Today we’re going to be reviewing Eagletech’s Arion ET-AR604H-BR Professional Series High Power Hi-Fi Speakers. Eagletech is a PC oriented company that’s getting pretty aggressive in the audio market and designing some really exciting products. I’ve never worked with their products before, so I’m hoping for a good first impression.

Feature Highlights

• 80W of Continuous Power for High-Fidelity Sound
• Crystal clear highs with 1” Ferro fluid cooled silk dome tweeters
• Punchy bass through 5” polypropylene-coated woofers
• Mahogany vinyl-laminated exterior; tuner inspired custom shaped cabinet

Setup

The included manual is pretty straight forward and gives you a general rundown of what is included, safety warnings, an overview, a five step product setup, and specs.

The speakers are pretty hefty due to the quality of parts used so getting them on a stable surface at a good height should be taken into consideration. I always recommend them on level with your ears.

The really unique approach Eagletech took with this setup was to incorporate a four-pin XLR connection to actually power the second speaker, eliminating the need for a second power plug and keeping the whole system very compact. It’s the first time I’ve actually seen this used on a speaker set like this. However, the cable length isn’t very long so keep that in mind. The other problem is my sample units were not labeled with LEFT OR RIGHT on them, but I’ve been told that is resolved in the final units.

The connection setup for the ET-AR604H-BR utilizes a standard RCA input that can be connected directly to a PC, gaming laptop, tablet or any other device that has a 3.5mm audio connector. A cable is included and works great if you’re connecting it to said devices, but for some higher quality setups, you may want to use a standard RCA cable. This is something I would have liked to see included already in the event I wanted to hook it up to my TV.

I am sure their support will deal with a lot of confused buyers, because the manual shows a ‘home theater system’ setup, and you’re more likely to want to connect an RCA outputs rather than a 3.5mm connection, especially for home theater systems. My recommendation is to use a spare RCA audio cable (or purchase one for really cheap).

Testing

I decided to use these speakers in two different environments to see how versatile they could be. Suffice to say, I was very impressed.

First up, I connected it to my laptop and I was blown away by the clarity. I tested multiple music programs including Pandora, Spotify, and my own personal mp3/FLAC collections. It’s always hard to put into words what a product sounds like, but with my experience working on high end sound systems, this was VERY impressive. I pushed these speakers pretty hard and they held up to the task.

The quality of this experience led to the second test area: the public ear.

I DJ as a side-gig and decided to use these to gauge interest and see how they would work out for professionals in smaller venues.  Normally these consist of corporate events that want to have music, but not overwhelming enough to drown out conversation. The compact setup and the single connection really came in handy, but as I mentioned earlier, I had to keep them relatively close due to the XLR connection not being too long.

The immediate impact was there — people loved the elegant design and were surprised by the clarity of the speakers.  As the night progressed, I cranked it up higher and higher with great results – no choppy sound, static, or other artifacts. I don’t normally redline my mixer, so that obviously helps keep the speakers in control as well. A few audiophiles in attendance right away nodded their heads in approval to the sound of the music.

I already plan to take this with me on the next few smaller gigs and replacing the booth monitors I use for larger gigs with this setup. It’s really THAT good.

Conclusion

First, the bad: The website is horrible. There is almost no info available, the layout is very poor, and trying to do research before purchasing this is almost pointless in its current state. The included documentation isn’t much better and the lack of an RCA-RCA cable was really a misfire on Eagletech’s part. This is a very common item (I have tons of devices that come with them), so I can’t dock them for too much, but it’s something they need to add purely from a convenience standpoint.

I’ve already sent my grievances to Eagletech, so hopefully they will take that into consideration and make the changes needed. The team seems to be very receptive to reviewer feedback, and that is ALWAYS a good sign for buyers.

Now onto the product: These speakers sound PHENOMENAL. I’ve listened to many desktop speaker setups (2.0, 2.1, 5.1, and 7.1) but I was absolutely stunned at how crystal clear the sound was from these two units. Considering that the subs are included in these cabinets, they sounded clean and punchy at the highest levels. There was no audible buzz or humming like traditional desktop speakers and the EQ controls were very easy to use and sensible. The knobs being retractable added to the high quality design to the units and I loved the overall exterior finish.

If you can look past the documentation and website, you will find the ET-AR604H-BR as very impressive product. I’d highly recommend these units for anyone looking for strong powerful sound at a pretty affordable price.  I already have scrapped my 5.1 Logitech desktop speaker set in favor of these and have become my go-to DJ monitors.

The ET-AR604H-BR is currently available at MSRP $299.99, but as low as $249.99 on promotion.