Energy Act 6

The age old question: looks or brains?

By Jamie Gemming

August 2005

Energy Act 6 sub-sat speaker system. $1499

"Never be afraid to tip a drink out." Looking back, this was an excellent piece of advice my father told me and it's something I wish I adhered to more during my years at varsity. Another thing I've learnt over the course of my youth is that looks need to be carefully balanced against brains and ability. In my younger years I yearned after girls with a killer rack, long legs and pretty face. But once I was mature enough to obtain a little of these, I was often left yearning for a little more substance. Well most of the time. And this how I feel with the Energy Act 6 combo.

To begin with there was debate in my house about the appearance of the combo. I really liked the contemporary extruded aluminum satellites, whereas my partner and brother were not that fussed with the design. Front on, the Act satellites are almost square, measuring about 165mm high and wide. Underneath, hidden from view are the spring-loaded terminals. They have clever integrated wall mounts, which allow multiple adjustments around the vertical axis, combined with a curved rear panel, ensure that the speakers encroach no further into your room than a wall mounted LCD or plasma screen would. While out the other weekend shopping, the others ended up agreeing that the Energy's look and feel a million bucks when compared to what else is on offer.

Digging down

The Act subwoofer features a down firing 200mm (8") driver which is controlled by an 80wRMS amplifier. The sub cabinet is narrow, tall and deep. I suspect the design was employed to lessen the visual impact of the sub. On the rear panel there is the usual On/Off/Auto switch and volume knob. Annoyingly missing is the option to control to the crossover frequency. Luckily, I had the ability to adjust it using the advanced set up options of my receiver. Though, if your receiver does not allow this, then the subwoofer's lack of crossover function may be a problem.

The editor told me not to compare them to my reference full size set up but the initial difference in sound is quite dramatic. My back was only turned for a few minutes while I set up the Energy system but it was as if someone had snuck in and stolen the mid-range and really low frequencies. However, after four weeks, a little experimenting with the speaker angles, I've raised the sub crossover on my receiver and the system is performing much better than I initially thought possible.

Plasma friendly

Due to their looks, a lot of Act 6 combos will end up complementing plasma or LCD monitors. This is a good thing, as performing home-theatre duties are their strength. The speakers' nice crisp treble gives voices great clarity and midrange effects now seem to have good body. Obviously, as with any sub-sat system the small and lightly powered subwoofer will not slam the low notes home like a more substantial unit would. Even so, the Act combo still made a good fist of action movies such as Bad Boys II and Kill Bill and if you hadn't experienced home cinema with a powerful sub before, I am sure you would be impressed. Though the bass notes did tend to be a bit one dimensional and slow.

After a couple of years of badgering, I finally wore my wahine down and when she said "I'll think about you getting a Playstation." I took that as a yes, quickly bought one and claimed a crossing of wires. I'm in the dog box now but I think I've found the Act 6 combos calling. GT4 sounds spectacular through this system. While my Audi R8 racecar squeals above most others the sound of the dicing cars moving from front and side-to-side is totally engrossing.

Music is the area where this combo falls a little short. It performs pretty well but just doesn't shine. At reasonable volumes most genres of music sounds fine, vocals and instruments are well defined. But pump up the volume and you'll find the treble gets a little out of control, sounding a little harsh and tinny. I listen to a lot of Dance and Hip-Hop and this was one genre that highlighted the limits of the subwoofer. It never really gets low enough and adding a little extra volume to try and emphasize any beat just resulted in a rough boomy noise.

After four weeks with the ACT 6 combo I came to like the system. When performing either home cinema or music duties it didn't sound as good as the PSB Alpha Intro sub-sat system I reviewed a while back. Although on the other hand, it looks about 100 times better and would certainly make a monumental difference to anybody with a flat screen TV using the standard speakers. So it poses the age old question. "Do you put looks before performance?"