WOW! (Long post)
All I can say is WOW! The speakers sound increadible. I had to wait for my brother to come over to help me get the ST's out of the car as they were a tight fit in my coupe. While I was waiting, I unpacked the Gem Xl's, the Mythos ten and the supercube ll.
For the last couple of years I had been using 6 JBL control 100 studio monitors, a Jbl 250 watt 12inch sub and the jbl S center. My AV receiver is an Onkyo ds-898. I have alwas thought this system sounded fantastic, and so did those who came over to watch movies, though they, like myself, are hardly experts.
Anyhow, I listened to a couple of my favorite cds in stereo before I unhooked the 2 front speakers (they sounded good)and connected the little Gem Xl's. Now these speakers are small but you can tell by the wieght and solid feel they are well built. I played the same tracks and those little sucker kicked butt. They were clean, open and very detailed. I can see why reviewers say they would make great front speakers as well as surrounds. I was very pleased.
My brother and friend Tim showed up and helped my pry the ST's out of the car and out of the double boxes. In about a half hour I had the granite bases on and all 5 speakers hooked up and we were watching Roy Orbison in HD DTS ( toshiba HD a35 and Sony a3000) and it was incredible. It sounded so much better in my livingroom than it did in Magnolia (and they sounded good there.)where I had listened to them before. The sound was crisp and clean, the bass was tight and every instrument stood out like it was by itself.
Next we fired up 300 in HD and we got totally sucked in. From swords clashing to fire crackling and gold peices jingleing it sounded awesome. I did not have it that loud but at one point in the movie the Captain thinks there is an earthquake but it is the thousands of Persians approaching the floor and the couch started to vibrate very gently and you could sense the masses advancing from the distance. The diologue from the mythos ten was very clear and clean from whispering to shouting and workked seamlessly with the St's. The gem Xl's were fantastic. At one point out in a field some birds took off flapping thier wings in the background and my freind and I both involintarily turned and lookd back at the Gems!
Cool. To sum it up I could not be happier. I would be happy if I had bought these at retail with tax. For the price David got them to me for I am going to replace the 898 with an 805 or seperates and still have money left over. Sweet. Sorry for the long post but if you like Def Tech you might want to jump on the next order. I have to go put the Eagles farwell tour on.Thanks again David. Scott.
