Four little shiny black boxes about the size of the gorilla’s gloved fist and an instruction manual that seemed to indicate they were called Take Classic. Jeez. Down one end of the room, by our Pioneer reference Blu-ray player, stood a subwoofer and a centre speaker, so it was clearly some kind of 5.1 home theatre speaker setup. “Didn’t know the $2 Store did hi-fi,” I quipped to the guard, whose eyes glazed over.

Oh well, have a wee listen and then off for one of the Tone team’s lingering lunches. The magazine just sort of comes together between lunches; it’s quite amazing, really. [You're fired! - Fuming Ed.]

Quite some time later, I was still sitting there, unaware of either the rumbling from an empty tummy or the guard slumped in a corner, snoring. The little speakers with the odd name had me mesmerised. For a grand and for their size they were abso-bloody-lutely fantastic.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Going back almost 20 years I owned a set of Canadian-designed Energy floor speakers and they too were impressive, punching well beyond their price level and giving many hours of captivating sound. You might not think of Canada as a centre of hi-fi excellence, but some of their specialists turn out fantastic products, rather like New Zealand’s own highly regarded sound wizards.

I’m still not sure how the Take Classics pulled it off – although we gave them every chance with our monster Monster M-series cabling – but they put life into our reference DVDs and Blu-rays in a manner that was quite beguiling. Rarely have I heard the timbers of the Venture creak and groan quite so agonisingly as it fought against the storm in King Kong; rarely has the menacing buzz of a Jedi light sabre made me shiver involuntarily.

SFX aside, the speakers provided a natural, smooth, uncoloured tonal balance with top-notch imaging. “They’re jarring when they need to be but never jarring, if you know what I mean,” I said to the guard as he bit into his pie, but he clearly didn’t.

I looked up some product information from the company. Energy uses hyperbolic aluminium dome tweeters for “screaming highs”, convergent source modules for “clear, crisp dialogue and music” and a ribbed elliptical surround on the 200W subwoofer “that makes every explosion a room-shaking affair”. Hyperbole, perhaps, but nothing I’d want to argue with.

One of the tricks of Energy’s trade is its patented Convergent Source Module (CSM) that’s designed to offer a wide frequency range and a decent soundstage from each satellite speaker and the centre channel. The sub has a front-firing port, 8-inch driver and that ribbed surround. I thought there was something loose in the port but it turned out to be the guard’s discarded pie wrapper.

Our test room was probably well sized for the Take Classics; they might become a bit lost in a really large space, although they had a notable ability to play at higher volumes without losing composure.

For our test the four surround speakers were mounted on Tone’s special high-quality reference stands. However, they have keyhole slots, threaded inserts and rubber bumpers so Energy doesn’t seem to mind where you put them.

I initially gave this can-do Canadian a four-star rating, but on reflection over the late lunch I realised that was mean; they deserved another half star. Even the guard agreed on that.

PHIL HANSON

TECH SPECS

Take Classic 5.1 Home Theatre System $999

Tweeter: 19mm Hyperbolic aluminium-dome
Satellites and centre: 3-inch poly-titanium
Subwoofer: 8-inch M Cone with Ribbed Elliptical Surround
Frequency response Satellites: 115Hz-20KHz
Centre: 110Hz-20KHz
Subwoofer: 33Hz-150Hz +/-3dB
Crossover Point: 2.9kHz
Sensitivity: 89dB
Power handling Satellites and Centre: 100W
Subwoofer: 200W
Recommended amplifier power: 20-100W RMS (continuous)
Impedance: 8-ohm compatible

CONTACT:

www.soundgroup.co.nz

PROS

• Effortless performance

• Good build quality

• Unobtrusive

CONS

• Nothing, given the price/performance ratio

VERDICT

• It’s amazing what comes out of these small speakers

This review is from Tone issue #74.