly recommend giving Mark Hallam at The Audioshop in Canada a call with any Energy products. Great prices and great service. My gear was here in 3 days!

I DID wire the stuff with Monster XP...I know, I know...but I couldn't shell out the obscene amount of $$$ for the Audioquest cable, and the Monster XP white blends nicely with my trim-work.

Here's my stuff:

Receiver: Denon AVR-2800
DVD: Sony DVP-S530D
Surrounds: Energy Take 5
Sub: Energy ES-XL10
Sub Cable: Monster Sub Cable
Spkr Cable: Monster XP Nav. white

Price

Midrange

I bought these speakers after reading the reviews on this site and have to agree, they are excellent. I use them in my dorm room at law school and they are more than adequate. I also recommend buying the speakers from Mark Hallam at The Audioshop in Canada. He was incredibly helpful and polite. Everything arrived in perfect condition FedEx. Prices were very good.

My set up is:

Receiver: Yamaha HTR 5150
DVD: Sony DVP-S550D
Surrounds: Energy Take 5
Sub: Energy ES-XL8
Sub Cable: Generic Radio Shack
Spkr Cable: Monster XP Nav. white

Great Clarity and performance from such a small speaker!

These are a great little set of speakers for an entry level Home Theater system especially!
I first heard the Take 5's in a local "Good Guys" store, they blew me away! The center channel seems to put out great diolague for movies and of course the surrounds are great for effects!
I have the ES-8 woofer with my system and I power it all with a pretty basic Sony dolby digital reciever.
I have found that for music the mid to lower range is maybe just a touch off but for me that is just fine!
I strongly recommend these beauties to any audio lover that doesn't want to spend more then $600.00 for great Home Theater quality!
Also check out Marc's store at: audioshop.on.ca he's great with costomer service and will give you great prices!

I'd have to say that these beat any other sat/sub system in their price range and from what I hear will provide quality sound for quite a while!

I have to give these speakers a 5 star rating for HT
a 4.9 star rating for stereo/music
and a 5 star rating for value

Try them out for your self!

Value for money and compact size, crisp highs

Weak midrange.

I have had these for almost a year. The only problem I can find with these speakers is midrange is weak. I have to compensate this by increasing the bass control on my Yamaha RX-V393. (e:xl s8 subwoofer gets a seperate low level output from it and the sub works great) I have the satellites hanging on a wall right now, but may be I can place them better to get more midrange response.

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None

Value for $ (especially from audioshop) and size

Very happy with this system, especially for home theater but also for a wide variety of music. Have the TAke 5 with 10" sub and once I got the crossover setting right I am very happy with sound across the full range. Owned Boston Acoustic A150's for years and wife got fed up with size of those in our family room, the Take 5 system is a perfect replacement - I am very happy with the sound and wife is happy with the size - 10" sub hides well in a corner behind a chair but still sounds great.

A neihbor - very in to tech toys - has Boston Acoustics system with large front Lynfield speakers, rear bipolars and a BA 10" sub - and he was blown away by AIr Force One and Matrix on my smaller, much more frugal system.

By the way - Marc at Audioshop is great - ordered on a MOnday had them by Wednesday (2 day fed-ex) and with a set of stands still $300 less than NY store prices.

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Listened to Boston Acoustics system 9000

Phenomenal sound at a phenomenal price!

Only the black ones were on sale ($250). I wanted the white ones but they were $500! Ouch. I got the blacks.

If it wasn't for this site I would not have known about these great speakers! Thanks to all who contributed. I am hooking the Take5's up with the Sony SA-WM40 subwoofer that is also so highly spoken of here. Hopefully others interested in the Take5's will see this posting in time to take advantage of the Good Guys deal. It's only good on the black set, though. And only for in-store purchase.

Given the price and the awesome performance, I have to give the Take5's a definite 5 stars. Even at regular price I would still say they offer excellent performance at excellent value. I was ready to buy on-line at least two weeks ago (best price ~$350), but I never got around to placing the order. I lucked out with the Good Guys promotion. Just $250, plus $18.75 tax! Still, I think the Take5's are worth it at twice the price! Buy them.

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These are my first sub-sats, but I did audition Klipsch and Polk.

Most ranges absolutely fabulous

I bought mine without the sub because I alreday have a Yamaha YST-SW45 Sub. You really need a sub with this set

These speakers blow the Ploks off the wall. The Ploks are the only other that I have listened to at home & they are going back to the store tonight. I played Dylan, US 3, The Moody Bules, John Coltrane and Bach's Goldberg Variations on both sets. believe me I the sound just takes you away

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Polk RM 6200

large sound for its size; bang for the buck

bass/music

Even though I live in Toronto, where I could purchase the system locally, I decided to try Marc Hallam at Audioshop in Ottawa. His service was impressive, and the price ($718 Cdn) for the speakers with the 8" sub was unbeatable even with the delivery.

With proper adjustments to the crossover and adjusting the receiver settings (Mark explained to me step by step), the weaknesses were overcome quite nicely.

I hooked up this system to my satellite receiver, and I must say, Gladiator and Mission Impossible2 sound amazing.

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bose acoustimass

I
I posted previously on these speakers. I've got more to say

hard to place

As I said above, I previously posted on these speakers but at the time I had a Yamaha sub. Well, I returned the Yamaha & bought the Energy 8" sub. Very very nice indeed. Some people say that bass is bass but I've found that the Energt sub has a pretty decent mid-range as compared with the Yamaha.

Anyway, three months into using the package & we are still very pleased.

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polk