It is fair, if not obligatory on this board, to say that Danny knows what the hell he is doing. He selects excellent components without breaking the bank, designs excellent products, and then just for good measure throws in some mighty fine service to boot. In the end we, the consumer, end up with Rock solid air-vibrating devices that manage to reproduce sound in such a way that we scorn the foolish who think they are "audiophiles". Are his designs the best available? I have know idea, but I do know that the price point is well worth it.
...so, in short my speakers are great.
...which is not very helpful.
OK
The fact is these are the best speakers I have ever had, I think that for me to buy speakers like this I could be looking at around 6K a pair? I have know Idea. But I do know that they sound fantastic.
... again not helpful.
The Highs: we know the tweeters rock. They are not harsh at all, and they are spooky clear. I can't really say that they sound like this or that, they sound like nothing. Sound is just there. In my case I'm playing them too close to a wall, so they probably don't have that magical separations that the neo3 tweeters are known for, but that's OK, the point is in my real world undersized room, they sound clear, and musical.
Now we get to "BIG" issue. I have come to the decided conclusion that I way over-build things, not that I didn't have fun, nor that I didn't WANT to over do things. In addition to looking really cool, the boxes are rock solid, and quite heavy. I think this is the way speakers are supposed to be made.
I think mid-range is were speakers need to shine, where most of the sounds we here come from. Not the extreme high, or the extreme low. Sound should not be muddy, or groggy or blaring, and the ported Neo-2xs are none of those things. They are simply one tweeter with one woofer reproducing sound cleanly. I LOVE the fact that not only me, but my wife and kids are hearing things in their own music they have never heard before. There are songs for which I have NEVER understood the lyrics, and now I can! Sweet. So, I'm happy.
But wait there's more.
My wife and kids don't know how to make our receiver work, and I had some settings "adjusted" so that the subwoofer was actually off. And, well, nobody really noticed. To be fair. I have no fancy sound measuring software, and our room is "real world" (imperfect) so I don't know if they are really extending down to 40 hz, but lets just say they are. Reality is that not a whole lot of music goes below 40 hz, and in a small room, those two woofers sound clear, solid, and not overworked. I think when we cranked it one day, they started to sound "loud" and might have pushed the speakers to their max point, but it still wasn't harsh.
When I say "not harsh" I mean that you turn it up and enjoy the sound and doesn't bother you and you don't think its that loud until you try to talk to the person sitting next to you...
Although these are exactly what I wanted, if were to build another pair of ported neo-2Xs, I would try for something more svelte. If you were looking for a "smaller", "slightly less expensive" design, which brings out the full potential of a two way design, I don't know if you can beat them.
So that's about it. My wife think they look prety and sound cool, the red tweter facelates are a hit as is the dark gray. (major WAF). As mentioned above she points out that you can hear things previously unheard, like in a couple duets she could actually hear parts (or just hear the fact that it was a duet).
In other news I can tell you that my 7month old daughter can scream at 110 db., with sustained screams of 90-100db.
Hearing protection is recommended for diaper changes.
Also, just a reminder that the servo sub is also quite nice.
