Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater what main speaker to used with energy take clasic

Peter, how does the Energy "Take" speakers sound in relation to Energy's other speakers...nameley the connoisuer and reference series, if you've heard those before. (I've heard those two but not the "Takes", I got the impression that they sound different from some of the posts here)

I have heard 3 different Energy lines. My circa 1997 Take 5's, a pair of Veritas 2.4i's about 4.5 years ago, and a pair of RC-70's about 2.5 years ago. This is extremely subjective, so take it for what it's worth....

The Take 5's and the 2.4i's are such wildly different speaker sizes that it's hard to really compare their sound. The T5's are perfectly capable 'cube' speakers, and when paired with a good sub they make a darn good system. At least, I think so. They put together a decent soundstage with pleasant highs and ok midrange (for their size). Let me put it this way, they blow the doors off of a similarly-sized Bose setup, and show that cube speakers can be good. But they're no substitute for good bookshelf speakers, let alone floor-standers.

Do bear in mind that the Take5's I have are *not* the same Take-series speakers that Energy sells today. Energy is a different company today (part of Klipsch) than it was in the 1990's. I've not heard the modern Take Classic series, so I have no idea if their sound is similar.

The 2.4i's were really great. I know that some around here don't like them but I thought they sounded absolutely lovely. Great clean bass, lovely midrange without being too warm, and crystal highs that weren't screechy. I liked them a lot. Great all around. But they were like $4k a pair, so way out of of my price range.

M80 vs. 2.4i

The RC-70's were far less impressive. I considered them while shopping for M80's and it took about 10 seconds of listening to decide that I didn't like them. That's not enough time to really be able to describe here why I didn't like them, but it was enough for my bran to say, "nope, not these".

All I really remember is that they just sounded muffled to me. Highs weren't very good and the bass was muddy. Just sort of 'bleh'. They reminded me a lot of an old pair of Sony floor-standers that I had in college - which were like $149 each. I mean, they weren't *horrible*, but they just weren't in the same league as what I was shopping for.

Tks, Peter. I've not heard the Take series at all, older or the "Klipschized" newer ones. I did, however, hear the "C" and "RC" series and came away with virtually the same feeling you had with the "RCs".(heard the 50s and 70s) To me, they also sounded muffled or like they had a heavy blanket over them, which surprised me considering, at least on paper, they had all the right ingredients to be a very good speaker...that is what led me to wonder about the "Take" speakers, because they seem to be very highly regarded, at least given their size. Thanks again, Adrian.

Oh, I might add too, that I was also looking to hear the Verita line as well, but was having alot of trouble finding any here (go figure, I live less than 20 mi. from their plant in Markham). Nevertheless, they were $$ and reviews seemed to indicate that they sounded quite similar to the Axioms which are well below half the cost.

wow this is very good info ... so if i dont succeedd fixing my tannoy woofer ... i was thinking going with the rc10 to match my take clasic but it seem that you guys are saying the m22v2 would be better?? and yes i did give #@$#@$ to my kids but she is 9 years old dancing with all her friend it was hard as they were having fun lol
anyone compare the rc10 with the m22v2? also is the m22v2 the strongest/ loudest bookshelf available on the market?
thanks

I've never heard RC-10's, so FWIW.....

RC-10's are $600/pair and feature one 5.25 inch driver and one 1" tweeter, max wattage is 175 watts. M22's are $470/pair and have two 5.25 inch drivers and one 1" tweeter, max is 200 watts. None of those specs guarantee that an M22 is 'better' than an RC-10, but it does point to M22's being more capable. If for no other reason than M22's have that second 5.25" driver to help move air.

M22's are also pretty big, by bookshelf standards. They're *almost* like short floor-standing speakers. They're 20" tall, which is almost 7" taller than RC-10's. They're not dainty. And that's good if you're on a quest for loud bookshelves.

While I've not heard RC-10's, I have heard several other high-quality bookshelf speakers. Some were very good, like B&W 705's ($1,600/pair) or Paradigm Studio 40's (~$1,100/pair). The M22's could certainly go toe-to-toe with significantly more expensive brands. Do I think that M22's are outright superior than some other high-end bookshelves? That's hard to conclusively say because it's so subjective. But when you factor in the price of M22's, they deserve to be at least very near the top of the bookshelf pile. So in my humble and meager experience, I feel that M22's deserve to be considered among the best. They really are lovely speakers, and I'd even go so far to say that they might be the best value in the entire Axiom speaker lineup.

What I can say is that if RC-10's sound similar to RC-70's, then based on what I've heard of RC-70's, M22's are significantly better. Note the big if.

With Axiom's return policy, you can always just order them and try them out at home. Yes, if you don't like M22's you'll have to pay for the return shipping, which might be $40 or $50 (just a guess). If your Energy dealer has a return policy, the best thing you could do would be to buy BOTH the RC-10's and the M22's and compare them side-by-side at home. Return whichever you like the least. And definitely let us know how it goes, even if the RC-10's are better.

Good luck!