Customer Reviews

BIC America Venturi DV64 2-Way Tower Speaker, Black (Single)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have owned the BIC America DV64 speakers for 3+ years. My previous speakers were the Electro-voice interface A. These were the first computor designed speakers using a passive radiator instead of a tuned port. As these aged I was unable to get replacement drivers and they began to loose quality. Anyone who remembers these speakers will remember the accolades they recieved from all of the audiopole mag's for their brilliant clarity and astounding tight, smooth and resonant deep bass. As a professional classical musician for more than 45 years I was desparate to find replacements with the same qualities (given good source material) of accurate instrument timbre, smooth frequency response, tight bass, good high frequency dispersion, and proper instrument orchestral placement in the stereo imaging including apparent front to back imaging. Piano is one of the harder instruments to reproduce. The DV64's present you with the crisp clarity Of the hammer stricking the string of a fine Steinway including the shimmer of all the overtones. Of all the speakers out there a few met these criteria but fell in the $2K to $3K a pair range. When I heard the DV64's I was blown away with the quality at a price level that usually goes along with boomy, screechy, junk. I have never regretted my decision. These are truly musical speakers.

These are amazing speakers for the money. I bought these after extensive research, and against my better judgement, bought them without listening to them first. I replaced my 25-year-old Realistic Optimus speakers with these, apprehensive about keeping the deep bass sound that I've so enjoyed with the old speakers. My fears were quickly replaced by a sense of awe with the new BIC's - simply astounding sound that made my old speakers sound, well, old. The bass response is stunning, the highs are crisp and clean, and my buddy with the Paradynes (sp?) was impressed enough to say that my theater surround system (all BIC's) put his in the dust. I ran these speakers through their paces with 2-channel audio (Metallica, Fleetwood Mac, Miles Davis, FM radio jazz and classic rock), as well as 7.1 surround with concert DVD's (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Rush, Neil Young, and the Blue Man Group), and standard movie DVD's (Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings, We Were Soldiers), and can honestly say that these BIC speakers are the best value speakers I have ever heard. My pal with the Paradynes paid more than double what I paid for his speaker system, and he likes mine better. Do yourself a favor, and buy anything from the BIC America line - you will be glad you did.

I compared this speaker right out of the box (in my living room) to a broken-in Polk Rti12 - yes the huge model. I listened with the fade in the center and then just the left or right channel only through my HK 3485 @ 120 watt's/channel. The only differences I heard were that the DV64 was a bit brighter and the bass not quite as smooth. For movies this speaker probably outperforms the rti hands down, for music, especially jazz/classical, it will perform very well, but not as well as the rti12. I imagine, if you have Ed Frias (and I might do this) mess with the crossovers, these 2 speakers would be identical in sound, just the DV64 is half the rti12 size and wrapped in vinyl instead of that beautiful cherry. Not that the wood grain vinyl looks bad.
All in all, for what I paid (less than half price all through amazon so everything was well below retail pricing), and the ease of shipping (I had to send my rti12's back the first round due to damage - they are over 80lbs a piece), the DV64's are the way to go - especially if you are into rock/rap/alternative/movies. Just turn the treble down a bit on the stereo or AVR, cause man they are BRIGHT!

Having sold home theater speakers in a retail store for five years, I have heard my share of speakers. I was actually planning to buy polk RTi towers which were discussed in a previous post here which are wonderful speakers with beautiful wood cabinets in a finish of your choice. They have a MSRP of 1679.95 (http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/rti12/) and are well regarded as a performance bargain. I have demo'ed the Polks many times with different receivers and post amps and they are simply astounding speakers that look as good as they sound.

That all aside, I feel that the BIC's sound nearly as good. That is a lofty comment since typically in audio you get what you pay for. These towers have the same drivers as the DV62CLR center which has been heralded as one of the best home theater centers period. It's got the goods. You will notice a slight decrease in low end when comparing to a bigger speaker like the RTi12 or a Definitive SuperTower BP7002 especially in a large room, however, the rest of the sound is crisp and beautiful. For either setup (Polk or BIC) I planned to run a sub because no speaker I have heard can provide sufficient bass for movies or bass heavy music. These replaced a pair of JBL Northridge E80 towers which don't hold a candle to these BIC Venturis yet retailed for $799 a pair in 2003. Visually they look pretty similar with a slight nod to the JBLs for being cleaner looking. The JBL towers were ported instead of radiated and they had a mid driver and two 6.5" mid woofers. To be honest, I was pretty happy with the JBLs for what I paid for them (about 10% the cost of the Polks MSRP) But when I heard the BICs at a friends house I fell in love. The way the BIC speakers image and fill the room is extremely satisfying. The E80s were loud and clear but they were harsh and thin compared to the full, gentle, resonant and vibrant sound that comes out of the DV64s. Highs are crisp and detailed yet never harsh, the mid bass is very tight, when paired with a sub they produce great full accompaniment for bass drum kicks. When pushed you can almost feel the smack of the drum head being struck with the sticks, it is that good. The drivers don't like too much bass, on rap and hip hop they distortion point comes up quicker than you want sometimes so be careful with that volume knob. I play my music loud though, you will never notice this at most volume levels. I don't know how these will play on a lesser amp, I have an admittedly dated yet very high end at the time Sony DA50ES that is rated at 120W @ 8 ohms 20hz-20Khz at a THD of .05%. It is a heavy hitter and has plenty of power. I can't give them more than half volume, so I would say they are pretty efficient, about comparable to the JBLs I had before if not a tad more power hungry. JBLs are known to be pretty efficient though. Being radiated they should by design take a bit more current.

You will not find a speaker at this price point or anywhere near it with the sound quality that these speakers deliver. I encourage you to wait for them to break in though, they sound a tad harsh to begin with, but loosen up pretty quickly. Do yourself a favor and get the DV62CLR center and V-1220 subwoofer to go along with it. You will not be disappointed.

I really felt like I was getting away with something when I got these incredible speakers for such a modest price. It's hard for me to imagine paying $500 and getting a better product.

Originally I thought it strange that only two of the drivers were active while the other two were passive. After some research, however, I found that those two passive drivers perform an important function after all. While most mainstream speaker designs feature a port to aid in the flow of air in & out of the enclosure, the DV64 utilizes a closed design in which the passive drivers compensate for air movement created by the active drivers. This in turn helps add more dimension to the lower frequencies that the speaker produces. All this to say that these speakers were intelligently crafted & sound wonderful.

Also, I would like to mention that the cox man came to my house a couple days ago and totally knocked over one of my DV64s (AAARRRGGG!!) It turns out that these towers are indestructible as everything still sounds as good as the day I purchased it. Excellent build quality!

I wasn't real confident about buying these a year ago. I was worried about buying a speaker I'd never heard about and couldn't find much info on. But now I can't say enough about BIC's! Take it from me, if you are looking for a good home theater speaker that will fill your room with crystal clear sound buy these!! And no, I don't work for Amazon or BIC. I don't know of any other brand that gives the sound that these do at Amazon prices. I've got these with the DV-62 center and couldn't be more satisfied. Fantastically clear with impressive bass. They sound much more expensive then they are.

Like a lot of the reviews posted by others, I was a bit hesitant to make the purchase of BIC's DV64 towers. The high reviews versus the low price threw me off a bit. I mean how could such a highly rated product sell for so cheap? I still don't know the answer to that question, but I can tell you that these speakers deliver better than I could have ever imagined. Absolutely superb sounding. Though a tad "bright" right out of the box, a couple of adjustments at the receiver made the difference (speakers set to small and crossed to 80hz). These speakers exceeded my expectations all the way around. The cabinets are heavy and solid. The speaker covers are really solid and stretched tightly with high quality mesh. Crisp, punchy, and warm smooth bass. As I have often heard, the speakers get better with play (50 hr. break-in). I purchased a pair of these speakers along with the BIC F12 powered sub-woofer. UNBELIEVABLE! I paid $122 per speaker, but they are worth MUCH more. Great for music or movies.

I got these this afternoon. Have been playing them since. I am very much impressed with the sound quality. The highs are like crystal the mid range is very good maybe a litte bright but very good and the bass is solid deep and tight. I have had many speaker sets in my life from infinity, JBL, AAL, cerwin-vega, Boston Acoustic, and Athena, Klipse. Really these are as good as any I have had. These are actually the lowest price speakers i have ever bought. They look pretty good too. Just Black but nice fit and finish. I highly recommend these speakers, at twice the price they would still be worth it. I can't imagine how they will sound once they are broke in a little, I always hear speakers sound better after 50 hours of playing time. I just can't believe they could sound any better than they do now. I also have the BIC bookshelf DV62 speakers. When I reviewed them I said they were 5 star because of sound quality for their size and price. Well these towers are 5 star for speakers of any size or cost. It is now Dec. 20. These speakers continue to amaze me. The sound is even better now. I can not get over these speakers. All the music I play which consists of Blues, jazz, classic rock, classical all sound terrific. I see the price has gone up a few $ since I got mine but like I said before they are worth much more. If you need good floor speakers, do not miss out on these BIC's !!!

Bought these speakers 6 years ago. I have used them for HT and 2-channel listening. These are musical in a 2 channel set up with limitations. I am passing them onto my mother only because I did a serious upgrade from $200 speaker to $2400 speakers. The BIC DV64s are worth the money if you are looking for good sound, quality build, and your priorities demand a sensible budget.

I have had these speakers a few days now. They sound great as the front speakers in my 5.1 setup. This is their strong point. For music I had hoped for alot more bass. I agree with others who say these speakers are very bright. Flash forword 6 months I am editing this reveiw because after about 3 weeks of using the speakers the bass responce was much better. I am very pleased with these speakers.