BIC America DV62si Bookshelf Speaker Review

[restorer-john]

Interesting review @amirm . I have an original pair of BIC America V62 speakers. They are a fun little speaker but they were too boom-tizz for long term listening. (the new ones are re-releases of the originals). Made in the mid 1980s I would guess.

Not my pic

Internet pic of badge

 

[Beershaun]

Thanks Amir for measuring these! I provided this speaker to Amir. I was curious how good/bad my home theater surround speakers would be and what I could expect from stepping up to a pair of properly engineered speakers that measured well. I certainly know now!

I have gotten compliments on these in my home theater setup before. Mainly because it's such an improvement to step up to a set of discreet surround sound speakers from TV speakers, sound bars, and "home theater in a box" speakers that most people are used to listening to. It goes to show the sound quality bar to impress people is very low, and that you need to spend a bit more money than these for a properly engineered speaker.

On the Strength of Amir's review I bought a pair of the Elac Debut Reference 6.2 to replace these in my current 2.1 HT setup. It is certainly a step up! I am very happy with them and thoroughly enjoying them.

I hope this review helps others who come here to research, so they can see that it's worth spending some money to step up to a properly engineered set of speakers and that brand recognition and subjective reviews are not enough.

Thanks again Amir!

 

[Guerilla]

Speakers for people who likes to turn up the treble. Maybe they can actually be tamed quite a bit with an oldfacioned treble control. Mean on a stereo with eq set to smiley. As Dmitri mentioned the seem like camdidates for modding

 

[napilopez]

Thanks @amirm!

You didn't mention it in your review, so did you realize this is one of the speakers actually in the original Part 1 Preference study? (I made a typo and listed them as the DV72si at first). Or was it happenstance that someone sent it in?

It scored 9/13 in blind tests, (though it was Ranked 4/10 by Consumer reports), so I doubt "many of you in blind tests will score it high" as you say . The most frequent comments were "Bright, no bass, thin, too much treble, and tizzy." If you still have the IL10's, it could be interesting to do the comparison... though this is so bright that there's likely no way you couldn't pick them apart in blind test, likely even with a third speaker.

Edit: (For those who don't know, the second graph is how the speaker's tonality was subjectively described by blind test participants. Clearly this one was perceived as very bright.)

Amir's measurements match Harman's very well other than some differences in the treble, but this is not surprising given this speaker is such a mess at the high crossover that small differences in positioning and maybe even manufacturer tolerances would lead to some deviation. Not to mention it's clearly a very old design, although to contrast, the Infinity IL10 matched perfectly, perhaps because of better manufacturing tolerances.

Here's the snippet from the consumer reports article about this speaker:

'Notably accurate'

 

[amirm]

You didn't mention it in your review, so did you realize this is one of the speakers actually in the original Part 1 Preference study? (I made a typo and listed them as the DV72si at first). Or was it happenstance that someone sent it in?

Oh, I did not. I studied the list a few weeks go but did not remember this being one of the models!!!

 

[Xyrium]

They had to market the "ferrofluid cooled" right on the face of the tweeter since the highs are so damned hot! Ugh....

 

[carlosmante]

Speakers for people who likes to turn up the treble. Maybe they can actually be tamed quite a bit with an oldfacioned treble control. Mean on a stereo with eq set to smiley. As Dmitri mentioned the seem like camdidates for modding

Probably an L pad.

 

[Hugo9000]

Hmm, the general look of these measurements seemed really familiar to me, so I did a quick check, and I was right. lol

What a brilliant design, the perfect gift for the Grado headphone lover in your life!

Grado GS200e:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-g-n/gs2000e/

Grado SR125i:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-g-n/sr125i/

Please be sure to read @solderdude 's excellent accompanying reviews of these headphones. BIC America's 'designer' may have been a big fan of the Grado sound, from comparing measurements and reading the subjective impressions of the headphones and these speakers.

 

[bobbooo]

I suspect the preference score for this speaker will be poor but I bet many of you in blind tests will score it high.

What an insult to your members

Thanks for the measurements!

 

[bobbooo]

I can't quickly find good examples, but waterfall plots show SPL decay overtime, if the initial SPL is higher at a given frequency, decay can be at the same rate as other frequencies, but will exist for more time on the graph. If you are able to normalize time 0, any lingering response compared to other frequencies has to be ringing (like how the off-axis graphs I post have a normalized version which shows difference compared to on-axis, whereas the normal graphs show the actual response).

On this speaker, it looks like 300Hz has a resonance, as it has lingering response but the initial response has no peak, whereas ~1.1kHz has lingering response but has a peak in response, so it likely is not a resonance.

Do you mean something like these graphs that Reference Audio Analyzer produce from their headphone measurements?

 

[bobbooo]

SCORE w/ sub: 5.2

Looking at your preference rating charts, shouldn't this be 4.6?

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

Shame about the highs and crossover.
The amount of distortion at 96dB for the woofer is one of the best I've seen in the reviews, though.

From the looks of it there is no crossover, the mid appears to be playing full range. No attempt to level match. Likely just a cap on the tweeter.

Edit- I'm wrong, a YT video shows at least a 3 part xover.

 

[amirm]

From the looks of it there is no crossover, the mid appears to be playing full range. No attempt to level match. Likely just a cap on the tweeter.

It does have a crossover. See this video:

Looks like first order though.

 

[napilopez]

Funnily enough @MZKM the preference score for this one was right on the money. 1.7 in your calculation and rated 1.7 by the actual listeners in the blind test. (Despite the slight difference in the measurements)

Oh, I did not. I studied the list a few weeks go but did not remember this being one of the models!!!

How serendipitous!

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

It does have a crossover. See this video:

Looks like first order though.

Yeah I just found that double checking. Terrible.

 

[Chuu]

As one famous non-audio reviewer said, there are no bad products, only bad prices.

I'm seriously wondering what one's expectations should be at this price point.

 

[bobbooo]

As one famous non-audio reviewer said, there are no bad products, only bad prices.

I'm seriously wondering what one's expectations should be at this price point.

This

 

[gvl]

What is BIC America anyway? They have been around as far as I can tell.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

As one famous non-audio reviewer said, there are no bad products, only bad prices.

I'm seriously wondering what one's expectations should be at this price point.

There are at least a half dozen of options that would be great for the money.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

Hmm, the general look of these measurements seemed really familiar to me, so I did a quick check, and I was right. lol

View attachment 75178

What a brilliant design, the perfect gift for the Grado headphone lover in your life!

Grado GS200e:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-g-n/gs2000e/
View attachment 75179


Grado SR125i:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-g-n/sr125i/
View attachment 75180

Please be sure to read @solderdude 's excellent accompanying reviews of these headphones. BIC America's 'designer' may have been a big fan of the Grado sound, from comparing measurements and reading the subjective impressions of the headphones and these speakers.

It's impossible to compare headphone and speaker measurements.