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REVIEW: ACI Sapphire 25th Anniversary Edition Speakers

Model:	Sapphire 25th Anniversary Edition
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1299
Description:	Monitors
Manufacturer URL:	ACI
Model Picture:	View

Review by LKDog (A) on May 23, 2003 at 21:01:04 IP Address: 12.217.76.106

Add Your Review for the Sapphire 25th Anniversary Edition

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Purchased these monitors after reading reviews on the previous Sapphire monitors and communicating with the Audio Concepts, Inc. owner Mike Dzurko about my interests. I had narrowed it down to a pair of Silverline monitors and the new Sapphires.

Was looking for a high end monitor to use primarily for two channel listening. Also wanted to use for casual HT use in a 5.1 setup as the mains.

When I got the speakers shipped to me I was surprised at their weight (35 lbs each) and larger than typical monitor size (17" tall, 9 1/2" wide, 14 1/2" deep). They did fit well, however, on my 24" Premier sand filled stands.
They replaced a decent pair of RBH 61SE monitors which I liked, but I was ready to move up the audio ladder.

Am extremely happy with these speakers. They are extremely well made and clearly are engineered to handle resonance. They use a Scanspeak 9300 tweeter and a newer higher end Vifa midrange. They have a front port so they can be placed nearer a back wall if needed.

The best way to describe them is that they do everything well with no real weakness. Excellent smooth and extended highs, engaging and resolving midrange, and authoritative bass. Are essentially transparent, but not overy detailed, harsh, or etched. It is my understanding that they are engineered to be very neutral and they sound that way but do lean toward a slightly warm engaging tone.

They are rated down to below 40 hz and the sound is clean accurate,and full on the low end. Although I have them paired with the wonderful ACI Titan sub, they could work for many without a subwoofer.

I originally had them powered with a decent Parasound HCA 1000 amp (125 watts per channel) and was using the analog preamp section of my Denon receiver for two channel. They sounded very good, but now I needed to improve the rest of my system.

Sold the Parasound and found a used Musical Fidelity A300 integrated at a good price. The sound transformation was huge. The Sapphires really opened up and extended across the sound spectrum. The additonal power of the MF A300 (150 watts a side but supposedly actually closer to 200) was put to good use by the Sapphires. The MF A300 is all that many have said- a superb integrated amp.

I would say that the Sapphires do like like power as they are mid level efficient (86db).
Supposedly they do not an have extreme impedance range fluctuation so can be driven by as little as 50 watts a side, but I would not recommend that. The extra power of a better amp allows then to really sing and they sound great at low volumes also.

I recently added a new power cord (Vh Audio) to my amp and the sound improved even more. The Sapphires seem to respond and benefit from system improvements very well.

In summary, these are wonderful speakers and I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a great all round monitor that handles all kinds of music well.

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Product Weakness:	None sonically unless you compared them with something way up the food chain. I like the way they look, but may not be as polished or refined a look for some.
Product Strengths:	Smooth, detailed, engaging, musical, natural balanced sound. Great build quality. Great company and service.

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	MF A300
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Pioneer Elite DVD/CD player
Speakers:	ACI Sapphire 25th Ann editon/ACI Titan sub
Cables/Interconnects:	DH Labs speaker wire (T14), Dh labs sub cables, Dh Labs BL 1 series II IC's, VH Audio Power cord #2 on amp, Crump power cord on source
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Funk, jazz, fusion,
Room Size (LxWxH):	25 x 15 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	sofa, padded carpet
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 months
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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