NHT Classic Four Floorstanding Speaker System Review

[DigitalDawn]

I used to own 3.3's -- great speakers with their 12" side firing drivers. I ended up selling them to a guy in Australia about 13 years ago.

 

[TechHDS]

@gene, As usual very nice review and write up. Just a note, your spot on with your assessment of setting up them towers for proper bass response especially. When I had my LSi- 15’s and since those where my very first towers with a side mounted driver untill I finally had them properly set up and dial in I hated them. Tried everything facing the drivers in, out I almost sent them back had all kinds of bass cancellation issues with my subs. I played around with those towers for over a month each day! Wasn’t till what You posted up that I read in one of your older write ups can’t remember the one exactly. Got a SPL meter alone with X32 yes it’s a good auto-set. Anyway getting carried away here, Those towers just went into my top 3 for speaker Purchase in the near future. Thanks.

PS. I had a pair of NHT bookshelves way back in 91, loved them used those for my very first surround sound set-up as rears. My oldest Son still has them he still uses them in his bedroom set-up very nice lil speakers and Obviously well-built they’ve never been repaired drivers are still in excellent condition.

Mike

 

[Shalmaneser]

I used to own 3.3's -- great speakers with their 12" side firing drivers. I ended up selling them to a guy in Australia about 13 years ago.

You mean there's life after NHT? Where does one go for better price/performance?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I must have missed this thread completely. But regarding the bass, I recall someone (Home Theater Magazine or SV) setting the Classic Four as "active" or at least "partial active" bass by using a separate external amp and crossover and removing the metal jumpers from binding posts. This does not remove the internal XO, thus I mentioned "partial" active. But the external amp and XO powered the woofers. And this would produce lower bass Frequency. So the 27Hz is probably with the ext amp and XO powering the woofers.

 

[TechHDS]

ADGT, As usual I over looked the Thread, goes back to 2011, very old Thread. Gene, done made his mind up long time ago on which 3. Bad habits are sometimes hard to break I gotta start reading the dates when Threads are posted. I forget just how Oldsome of you old timers really are.

Mike

 

[DigitalDawn]

You mean there's life after NHT? Where does one go for better price/performance?

It's not easy to find better speakers for the price. But speakers are often a personal taste, so I'm sure there are other Brands/Models out there that folks would like. I was close with the original owners (Chris Byrne and Kenny Kantor) of NHT. Great guys.

 

[ichigo]

I think the NHT Classics were unbeatable early on...but the street price went up over 50% after the recession, a real shame, which totally changed the speakers they were competing with.