Emotiva Launches new Pro Website and Active airmotiv Monitor Loudspeakers

[admin]

Emotiva launched their pro line at CEDIA 2011. To kick off the brand, they released three powered two-way monitor speakers designed for discriminating audiophiles in the home and studio environment. The airmotiv6 ($799/pair), airmotiv5 ($599/pair) and the airmotiv4 ($399/pair). All three models feature their own proprietary ribbon high frequency driver and bi-amplification with active crossovers as well as both unbalanced and balanced input connections. All speakers come with a 5 year transferable warranty and a free 30 day in-home trial period. These speakers look pretty awesome and we look forward to conducting a full review and host of measurements.

Discuss "Emotiva Launches new Pro Website and Active airmotiv Monitor Loudspeakers" here. Read the article.

 

[GranteedEV]

Hopin they sound good, but that looks somewhat like tweeter bloom around 3khz. Might be a bit bright in a reverberant space.

 

[cwall99]

Wond'ring aloud

Over the past few years, despite never having seen or heard an Emotiva product, I've come to be impressed by the reviews for their gear I read here and elsewhere and by their extremely moderate prices.

OK, Cheap prices.

I'm considering, so my wife doesn't kill me, getting an Emotiva Pre-Pro and using it to be the front end of my home theater gear. The idea being that it's a lot cheaper to buy a good pre-pro than it is to buy a whole new high-end receiver.

Anyhow, I digress.

Just one thing confuses me about the design of these monitors (and it's probably more a testament to my own ignorance than anything else): why, when just about everything I've ever read says that bass output requires more power than the treble at the same SPLs, do you they split the power output pretty much evenly down the middle (25 watts for bass and 25 watts for treble, for instance).

Just wondering...

 

[smith.elliott37]

Hi,

Looks good but you can get it cheaper even after playing the 7 different game with qmsaudio.com/en
The price for the "Airmotiv5" = Q5 is 2500CNY = 390USD on taobao.com you can search QMS Q5 for example.
The price for the "Airmotiv4" = Q4 is 1850CNY = 290USD
The price for the "Airmotiv6" = Q6 is 3800CNY = 595USD, there is a picture of the back-plate on QMSaudio.com if you want to compare.

Nice margin Emotiva; I am sure you make you own QC and select all the components yourself...
E

 

[ratso]

emotiva pro states on their website that they have no authorized dealers. so you would be a scam.

 

[dkane360]

emotiva pro states on their website that they have no authorized dealers. so you would be a scam.

If you go to the first link he posted, you can see the airmotiv speakers are the exact same speakers that qms makes. Manufacturing in China is commonplace and necessary in most industries in order to be competitive, but on the other hand, using a Chinese design and rebranding it is a shame

 

[avliner]

To my eyes, they're exactly the same ones though.
I wouldn't consider it a scam, but a shame, as a matter of fact.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If you go to the first link he posted, you can see the airmotiv speakers are the exact same speakers that qms makes. Manufacturing in China is commonplace and necessary in most industries in order to be competitive, but on the other hand, using a Chinese design and rebranding it is a shame

Nothing wrong with re-branding, but keeping premium prices for 3rd party designed and made product is a bit greedy imo. Yes, I know emotive would probably say they "modified" it to their specs.. still I'd get it if the pair would cost $100/150/200 accordingly

 

[dkane360]

Nothing wrong with re-branding, but keeping premium prices for 3rd party designed and made product is a bit greedy imo. Yes, I know emotive would probably say they "modified" it to their specs.. still I'd get it if the pair would cost $100/150/200 accordingly

I just expected more coming from emotiva

 

[gene]

Hmm. I thought the new Emo speakers had a familiar look. I will call them and question them about this. Perhaps its a joint operation between both brands.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... These speakers look pretty awesome and we look forward to conducting a full review and host of measurements.
...

Sounds interesting Make sure you measure at least 90dB and higher.

 

[smith.elliott37]

emotiva pro states on their website that they have no authorized dealers. so you would be a scam.

Hi,
Sure I am, but please let me spell it for you:
open your preferred internet browser and input qmsaudio.com/eng.
go to pc hifi (not studio monitor...) and check the q6 pictures (amplifier plate in particular).
Then with the very same preferred internet browser open another tab and input taobao.com
(this is the equivalent of Ebay in China) sorry it is in Chinese but I assume kindly(?) that you can see pictures, so input qms q5 in the search field (big horizontal rectangle on top of the page) press Enter then open the first item.
make sure you you brows down the page since you are likely to get a whole batch of information that Emotiva has not published yet and maybe pictures of the contest that took place to select the official TV monitors in China.

I am not judging the whole Consumer Electronic business that is manufacturing in China.
I just share the information that some might find interesting.
I thought the people interested in the Lexicon BD-30 Blu-ray Player (Oppo BDP-83 Clone) with a 3000 USD premium would alos be interested in these speakers.

BTW if you are after cheap but effective monitor Behringer B2031 (active or not!) are an excellent choice (if Genelec 2030 lookalike), they are the new NS10.



Mickael

 

[gene]

I spoke with Dan Laufman, President of Emotiva about this.

Here is the whole story:

QMS is the local market brand name of their manufacturing partner in China. Emotiva developed a version of this monitor product for their exclusive use under the Emotiva Pro brand. It was a brand new project for QMS, and they had already opened some of the tooling. Emotiva loved the look, so they purchased rights to use it, and they have exclusivity for the USA.

Also, please note that the Emotiva units are voiced quite a bit differently and subject to a completely different quality standard than the locally produced versions, as Emotiva's QC standards are very high. Also, the prices shown for QMS are for local market China sale. A consumer trying to buy these in China to import them to the USA while paying duties, confirming that the China made variant is RoHS compliant and will even be allowed to enter the USA, would be cost prohibitive and very difficult. Then, what does the consumer do if it breaks? Send it back to China to some trading company?

What they do with variants of this product in their local China market is out of Emotiva's control.

Remember, Emotiva buys them by the thousands, literally! Emotiva certifies them for safety compliance, ships them to the USA, pays freight, duty, and customs fees. Emotiva does incoming quality testing, etc. They then ship them to you FREE with a 30 day in home trial, and back it with a 5 years parts and labor warranty. This is something you can't get by buying a variant from China.

BTW, Dan also spilled the beans about some new products coming down the pipe. They have a line of new high end monitors coming out that are COMPLETELY different in design and a step above the entry level Airmotiv models, along with two very special studio subs that are also 100% proprietary and made especially for the monitors. Also, they have a brand new pro DAC that is completely theirs.

I think this just goes to show, get the whole story before crying conspiracy on a public forum especially when you're a new poster on the site. thanks.

 

[its phillip]

Fair enough. It honestly wouldn't cost THAT much to have a taobao agent buy them and ship them to you though...but like you said, you certainly wouldn't get any support if you had any issues, and you aren't getting the same product that Emotiva will be offering. I'm a member of some other forums (non-a/v related) where people buy crap from China all the time on taobao (and other websites) via agents. You just pay them for the item + a small fee/commission and they buy your item and send it to you.

 

[smith.elliott37]

Hi,
I have been traveling in China for many years now so this is to me the expected answer and it is fair play in OEM/ODM/trading business. I, for one, did it for supermarkets in another life.

Since I love to quote myself here what I said:
I am sure you make you own QC
Now let's see the answer from Emotiva:
completely different quality standard [...] Emotiva's QC standards are very high [...] Emotiva does incoming quality testing, etc. check, same assembly line, same QC apparatus, same core design... IQC? an Emotiva invention everyone knows it.

It was a brand new project for QMS, and they had already opened some of the tooling. Emotiva loved the look, so they purchased rights to use it, and they have exclusivity for the USA. i.e. the products already existed (launched last year /early this year in China) Emotiva bough the right for US market, check. Tekzone, sorry QMS have been developing monitors for at least 3 or 4 years I think... but that, how could I know?

I really love to quote myself:
select all the components yourself...

Emotiva units are voiced quite a bit differently This one is sure, the name written at the bottom of the published measurement graph ensures that money was spent to change a few caps and resistors in the active Xover (and maybe the port length) on the original design. Also the directivity might have been taken into account at least as far has the tweeter can go (-20dB at 20k at 30deg + the power response around 1.5k are nothing to write home about).

confirming that the China made variant is RoHS compliant and will even be allowed to enter the USA, would be cost prohibitive and very difficult [...] Emotiva certifies them for safety compliance biiipp! RoHs and CE for example are self declared, external test by Tuv is not compulsory. Actually it is more and more difficult to find a (descent) factory that accepts to make none-Rohs compliant devices for fear of contaminating the rest of the lines and the cost of the double inventory for the components.

Remember, Emotiva buys them by the thousands, literally! [...] ships them to the USA, pays freight, duty, and customs fees With the TEU reaching lows (less than 1000 usd) and the taxes less than 7% depending how you tick the forms especially if Emotiva repacks them in the US...

I agree however than the services offered by Emotiva are compensated by the bigger margins they get by selling direct to the customer...

BTW, no Chinese factory will work with less than 30% margin (including the funny dollar rate and the tax rebate for export) this amount corresponds to roughly 20 to 25% of the final retail price...

E

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I understand both sides of this "story", but one thing is still bothering me - the price - In my opinion is uncharacteristically high for in general great value company like Emotiva. We all know they make ALL of their products in China so no surpises if Emotiv monitor have Chinees [strike]tween [/strike] ...[strike]brother [/strike]... cousin

But calling 6" active monitor for $800/each "entry level" - sorry - this smell like crud, like publishing 120db scale and smoothed measurements ...

Sorry, it just doesn't look to me like the best thing since sliced bread:

Like I said before - I'd still be interested in these products, given good Emotiva QC, CS and return policy, but at half price or less

 

[gene]

I understand both sides of this "story", but one thing is still bothering me - the price - In my opinion is uncharacteristically high for in general great value company like Emotiva. We all know they make ALL of their products in China so no surpises if Emotiv monitor have Chinees [strike]tween [/strike] ...[strike]brother [/strike]... cousin

But calling 6" active monitor for $800/each "entry level" - sorry - this smell like crud, like publishing 120db scale and smoothed measurements ...

Sorry, it just doesn't look to me like the best thing since sliced bread:

Like I said before - I'd still be interested in these products, given good Emotiva QC, CS and return policy, but at half price or less

Actually its a 60dB scale and likely NOT smoothed. The measurement looks gated to me hence why it cuts off below 300Hz.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Actually its a 60dB scale and likely NOT smoothed. The measurement looks gated to me hence why it cuts off below 300Hz.

yes it is, it meant this one:

 

[gene]

Hi,
I have been traveling in China for many years now so this is to me the expected answer and it is fair play in OEM/ODM/trading business. I, for one, did it for supermarkets in another life.

Since I love to quote myself here what I said:
I am sure you make you own QC
Now let's see the answer from Emotiva:
completely different quality standard [...] Emotiva's QC standards are very high [...] Emotiva does incoming quality testing, etc. check, same assembly line, same QC apparatus, same core design... IQC? an Emotiva invention everyone knows it.

It was a brand new project for QMS, and they had already opened some of the tooling. Emotiva loved the look, so they purchased rights to use it, and they have exclusivity for the USA. i.e. the products already existed (launched last year /early this year in China) Emotiva bough the right for US market, check. Tekzone, sorry QMS have been developing monitors for at least 3 or 4 years I think... but that, how could I know?

I really love to quote myself:
select all the components yourself...

Emotiva units are voiced quite a bit differently This one is sure, the name written at the bottom of the published measurement graph ensures that money was spent to change a few caps and resistors in the active Xover (and maybe the port length) on the original design. Also the directivity might have been taken into account at least as far has the tweeter can go (-20dB at 20k at 30deg + the power response around 1.5k are nothing to write home about).

confirming that the China made variant is RoHS compliant and will even be allowed to enter the USA, would be cost prohibitive and very difficult [...] Emotiva certifies them for safety compliance biiipp! RoHs and CE for example are self declared, external test by Tuv is not compulsory. Actually it is more and more difficult to find a (descent) factory that accepts to make none-Rohs compliant devices for fear of contaminating the rest of the lines and the cost of the double inventory for the components.

Remember, Emotiva buys them by the thousands, literally! [...] ships them to the USA, pays freight, duty, and customs fees With the TEU reaching lows (less than 1000 usd) and the taxes less than 7% depending how you tick the forms especially if Emotiva repacks them in the US...

I agree however than the services offered by Emotiva are compensated by the bigger margins they get by selling direct to the customer...

BTW, no Chinese factory will work with less than 30% margin (including the funny dollar rate and the tax rebate for export) this amount corresponds to roughly 20 to 25% of the final retail price...

E

WE get it. Emotiva is charging a markup for essentially a very similar product that QMS is offering. Considering that Emotiva is fully servicing and warrantying the product and providing FREE shipping and a 30 day in-home trial, and not charging a 700% markup like Lexicon was doing with the Oppo player, it's really not an issue worthy of continually being repeated. This is especially true since Emotiva has actually made product changes and not just used an exact clone.

It's time to move on and let others whom have actually listened to this product share their experiences...

Please realize that if your sole purpose was to register an account on this forum for an expose against Emotiva or any other manufacturer, your account won't remain active very long. I suggest reading our forum rules again before making more posts.

 

[smith.elliott37]

I am not against Audioholics' announcer Emotiva in particular, sorry for been so frank and informed about this one.
I thought I was informative in explaining what the average reader/consumer was paying for and was reading as marketing sugar-coating.
E
Pursuing the truth in audio & video...