So, I've been really enjoying my set-up this week after getting some new gear from Emotiva. I received an ERM-6.2 monitor to be used as a center channel speaker, as well as a XPA-5 amplifier (5 ch. @200 wpc).
Without a doubt, these two peices of equipment have really made an impact (very positive) on how my system sounds. I've read several reviews of the XPA-5, all of which have been very favorable. I'm running mine in 3 channel mode which is delivering 250 wpc to my front left, center, and right speakers. Presently, my front sound stage is a mixed bag of speakers consisting of two Polk Audio RT7 bookshelf speakers, and now an ERM-6.2 monitor as the center channel, which I fully realize is a violation of the prescribed voice matching of the speakers on the front stage, but I was drawn to the ERM-6.2 after reading the review here at Audioholics of the ER 5.0 speaker system. So I decided to add the 6.2 to my set-up in hopes of improving what I would call fairly lackluster center channel performance form my Polk Audio CSi30.
So several differences exist between my front stage speakers. The ERM-6.2 is a sealed speaker. It's frequency response is 80-20Khz +/-2db, The Polk Audio RT7 speakers have a frequency response of 49-25Khz -3dB, and they are ported. Also, the ERM monitor utilises a dual driver plus tweeter, while the RT7 is a single driver plus tweeter. The drivers in ther ERM -6.2 are 6 inches in diameter, and the tweeter is soft domed, ferro-fluid cooled. The drivers in the RT7s are 7.5 inches in diameter, and the tweeter is a trilaminate dome design. The nominal impedance of the ERM-6.2 is 4 ohms while the RT7 is 8 ohms. Also, the ERM is bi-ampable, while the RT7 is not.
A couple of obvious similarites do exist between these two speakers. First, they have identical sensitvities at 89 dB/watt/meter, and they both have silk dome tweeters that are 1" in diameter. My hope was that the "closeness" in tweeter design and sensitvity would allow for reasonable integration of the ERM-6.2 into the set-up. I have not been disappointed, and the results have been very pleasing.
All week I have been drawn to the ERM-6.2's sonic quality. I did compare it to the CSi30 using some familiar audio (Jazz, Rock) and movie tracks (Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille), and immediately noticed that the CSi30 seemed to be boxey sounding with the sound field remainig quite constrained to the speaker enclosure itself. The ERM-6.2, on the other hand, seemed to have a much more open and airy quality to it, extending well out in front and beyond the actual enclosure containing the speakers. Two huge sonic improvements noted with the ERM were in vocals and horns (saxophone), over the CSi30. Surprisingly, after adding the RT7s to the mix, I found I preferred the sound of the ERM-6.2, over the CSi30, with the Polk Audio RT7. You would think that a center speaker manufactured by the same company as the mains would integrate better, but this is not the case here.
I had to open up the ERM-6.2 and have a look at the inside to see if I could discern any other major differences that might contribute to the overall sonic improvements I have been hearing. I found a few. First, the speaker design of the ERM-6.2 is very impressive and solid. Also, the cross-over seems to be very top notch. I have included a few photos for you to look at. But the biggest difference I noticed between the ERM-6.2 and CSi30 was in the cross-over design! I certainly don't know much about the techincal specifics, but a picture is certainly worth a thousand words here! So, is it primarily the crossover causing the sonic improvements I'm hearing? I suspect not. I'm certain the tweeter/driver design is also playing a huge role here. But the sonic differences are very obvious. I'm amazed that Emotiva can offer this speaker for the price they do. It seems to be worth much more.
ERM-6.2 front
ERM-6.2 speaker 1
ERM-6.2 speaker 2
ERM-6.2 crossover 1
ERM-6.2 back
CSi30 crossover
CSi30 speaker