Well Boys,

Here's the story...

After work on friday I hit warp 9 running to the Good Guys. I really don't like shopping there, but they are not too far off my way home. Picked up a 30ft roll of navaho white 16 ga monster cable and a couple interconnects. (Ravi, show me some laboratory data showing me that Brand X is better than Monster, then if the price is comparable I MIGHT buy it.)

Once I got home the I noticed that the boxes are not as large as I thought they would be. I looked at the speaker measurements on the web quite a few times before I purchased, but they still seemed smaller.

I spent an hour or so hooking up my Denon AVR 682(1602) to my Dtivo, Sony NS-700P DVD player, TV, and finally to the speakers. I did a quick placement and fired everything up. I threw in Natalie Mechant's first solo disk and settled in.

OK, Here's the disclaimer, this is my first "real" home stereo system. I have owned a Panasonic boom box for about 10 years and I have a nice Eclipse CD deck in my truck.

First thing I noticed is that I can hear things I never noticed before, the sound is very clean, but definately not overly bright. There is more bass than I thought there would be. It's not going to shake the house, but it is there. I'm very happy with the sound. The speakers finish is very nice, and they are pretty thin, giving them an elegant look.

So there I was sitting on the couch and my wife came downstairs and saw the system. First comment? The speakers are lighter than our natural maple wood floors. They are more of a cream color, like maple without a finish, and they "stick out" against all of the natural wood in our house. Then she saw the cables lying on the floor and stated that she doesn't want to see ANY cables or "everything goes back". Needless to say she has very strong ideas about decorating, and stereo functionality is a very distant second in her mind. I told her that it would probably involve pulling up drywall or the baseboards to put the cables in the walls, but I'll see what I can do.

We sat down and watched "ER" and she starts with "I don't notice any difference". Oh Boy, this is going to be a tough sell. About halfway though the episode Carter and Green are playing Horse and it starts to rain. Thunder subtly rolled out of the left speaker. It caught me by suprize because it had been cloudy all day and I thought "is it raining?" Then I looked at her and she had the same puzzled look on her face. After a few seconds she said "ok, I noticed THAT!" It was VERY gratifying.

Needless to say, everything is staying. I do have to figure out how to route the wires through the walls, but it isn't an emergency now.

I'm very impressed with the sound and finish of the speakers. I didn't have a chance to crank it up, but I don't normally like to listen too loudly anyway. If I get a chance I will try a louder session this week.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my earlier questions. I'm definately happy with my purchase.


Chris