I've been putting these little bookshelves through their paces all afternoon, and I have to say, I am very, very happy with the Design 5's. Just these two speakers with no sub really fill my 11x14 living room. They are really strong on the bass by themselves, enough so that I had to physically feel my subwoofer to ensure that it was off. It was off. I was amazed.
I was concerned that the highs were going to be somewhat muted, based on my auditions, but in fact, they are crystal clear and bright. I figure that's because the showroom was fully carpeted and had some acoustic panels on the walls vs. my room with un-carpeted hardwood, leather furniture and nothing on the walls to stop reflection but the curtains on the picture window.
These speakers will reveal bad sources, like an i-pod, my wife's favorite source. But with any decent source, they are smooth and clear. I found that I can tune the mid-bass somewhat by adjusting their distance from the wall. They are rear ported.
They are also power hungry little buggers, at 87dB, which may be somewhat mitigated by their 6 ohm nominal impedance. Even still, I'm glad that I got the AVR-2307CI before the speakers arrived. They don't sound LOUD until I hit about -05db on the main volume. I don't think that my AVR-686S could have really driven them.
The rosewood finish and overall build quality seem excellent, although I am not going to take them apart to comment on the internal construction. However, I would guess that the 1" MDF construction that adds so much to each speaker's weight is also responsible for their excellent bass production.
These are my initial impressions with a couple of hours of listening. In a way, I feel like a beta-tester because I really couldn't find much about them on-line. I knew I like the sound and the fit and finish seemed very good, so I bought them and couldn't be happier.
