NHT Class Two 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System - Affordable Hi-Fi
Friends don't let friends do HTiB - not when there are affordable options for a complete home theater 5.1 speaker system. I recently did a review of the Classic Two speaker system by NHT for Audioholics.com. Based out of California, NHT has become a leading speaker manufacturer in the US. It produces high end options, but also more affordable speaker systems that dip into mainstream price ranges. Overall, they're good products at comfortable prices.
Technically the speakers in the Classic Two system are 'budget' speakers, at least for NHT. Personally I wouldn't call a $2,000 bookshelf speaker system 'budget', but NHT attracts a lot of serious hi-fi enthusiasts with their higher end lines.
NHT Class Two Consists of the Following Speakers:
- A pair of Absolute Zero surround speakers
- A pair of Classic Two Front L-R channel speakers
- One Two C Center Channel Speaker
- One Ten Subwoofer 10" 150 Watt powered subwoofer
The latest word in NHT's mainstream offerings is the new Classic line. This line replaces the Super Audio, which gained a big following. I've personally been a big fan of NHT's Super Audio speakers - I own the ST-4s, which i've found have big, full sound and fine detail. But the Classic series offers many key improvements, specifically in the build quality of the speakers. The Classic Two is only a suggested assembly of speakers, you can mix and match any of the Classic line to meet your needs. The Two is one step above the most affordable 5.1 speaker option. (And yes, it's quite confusing, but the proper names are actually numbers.)
Most of NHT's speakers are acoustic suspension designs, meaning they're not ported. It's difficult to find well-made acoustic suspension, as usually only higher end speaker manufacturers even attempt it. The resulting sound is tight and highly controlled.
What did I think of the Classic Two? For details you'll have to read the review. In short, I think they're an excellent speaker system for a smaller room. The highly detailed quality matches anything I've heard from speakers that are even close to this system's price range. Like most NHT products, they easily make the transition from home theater to musical hi-fi for two channel sources. They're well suited to presenting the details found in high resolution audio formats, like DVD-Audio and SACD.
