SPEAKERS

I am a bit of a Home Theater freak. I grew up loving movies. I would go to the theater to see EVERY new movie released in the summer during my high school and early college days. Sometimes I would see a movie twice the same day if I really liked it. I remember seeing The Goonies, Ferris Buellers' Day Off, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future and Top Gun twice the same day.

A few years ago we decided to build a new house in North Fort Worth. We were living in South Arlington in a 1900 square foot home, but we were planning another new addition to the family and were already running out of space in that home. So we researched the builders and the areas in the DFW metroplex to decide where to build our next home. My wife works in Fort Worth and I work in Dallas. I preferred for me to have the longer commute than my wife, so we focused on the Fort Worth side of the area.

We found a wonderful community in the Keller/North Fort Worth area to build in. We easily decided on a two story home with a large kitchen, game room, and my media room. I was so excited that I would finally have my own little 'movie theater' in my own home! We actually sold our Arlington home within 5 days of putting it on the market, so we had to move to an apartment while our new home was being built.

We are not rich people, so I had to do some exhaustive research to find the best bang-for-your-buck speakers, front projector, screen, A/V receiver, DVD player, and home theater seating.

While researching the speakers, I ended up finding one of the best companies I have ever dealt with. AV123 is that company. Mark Schifter is the owner and is one hell of a guy. I met him at a get-together in the DFW area for AV123 stuff while still gathering data for my purchase. I also met a bunch of great people on the forums at the site. After hearing some speakers from his company at many peoples houses, I was totally blown away! I had never heard clarity like these speakers produced. They were able to get plenty loud, but were not fatiguing at all. I was very impressed with the hardware AND the man who started it all.

So I was sold and found a home theater package on the B-stock page of their website (they are an internet-only company.) I ended up with a pair of Onix Rockets: RS750 Signatures for my fronts, RS200 "Bigfoot" for my center channel, and RS 300 Dipoles for the rear channel. I actually ordered and received them several weeks before our closing on the house- so they sat in my storage area at the apartment while chomping at the bit for the house to be complete. The day we closed on the house, I immediately took my new 'babies' to the media room. They came double boxed and the Macassar Ebony finish was awesome. They came packed with a pair of cotton gloves to handle them with (no fingerprints on the speakers, please!) These were all works of art in themselves. You could set them in a room without even hooking them up to a source and still get oohs and awes from people- they look THAT good!

I hooked up my Rockets to my new A/V receiver and ran the built in auto-correction for my room. I listened to Alanis Morrissette's Acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill. WOW! I could close my eyes and imagine Alanis standing there in my media room with me. I could actually hear the pick strumming the notes of the guitar, rather than just hear the guitar. I could hear fingers moving along the strings as chords changed. I could hear the breath, the start of the note sang, and the exhale of the note (I am no audiophile, so I don't know how to describe this sound.) I heard so many things that I had NEVER heard before on this CD. It was simply amazing.

I was equally impressed once I had the projector and DVD hooked up and running. This was the first time I had a sound system that did not have to be adjusted during explosions and/or dialogue. With my old JBLs, Polks, and Bose I had to turn up when people were speaking, then turn the volume down with explosive action scenes. The "Bigfoot" easily handled all the dialogue with no problems and it sounded so natural- not 'tinny' at all. I feel that my sound system is much better than any of the theaters I have been to. Now I actually prefer to wait until a movie is on DVD rather than go out to the theater to see it. I just wish other movie distributors would do like Mark Cuban and release the DVD the same day the movie is released at the theater.

So if anyone out there is looking for a great set of speakers for their home theater, listening room, or just want an excellent set of speakers- go to AV123 and try ANY of the speakers. They all sound awesome. You can't go wrong (and if you aren't satisfied, just send them back within 30 days to get your money back.) It's a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, my son and hid friend were playing in the media room the other night (he had been told several times NOT to play in the media room) and I heard a loud crashing sound. After yelling upstairs to make sure everyone was OK, my son said yes but was crying. I asked him what was wrong and he kept saying he was sorry. I asked why he was sorry and he said, "We broke your speakers." Oh no! I felt so bad for my son because he knew he was going to be in major trouble. I came upstairs and ensured no one was injured (those are heavy speakers.) I looked and the front corner of the right RS750 piano black top was destroyed. It had fallen over into the "Bigfoot" and made a nasty spot on the back corner of the center channel's piano black top. The "Bigfoot" had then fallen over and put a small hole in the wall where the other corner of the speaker had been introduced to Mr. Wall.

I set the speakers back in place and checked for any other damage. It appears everything else is OK with them when listening immediately following the incident. But I still need to do some extensive critical listening to be sure that it is cosmetic damage only. I was very upset, but I am so glad that my son and his friend were not hurt in the process. Also, I let him off easy because he was very honest about what happened. Now I just need to find out how to get the speakers repaired or at least patched up a bit.