The promised review has finally arrived! I received these speakers a few days ago, and it was love at first listen. In fact, the reason why this review took so long to get up was because I completely revamped my setup so that I could rebuild it around these speakers. Anyway, I apologize for the picture quality, all I had on hand was my iPhone.
First! A quick money shot with the beautiful, glossy finish on the DE7. These speakers are seriously hefty for their size, and build quality is outstanding. Since P86 already posted plenty of glamour shots, I'll just post one crappy pic as proof that I actually own these =)
Anyway, moving on to my current setup... it's definitely not ideal, I'm using these speakers as desktop speakers, but even with the crappy placement, they sound heads and heels above my old M-Audio AV40's. I had thought my AV40's were pretty decent desktop speakers. They're generally highly rated for their price point ($140 street price, $200 MSRP), and are considered "reference monitors". However, as soon as I hooked up the DE7's, it was obvious that they were in a completely different league. Before we continue, here's a pic of my current desktop audio setup...
Receiver: Denon AVR 1910
Primary System: Pure Acoustics Supernova 5.0
Subwoofers: Energy S10.3 (10 in) and Acoustech H-100 (12 in)
And if you care, here's my overall home theater/home office setup... this gives you a decent idea of the acoustic properties of my room. Previously, the receiver was located underneath my projector screen. Over the weekend, I completely redid my wiring scheme so that I could move the receiver to my computer desk (underneath my Dell 30 in monitor), and bundled the cables together with wire loom.
Okay! Moving on to the juicy stuff. The DE7s are actually set up as my "Zone 2" speakers at the moment. While all of the speakers are connected to the receiver, I can quickly and easily switch between home entertainment and desktop systems. It's also important to note that both of my subs still output sound while in the "Zone 2" mode, so essentially I'm running a 5.2 and a 2.2 system independently. The audio inputs are HDMI for home theater mode and optical in for desktop mode.
As soon as I received the speakers, I did a quick A/B listening test with my AV40's. The DE7's aren't even comparable. They blew the AV40's out of the water. The AV40's sounded hollow and tinny in comparison. I feel like my entire listening horizon has moved forward. All I could really think was "This is what true audiophilia feels like" (which is probably not even close to true). I'm a relative noob when it comes to being an audiophile, I've always had a taste for good speakers, but I feel like this is the first time I've really taken the plunge into something higher end. The highs are crisp, the mids flow incredibly smoothly, and the bass is punchy without being overbearing. Of course, since I have 2 subwoofers, a lot of the low end is taken over by them, but even with the subs disabled, the DE7's hold their own quite well. With the AV40's, there was an artificial bass boost built into the amp. While this did increase the volume of the lower end, it was easy to tell that the frequency response dropped off dramatically. With the DE7's there's no such feeling at all. The low end rolls off incredibly smoothly, with a perfect balance that I've never really experienced before. The combination of clarity, and smooth frequency response really puts these speakers in a different league. Furthermore, they blend very well with my subs as well, although they hold their own just fine. Separately, these speakers aren't super picky about placement and are relatively versatile.
Even versus my Pure Acoustics system, which is a full sized, full range system, the DE7's never sounded lacking. In fact, the clarity is noticeably superior. Of course, my Pure Acoustics system isn't exactly top end, although the quality is comparable to the mid range Polk home theater systems. My Pure Acoustics system replaced my old Energy Take Classic 5.1 system, and are at least a couple steps above the much smaller Energy Take Classic system, which retails at $400.
Overall, for $350, I am very happy with my purchase. The only issue I have with my current setup is that the speaker placement isn't ideal. If anyone has suggestions on how to improve the speaker placement, I'm all ears. Even with the not-so-ideal placement though, the sound stage is excellent. It feels somewhat airy and enveloping, instead of muffled and hollow like my AV40's. The sound stage definitely improves as you increase the listening distance though. Anyway, I hope this is helpful, I'm sorry I can't compare these to anything higher end, but I am confident in saying that these are the best speakers that I've ever owned. Thanks for reading!
