Niles. Their amps are great. Sound fantastic with other speakers.

My main Lines are Triad, Wharfedale and TruAudio.
For distributed audio or moderate priced surround you won't be dissappointed in TruAudio.

Don't get me wrong, I like the line. Their amps are decent, their speakers sound decent if installed properly. They will sound like ass if installed in an empty wall cavity. My installs usually have double 5/8" rock with R30 insulation in them and powered by a reciever or AudioControl multi channel amps. They install like a dream. I'm just a little bent over my above rants.

One rant I missed is Planet Waves. Anyone having problems with them? I test all cables before installing but have had issues, only with the blue. Seems like it wont pass signal through it but will pass audio? Maybe some frequency specific issue. Driving me nuts. Liberty hasn't given me a single problem just more time to terminate but all made up with zero troubleshooting. I guess you have to put the time in somewhere.

By the way, Sonance is awesome about warranty issues and their customer support is fabulous. I wouldn't consider switching. They make probably the best exterior enclosure available. The only thing I've seen last to the elements like the old Mariners is Bose. I've seen 3 pair of Bostons disappear in the life of 1 pair of the Sonance.

Tshulte, I'd pick up the line but be aware of the possible problem. They sound decent especially when powered. MY one job had 4 pair around a deck and pool. 4 channels fron a Sonance 1230 and 2 pair from a Sonamp 260. Sounds great and the neighbors hate it.

I always thought Sonance made some good sounding speakers. I love the Ellipse for rears.

The Ellipse does sound good for what it is.

I am big fan of Triad, and I am SOOOO glad that they have added the angled baffle in-ceilings so that we have a selection of truly exceptional speakers for that application.

When the Ellipse was introduced, I definitely thought that they out-aimed the AIM speakers from 'Craft... from a performance standpoint only.
I thought that the traditional round form factor of the AIMs was significantly better than the bizarre oval shape that Sonance chose.

After all, when the big two companies of the day (Sonance and Niles) added round models as in-ceiling speakers back in the early 90s, they chose round to take the design cue from the trims on recessed lights to appease finicky Designers.

Even rectangular speakers (like the Triad angled baffle models) don't look too out of place because there are HVAC vents and other misc. rectangular stuff in walls.

When they first showed the oval models... I had to ask "what does that match??"

Have you guys had any objections in the field on the appearance of the oval Ellipse speakers??

I am surprised that Sonance is getting bashed. They make a decent inwall speaker for the price and a very flexible 12 channel amp to compliment them. The outdoor Mariner line sounds good too.

We don't have many problems with them at all. for those rare occasions we do, they always send us replacements.

In-walls and in-ceilings are a little trickier to gauge than, say, bookshelf speakers, where you can line 'em up and do a-b tests.

I have been to clients' homes where they or the builder installed the speakers and they sounded lousy. You can tell a LOUSY speaker when you hear it. I just don't think you can pick out the fine points when you hear decent speakers in various rooms and even from one house to the next.

That being said, I've used Sonance for a long time and have been happy with the sound. No failures other than a few cosmetic shipping things and they always took care of it. I dropped a speaker once and slammed the crossover. They sent a new one free. They have nice golf shirts. I like them.

Alan beat me to it... we've been a Bay Audio dealer for 4 years now and I can't recommend them enough. A quality, good sounding product... priced right and overseen by some really good people.

I personally have nothing against Sonance... we still use theire VC60 Decora Volume controls because they look most like the light switches instead of an ugly knob. I made the initial decision not to go with Sonance because of its easy acquisition through distribution and having seen it at 5 points on some hack electricians proposal. I still have a few pairs in my house that I haven't replaced (Sorry Ira... I'm as cheap as my clients and I didn't want to resell the Sonances under my company when I represent Bay). Those of you who deal with it day by day are more qualified to make a pitch one way or the other but to me they are still a respected company with a long history and their are certainly worse out there.

"One rant I missed is Planet Waves. Anyone having problems with them? I test all cables before installing but have had issues, only with the blue. Seems like it wont pass signal through it but will pass audio? Maybe some frequency specific issue. Driving me nuts. Liberty hasn't given me a single problem just more time to terminate but all made up with zero troubleshooting. I guess you have to put the time in somewhere." by OEX -

Oex -

I'm sorry to hear you are having problems with the Planet Waves product, I can assure you that there are no frequency specific problems with the cable. That said we have experienced about 2% complaint rate since our product launch last September, revolving soley around intermittent connections.

Over the past 7 months we have studied and investigated each occurance, and have in accordance with our company's values and mission worked closely with those customers who have approached us with problems to resolve them and contribute to making the product better, easier and more consistent.

Simply without going into intense detail we have determined that the contributing factor or problem our customers have experienced in creating a quality connection is how well the cable is seated on the internal center pin of the connector, all of the issues we have come across have been measured, and tested and if properly seated you have to destroy the cable before you loose continuity or degrade the signal. That said we are continually evaluating the product performance, and making minor adjustments to make the system easier and more consistent.

We stand behind the product, and will do anything within reason to support it. We understand that our customers are putting their reputation in our hands when installing our products, and take that responsibility very seriously.

I hope that if you or anyone else is experiencing repeated problems you will either contact us directly or through the sales rep or distributor you purchased the product through.

Sincerly

Rob D'Addario
Product Manager

Rob is a man of his word, as I have found out recently. Planet Waves is OK by me.

I mix and match my electronics. We have just made a real effect to go to Niles on there in home speakers. Wall and ceiling mounts, BUT, I really like the Russound OB 6.1 speaker system.

Anyone who hads traveled in my neck of the woods knows we install a lot of them at the Lake of the Ozarks. We have never had a problem with these speakers.

We used to install the CA 6.4 equipment. the rep will not come by or even a phone call in 5 years. Our Russound defect rate was just about zero in all those years. We needed some input from the factory and they just could not deliver. BUT, the OB 6.1 sound good.

Mike

His company makes good Drum Heads too (evans).

Look at the TERRA line-up of outdoor speakers. You will like! www.terraspeakers.com

You probably forgot to remove the paint shields!!!
They have always sound fine to me.

tshulte...
Check out NHT's really nice sounding, and not overly distributed.