Energy Speakers

[kyuu]

I've been rocking an Energy 5.0 system for about a decade and a half: two towers, center, and sats. Not the Veritas line, sadly, just the budget C-series. Has always sounded pretty damn good to me. Not sure what to do with them when I go all Revel in-wall for my new place. Seems a waste to trash them, still work just fine (although I think I have heard a crackling sound from the tweeter now and again). Don't think I could find a buyer for them though.

 

[Dago67]

The Reference Connoisseur ("RC") series were well regarded and there are lots of reviews out there. The ones in the posts above are the RC-10 bookshelf model, but they also had 3 tower versions, center channel and surround. They often showed up in the BEST OF under $1000 or $2000 lists.

The Veritas series were there top of the line, but were much more rare than the RC series.

They had several budget lines below the RC series - they were "good for the money".

Klipsch bought Energy (and Mirage) in 2006.

Energy Announces New Reference Connoisseur Series

Energy Speaker Systems, manufacturer, designer and global distributor of speakers for more than 30 years, is proud to announce the new Reference Connoisseur Series. This striking series fuses the

www.audioholics.com

Still running after 19 years

 

[fjhuerta]

The Reference Connoisseur ("RC") series were well regarded and there are lots of reviews out there. The ones in the posts above are the RC-10 bookshelf model, but they also had 3 tower versions, center channel and surround. They often showed up in the BEST OF under $1000 or $2000 lists.

The Veritas series were there top of the line, but were much more rare than the RC series.

They had several budget lines below the RC series - they were "good for the money".

Klipsch bought Energy (and Mirage) in 2006.

Energy Announces New Reference Connoisseur Series

Energy Speaker Systems, manufacturer, designer and global distributor of speakers for more than 30 years, is proud to announce the new Reference Connoisseur Series. This striking series fuses the

www.audioholics.com

The RC wasn't good sounding or measuring iirc. I had the smallest RCs and I had to redesign the crossover to make them sound passable.

 

[jonfitch]

Still running after 19 years

View attachment 437911

That's impressive, IIRC alot of those Veritas midrange drivers tended to die due to some issue with the diaphragm material and needed replacement so if you still have a functional one, that's quite an achievement.

 

[Torin Krell]

Energy is a speaker brand created in 1973 by the Canadian company API headed by George Baker. Their earliest speaker models included the Energy 1, Energy 2 and Energy 3. In 1982 the Energy Pro22, one of their new speakers under development, was entered last minute in a large speaker comparison study run by the CNRC (Canadian National Research Council, presided over by Floyd Toole) and came out ahead in its class.
The scientifically conducted double blind study determined that the properties of flat frequency response, wide dispersion and low distortion were the factors that precipitated the highest scores during the comprehensive three day listening trials. Some of the other speakers, in addition to the Energy Pro22, that scored very high in this large study (300 speakers, 2000 listeners) included the JBL L112, PSB Avante, Passif II and the KEF R105. There were 3 versions of the Energy 22: the original Energy Pro22 (1982), and the slightly later Energy 22 Reference (refined for studio use), and Energy 22 Reference Connoisseur (highest end version). The Energy 22 Reference was subsequently chosen by the CBC as their reference monitor speaker for several years along with Canadian stereo magazine Hi-Fi Sound / Ultra High Fidelity. The Energy 22 Reference was also chosen for use in early joint USA / Canadian CD copy protection trials because of its superior resolution.

 

[Bleib]

Before reading on how modern AVR surround speaker should be, not dipol, I purchased these (not my video)

 

[Elkerton]

The 3 versions of the Pro22 can be distinguished thus:
the standard version has its port on the rear,
the CBC version has the port on front to allow the speaker to be mounted close to a wall in small studios;
the Ref Con has the port built into its base, the base being part of the cabinet and its stand.

 

[Elkerton]

Before reading on how modern AVR surround speaker should be, not dipol, I purchased these (not my video)

I'm unsure what your comment means. From what I've read in the manual, the RVSS speakers are dipole. The would be better as bipole if that's what you meant:

 

[Torin Krell]

ELkerton - you are correct. Here is the original Energy brochure clearly describing the differences among these three speakers. The Energy 22 Reference and Energy Reference Connoisseur were both built with significantly tighter tolerance targets than the Pro22, including very close driver matching and somewhat better crossover components. The built in base of the Energy Reference Connoisseur also included a slot shaped port which smoothly extended its bass response lower.

 

[Elkerton]

I wish I could believe that the CBC versions and the Ref Cons were built to tighter tolerances. Maybe they were, but it sounds like clever marketing, and I sold them and still own a pair of the standard ones.

 

[Torin Krell]

I can certainly understand you skepticism Elkerton however some online forum discussions clearly describe and even illustrate somewhat better crossover components in the Reference and Reference Connoisseur versions when compared to the Pro22. There is at least one magazine review that also substantiates some differences (if you can trust the review). Perhaps we will get a chance to compare your Energy Pro22 with my Energy 22 Reference someday. It would actually be interesting if Amir could test them both, however I doubt there is enough interest to make that worthwhile today. Such a comparison would be inconclusive anyway because a speaker's response can easily change significantly over 30+ years.