NHT 2.5i

scoloheros

Super Member
I found old threads but I'm just kind of excited about finding these for $19.99. Definitely not totl but I've read they sound pretty good, I don't even know if they work yet but the woofers and mids are not locked up in any way. I bought a fixer-up, something like a big cabin that is 120 miles from where I live now that I plan to go to later and cash this bigger house out. I put a Denon AVR 3805 there at the fixer upper with Klipsch F2 speakers and the sub the pair came with. I'm assuming these NHT speakers sound better than the FS speakers. Should I replace the F2s with the NHTs? They are missing the stabilizer bars at the base, I couldn't find them in the thrift store.
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That's a great speaker at an unbelievable price. They're usually in the $200-300 range. As long as the floor is solid and smooth, and you don't have young children, house critters, or drunken visitors, they should be fine without the stabilizer bars. It'd be worth getting some made though.

I have a pair of 2.5 (not the i version) at the vacation house and thoroughly enjoy them.
 
They are well regarded. They are known for having good bass. I think you'll find they sound very good. Even though I'm not into "monkey coffins", for the asking price I'd have bought them.
 
NHT has been known for high-end quality without the high-end price, especially the 1.5i, 2.5i, 2.9i and 3.3i (all of which have long since been discontinued, I believe since the Rockford takeover in 2003)
 
I just tested them but to do that had to unhook a pair of Snell speakers. Everything works yet I was a little disappointed, but they started sounding better the more time was making me forget what the Snells sounded like. They are a little sharp/edgy on the treble and missing some midrange, compared to what I'm used to. The bass is good for sure. Now I will have to take them to that little Aframe house and compare them to the Klipsch F2 speakers that I also got for almost free. The NHTs would save some room, ...no subwoofer needed. What materials to the totl speakers use today to make their diaphram cones? So far I'm not a big fan of the poly cones.
 
I have the NHT 2.9 — also a thrift shop score ($175), not the insane bargain you got, but mint. I agree the treble can be hot — I put some open-cell foam over the tweets and it helps. I have some other tweeters I'd like to try, but none are drop-ins and I don't want to modify the cabinets just to experiment. HTWillie is right about the stablizers — I've had them without the bars for 3 years and no problems. But I live in LA and one small quake could be catastrophic — not only will the beautiful finish get messed up, but they're tall and heavy, so they'll probably hit something on the way down and crush it. I keep meaning to add stabilizers and your post reminds me: do it now. It's easy — two strips of wood, 1" X 1" or 2" will work, and painting them black will make them aesthetically acceptable.

Congrats on your score, hope everything works when you finally test them. You'll be a happy audiophile.
 
Depending on the caps used in the NHT's they might need recapped. Question what Snells do you have? Great score on those speakers at that price.
 
Depending on the caps used in the NHT's they might need recapped. Question what Snells do you have? Great score on those speakers at that price.

I found some Snell EII speakers at a thrift store also, $12.99 but the tweeter domes needed recovering and needed new surrounds on the woofers. I enjoyed fixing those. It took a couple of days to get used to them also but now they are one of my favorite pair of speakers, keepers. The keepers I have here are Altec Monterrey Jrs my dad bought new in 1960, EPI 150, Snell E2 , tiny Canton speakers and 2 different pair of Warfedale speakers. Oh yeah I have 3 pair of Dynacos I've never even hooked up before, I don't even know what those sound like. Actually I have 7 of those but I know one is blown. I confess to having a pair of the bullet proof Realistic Minimus speakers haha, I like to use those to test receivers, porch speakers, doorstops, weapon, they're real handy.


I have the NHT 2.9 — also a thrift shop score ($175), not the insane bargain you got, but mint. I agree the treble can be hot — I put some open-cell foam over the tweets and it helps. I have some other tweeters I'd like to try, but none are drop-ins and I don't want to modify the cabinets just to experiment. HTWillie is right about the stablizers — I've had them without the bars for 3 years and no problems. But I live in LA and one small quake could be catastrophic — not only will the beautiful finish get messed up, but they're tall and heavy, so they'll probably hit something on the way down and crush it. I keep meaning to add stabilizers and your post reminds me: do it now. It's easy — two strips of wood, 1" X 1" or 2" will work, and painting them black will make them aesthetically acceptable.

Congrats on your score, hope everything works when you finally test them. You'll be a happy audiophile.

Yeah the strips of wood crossed my mind also, or something else simple, drilling holes in strips of metal, should be easy.
 
Yeah the strips of wood crossed my mind also, or something else simple, drilling holes in strips of metal, should be easy.
"Strips" of metal implies "thin" and "thin" can bend — and there goes the "stability". I'd want at least 4mm thickness if using metal, and I'd prefer steel. For that, I'd want a drill-press, which I no longer have. I think 1" or 2" wood would be better, and certainly easier to tool at home. Also, I plan to add metal furniture-glides at the ends, for two reasons: 1) my 2.9's weigh almost 90 pounds, they're hard to move, and "fine-tuning" the position is vital for imaging; glides will make it easier — and 2) I have polished hardwood floors: no spikes. Finally, 1" or 2" wood + glides will raise the tweeters to ear level — strips of metal would not.

But as I said before, it depends on definition of "strip". The stabilizers NHT supplied (hard to find now) did raise the speakers as I describe above.
 
Great score! Drive them with some good amps decent amplification to hear what they can do. I demo'd them when they were new driven by Parasound gear. I dropped Larry & Lee - L.A. Underground in the player and the guys at the store were blown away.
 
what is the difference between the 2.5 and 2.5i? I am in the process of buying a 2.5i, but not at that priced you paid for yours. :(
 
You can read a bit about the history of the 2.5 and 2.5i and their components here: http://www.audioexcite.com/?page_id=5386

I picked up a pair of the 2.5i in mint condition this Spring off CL (in the furniture section no less; sometimes it pays to search broadly), and I've been very impressed with them. They definitely have a big low end, more than Advents (OLA) and DCMs I have, and others, such as ADS L730s. IMO, it does not need to be paired with a sub, as its balance is more like that of the above speakers when paired with a sub. That lower, in-facing woofer on each tower is very effective. I'm still evaluating if I think the low end is exaggerated, or if my perception is a bit skewed, being based on so many years of listening to mid-sized speakers which inevitably have a low-freq rolloff. But in any case, they are very pleasant to listen too, and appropriately exciting when the right content is played. I do not find them fatiguing in any way, nor "hot" on the high end; but then again, I am old enough that I do not hear anything above 10kHz.
 
I do not find them fatiguing in any way, nor "hot" on the high end; but then again, I am old enough that I do not hear anything above 10kHz.
I have the 2.9, Northpaw. I wrote about them above in this thread. I stopped using them for months because the treble was SO "hot". I guess I'm older because my hearing cuts off at about 8.5KHz, according to three of those online frequency sweeps. But I can definitely hear hot highs — not only tweeters, but the rising treble on moving-coil cartridges drives me nuts, and that's above 10KHz. I shouldn't hear it, but I do.

My tweeter is aluminum; is yours? I finally tried padding mine down with a 10 ohm resistor, and that helped a lot — they're my main speaker again.

I agree the bass is very good. My woofers are 10" so go a bit deeper, but only 2Hz acc'ding the specs. But I don't like their location, inward-facing — and with that slanted baffle, I can't change it. The theory is good, it creates a "bass chamber" and they reinforce each other — but that chamber is only as wide as the speakers are apart, in my set-up 7–8 feet. That's too small when playing, for example, a full orchestra. The contrabass section is on the far right, and tympani + bass drum nearly far right, but the NHTs confine them to that 7–8 foot center — far too narrow a soundstage, if realism is the goal. I thought of trying passive bass-radiators on the outside of the speakers, but cutting into those beautiful cabinets would be criminal.

Here's what I tried, and it worked. I disabled the woofers; that left 3-way monitors with little bass below 100Hz (yours would be a 2-way). I put two small subwoofers, self-powered, to the outside. Their spec'd bass extension is the same, so no loss there. But the soundstage is now as big as Vienna. A very satisfying change. If you still have the subs you mention, you might give it a try — "distributed bass" is all the rage these days...

I made another change. The 2.9s need 150W of good SS power to work fully — those woofers eat power. Even 100W don't work. So I tried bi-amping. With powered subs handling the bass, I used a smaller (70W) tube/Mosfet hybrid amp for the 3 smaller drivers. 70W is ample for them, and the sound is more to my liking, more musical, expressive, moving.

Anyway, speakers I admired but didn't really like, are now so much better. Granted, your 2.5s are different, and my 2.9's transformation required two subs. But I thought I'd just share my experiment with you...
 
Yes, the tweeters in my 2.5i are aluminum, very shiny. I hope my wording did not come across as me challenging your take on your 2.9s, as it was not intended that way, just relating what my experience has been. I have them set up alongside a pair of ADS L730s at present, and on any given day I will turn on one system or the other, and I have sensed some but not large differences in the balance of mid and high frequencies between them. I was surprised about that because, as you know, there are also others who have commented that this overall series, esp. those with the Al tweeters, can be on the hot side, whereas ADS speakers usually don't attract such comments.

The first day I had them I drove them with a Nak Pa-5A (100W) just to test them, but then moved them to a Nak Sr-3A receiver, with just 45W. I thought they might be underpowered with the Sr-3A, but they get plenty loud enough for me without sounding strained, but I don't listen anywhere near concert hall levels, and the room size is modest (12x25, 8' ceilings). But I would readily accept they could need much more power at higher levels, given the impressive bass put out by even the 8" bottom woofers on the 2.5i.

I also agree with you about the width of soundstage. I was expecting worse when I first saw the inward-facing woofer placement, especially since I have them a little over 6' apart (the L730s have to be on the outside of them, given the woofer placement on the 2.5i). I know this isn't an ideal setting, and given your experience, may not ever be great without doing a similar setup to yours, but I have not yet decided where the 2.5i will end up.

Interesting to read about your experimenting with external subs. I do have an NHT SW2 (presently running with the L730s), and when I bought the 2.5is, a NHT Sub One i was included, but with a bum internal amp that I have yet to fix. I'm in the process of getting additional amplification anyway, and I look forward to trying something along the lines that you describe, so many thanks for sharing that info. My feeling is, though, that if I end up using a 2-sub set up, it will probably be with either the L730s, or a pair of DCM TimeWindows (these were moved out of the room while I am evaluating the 2.5i), and use the 2.5i in a room where a sub isn't an option.
 
Old thread revisited. I tried different receivers, most around 100 watts on my NHT 2.5i speakers. They are hard to drive. I put A B@K 200.2 series 2 amp and Rotel preamp. The 225 watts of power made A huge difference to my ears. Small room 11x14', They sound good off axis and I don't notice any brightness in my listening room. I mainly play Rock and other melodic music in the same vein. You can score A pair for around $300 now days but you need 200 watts + to get them to open up I feel...
 
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