EMPtek ES1010i Subwoofer Review

[gene]

Despite having 30 years of experience in the design of subwoofers, the owners of EMP TEK haven't provided adequate quality control. I would guess that this starts in China, however, other companies do their own quality control checks in the USA before the products ship to buyers.

How else do you explain the driver with the wrong impedance going undiscovered before you took the drivers out?

The problem with the too short ports is also troubling given the 30 years of experience.

I also found it troubling that EMP TEK shows a price of $599.00 for the ES1010i on its web site. If EMP TEK lowered the price it should be reflected on their web site. They may not have updated their web-site since 2009.

Aside from looks this sub is nothing special. Small room rating is disappointing in a product with two 10 inch drivers.

This sub is all about WAF and not performance

EMP sent me a prototype so its quite normal for this to happen. I've had much larger more established companies make far greater mistakes. It happens, especially when companies are in a rush to get exclusive coverage on our site. The longer port tubes while extending low end bass is a tradeoff as well so it all depends on what you want in a sub. Given the Under $400 price and the overall performance and aesthetics, I found this sub to be a pretty good value as do many of the users that bought it as well.

[spyboy]

I didn't even bother to note that the resonance between 50-55Hz is a fairly serious anomaly. Just looking one would think that this sub is tuned to 52Hz.

I have to tread lightly because you decided to have someone in your family get an entire EMP Tek set-up. Why you didn't have someone else on your staff test this sub mystifies me. I saw all the reviews you have done for EMP TEK. EMP TEK is one of your regular advertisers, no wonder they wanted you to be the first to test this product. IMHO in the future you should recuse yourself instead of continuing to review EMP TEK products.

All the same I don't think there is any rush by other sites to highlight EMP TEK products. In a shootout at any of the different prices (especially $499) there is some pretty good competition.

In the end it still comes down to cosmetics and WAF, and not performance.

PS How does one find out when you are having a promotion like the one on this product?

PPS Do you have any idea if EMP TEK is going to take any steps to improve its quality control? No matter the price a subwoofer with the wrong driver is really sloppy.

[AverageJoe]

...PPS Do you have any idea if EMP TEK is going to take any steps to improve its quality control? No matter the price a subwoofer with the wrong driver is really sloppy.

Well, I guess they did. All of the production units had the correct drivers - Just the prototype had the wrong one? So few of us ever buy prototypes, I would guess we're safe.

In the end, I kept my ES1010i because of the good performance - The cosmetics was just a bonus.

[majorloser]

A good deal on the ES1010i right now at $349 each:

EMP ES1010iR

Thanks for the "heads up" Joe

[gene]

I didn't even bother to note that the resonance between 50-55Hz is a fairly serious anomaly. Just looking one would think that this sub is tuned to 52Hz.

I have to tread lightly because you decided to have someone in your family get an entire EMP Tek set-up. Why you didn't have someone else on your staff test this sub mystifies me. I saw all the reviews you have done for EMP TEK. EMP TEK is one of your regular advertisers, no wonder they wanted you to be the first to test this product. IMHO in the future you should recuse yourself instead of continuing to review EMP TEK products.

All the same I don't think there is any rush by other sites to highlight EMP TEK products. In a shootout at any of the different prices (especially $499) there is some pretty good competition.

In the end it still comes down to cosmetics and WAF, and not performance.

PS How does one find out when you are having a promotion like the one on this product?

PPS Do you have any idea if EMP TEK is going to take any steps to improve its quality control? No matter the price a subwoofer with the wrong driver is really sloppy.

You're free to start your own website and do your own product testing. Until then stop trolling or find another forum to complain on.

[theJman]

You're free to start your own website and do your own product testing. Until then stop trolling or find another forum to complain on.

spyboy stop trolling and do his own testing? Not likely. He merely travels from forum to forum harassing others who put forth the effort he won't (or can't). It's his MO, everywhere he goes.

[raynist]

After clicking on "More Information" I found the $499.00 price, however, the $599.00 price when you first click on this product is yet another example of sloppy practices and a lack of quality control.

Strange. I pointed this out to them a few weeks ago. They made the change and now it says $599 again??

[gene]

Guys;

i fear our room rating may have given people pause considering this subwoofer.


Please realize I used sweep data instead of CEA data to extrapolate a room rating. This usually tracks fairly well above where the sub is driver limited depending on the extent of the limiter circuit.

That being said I updated the review as follows and hope this adds some clarity:

Although we didn't use CEA 2010 test data to certify the room rating for the ES1010i subwoofer we extrapolated using RMS sweep data. The EMP ES1010i subwoofer achieves the Audioholics Bassoholic “Small” room rating which means that this sub is recommended as maintaining adequate headroom in small sized spaces less than or equal to 1,500 cubic feet and/or users who usually listen at a moderate volume level.

Editorial Note about Room Rating of the ES1010i Subwoofer:

While the ES1010i subwoofer didn't receive our "Medium" room rating at 25Hz, it passed it for all other frequencies (30Hz to 80Hz). This is a really excellent budget sub with a lot of usable output. It sounds great and looks great. In fact, the ES1010i, if corner-loaded, would easily measure out enough at 25Hz to achieve our "Medium" room rating.

Folks at our GTG event were very impressed with the output of this sub as I've also seen by fellow owners here.

[KEW]

FWIW, compared to 2ea 10" drivers, a 12" driver has 28% less and a 15" driver has 12.5% more surface area.