BIC America DV62si Bookshelf Speaker Review

[Dmitri]

Because that's the budget of plenty of people. It's great info to understand what's acceptable in the price range.

There are plenty of worthwhile options for new or budget minded users.

Absolutely. You can’t find the hidden gems if you don’t look where you don’t think you’ll find them. My thinking regarding speakers has changed pretty radically since I became acquainted with this site. Cost and quality are not necessarily aligned...of course I knew that, but not to the extent that I’ve seen here. It’s pretty illuminating.

 

[carlosmante]

BIC America and Hsu Research share the same building in Anaheim, CA . Any Relation?

 

[Putter]

Absolutely. You can’t find the hidden gems if you don’t look where you don’t think you’ll find them. My thinking regarding speakers has changed pretty radically since I became acquainted with this site. Cost and quality are not necessarily aligned...of course I knew that, but not to the extent that I’ve seen here. It’s pretty illuminating.

I found the JBL E20 at Goodwill for $30 just before Covid closed them down. They're a $200/pr speaker form the early 2000's that got decent reviews FWIW at the time. To be fair I'm using a sub and Audyssey MultEq and Dynamic Eq so the frequency response is modified. I have plenty of other speakers of decent quality; Infinity Primus 150 and 140, Boston Acoustic CR67, PSB Alpha Mini, Celestion 5, Pioneer BS22 and SP-C22C and others. Admittedly not $1000+ like some of the members here. So far after several months they're my favorites.

I suspect the reason is the waveguide and reasonable construction which is probably due to its small size (5.25 in woofer). There are some things in speaker design that don't really cost much money, but created significant improvements; aligning tweeter and woofer on vertical axis, using a waveguide, better materials for tweeter and woofer, availability of programs to determine bass response, etc.

While I'm quite satisfied with the JBL's I can't wonder if the their many successors also using waveguides are a major improvement although based on my reading of this and other fora, I'd like to see what could be done with a similar sized speaker with a waveguide, but with an acoustic suspension alignment for bass response supplemented with a sub.

 

[MZKM]

BIC America and Hsu Research share the same building in Anaheim, CA . Any Relation?

i think I read somewhere that Dr. Hsu helped design their Acoustech line of horn loaded speakers, I could be wrong though.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

I have plenty of other speakers of decent quality; Infinity Primus 150 and 140

I still have my Infinity Primus p143 and p153. They really were the first of higher performance, lower cost, consumer products offered.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

I have to ask. Why bother with modding horror boxes? Seriously.

At what point do they become Grandpa's Axe?

(I'm imagining the Auratone (horrortone) "mod": Replace the single driver with a Tang Band something, then replace the terminals, fill it with rock wool, peel off the vinyl, change out the front baffle and rear panel and while you are in there, make a new 1" thick MDF cabinet and new grille. Re-assemble, make a new DM Mod badge and call it done...)

I don't care much for badges, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable enterprise, assuming I can bring it in for $50/pr delivered.

But to answer your question, someone on this forum suggested the Lease Breaker as a promising candidate for a mod, given that he thought the sound was already decent and could be improved with some crossover tweaks. I've never worked with a 15" woofer before, and size is supposed to matter for party speakers, so I got out my Amazon charge card. When the machine arrived, the only pleasant surprise was the tweeter. All of the other surprises were on the negative side. But I had already posted that I was going to try some mods, so I started small and then let the project get completely out of hand, which is my business model. They do sound quite good now, and they're really big.

 

[gvl]

This is a HUGE speaker for desktop use. Its dimensions are: 14.25″ H x 8 7/8″ W x 9 1/8″ D

It is not remotely made for near-field use.

...

Even in Texas?

 

[amirm]

Even in Texas?

OK, maybe not there.

 

[AverageJoeAudiophile]

I don't care much for badges, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable enterprise, assuming I can bring it in for $50/pr delivered.

But to answer your question, someone on this forum suggested the Lease Breaker as a promising candidate for a mod, given that he thought the sound was already decent and could be improved with some crossover tweaks. I've never worked with a 15" woofer before, and size is supposed to matter for party speakers, so I got out my Amazon charge card. When the machine arrived, the only pleasant surprise was the tweeter. All of the other surprises were on the negative side. But I had already posted that I was going to try some mods, so I started small and then let the project get completely out of hand, which is my business model. They do sound quite good now, and they're really big.

I seriously can't wait.

 

[restorer-john]

so I started small and then let the project get completely out of hand, which is my business model.

Love it! Thanks for clarifying. Sometimes it's awesome to spend inordinate amounts of time, effort, and money on things just because you can. I do it often with vintage restorations.

 

[bigx5murf]

I have a pair of DV52 as my garage speakers. I have them 1' from the ceiling on top of my garage cabinets, hooked up to a bluetooth tpa3116 board.

I instantly thought these must have a smiley face EQ to them, and looks like this confirms it.

 

[JohnBooty]

I don't care much for badges, but otherwise it sounds like a reasonable enterprise, assuming I can bring it in for $50/pr delivered.

But to answer your question, someone on this forum suggested the Lease Breaker as a promising candidate for a mod, given that he thought the sound was already decent and could be improved with some crossover tweaks. I've never worked with a 15" woofer before, and size is supposed to matter for party speakers, so I got out my Amazon charge card. When the machine arrived, the only pleasant surprise was the tweeter. All of the other surprises were on the negative side. But I had already posted that I was going to try some mods, so I started small and then let the project get completely out of hand, which is my business model. They do sound quite good now, and they're really big.

I take full responsibility for this horror I've unleashed. The very least I can do is try out the mods on my own pair, as soon as you think your mods are ready for prime time.

I am married and unlucky/lucky enough to own a home. So, the stakes are even better. No lease to break... it's a mortgage! Also a marriage! Well, it's all in the name of science.

 

[JohnBooty]

@Dennis Murphy

Did you ever make any more progress with the giant BIC Eviction?

I'd still love to try out your modifications. I need something to keep me busy once the weather gets cold.

 

[Beershaun]

I love how this thread has turned into a "Top Gear $2000 budget car challenge."

 

[JohnBooty]

You know what they say!

It's more fun to drive a slow car fast... than it is to drive a fast car slow!

 

[Dennis Murphy]

@Dennis Murphy

Did you ever make any more progress with the giant BIC Eviction?

I'd still love to try out your modifications. I need something to keep me busy once the weather gets cold.

Naaaa Maybe I'll find time later this week to try the new GRS midrange. Too many projects.

 

[JohnBooty]

Naaaa Maybe I'll find time later this week to try the new GRS midrange. Too many projects.

Any chance you can share what you had when you lost interest? I think you said you had it sounding pretty decent. I could send a few bucks to a favorite charity if you had one in mind. Everybody wins

 

[JW001]

I realize this is an old thread, but couldn't resist when I found it. This is a story about the clarity of BIC DV62clr speaker:

Some 15 years ago I added it to the Sony AVR as a central speaker. I remember what happened the first time my wife and I watched a movie with the central channel on. It was "Rocco and his brothers", rented via mail from Neflix, with the original Italian dialogs and English subtitles. I don't speak Italian (although I tried to learn it long time ago), but the dialogs were so clear and present, that I had an impression I could do the phonetic transcription of individual words. It sounded like music to our ears. There is something to the claim that these speakers have good clarity. I would recommend BIC DV62clr to anyone trying to learn a foreign language by watching subtitled movies.