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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
tripper
223 posts
 
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
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
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.
steuspeed's avatar
steuspeed
501 posts
 
We had a pair for demo in our showroom many years ago. That pair, and all the theater demos I heard at CES had a metallic metal ring to the top end. Unless you hear the system and like it, I would stay away from these.
tripper
223 posts
 
Gunbei--Who falls and who advances here? NEAR was a great outfit based in New England. I trust flinty Yankees! But the business model was re-evaluated [my guess] after the sale to Bogen and today they make rocks. Really! Ugh.

Now NHT is also NE-based and look at them now. A great company advancing the design and manufacture of great speakers. Think they listened to their customers? You think they look at mag reviews? Only their hairdressers know for sure.

BTW, very nice rig you have there.
wellfed's avatar
wellfed
690 posts
 
I had a pair of NEAR 50Me II's and loved them at the time. It's my understanding that Bogen was only interested in the NEAR models with commercial application and made the decision to nix the rest of the NEAR line.
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