rave review on AR home theatre speaker system

I read the above referenced review and have to say that it was one of the most spectacular reviews I have ever read in my life and TPV aint exactly Stero Review. I jumped on the web the next day to find somewhere to hear them. Unfortunately, good luck, not many places do so. I finally found a retailer that had them set up for audition (Bernie's in Orange, CT). The verdict: Bernies is like a giant appliance store with a high ambient noise level. The set-up was less than ideal and they had the speakers powered by a so-so receiver. Nevertheless, the sound was fantastic, build quality marvelous, piano black finish gorgeous and the price??? I'm in the process of redoing a 5.1 channel system and while I'm deciding what I ultimately want to do I'm thinking of getting a set of these just to tide me over. Maybe I'll fall in love and keep them. How can you go wrong? A word to the wise...go to one of the internet search engines like Yahoo shopper and do some price comparisons. The review had this set at $799, Bernies was selling them for $699 and believe it or not I saw them at under $500 (can't vouch for the sleaze factor of all vendors). One more thing...just for fun, check out this review. You'd think the guy was talking about having a three-way with Carmen Electra and Anna Nicole Smith. Schwing!

You can order them from soundpros.com for $525 shipped. I have dealt with them, and as they are here in San Diego, have had a chance to meet them, and they are genuinely good guys. I set these up for my secretary with an Onkyo 595 receiver, a Samsung 27" HDTV, Toshiba 3750 DVD, speaker stands, cables, AV stand, and the whole setup cost $2500, less than my front Nautilus 804s... They do a reasonable job for what they are, and she is extremely happy.

Acceptable Sound Quality is subject to what your budget is, so ignore some of the snob comments by other respondents.

I have a dedicated room with all the goodies including 2 Cine Pro 3K6 III's and a full RBH Limited Edtion 7.3 SE package that can compete or beat any system. But if you want to spend $2500 total or need a Bedroom, Living Room or Gym area sytem?

The package I choose was not the AR (which is quite good) but rather the new RBH CT-5.1 sytem. RBH spent less money on the finish and advertising and more on the cabinet construction and drivers.(Aluminum divers and a DUAL 8" sub at this price) It is a few more dollars at $1049 but I was able to get it for a little more than the $799 you had as a target.

It just won the Electronic House 2001 Product of the Year Award!! More importantly it sounds great. Research RBH and you'll find 99% of the professional or hobbyist reviews are nothing short of stellar.

I can speak with a bit of authority regarding the HC-6 speaker system. I sell them.

They have a beautiful finish and the satelites do a fine job for video surround. The subwoofer bass is a bit weak though. Either the amplifier or the woofer is not very well damped, making the driver bottom out and distort sooner than other powered sub systems in this price range.

As far as music playback goes, they suffer. Honest opinion.

Sleaze factor aside, (bear in mind, the dealer EXISTS due to margin) They are tagged generally at $699.00, and can be purchased usually in the mid $500.00's. Frankly though, I hope and pray that they go to a uniform price policy such as Bose, Polk and many other manufacturers, giving the dealer a reasonable margin in the dwindling profits being had in home electronics.

If you check around to find out how much a "piano finish" costs to have done professionally, there isn't much money left for the rest of the speaker. Think about it. This is eye-candy for the living room.