I finally received my Algonquin speakers yesterday 6/25/07. Decided to order them and check them out for my self(Axiom's excellent 30 Day trial). First of all, let me say that I am no expert in speakers so this will be only based on my personal experience and visual inspection of the speakers. I was very surprise to see the size of the speakers-fairly big. I was expecting them to be a little bit smaller.
After removing them from the box, I quickly inspected the speakers and noticed that they were made out of some sort of plastic. I could also smell the odor of fresh paint on them. To my disappointment, the paint job was not that great. There was areas where the paint was very thin and could see white/black markings. I also noticed what it appeared to be lint and dust bubbles on them. This was apparent in various spots throughout the speaker and inside the grill. You could even see how the spray gun missed the inside of the port. Did not look to appealing, but hey, once installed, hardly no one will see the back of the port, so I was OK. One thing about the grill, it would be nice if the holes on the grill be a bit smaller. I placed the speakers on the floor and took about 15 steps back. I could see the white/silver speaker and black tweeter housing from far away. This really does not "blend" the Algonquins well with my decor. Again, this is my personal taste. Others may disagree and may like the view of the speaker/tweeter.
After inspecting the speaker, I decided to hook them up to my Denon stereo receiver to hear them out. This is where the Algonquins really shined. The awesome Axiom-quality sound quickly surrounded the room. I was surprised on the bass these speakers where producing. They really handled the low frequencies very well. They did not sound bright, but very neutral. All three areas….highs, mids, lows, sounded great. I played some songs from the radio, CD and even my iPod. Very impressed on how the Algonquins handled everything I played on them.
There it is…..overall, these speakers sound great indoors and outdoors.
jj
