Review: Energy Connoisseur C-9

steveinaz

Review of: Energy Connoisseur C-9

Specifications:

Freq Resp: 31-23kHz, +/-3dB; -10dB @ 26Hz
Power handling: 250 watts per channel
Efficiency: 91dB @ 1watt/1mtr
Woofers: 2 x 6.5” Homopolymer w/rubber butyl surround
Mid/Woofer: 1 x 6.5” Homopolymer w/rubber butyl surround
Tweeter: 1 x 1” chambered aluminum dome
Binding post: 1 set of 5-way
Dimensions: 45” x 7.75” x 18” (HxWxD)
Weight: 62lbs each
Retail: $1300.00/pr

Associated Equipment: (see below my signature)

Listening:

As with most speakers, give these a good 30 hrs of run-in before listening critically. Initially they will come off as somewhat dry and dark, give it time and you’ll be rewarded with some seriously smooth music. First of all, I’m still amazed at the bass these narrow column type speakers reproduce; it’s almost like an optical illusion. You see this tall skinny thing reproducing incredible bass, and you know there is a sub hidden---somewhere. The C-9 has 2 bass ports; one in the front near the bottom, and a second port on the back, about 3/4 up. I would imagine the combination of the tuned ports and the 18” depth of the cabinets explains the room energizing bass. And these pups dish-out some serious, tight bass. They plunge 6Hz lower than my previous dual-8” towers. I noticed in the Soundstage review of the C-9, they had to push the speaker much farther than they typically do to get any reading of distortion in the lower bass—impressive, and exactly what I experienced; deep, clean well articulated bass.

I have to take a second to mention the binding post. These are very impressive; they look like WBT binders with a large heavy grade clear plastic knob surrounding the gold plated screw-down. It makes tightening a tool-less proposition, as you can really get some torque on the posts. Very Cool. BTW, the C-9 is not bi-wireable.

Also, quick mention of the grilles; they are magnetized—no posts to break off or wear out, easy on, easy off. The magnets are also damped to eliminate vibration. Again, very cool. I did all of my listening with the grilles in place.

The tweeter is nothing short of magnificent. It does everything right. Not too bright, not too laid back. Crystalline and airy without being prominent or etched. The crossover must be very well engineered, as I can’t detect any transition from the mids. There is a very smooth tonal neutrality about these speakers that almost sounds like a single full-range cone. I kept thinking to myself “these remind me of my AR9Lsi’s in a BIG way.” The easy-going, extremely listenable sound has you running through your CD library as if someone is going to take your system away tommorrow. What’s really sort of a paradox is that although they sound a touch laid-back, they are at the same time quick and articulate. Very nice blend.

Comparing these to the V.2 Paradigm Reference Studio 60 ($1600/pr) and 100 ($2300/pr), the Studio 60 is simply out-classed. It just isn’t capable of the deep, cleanly rendered bass lines, and the C-9 gives nothing away in the midrange/treble. The Studio100 is a more apples to apples comparison. Though the Studio 100 has a touch deeper bass, the C-9’s smoother upper-midrange and linearity in the extreme treble gets the nod. I will say the Studio 100’s mid and lower midrange is impeccable, and the overall tonal balance, top-to-bottom, leans ever so slightly in the Paradigm’s corner. For $1000 more, it better.

Comparing to my Athena AS-F2’s ($600/pr), the C-9 is less bright and in-your-face. Treble is sweet, without being over-bearing. The midrange soundstaging is better, probably due to the smaller 6.5” driver, and a touch more neutrality. The AS-F2 has very good bass, but just doesn’t dig quite as deep, with as much ease as the C-9. The big difference was clear when pushing the speakers hard. The Athena’s would tend to unravel a bit at high volume, becoming a little unsorted. The C-9 just kept sounding better and better, the harder it was pushed---almost like it was saying to me “that all you got, punk?”

Again and again while listening to the C-9’s I kept thinking of how much their tonal character reminded me of my early 1980’s AR9Lsi speakers. I even mentioned it to my wife, twice. The entire time I was writing notes for this review, I was looking for the right word….then it finally hit me…“alluring.” The Energy Connoisseur C-9 is alluring. It drags you into the performance and makes you want to listen to every track, just to see how it’s going to interpret the next note.

I think George Grand would love these speakers. How’s that for a testament? Pics to follow….

audiobliss

Awesome review, Steve! I want a pair! I want a pair!

Glad you're happy with them!

.....pics......

steveinaz

I'll get pics up tonight. Forgot the pics were on the home computer.

dragon1952

Nice review! Hmmmm....are they still on sale?

steveinaz

I think Good Guys still has them in black. Good luck finding Canadian Maple.

dragon1952

Doh! They still have them at $325 each and free shipping. For the black only though..... it looks like the maple are $589 each.
The regular price is pretty close to what my Studio 40's cost. I wonder how they compare. Bass is much better no doubt! Damn, I've spent so much money lately

EDIT: I was sort of mumbling to myself there. Obviously if you think they out class the 60's they would outclass the 40's , IYO.

Early B.

Yeah, glad to hear you're enjoying your new speakers. Tough decision, at first, but it looks like you picked a winner.

steveinaz

They "scared" me a little at first. Initially they sounded pretty dark, but after listening for awhile I realized that it wasn't that the Energy's were dark, it was that the Athena's were too bright.

The tonal balance is superb, and they love to be pushed hard. What really amazes me is the ability to energize the room with bass, even at whisper quiet levels. I couldn't be happier.

This is not a good "showroom speaker." It needs to be listened to for a longer period of time to be really appreciated. Because of its nuetrality, it would probably lose out in A/B comparisons because people tend to pick what stands out the most.

I love them.

I-SIG

I can't wait to get down there and take a listen and gander at these things! :cool:

Wes

steveinaz

Binding posts:

steveinaz

Grille on:

steveinaz

Grille off:

mantis

Nice review.

I have listened to them many times. There nice speakers. Good luck with em.

Dan

organ

Excellent review, Steve. Glad to hear you're enjoying them. I've seen them at the dealer but didn't have time to listen. Beautiful speakers.

Maurice

Toxis

I've always been a huge fan of the Connoisseur line. I wanted to get the C-7's back in the day. To bad that shop shut down... I also agree with your Athena reference. Those speakers are way to damn bright for me. They just seem to miss so much sound. Not a fan, wouldn't take 'em if they were $100.

dragon1952

18.3" D!!! Son of a ****! I just measured that compared to mine. Holy freakin' cow they'd be right on top of me.

Willow

Sorry Steve, what are the speakers that were replaced ? the reason I ask is the energy have a much smaller footprint as seen on the carpet.

edit: beauties !!!

audiobliss

Athena SF-2 or something like that, I think....

Willow

I think you are right !!

steveinaz

Athena AS-F2's, the imprint in the carpet is from the 16" x 16" tile they were sitting on. The Athena's were 9.25" wide, 15" deep. C-9's are 7.75" w 18" d.

dragon1952

Wow...that's pretty deep too. My Paradigms are like 11" or so.
I'm seriously thinking about those C-9's but I'm a little worried because my current listening room is only 11'W x 14'L. Now in a couple more years when we build our 'retirement house' it'll be a different story

steveinaz

Check out the Soundstage editor's choice review of the C-9. He had them set-up in a small room and was pleased with the sound...

Search Yahoo on ENERGY CONNOISSEUR C-9 it's one of the first hits listed.

dragon1952

Yeah, I saw that review Anyway, I decided to stop by GoodGuys tonite around 7PM to check them out. The store is practically freakin' empty and there are 3 or 4 of us wandering around the audio department. I'm standing there in their higher-end speaker room for 20 stinking minutes and never saw one salesman the entire time. They have some hip-hop crap playing through a Pioneer DVD player connected to a Yamaha HTR and it sounds like a crappy FM station the SQ was so bad. Finally this guy walks in and starts messing with the Yammie and I figure it's the salesman so I ask him "Is that actually a CD playing?" He mumbles something in some foreign language and then goes "Man, this is very nice huh?"

What a freakin' dump. That store used to be pretty nice too. Now it reminds you of a K-Mart in the wrong part of town

P.HUNT

i have just replaced my 4 polk rt800i and cs400i with 4 energy c9's and a c-c3 and a new SVS- PB12-ULTRA/2 and all i can say is wow!!! i love the sound of the energy's much more musical than the polks. i have wanted to upgrade to the energys for a year or so , since i installed the take 5 system for my dad, and best of all it cost me $000.00 thats right nothing a costomer of mine came to my house and offered me $4000.00 for my polks and my svs sub , i told him that they were not worth that muck but i did not want to sell if i could not get enough for the energys , and he did not care he loved the rt800i's compared to the newer polks!

audiobliss

Man, that's awesome. Four C-9s!! That's sweet!!

I-SIG

Well, I had a nice weekend at Steve's Saturday and Sunday. Good food, great company, and great tunes.

I must say the Energy's are a marked improvemtn over the Athena's. The highs were so much smoother and not "in your face" it was amazing. Yet there was no feeling that the highs had been relagated to the background either.

I was also surprised at the bass. I knew they would be good with 3 6.5's but they had quite a bit of growl to them and they reached down. I bet another 1/4 to 1/2 octave.

I guess I'm used to looking at SDA's, so it was a little weird looking at these skinny but very deep towers.

Wes

P.HUNT

ok after about two weeks of playing with the energy C9's they are going back, I shure miss my polk speakers my 4 RT-800I's and CS-400I cenetr blow the energys out of the watter, i have tryed them with several diffrent recievers and still no luck the polks win hands down so now i am going to rebuild with polk RT-800I mains and CS-400i center and two CS-400I,s for surrounds placed on my bookshelfs at ear height . I really miss my polks!

ND13

WELCOME BACK!!!!!

steveinaz

The C-9 really needs some power to reach their potential. I would recommend 200 watts or more. My amp pushes about 215 per channel. They like to be cranked and because of their laid-back nature, most will push them a bit harder than a more foward biased speaker.

You've got to give them time to really appreciate the tonal balance and accuracy they bring to the table. Like I said earlier, the C-9 is not a good "demo room" speaker, their magic is sneaky and subtle. Much like the aforementioned AR9Lsi and the NHT 2.9.

pearsall001

Great choice in speakers!!!
I went with the C7's for my mains after many listening sessions between the C5's, C7's & the C9's. It was a tough decision but my budget came into play. I picked up the C7's for $800. The C9's were going for $1000. Energy makes a fantastic line of speakers. I never came across the Polk line until after I already made my purchase. I think the LSI's would have given the Energy's a run for their money. In fact I feel in love w/ the LSi/FX for my surrounds. They blend in fantastic w/ the C7's & sound incredible.

SONY 50'' LCD GRAND WEGA
NAD T773 RECEIVER (AWESOME)
SONY SACD PLAYER
HK DVD 22 DVD/CD PLAYER
ENERGY C7's MAINS
ENERGY C-C3 CENTER
POLK LSI/FX SURROUNDS
EQUITECH SON OF Q BALANCED POWER
SIGNAL CABLE IC's & POWER CABLES

steveinaz

bump for info.