Introduction

Do you fault a Mini Cooper for being a Mini and not a Honda Odyssey or a Porsche 911?

In evaluating product, a question that is often unasked is "What is the reference?" Often times, particularly in audio or video, the question is unasked because the answer invariably is reality. How close does the product come to reproducing reality or the version of reality recorded onto the playback media? Alternatively, an entirely different reference might be established by the designer in which another aspect of the product takes priority. As the reference for the designer and the reviewer will rarely align, a reviewer is posed with the question of how to evaluate a product.

The Energy RC-Micro 5.1 is positioned as a premium home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) or lifestyle speaker system. If a lifestyle speaker is the reference, then how does the RC-Micro compare? What differentiates this system from those available from the mass market consumer electronic brands?