Got My Energy Speakers Home and Running

[braxus]

Others may have followed from a previous thread that I bought a set of Energy C200 bookshelf speakers. Well I paid them off, got them home, and set them up in my secondary A/V system in the computer room. I must admit I made a good choice to get the lighter wood finish instead of boring black. I do like this color. I think its cherry finish. For now Im using cheap speaker wire, but later I'll get a better set. These are bi-wire capable, but I think in this case I'll leave it to one set of wires. Currently hooked up to a 120 wpc Denon integrated amp from 1986- the PMA 900V.

Good low end on these little guys. Since they are for now set under the computer desk, its bass heavy. One day they'll go on top of the desk. These speakers don't weigh a whole lot which I wasn't expecting. I guess I'm used to more hefty speakers. I hope that isn't an indication how thin the wood is in these things. Anyway took some shots, so take a look.

[stuwee]

Nice braxus, I'm looking forward to the review of what you hear.
It's not the thickness of the wood on the speakers that matters, *naughty*, I like the finish alot. and those are some serious binding posts there dude. Make the Tiffany's on my 'Logans look downmarket --smokin--, if you have the room, those look like perfect canidate's for placing on some stands and get the great soundstage they are most likely capable of..*devil*..

Craig

[MacGyver]

Agreed, i have never been a fan of tiny speakers, myself...

[braxus]

Agreed, i have never been a fan of tiny speakers, myself...

I guess speaker sizes there is always a tradeoff. With large woofers and big speakers you can have great low end without using a sub. Problem with big speakers are they don't have as good imaging and space as smaller speakers do. Plus smaller speakers are known to be a lot quicker in terms of their speed and impact, which is very important with watching todays movies at home.

This is the main reason why I prefer smaller speakers. Plus they tend to take up less space and tend to look sleeker. The largest speaker I have owned were a set of Paradigm 5SE Mk2 units which used stands. Loved those speakers for their low end, but found newer speakers from B&W that do better in the other departments.

[stuwee]

I say nice two-ways surprise lot's of folks with the sound that comes out of them, put 'em on some stands properly, I loved my Celestion DL6 II's and my AR's as well, Crap they aren't on stands, I'll shut the hell up now *fm*

Craig

[braxus]

Well since Im selling my B&W 602 speakers tomorrow, I put these little Energy speakers from my secondary system into my main system just to hear what they can do.

Put on my speaker test CD. Put the volume at 9:30- 10 oclock on the dial. What I noticed was how these little speakers just couldn't hold a candle to my B&Ws. Bass was very boomy and flabby, there was no midrange to speak of with these speakers, and the highs were extremely muted. All I could hear was bass. Very warm speakers to say the least. I would think these speaker were designed to impress at the $200 dollar price point. My B&Ws on the other hand had very open midrange and very clear highs. And very controlled tight bass that went lower.

So I was dissapointed in the C200 speakers. Maybe if I crank them up, I'll hear more, but they just sounded very congested and boxed in. Im hoping the Paradigm speakers Im getting can do better then this for a small speaker. If not- I might end up going back to B&W again.

[Rat44]

Hard to go backwards on speakers.
Sounds like the 200's make a better computer speaker than music speaker.
How long before you get another pair ?
Might have to be a headphone rig for awhile.

[braxus]

Hard to go backwards on speakers.
Sounds like the 200's make a better computer speaker than music speaker.
How long before you get another pair ?
Might have to be a headphone rig for awhile.

Im shooting for late April early May if all goes well. Then of course it will take another week to get them here. Lately I've been using headphones anyway.

[Rat44]

Nothing wrong with cans either.
Actually some music sounds 'almost' better through a good set of headphones.

[braxus]

Well I took the stands back I bought yesterday and got some taller ones. The old ones were 22 inches and the new ones are 30 inches. This raised the speakers high enough to compare to the height of the old B&Ws I had before.

Anyway it was much an improvement. Speaker have more treble now. Midrange is slightly better, but it still seems recessed. Bass isn't so boomy this time either. They still can't compare to what I was using before though.

[stereorob]

little nice speakers have there place in my system. those ones look nice btw,
i use small speakers to give the treble some boost but they have always lacked the boom of big speakers. still nice to have though.