Welp, I'm all excited right now. I just contacted Tim to obtain a pair of his B-stock Emma's in the walnut finish. From everything that I've heard here on Ecoustics, I figured I'd take a risk on it. The fact that it was 499 didn't hurt much either. You don't find many bookshelf speakers of the caliber Emma seems to be at for anywhere near this price. Anyways, I'm looking forward to a bit of fun either way.
Still to choose actually. For power I'm leaning heavily towards the HK-3380 stereo receiver (199). Source is a little more out there, but I'm thinking about a Cambridge Audio Azur 540D dvd player to double as a cd player and dvd player. I know it isn't optimal, but my budget is somewhat limited unfortunately.
Actually, heres a question: how do HK DVD players rank in the grand scheme of things (for their given price obviously)? I noted the DVD-27 was 190 on JR and was regularly 300. But I guess the main question is, is it average for 190 and utter crap at 300, or average at 300 and respectable deal at 190. So much to do, so little time...
Welp, everything is in now. I received the Emmas on Friday, but went out of town over the weekend so I didnt get a chance to fool around with them until last night. First impressions were very good however. They cabinets are very solid, and the walnut veneer looks quite nice. Sonically, these speakers are very crisp and open; very well articulated I guess is what I want to say. They definately create a sense of space. Tonally, they seem well balanced to my ears, and with my setup; and of course as everyone else has mentioned, they need no sub. Their volume is a bit limited, even in my smaller room. But for my tastes, this isn't a big issue. But they are definately not a party speaker (my cousin will be hugely disappointed by this). In any event, I have to say so far, so good, and that I am a happy customer.
Thanks Stephen. I appreciate the feedback. Even though you bought a B-stock unit it has the latest mods. You're one of the few that have received the newest version of Emma so those that heard the previous version may find your statements surprising. I modified the crossover to bring the tweeter in sooner and added another filter to the very top to keep the tweet from sloping upwards above the 15kHz point. I also added some damping to the interior. If you look in the port you'll see the other end is covered. These two things combined together have tightened up the bass and brought more detail to the mids. It's interesting to me about the sensitivity issue, not that I'm disagreeing. It does make a big difference with Emma using an amp with a hefty power supply, not so it has high total ouput power, but so it can handle the transients without buckling. The XBL^2 woofer thrives on good power.
Let me clarify my volume comment. Last night, I pressed it up to -5dB on my receiver while listening to Sgt. Pepper (which isn't the loudest CD on the block by any means). At that point, it was fairly loud, but by no means uncomfortable. I'm sure if I cranked it up another 10dB on my receiver, that would change, but at the same time I don't want to send it into clipping either. Maybe I'm just being a pansy though. Either way, for me, Emma does a great job, and its perfect for my bedroom application. I just wouldn't suggest it for big parties is all. I could easily see somebody getting them from all the rave reviews on their bass output here, pairing them with some POS receiver, and then killing them at a party.
I guess one other thing to note is that with a good enough power supply + good speakers, high volume doesn't necessarily seem quite as loud. God knows I've probably hurt my ears enough with my headphones. Either way, I'll give further comments as I get more time to listen. We'll see how Quadrophenia does tonight.
"I could easily see somebody getting them from all the rave reviews on their bass output here, pairing them with some POS receiver, and then killing them at a party."
"I could easily see somebody getting them from all the rave reviews on their bass output here, pairing them with some POS receiver, and then killing them at a party."
Good point. That would be a sad thing.
I was playing some tunes and out of curiousity powered up my portable RTA. 95db sustained, A weighted at 2 meters. Hmmmm...maybe I should turn it down a hair?
I have to say, I really love these Emma's, and what they do with The Who.
To give a little insight where I am coming from, my old system was based upon a pair of old CSW bipolar towers. They weren't the most accurate speakers in the world, but their presentation was huge, with an extremely wide soundstage. Thanks to dual 8" woofers they were also blessed with the ability to run without a subwoofer. However, they had some flaws too. The bass was a bit on the loose side, and the trade-off for the massive soundstage was more diffuse imaging. Mind you, this was at one time a 1500 speaker (I happy to get it off ebay for 400
Now in walks Emma. If I hadn't known all about her, I would have been shocked by the bass I am getting. Its definately as deep as my old towers, but without the looseness. I certainly haven't heard anything significantly better in this regard (of note, the Emma's are placed 1.5' out from the rear wall). Its certainly a major step up from all the low priced crap subwoofers that I would have been able to afford if I had decided to go with a 2.1 setup instead, based off another speaker.
Now of course bass isn't everything. I think the most impressive part of the whole show was Roger Daltrey's vocals. I absolutely love the song "I've had enough" on Quadrophenia, and when he's singing "Love, reign o'er me...rain on me, Loooooooooooooooooooooooooovveee", it always gives me goosebumps. But I'll say this, I havn't heard something that sounded so real, ever. Mind you I don't go out and audition every speaker known to man, although I should check out my local Wilson dealer sometime for kicks. But in every speaker I've heard, ranging from Klipsch Reference, Paradigm Studios+Monitors, NHTs, Def Tech, etc etc etc, I really don't think I've heard a voice sound so human.
Of course, there is one last thing for me, which I can't really judge yet: emotional response to the music. For how poorly regarded in the audiophile community they were, there was no speaker that could make me feel the sheer emotional impact of a song like my towers. Pink Floyd could drive me to the brink of madness, The Beatles could make everything sunny again, etc. Just have to wait and see if Emma can manage that feat.
