Pandaman617

Pandaman617

Senior Audioholic
So given my recent headaches with the Emotiva MC1 (it is working at the moment but the issues it caused made it an easy choice to switspech back to a Denon product) I didn't have very high hopes for the three pairs of A1 Elevation speakers I had ordered a few days after the MC1. All 3 pairs arrived double boxed in typical Emotiva fashion and were securely packed. They have two different grills which are magnetic, the larger grill is meant to be used if placed on top of existing loudspeakers in the bouncy house mode with the smaller more conventional grill meant for on ceiling/wall use. I've never bothered with "reflection" Atmos speakers as the best way I've found to get sound to image from an area in my room has been to simply place a speaker there. I understand this isn't an option for everyone and this is my first post in this section of the forum so my subjective opinions apply to myself and my usage only. Upon unpacking the A1's I discovered the included keyhole mounts don't come from the factory attached to the speaker, they do have. pilot holes drilled, however they require the end user to use a power drill to attach it with the included screws. On further inspection the tweeters appear almost identical to the Air Motion Tweeters that are on the Martin Logan Motion 4i's the A1's replaced. There is a 4" woofer and smaller 5 way binding posts, above these is a toggle labeled "Wall Mount/Reflection." All this appears to do is add a 7KHz 3dB boost when in the reflective mode.

I set the toggle to "wall mount" and placed the front heights at the seem where the wall meets the ceiling in the front of my room, about 7' up, with the top middles placed in the same manner slightly forward of the MLP by about 15" and the top rears were ceiling mounted unlike the FH's and TM's as my room didn't allow the A1's to properly fit on the beam located behind my MLP. The crossover was set to 100hz with a 12dB/octave slope. These are 4ohm nominal speakers but the Emotiva A6 I purchased to solely run my height layer speakers has had no issues keepiIng up with my bed layer, which is powered by a Carver AV705x as well as an Emotiva A3. With all six height layer channels calibrated to 75dB I watched a number of native DTS:X and Atmos films on UHD Blu Ray disc out of my Panasonic UB-9000.

For $897 shipped with tax the A1's do a phenomenal job of accurately placing objects and sound effects above and around me from not only native sources but even 5.1 DD+ sources upmixed using the DSU. I ran the 2014 and 2015 Dolby Atmos demonstration disc and found the helicopter demo and rainstorm demo extremely immersive with the room disappearing around me. As much as I wanted to send these speakers back due to my difficulties with my processor, there is a quantifiable difference in performance and accuracy when compared to using the six Martin Logan Motion 4i's on Monoprice mounts. I will post REW measurements this weekend.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
It was between these and the SVS. The SVS were on sale on Black Friday so I picked them up. I never did a review of them though lol.
 
Pandaman617

Pandaman617

Senior Audioholic
It was between these and the SVS. The SVS were on sale on Black Friday so I picked them up. I never did a review of them though lol.
I was in the same boat, I had just bought an LG C1, Emo MC1 and A6 and was trying to save a few bucks. I still think the SVS’s are amazing but with the military discount I got from Emo and the lower price I couldn’t resist
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
I was in the same boat, I had just bought an LG C1, Emo MC1 and A6 and was trying to save a few bucks. I still think the SVS’s are amazing but with the military discount I got from Emo and the lower price I couldn’t resist
I really like Emotivas speakers and amplifiers. The pre pro as you discovered have issues just too buggy and takes to long to get updates and fixes

But the speaker line gets good reviews and measured well.

And the amplifiers are solid although they are not the bargain they used to be. Except for this new basX line. I bought the 3 channel to drive my new monoprice towers with no sub. And I have to hand it to the bassX it handled those towere well. Didn't even really get warm. For $500 it was a very good buy
 
Pandaman617

Pandaman617

Senior Audioholic
I really like Emotivas speakers and amplifiers. The pre pro as you discovered have issues just too buggy and takes to long to get updates and fixes

But the speaker line gets good reviews and measured well.

And the amplifiers are solid although they are not the bargain they used to be. Except for this new basX line. I bought the 3 channel to drive my new monoprice towers with no sub. And I have to hand it to the bassX it handled those towere well. Didn't even really get warm. For $500 it was a very good buy
I would agree with you. I run an A3 and an A6 along with a Carver AV705x 5 channel. The A3 handles my LRC, the A6 does my height layer speakers and the Carver handles my surround and surround backs. I listened to the A3 on some very demanding speakers like the Mirage M1si’s, M&K S5000’s, Mirage HDT’s, Gallo Acoustics Reference AV towers and a few others in my collection and it didn’t clip or show any signs of running out of juice at elevated volume levels for sustained listening periods.
 
W

Whovous

Audiophyte
How were you able to ceiling mount the A1 using the keyhole mount?
 
W

Whovous

Audiophyte
I drilled a long screw into my ceiling and was able to get the A1 to sit flush against it.
Thanks for the reply.

Are you nervous about the speaker shifting due to vibration of the driver or any other random cause? Gravity will hold a wall mount in place, but a ceiling mount? I plan to hang four A1s from my ceiling but worry I won't be able to get them all to sit snugly on a horizontal keyhole. Perhaps a slight angle downward?
 
Pandaman617

Pandaman617

Senior Audioholic
Thanks for the reply.

Are you nervous about the speaker shifting due to vibration of the driver or any other random cause? Gravity will hold a wall mount in place, but a ceiling mount? I plan to hang four A1s from my ceiling but worry I won't be able to get them all to sit snugly on a horizontal keyhole. Perhaps a slight angle downward?
Not at all. They’ve been sitting in such a manner for 3 weeks now. For $300 they perform exceptionally. I’ll eventually upgrade to the SVS Elevations but I was able to get 3 pairs of the A1’s for $897 shipped with a 10% military discount. Less than $1000 for 3 pairs of speakers with a folded ribbon tweeter isn’t too shabby these days
 
W

Whovous

Audiophyte
Not at all. They’ve been sitting in such a manner for 3 weeks now. For $300 they perform exceptionally. I’ll eventually upgrade to the SVS Elevations but I was able to get 3 pairs of the A1’s for $897 shipped with a 10% military discount. Less than $1000 for 3 pairs of speakers with a folded ribbon tweeter isn’t too shabby these days
I will probably try to do the same thing, but be a lot more nervous about it!
 
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