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I ended up with 5 pair of the Reference .5 bookshelf speaker via a deal AV123 was running. I had seen them listed on thier website but never really paid much attention to them. They are reasonably priced at $299 a pair but I landed a great deal so I got 5 pair!

I thought I was waisting my RS250 using them for surround duty and so mounted them towards the front of the room where I could get more out of them for demos. They were replaced with the reference .5.

Out of the box these are actually not that small of a speaker.These would fit nicely in a small surround sound system or be perfect atop a computer desk. They have the usual rosewood veneer that I love so much and a simple grill on the front protecting the main drivers.

I first hooked these up as the main left and right and ran some music through them for a couple of days to give them some break in time. They are a rather impressive sounding little speaker with that signature ref top end, again very snappy and detailed. Base extension isn’t thier, but what do you expect from a single 5.25 driver in a cab. that size. Add a good little sub and the system comes alive.

Like I said earlier I ended up swapping the 250s out with these doing surround duty. I really like the RS250s a lot, but I like them more  as a main speaker and not a surround. A bit to laid back for my taste doing surround duty. The .5 really awoke the surround presentation in my room. I had seen King King numerous times and never noticed the insects in such detail coming from the surrounds with he 250s, not so with the .5s it was like they were landing on our shoulders, they were thier!

The reference .5 is really a super neat little speaker. I could see it working well in a small theater setup with a good sub or office two channel setup. For the asking price or if you can find a used pair they are well worth a look.

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Tags: Speakers //