Do you want to select some home theater speaker? Then this article will help you with your selection. The speakers I’m looking into are made by a company called Accusound Australia Pty Ltd. They are an Australian company and make 5.1 or 7.1 surround speakers. I am writing this review to share my experience with the quality and setup of these Accusound speakers. Some of the points I’ll cover are how good they look, also how good they sound, and how easy it is to set up the speakers.
Acusound’s review will be of the 2009 model Signature Series Reference 8.5 speakers. These speakers consist of two front main speakers, two rear speakers, a center speaker and a subwoofer, or an LFE “low frequency effect”, as calls it my Yamaha RXV663 amp. I was on a very tight budget, so these speakers were a bargain price. I wasn’t expecting too much audiophile performance. I was impressed by the manufacturers’ claim that all the speakers in this package were completely tone-matched. The front speakers are the main speakers, each tower comes with 2 x 200mm bass drivers, it also comes with a 150mm midrange driver and a 25mm soft elliptical tweeter. The center speaker is made up of 2x165mm drivers and also a 25mm elliptical soft dome tweeter giving excellent bass response, also clear vocals and crisp highs. The rear speakers have a 165mm bass driver and a 25mm elliptical soft dome tweeter identical to the main center speaker. The subwoofer is designed to use the 300mm long throw high power subwoofer driver. It also has a built-in 200W amplifier with volume, phase and frequency adjustments, so these are the components that come in the package that will make up your sound system.
Before I get into the process of unboxing and setting up my speakers, I want to mention the guys at AudioAustralia who have the exclusive on Accusound Signature Series loudspeakers. I was very impressed with the speed of communication from them, I emailed a question and within hours received a detailed response, not sure about you guys but it makes me feel more comfortable buying from these guys when I get that kind of quick response .
These are one of the best deals for the price, although I wouldn’t class myself as a hi-fi guru or audiophile, but I know what I like and take the time to compare similar products before parting with my hard-earned . My home theater setup consisted of my 50 inch Panasonic Plasma and XBOX as my media center and DVD player, and a Yamaha RXV 663 receiver, and now Accusound Reference 8.5 series. These speakers really do look good which means they don’t look cheap, I was impressed with the build quality of the cabinets and the overall finish was very good. I should mention that the ones I bought said they were damaged and this was true as the subwoofer box had a big dent in it. Holding my breath, I took the sub out of the damaged box and yes, I did find a small dent in the cabinet. I was devastated for the first half hour and then I got over it. As for the speaker terminals, they were nice and big and will accept the now standard banana plug, the acusound wires I decided to use were 12 gauge.
Well, how do they sound? Since I don’t have a Blue Ray player yet (although it’s on my list), I called my son and asked him to come see my new 5.1 speakers and bring his Playstation 3 and blue ray discs along the way. Setting up the PS3 is very simple, just connect the HDMI cable to the amplifier and you’re done. We decided to watch Resident Evil 3 as this movie has the audio uncompressed and my Yamaha RXV 663 will happily decode it, we sat through the entire movie marveling at the extra sound effects we missed or didn’t hear before, the part where Alice Brings Out All The Crows was absolutely stunning, a huge rumble from the subwoofer, also the fronts themselves put out a fair amount of bass effect and great effect from the rear and center. The manual says that the speakers should be recorded in time, and I have actually found this to be true – the sound seems to be a bit richer, more so when listening to music than movies. The fronts can be bi-amped and my RXV643 is capable of this setup, but I haven’t been able to do it so far, but I will.
In conclusion, would I recommend them to anyone else? Yes, I would, and I have. My son likes the sound of the AccuSound speakers and the price is great so he is interested in getting a set up soon. You are getting a good quality product at a really great price. I like to buy the odd piece of equipment from time to time and I have to say that these Signature Series Reference 8.5 speakers give me a fantastic bang for my buck. Ask my neighbors.