Does anyone have Emotiva speakers in Chicago, that I could audition?

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baronvonellis

Audioholic
I'm interested in getting a 5.1 Emotiva system, but none of the dealers in the mid west actually have their speakers in stock to audition. I read great reviews about them, but would like to hear them in person first. I know they have a return policy, but paying to ship back 56 pound tower speakers has got to cost alot of money if I don't like them..

Does anyone have Emotiva speakers in the Chicago area, Milwaukee or a somewhat nearby city that I can listen to?
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Well, if you aren't in a hurry, Emotiva always brings a bunch of stuff to Axpona which will be held from April 12-14 in Schaumburg. You can hear most of their products there. Hell, they might sell you a pair there, that would be that much less stuff they have to haul back. However, if you go there you will see what else can be had and may decide on something else.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Can you even order Emotiva speakers through a dealer? Thought it was ID only.....

Some outfits do roundtrip shipping on their speaker trial period, SVS does and RSL does....
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
Can you even order Emotiva speakers through a dealer? Thought it was ID only.....

Some outfits do roundtrip shipping on their speaker trial period, SVS does and RSL does....
Emotiva has a dealer channel for a while now, my dealer actually started to carry the product last year or so. He is based in Naperville, IL. Not sure if he has them on display because he is a big paradigm and GoldenEar Dealer.

I actually have a 250 dollar coupon I won at Axpona 2 years ago, I am glad they don't expire lol
 
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baronvonellis

Audioholic
Emotiva has a dealer channel for a while now, my dealer actually started to carry the product last year or so. He is based in Naperville, IL. Not sure if he has them on display because he is a big paradigm and GoldenEar Dealer.

I actually have a 250 dollar coupon I won at Axpona 2 years ago, I am glad they don't expire lol
I called the dealer in Naperville but they don't actually have the speakers available to listen to.
 
Cos

Cos

Audioholic Samurai
I called the dealer in Naperville but they don't actually have the speakers available to listen to.
Not a knock on Emotiva, I have heard them at Apona, they sounded but price wise, that would be on the low end, and his is more of a mid to high end dealer.

I love my little powered Airmotiv 4 Speakers on my deskop.
 
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baronvonellis

Audioholic
I went to that apona thing 4 years ago, I didn't know it was a yearly thing someone gave me a ticket, I thought it was only for dealers or something. I'd like to definitely check that out when they do it next.

From what I've read the Emotivas are supposed to be as good as $3000 speakers, and they are a great price to me. I like 8" woofers that have good bass, and I like kevlar woofers. The only thing is I'm not sure how the AMT tweeters sound, I'm not that familar with those types of tweeters. And if I will like how the T2's are voiced in general.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I went to that apona thing 4 years ago, I didn't know it was a yearly thing someone gave me a ticket, I thought it was only for dealers or something. I'd like to definitely check that out when they do it next.

From what I've read the Emotivas are supposed to be as good as $3000 speakers, and they are a great price to me. I like 8" woofers that have good bass, and I like kevlar woofers. The only thing is I'm not sure how the AMT tweeters sound, I'm not that familar with those types of tweeters. And if I will like how the T2's are voiced in general.
There have been many questions here about that very topic, and few answers. I have not heard them, nor will I at this point. I was very interested, especially at that price point... if they were ‘good-enough,’ I could swallow it for a couple years. :) But that thinking isn’t good enough.
People that have heard them claim to say they sound pretty good... reviews that I read included, yet not that good. For the cost, I don’t think many people would expect them to stand up to Martin Logan Motion 60XTs or Monitor Audio Silver 500s, for example. Both of which are nice performers.
If you haven’t, I recommend reading reviews of speakers that the Emos are compared to in the reviews you’ve read... and then if those speakers are compared to others... those to. Find a way to hear some of those other speakers, and see if you agree with what the reviewers say.
Keep in mind that most of those reviews are fairly subjective, and only reading test bench results will truly help you know what the performance might actually be.
That said, Fluance Signatures have come up slot in conversations about the Emos, as well as some ELAC, KEF Qs, etc. there is s lot of quality stuff out there and the best way to make an inference about the T2s is to experience those other speakers. :)
 
B

baronvonellis

Audioholic
There have been many questions here about that very topic, and few answers. I have not heard them, nor will I at this point. I was very interested, especially at that price point... if they were ‘good-enough,’ I could swallow it for a couple years. :) But that thinking isn’t good enough.
People that have heard them claim to say they sound pretty good... reviews that I read included, yet not that good. For the cost, I don’t think many people would expect them to stand up to Martin Logan Motion 60XTs or Monitor Audio Silver 500s, for example. Both of which are nice performers.
If you haven’t, I recommend reading reviews of speakers that the Emos are compared to in the reviews you’ve read... and then if those speakers are compared to others... those to. Find a way to hear some of those other speakers, and see if you agree with what the reviewers say.
Keep in mind that most of those reviews are fairly subjective, and only reading test bench results will truly help you know what the performance might actually be.
That said, Fluance Signatures have come up slot in conversations about the Emos, as well as some ELAC, KEF Qs, etc. there is s lot of quality stuff out there and the best way to make an inference about the T2s is to experience those other speakers. :)
You have a good point about making inferences from other reviews. As it happens, just this weekend I listened to the Martin Logan Motion 60XTs . This was the first time I've heard a AMT tweeter and I was intrigued that it seems to have quicker transients than dome tweeters. For me though it was too forward and bright, I didn't care for them. It was like I heard a saxophone played right into my ear canal, the transients were too detailed and overpowered everything else. That's what most of the reviews said about them as well. But I think one that was voiced with the tweeter turned down a bit might be really good. It seemed to have alot more air and sense of space than any dome tweeter I've heard.
I've always had Phase Tech speakers with silk dome tweeters. Although the ones I currently have are the Euro series from the 80's which are made out of thin particle board, and the cabinet seems to have resonances. My Dad has the Phase Tech PC series made out of solid wood which sound very good and don't have cabinet resonances. I got them for $90 to tide me over till I find some higher quality tower speakers. I know I don't like Klipsch, B&W, Magneplanars, or electrostatics. I've never heard any of the brands you mentioned though. Tommorow night I'm going to check out Legacy Audio speakers which are supposed to be very good too.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Keep in mind that most of those reviews are fairly subjective, and only reading test bench results will truly help you know what the performance might actually be.
That said, Fluance Signatures have come up slot in conversations about the Emos, as well as some ELAC, KEF Qs, etc. there is s lot of quality stuff out there and the best way to make an inference about the T2s is to experience those other speakers. :)
A big +1 to this. Once you learn how to correlate measurements to listening experience, you don't need to rely on some dude's (very subjective and highly suggestible) opinion on what any particular speaker sounds like. I realize that's easy for me to say because measuring and listening is something I do more than the average joe, however an easy way to establish a reference point for the average joe is to just take two different speakers that have measurements available for them (preferably made by the same source, such as Soundstage, Stereophile, or Audioholics), and do a side-by-side A/B comparison of these speakers. That is a good way to start to get a sense of what those measurements mean in actual listening.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
You have a good point about making inferences from other reviews. As it happens, just this weekend I listened to the Martin Logan Motion 60XTs . This was the first time I've heard a AMT tweeter and I was intrigued that it seems to have quicker transients than dome tweeters. For me though it was too forward and bright, I didn't care for them.
Don't judge AMT tweeters- or any other driver type- on one implementation. AMTs have a wide range of behavior, and that isn't even talking about all the things that can happen when you put them in a cabinet and send the signal through a crossover circuit. I have heard awesome AMTs and I have heard .. well, passable AMTs. Same as any other driver, be it domes, ribbons, horn-loaded compression drivers, planars, etc. There are good and bad examples of all of these. The end results are what matters the most. The quality of engineering is going to have a bigger impact than the quality of the ingredients that are used.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
For me though it was too forward and bright, I didn't care for them. It was like I heard a saxophone played right into my ear canal, the transients were too detailed and overpowered everything else.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if you aren't happy with the way the ML Motion 60XT sounded, I can't possibly imagine that you are going to be happy with the Airmotiv product. Personally, I was impressed by the 60XT, but much more by the Monitor Audio Silver 500s.
My experience with KEF Q950s and R900s, on the other hand was disappointing. They sounded good, but the fatigue set in about 15 minutes into a 45 min session. I was really impressed by the breadth of sound coming from them, but that uni-Q driver did me in.
All this is to say that your results may vary.
In the end, I ended up with speakers from Dennis Murphy and Philharmonic Audio. Right now my fronts are his BMRs, and in a few months, the Phil 3s will arrive. My experience with these is that the BMRs outperformed everything else I auditioned. At half the cost and half the size of the 60XTs and 500s, they sound as big, bass response is on par, but the overall sound quality is... effortless. I'm a saxophonist, and sax sounds like sax. I played in small jazz groups, and they sound like that felt. Very impressive speakers.
Regardless, my price point started out at ~$400 per tower, and I soon realized the tradeoffs. My price point slowly went up until I was budgeting $3k for towers. Ascend and Tekton were on my shortlist, but I got to hear the Philharmonics first. I looked no further.
Happy hunting as your quest continues! Remember, too, there are a lot of Cats here that will happily share their experiences with you. None of us really want to tell you what to buy, but we will gladly help you along to your decision. ;)
Cheers!
 
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baronvonellis

Audioholic
OK, thanks. Yea I don't know if I will like the Emotiva's that why I want to listen to them.
I haven't heard Monitor Audio, KEF, Philharmonic audio, Ascent, Tekton ect. I will have to check out Apona.
I appreciate any advice! Philharmonic audio looks really good, glad you enjoy them!

I also am a musician who plays piano and keyboards, I go to alot of live jazz shows and other concerts. I've played in a jazz orchestra and other bands. So I know how instruments sound, I also went to audio engineering school in Phoenix. I have KRK V8 Series 2 active monitors for my desktop and recording room with silk dome tweeters and kevlar woofers. I've always really liked those for near fields. They are very accurate and flat to me.

I did listen to Dynaudio Excite X44 and some other Dynaudio speakers. I really liked those, they sound like better and more refined versions of Phase Tech speakers. They are on the high end price wise for me, I think my budget would be $1000-3500. Then I would also get 2 smaller bookshelf surround speakers as well.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
I appreciate any advice! Philharmonic audio looks really good, glad you enjoy them!

I also am a musician who plays piano and keyboards, I go to alot of live jazz shows and other concerts. I've played in a jazz orchestra and other bands. So I know how instruments sound, I also went to audio engineering school in Phoenix.
For what it's worth, Dennis Murphy, the owner and designer of Philharmonic Audio, is also a musician. He plays violin, viola, and piano. In addition to his one-man speaker company, he also plays in several orchestras in the Washington, DC area where he lives.

His day job was as an economist with the Federal Trade Commission. When he retired a few years ago, he dove full-time into his home business Philharmonic Audio.

Dennis never had any formal training at speaker design or electronics – he taught himself. He is an accomplished speaker designer and builder for over 30 years.
 
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baronvonellis

Audioholic
That's nice, I'm sure he's a smart guy. Now where would I be able to hear his speakers? He's not even going to be at apona.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Email him and let him know your interested... that's how I got to audition the Phil 3s... he found a customer that was close enough to me and whom was comfortable sharing his gear for an hour. ;)
 
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