Bought the Image ONE headphones in the last woot-off, I was really astounded by the great sound quality! The sound tends to be mostly very crisp highs and booming lows, with not as much midrange, but I prefer that sound. The remote/mic on the cable works great and is lightweight, and overall I find the appearance to be classy and good-looking. Definitely not as obnoxious-looking as beats by dre.
The earcups just barely fit over my ears, so if you have very large ears these might not fit as comfortably over them, but that would be my only gripe with these. They are very comfortable for me.
I keep seeing the Energy Take speakers, the price is pretty good, but are these speakers good for an entry-level system? I have a Pioneer receiver from a Woot sale six months ago, and since I live in an apartment I can’t invest in a more powerful system, just need something to sound good for movies and games.
Anyone looking for a 5.1 speaker system, should probably look elsewhere. I just bought a 5.1 setup this morning before this plus sale appeared. I was about to be really angry until I saw that I got a better deal for a set with much better specifications (wattage, and frequency response). In case people are wondering I got the Onkyo SKS-HT690, it was 190 with free shipping on newegg this morning. Amazon has the same price on the Onkyo set but is backordered (but you can pay $30 extra to get from a vendor today, but you might as well just go to newegg).
[QUOTE=deltax20a, post:3, topic:375763]
I keep seeing the Energy Take speakers, the price is pretty good, but are these speakers good for an entry-level system? I have a Pioneer receiver from a Woot sale six months ago, and since I live in an apartment I can’t invest in a more powerful system, just need something to sound good for movies and games.
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I have two sets of them and I am happy with them for a small room (e.g. bedroom, dorm room) those would be perfect for the ‘highs’.
For the bass you want a subwoofer or a set of good bookshelf speakers, but keep it gentle - but then you are in the price rang where you could have gotten a 5+1 system for anyways.
Note that investing in a ‘powerful’ system in terms of audio reproduction does not need to equal a LOUD system.
[QUOTE=countdown, post:4, topic:375763]
Anyone looking for a 5.1 speaker system, should probably look elsewhere. I just bought a 5.1 setup this morning before this plus sale appeared. I was about to be really angry until I saw that I got a better deal for a set with much better specifications (wattage, and frequency response). In case people are wondering I got the Onkyo SKS-HT690, it was 190 with free shipping on newegg this morning. Amazon has the same price on the Onkyo set but is backordered (but you can pay $30 extra to get from a vendor today, but you might as well just go to newegg).
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careful with the wattage - one is partially rated at 6ohms, the other at 8ohms. Specifications are difficult to compare.
Look also into driver materials, and so on… to me the Klipsch seems to be the ‘better quality’ system with the price being in the same ballpark.
[QUOTE=andreaserben, post:6, topic:375763]
careful with the wattage - one is partially rated at 6ohms, the other at 8ohms. Specifications are difficult to compare.
Look also into driver materials, and so on… to me the Klipsch seems to be the ‘better quality’ system with the price being in the same ballpark.
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Don’t worry I was taking ohms into consideration, I am happy about the 6-ohms on the Onkyo system. Should make things easier if I ever decide to annoy my neighbors.
As for the driver material, I think this might come down to personal preference. The Onkyos use paper, which might sound cheap, but is still used as an ideal material in even nicer speakers out of this price range.
I am curious what makes either one of these Klipsch systems “better quality”. I would even trust the Onkyo brand over Klipsch (again, personal preference, and admittedly I don’t look down on Klipsch, just prefer Onkyo if I had the choice).
Anyway, always interested in more information. So thanks for sharing.
The Energy Take Classic 5 pack is exactly the same as the Energy Take Classic 5.1 speaker system, except that it’s sold without the subwoofer. The 5.1 Take Classic got a Editor’s Choice rating from CNet’s audiophile savant Steve Guttenberg (writes the Audiophile blog for them… not the Police movie guy). Review is here: CNET: Product reviews, advice, how-tos and the latest news Also highly suggest some subwoofer if you get this.
The HD500 5.1ch speaker packages are good for the price, and actually make excellent computer “gaming” and video-watching speakers, as well as “decent” music speakers. They are far and away better than anything labeled as a “computer speaker” outside of the likes of M-Audio (I have a pair of M Audio BX5 D2’s running off a Fiio E17, sound card being an Asus Xonar Essence STX).
If you want good computer surround, these are as good as you’ll find until you hit about twice the price, especially considering this includes not only the five speakers but also the subwoofer.
They are ideal for smaller rooms (I would say no bigger than ~15’x15’ or thereabout), such as bedrooms, dorm rooms, and so forth; they will not be adequate for a home theater, a living room, or other big areas.
One alternative is to use the five included speakers as the surround components in a 7.1/7.2/9.1/9.2/11.1-4ch surround sound setup, with some true Towers for Front-Left/Right and a better center. I usually recommend sticking with the same manufacturer so as to keep the sound (the “voice”) consistent between speakers, as it can sometimes be very noticeable and very distracting if you don’t.
Some excellent front towers to turn this into a 7.1ch setup would be the Klipsch Icon WF-35’s: powerful, excellent dynamic range, strong mid-range, and beautiful to look at too
The problem is that the included center channel here is not so great, and I would personally upgrade to a WC-24(W) Center to have a matching voice to the FR/FL towers.
You can then grab a second one of the included center channel speakers, get a pair of wall mounts, turn them vertical and use them as either Front-High/Wide or even as the Primary Surround Channels depending on whether you’re using a 7.x, 9.x, or 11.x receiver.
Same here. Loved them so much I picked up a second pair on Amazon. Really wished I’d known there would be a $20 price drop.
I normally prefer in-ear buds as they offer much better sound isolation and have recently started getting into over-ear headphones, but thought I’d give these a try based on many reviews. These are now my daily commuters. They offer good isolation with little leakage. Even with my skullcap covering my ears and these on top of them, they offer decent isolation, plus I can hear announcements by the train conductor (a definite plus when riding NYC MTA).
I actually own this soundbar and it gives off great sound. Way, way better than just going with the TV speaker. I do have one problem with it though - it won’t hold the remote programming. In fact, it no longer will hold the program of a remote that worked just a few days ago. So I pretty much have get up off my lazy but to change the volume.
As best as I can tell it’s identical to the Klipsch version unless they populate it with different drivers. It’s the same physical design though.
The other thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t have a decoder so you can only send linear PCM 2.1 to it. I had all sorts of problems getting sound from my PS3 to the TV.
For this price it’s decent. Hopefully they fixed the remote programming.
Ah, a fellow Grado fan! I go through TONS of headphones, but you would literally have to pry my SR225’s/RS1i’s/RS2i’s/GS1000’s/PS1000’s from my cold-dead-hands!
My friend’s father bought a pair back in the late 60’s… fantastic sound! And LOUD… to put it this way, you will never even make it to “eleven” on the dial. His father liked them so much he bought him a set of Heresy’s in 83… he was 3 at the time but still has them. His father still blast’s his Klipschorns too.
I too bought a pair of the image ones last time they were offered. A word of caution in my opinion. You had better like a lot of bass. If you are using them with something that has an equalizer go for it by all means. You can turn these into a great sounding and extremely comfortable pair of headphones. Unfortunately I do a lot of listening on my iPhone through the Rhapsody app and there is no equalizer provided in the app. Still looking for a solution there. Might even switch to spotify.
- but then you are in the price rang where you could have gotten a 5+1 system for anyways.