Need Advice on NEAR HT speaker set


Hi,
I am new to this site and would like some input on a home theater speaker set that consists of several NEAR (New England Audio Resource) speakers and a Marantz MA500 mono block to drive the subwoofer. This is being offered to me for a reasonable offer, but the price hasn't been firmed up yet. The set consists of (2) SoundMAST front,(2) 10MBD rears, (1) 20MV center and a BOOM-2 Sub. I have searched the web and found very little about these speakers. Comments and advice on value would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
128x128redshoe
You need to hear these, or any, before you buy! Preferably in a demo that's setup well/correctly. That way you can hear what they do. Also, even if someone had good experiences with the speakers, you need to know whether they work in your setup/application or not! Lot's to know about acoustics vs. speaker setup, etc.
My past experience with NEAR's however were less than stellar personally. Basically, you'll not likely find any audio mag or professional reviewers who own them from my experience. Good luck
Not so. Martin Dewulf from Bound for Sound reviewed and loved the NEAR 50s. They featured a few novel ideas on driver design. I owned two pairs of 50s and liked them a lot. Crisp and clear--ideal for HT. After Bogen bought NEAR, they veered toward outdoor spkrs, a disappointment in my view.

You may be able to get some archival info from them.

http://www.lashen.com/vendors/bogen/N-E-A-R_speakers.asp
Is that why NEAR kind of disappeared! About ten years ago I was considering them for a small HT system that I eventually built around NHT SuperZeroes and SuperOnes. Since then, I hadn't heard much about NEAR.