Energy Take Classic 5.1 Review

Posted by on July 23, 2011 No comments

Energy Take Classic 5.1 Review

Energy Take Classic 5.1My story is kind of unique when it comes to sound systems, especially Energy Take Classic 5.1. You see, a few years back, as an average guy who didn’t know a lot about tech products, I’d buy anything that appeared to be all salesy. It wasn’t too long ago when I figured out that some things are not worth your hard earned cash.

I started dabbling in home theater products when I was in college. I was single; I used to hear all kinds of music artists. Think of 9- Inch Nails, Linkin Park and stuff like that – all revved up to the max volume and bass settings. Since I craved giant speakers, I wasted a lot of money on different low level brands. I started with custom made boom boxes; I tried some Creative products and I’d literally take a ride form one State to another, just to check out that so-called new junk that local retailers were selling. But I wasn’t getting the “vibe”.

This is where Energy Take Classic 5.1 comes in; pure sound, professionalism and an ability to sustain different volume settings – all sheathed inside a decent sub-woofer, a dome shaped tweeter and so much more. Here at this point, I’m particularly excited about writing down an honest review about Energy Take Classic; something that comes right off the heart of a groove and bass lover.

Energy Take Classic 5.1 Review – Dibs On The Coolest Sound System Ever:

A Quick view of Energy Take Classic 5.1 Home Theater System's Pros and Cons

ProsCons
. The Energy Take Classic 5.1 offers an amazing sound quality due to its compact speaker, tweeter and sub-woofer size. . Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers need special mount stands. Chances are that your old Sanus stands will not match them. Buy Polk or Klipsch stands for these speakers.
. Piano black, high reflective surface give these speakers and elegant and a posh look at the same time. They look far more expensive than their original price.

. Shiny surfaces attract dust right? You'll need to wipe the Energy 5.1 Take Classic sound system, every now and then.
. Energy Take Classic is sort of a product that can easily fit in with your pre-installed Home Theater System.. Sound quality isn't great when speakers are used in isolation. Using only 2 speakers with a laptop, will not unleash the full potential of this sound system.
. The Center Channel Speaker can reproduce sub-woofer sound at a higher level. Don't be deceived by the small size here.
. Maximum 10 Years of Product Life!
. Wife and Kids Friendly Traits.
Power Saver and Temperature Management function. The Sub-woofer will not feel ridiculously warm if you've been playing movies or songs for 2 or 3 hours.

I’ll get to the “cool” factor later, but first; let me get to the actual details here.

The Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers were awarded Editor’s Choice badge at CNET website in early 2009. The product was, and still is, hot to this date. Like any other skeptical buyer, I did read the review at CNET but it was too technical. So what I did was that I started comparing Energy speakers with products within the same price range. Doing so gave me a tunnel vision, which enabled me to make the final decision.


Based on my personal analysis, take a look at some salient features of Energy 5.1 Take Classic:

  • 200 Watt Subwoofer:
    • The Dos:
      • This little baby easily synchs with the speakers, while you’re playing Dolby Movies in pure 5.1 channel mode. The speakers and subwoofer also work amazingly great with PS3 games because I tried a couple of exclusives on my PS3. It means that the product was truly meant for the 5.1 Surround sound channels.
  • The Don’ts:
    • Don’t disable the remaining 3 speakers (either directly through the Jacks, or through your desktop sound panel settings). If you wanted a 2.1 system, then you should’ve bought a 2.1 system. Energy Take Classic wasn’t primarily made to sustain the load on 2 speakers. You’ll be ruining the Subwoofer by doing so.
  • Take Center Channel Speaker:
    • The Dos:
      • The central speaker is extra special my friends. Energy Take Classic 5.1 was designed to deliver the purest dialogue quality. To get the maximum results, keep the center speaker under the monitor, under the TV, near you, or on top of both objects.
  • The Don’ts:
    • Do not hang the Take center channel speaker on the wall behind your monitor. The distance would grow. Considering the fact that you’d be sitting during those movies (obviously no one watches movies while standing for 2 hours), you’d want the center speaker to be close to you.

Energy Take Classic 5.1

  • All 5 speakers do have keyhole mounts behind them. The wall mount thing is meant for bigger rooms, where the volume and bass settings are considered permanent. If you’re living in an apartment, you’ll have to change your volume settings according to the “surroundings” – the further the center speaker is; you won’t be able to listen to dialogues clearly.
  •  Convergent Source Module:
    • The Dos:
      • The Convergent Source Module is another nifty feature in Energy speaker system. Basically your drivers get installed on the same faceplate, which kind of refines the sound quality. For optimum settings, go for 89 Decibels or below.
  • The Don’ts:
    • Going beyond 89 Decibels will give a midrange sound quality under certain conditions.

 


The “Cool” Factor About Energy Take Classic 5.1:

  • Back when I purchased these energy speakers, I was living in a 3 room up State apartment. I had a black bordered LCD, which excellently merged with the color of this sound system. It was like as if I bought the entire speaker and LCD combo from one manufacturer.
  • Every time my friends or guests came over to my place, they’d point their fingers at the Energy 5.1 Take Classic speakers with an “Oh wow man, these speakers are so cool” sort of expression. I never told them that I bought these babies separately.
  • Amazing sound quality, with a black piano flush body finishing.
  • Performance, Budget and Quality are the three main categories that can summarize this product.

Where Are The Technical Specs?

In case you’re wondering why I didn’t write about the 0.75 Inch tweeter domes, or the 3 Inch generic titanium drivers, there’s a strong reason to it. I searched the internet and there’re over a thousand sites that seem to be a replica of the same product reviews; I wanted to recommend something that I’ve personally tried, tested and loved.

However… if you’re still skeptic, or want more details, read the rest of the posts on this website. Each one of them explains new settings and technical about these speakers.

Are There Any Other Negatives?

  • For $399, no, there’re no issues with these speakers. Even if you’re a complete electronic junkie, you should give it a shot.
  • At the current state of our “economic empire”, home theater systems are really expensive. We all want the ‘cheap + good’ combination, so this is quite a nice bang for your cash.
  • It’ll take you a while to get used to the fullness of volume. Plus, the highs and bass are best at midrange settings. However I’d have purchased another subdue Modulus or platform for the sake of bass and tweeter expansion if I really wanted a LOUD experience.

Price Factor and Return Policies?

The company likes to take care of its customers as much as possible. If you’re not satisfied with energy take classic 5.1 speakers, which can be a little hard, returning them should not be a problem. Just make sure that the edges or plastic coating is not ripped or chipped off.

Energy Take Classic 5.1The best prices are at Amazon. You can get these speakers for $350 minimum.

Initially these speakers had a fat $599 price tag. However, they’re currently available at Amazon for $399 only. There’s this one retailer who’s selling it for $699, which i think is kinda crazy. Check the side accessories for these speakers over there as well – You’ll find speaker stands, speaker wires and lots of others stuff that’s going to come in handy sooner or later.

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Do It Yourself Surround Sound and Home Theater Installation Guide

Posted by on August 16, 2011 No comments

Energy Take Classic 5.1Time and time again, I have talked about the mishaps that people unknowingly go through when buying a surround sound or home theater product. Here’s a question that grabbed my attention recently:

-          Steve, I already have a dual speaker and subwoofer set up. I just wanted to convert it into surround sound, without having to buy the complete 5.1 home theater system. Is there a solution to it?

Actually there is. Some people who like to create their own surround sound effect; they simply purchase the rear speakers and match it with their old product. This is a very cheap and cost effective way of doing things your way, especially if you don’t have a lot of funds and you still want to get off of the full surround sound experience.

However, I wouldn’t recommend you to set up your speakers in this way. Doing so, will probably create a difference between the sound qualities. For instance, if the front 3 speakers are from Brand A, and the rear speakers, which you just bought separately, are from Brand B, they’re all going to have a difference in terms of frequency and sound emission.

Also, as a side note, I’d advise you to consider checking out Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers at Amazon. They’re really cost effective and stand out amongst other brands because of their solid performance.

Here’s how you create your very own surround sound system, which is more like an ambient sound emitter:

  • If you have the manual for your previously bought speakers, read it through and through for speaker frequency and maximum range. If you don’t have a manual, your speakers will probably have a small numeric figure written besides a “Hz” symbol, somewhere on their side or bottom.
  • Now you need to check the nature of your current speakers – are they mono or stereo? Usually, it’s not very difficult because Mono and Stereo have their own color based notations.
  • Simply go to the store and tell them that you’re looking for 2 new speakers within a specific frequency and wattage range. They’ll also let you in on a demonstration, which is going to give you a better idea of how good your speakers will sound.
  • You can also ask the demo guy to demonstrate these 2 speakers, using a DVD, Mp3 and a BluRay disc. All these different platforms will emit a slightly different quality of sound. If the speakers start to sound a little crappy beyond a specific volume threshold, it is a good indicator of their poor performance.
  • Once you’re satisfied with your newly purchased speaker pair, it is time for you to pay the salesman and head back to your home.
  • Install the speakers as rear channel devices because this was the whole object of purchasing them in the first place.
    • Now simply, go over different songs and volume settings, so that you can balance all the sound effects from your previously owned speakers and the new ones you that just bought.

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This is How You Set Up Your Surround Sound System In a Small Room

Posted by on August 16, 2011 No comments

Energy Take Classic 5.1This small surround sound speaker set up guide is for those individuals who either own Energy Take Classic 5.1 or any other device. Granted that they have a small room, with their TV in the corner, they’ll need special measures for physical speaker installation.

First of all, if your TV is in the corner of the room (as stated above), you have two options:

A)     Either you can move your TV to the center of the room and align it with the wall, or whatever decoration suits you well. After this, simply move/install the sub-woofer to the same corner and spread the speakers around the room. This will create a very loud and boomy sound effect.

B)      You can follow the hard way, which would require purchasing speaker wires and an AV receiver, but it’ll be more feasible in the long run.

I am not going to explain the first method because I have already gone through it in my older blog posts. You can read it here.

 

Here’s a quick tip for you:

Energy Take Classic 5.1When your TV is perfectly placed in the corner, you’ll have to flank the screen with your front left and front right speakers. The rear speakers will go on top of the TV, while the center dialogue speaker will be placed in the middle. This set up will ensure that your entire sound cross fades each other, while giving dialogue emission a great sense of clarity.

By the way, as a side note, you can take a look at Energy Take Classic 5.1 speakers at Amazon, as they’re quite cheap and pretty easy to set up with your TV.

Technically, by placing all 5 speakers this way, you’ll have to sacrifice the true surround sound experience. But if you want to extend the speaker distance through cable wires, here’s a step by step tutorial below:

  • Place both your front channel speakers on the right and left side of the TV.
  • Place the center speaker on top of the TV, or at the bottom of the TV.
  • Place your rear sound speakers at the far end of the room behind you.

-          Make sure that all 5 speakers are “surrounding” you, or facing you. Now all you have to do is place the sub-woofer in a corner of the room or by the TV, and then place an AV receiver within the range of this entire set up.

  • Now use that reel of speaker wire, which you have to purchase from any good online retailer. Amazon is a good place to start because it will only cost you $12 – $13 for a nice reel of speaker wire.
    • Use this wire to connect all the speakers to the receiver unit.

  • Now connect the sound input jacks in the input ports of your devices. Repeat the same step for output ports on both the TV and the sub-woofer.

This is it. Try testing the audio and see if it all sounds good. If it doesn’t, contact me directly through the Contact page and I will make sure that it all works out for you.