These are my first ever audiophile level speakers. My setup is: 3x CG25, 2x CG5, Monolith 16 THX Ultra, Denon X3700h. These speakers are truly a delight. They bring life to emotions from the screen or track directly to my ears. I am a very discerning customer, I only went for the best price to performance options, rsl being one of them. These speakers have delighted my wife and I since I bought them a few months ago. They have tonality and range like a much bigger, more expensive speaker. They bring tears to the eye with how well they reproduce sound. Volume level goes high enough to hurt the ears, but zero noticeable distortion at those levels. I had a defective tweeter, and RSL replaced it at no cost to me. This shows RSL stands behind their product and I have faith any issue I encounter will be resolved by the company. Thank you RSL for the wonderful speakers, thank you so much!

I have been a music lover my entire life, played multiple instruments by the time I was in high school, and took a stab at being a professional musician and producer from my late teens through my mid twenties. Even though I abandoned the idea of making music my career, it has remained a huge part of my life. Combine this with the fact that I am blind, and it is readily apparent that not just loud, but quality sound is very important to me. When I listen to music it is with a critical ear. I want to hear detailed vocals, fret noise on acoustic guitars, even unintended harmonics from B3s and electric pianos. When detail is missing or muddled the music just sounds lifeless. I had RSL C34Es in my last house, and they sounded really really good. However, I couldn’t bring them with me so I hope the new owner is enjoying them. When I moved into a new home recently I wanted to put together a seven channel home theater, and I talked to the guys at RSL about the room layout, the intended use(s) of the system, and logistics of real life factors such as having a sighted wife who wants things to look good, and kids who are prone to doing typical kid stuff. Joe said the CG25 was the absolute best speaker he had to offer. I knew already the wife would veto anything but in ceiling speakers for the surround channels, so 4x C34Es are handling that part of the system. I picked up three CG25s to handle the front left, right, and center. The gloss white finish passed the wife test for looking tasteful and modern. The metal grills passed the kid test for keeping out little fingers. The ports for the mid woofers being placed up front were a nice touch as well because it gives me the option of placing them closer to the wall. So far, so good . . . but how do they sound? The Setup: 3x CG25s provide the front left, center, and front right for my 7.1 system. The center channel lays horizontally, and the left/right stand vertically and are angled in a bit towards the center of the listening position (aka the couch). The surround channels are RSL C34Es, and the bottom end is handled by the RSL Speedwoofer 10s. The room is 21’ deep, 17’ wide, and has a ceiling height of just over 9’. Everything is coming from an Amazon Fire TV, routed through a Yamaha Aventage receiver, and powered by a modest 90 watt per channel amplifier. I noticed the speaker handles 150 watts, and was a bit worried my amp wouldn’t be powerful enough, but after talking it over with Joe (did I mention the top notch customer service of having real humans to answer questions?) I was assured the speakers would be powered more than sufficiently since they were being used only for 80Hz+, and the bottom end would be covered by my Speedwoofer 10s Sub. He was right. About -30 was a good listening level. -20 was very loud. -10 was more than my ears could handle. When the CG25s aren’t asked to push anything below 80Hz, 90 watts is more than enough power to fill a ~360 square foot room easily. Of course, if your room is significantly larger they can handle a lot more power. The Test: Live Music- “leave the Door Open”, by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, and Silk Sonic I decided to kick off the sound test with a live performance of something new. However, based on the instrumentation, vocal style, and overall sound I think I may have landed in the 1970s. Is that Michael Macdonald on the keys, and Marvin Gaye delivering the high notes? No, but these younger guys are ridiculously talented. The CG25s reveal every bit of the performance. From the sizzle of the snare, to the pairing of scratchy voiced Anderson and smooth voiced Bruno , to the lush vocals of the backup singers, every sound is distinct, detailed, and in it’s proper place. The stage was as wide as my room, and every instrument and voice was clear and distinct. Unique male vocal- “Thinkin’ About Your Body” by Bobby McFerrin This musical genius created an entertaining multitimbral song with only himself, a microphone, and eight (8) words total. He sings the bass line, most of the vocals in his tenor register, and creates counterpoint melody with a sound that I can best describe as a human vocal and a muted trumpet blended by a vocoder. There is a portion in the middle of the song where he sings the trumpet sound and baseline in an amazing back and forth that spans several octaves. Everything came through the CG25s with perfect clarity, and detail. I could hear the natural chest resonance, the intricate vocal gymnastics to jump through octaves and tones, and could even feel the humor conveyed by the performer with his muted trumpet. The variety of sounds combined with the simplicity of the recording make this a great track to expose weak spots in a speaker. I didn’t find any. Unique female vocal- “The Weight” by Shannon Curfman This song has been recorded by big names over the years, and was covered here on her debut album Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions. She is a talented guitarist and singer who was born for Southern Rock/Blues. Her voice has a natural grit she taps into when growling out a lyric, but can flip a switch to a stunningly velvet smooth alto. Her abilities are captured on point by the CG25s. The guitar sounds warm, and tube amplified. The vocals have great depth, dynamic range, and I could swear she has a distortion knob attached to her trachea that she can adjust at will. The Hammond Organ sound came through the mix with a very nice presence as well. After hearing the performance on these speakers I am still left in awe at the fact she was all of 13 years old at the time of this recording. *I have heard this song on many systems, many different speakers, and even live. I have never heard it sound better than it does on the CG25s. Instrumental- “Rhapsody in Blue” George Gershwin, with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra The iconic clarinet wailed it’s way up to the high note where it was joined by a few other sounds to introduce the chord structure. the buzz of the trombones was a nice contrast with the woodwinds and strings, and then suddenly the (Steinway maybe?) Grand Piano was in the center of my living room. Going back and forth from solo piano to full orchestra, and several combinations mixed in throughout the piece I didn’t hear too much or too little of anything. With this many instruments it can be difficult to cover the full range of timbres present. Most speakers can give you the range of 80Hz to 20khz, but not many can faithfully reproduce so many timbres simultaneously without leaving something to be desired. The CG25s brought out every timbre, every instrument, every sound, every shift in dynamic range, and put me in the front row of the venue as if I were the one tasked with holding the conductor’s baton. Top 40- “Save Your Tears Remix” The Weekend and Ariana Grande There is a lot going on in this throwback to the 1980s. The simplicity of the drum machine percussion, the squelch of analog synths, and the digital string sounds combine for a complex backdrop to contrast against the soaring soprano vocals of Ariana Grande. The CG25s cover it all effortlessly and accurately. When AG goes up for the top shelf notes they sound clear, breathy, and perfectly mixed with just enough reverb to portray distance without getting lost. The stereo imaging is the definition of precise. Every sound and background vocal has it’s own space, and the main vocals are so perfectly centered that you could easily assume the center channel speaker is playing. Movie- “Ray and the Last Dragon” on Disney+ in Dolby Atmos Wow! I came to appreciate these speakers at another level when listening to this movie. The system blended perfectly. This was expected since everything was built by the same manufacturer and designed to sound match. What I did not expect was to hear something new in the movie. All of the animals, crash impacts, magical happenings, and action sounded great, but what really amazed me was the precision of placement of the spoken words. I could tell who was standing where in a scene, and how far apart they were from each other. I also noticed that I did not need to hold the remote to turn the volume up for dialogue, and back down for action scenes. The dialogue came through with clarity. I didn’t even have to boost the center channel 1db like I always have in the past. While music is still my primary interest, it is a welcome bonus to find how much of an upgrade these speakers are for family movie night. Conclusion: The first thing I noticed about these speakers was that I couldn’t hear them. I don’t mean there was no sound, but rather the sound just seemed to become present in the room autonomously. I have purchased several types of speakers over the years. Some with ribbon tweeters, horn tweeters, ring radiators, etc., and they all had a distinct sound. Because I could hear the “sound” of the speaker nothing ever sounded truly natural, especially with acoustic music. The CG25s sound more natural than any speakers I have had in a home theater system. They even come close to rivaling some high end active studio monitors I had back in the day. I would describe them as the perfect balance between accurate and warm sound. These are an absolute steal at full price, and sometimes even available for a few bucks less as B Stock. You could buy better speakers, but you would have to pay at least 3x the price to get something that may sound only a touch better. In fact, even at triple the price point you might not be able to discern between the two with your eyes closed. Plus, you wouldn’t have the excellent tech support RSL provides, or the warm fuzzy feeling of buying from a family owned company here in America that cares about the products that carry their name. You will not find a better Price:Performance ratio than the RSL CG25. Bryan

After I did my research and read product reviews from Audiholics and others I decided to upgrade my front stage with all CG25s. My previous set up was CG23s (LCR) , CG3s for my surrounds and a Speedwoofer. Since we have an open floor design, family room, dinning and kitchen open floor, and living room on the right side of the family room open wall I thought the CG23/CG3 system was a little undersized for the space. The soundstage, dispension, imaging, and accuracy of the CG23/CG3s is superb. In addition to upgrading my front stage to the CG25's I also added a second Speedwoofer, and 4 CG23s as my Atmos high speakers, and I'm using two CG23s for my surrounds. I cannot say enough how happy I am with this upgrade. The CG25s soung beatiful. They sure fill my 14'x32' with clean, clear, accurate sound. The CG25s project a wide and precise soundstage. They have an even and wide dispersion, they have very good dynamic range, and have superb imaging abilities. The CG25s sound clean at any loud levels. The dialogue is clear and accurate on the CG25 center speaker. I think the CG25s fall in the warm sound category and I definetely like that. I can enjoy listening to these speakers all day long, at low or high volumes either listening to music or watching movies. It also helps I have my speaker set up hooked up with two Emotiva amps. My next upgrade will be replacing my CG23 surrounds with CG5s. I don't want to finish my review without mentioning the exeptional customer service RSL has. Thank you Joe for promtply answering all my questions and providing excellent tech support and expertise advise.

I waited several months to review these speakers. Important fact: I have a Speedwoofer too and what it adds to the overall sound is... well-- I can't live without it and recommend it without reservation 🙂 The CG-25s are powered by a Marantz PM-7200 and there's a Mini DSP 2x4HD between the source (my pc) and the amp. Using the MiniDSP software frequencies below 51Hz are removed from the CG-25s and the Speedwoofer only plays frequencies up to 70 Hz. Previous reviews that applaud the CG-25 sound signature echo my feelings. And same goes for Joe- he is awesome and each time I spoke with him I felt lucky to be able to get his expert advice- that's priceless.

Recently purchased a CG25 as a center channel for my dedicated theater room. Wow! Wish I had tried RSL speakers sooner! Aside from the sheer beauty of this speaker (I have the piano black), it's performance is incredible. Excellent out of the box, even better now that it's broken in. The clarity of the dialogue, the beauty of the music. I started down the home theater road about 5 years ago in the main part of our home. Tried lots of speakers and subs before givin