The old speakers are old 3-way Yamahas (model ns-6490 I think), circa 1998. They have all black drivers and are not the new ones that have a silver mid and woofer. I bought them back in the day at Best Buy for $100 for the pair. I was using them atop some 24" tall 4" diameter PVC, which are going to be part of DIY stands I am in the process of building.
My receiver is a 100wpc Technics stereo unit which is also from ~1998.
Here is a bit more detail on the EMPs.
The cabinets seem solid to me. When played loudly, you cannot see any vibration, but when I place my hand on top I can feel that is is on and playing. I suspect this is normal, no?
I can't tell if it's a real wood or not, but I can tell you that the wood pattern on the two towers is not the same. This either means that it's real wood, or the pattern has been offset so that they don't appear identical. It looks like real wood, even when my face is only 5 inches away.
Highs are great, as expected. Mids are also quite improved over the old speakers (The midrange driver on the Yamahas is a joke, in my opinion). For example, the electric violin solo at the end of John Tesh's Live at Red Rocks track 4 - "Barcelona" is amazing. I'm very familiar with this track as played through a variety of speakers and headphones, so I know what to expect. On the EMPs it's just terrific; sharp and precise. I know it's an often used cliche, but I think I heard things I've never heard before in that recording.
The lower end is impressive. I think my initial reaction that there is *almost* too much bass came from unfamiliarity with how my music is supposed to sound. For all of my CD listening I turned off my subwoofer. I think it's true that that "bottom octave" may be missing, but I can say for sure that all the low octaves down to that bottom one are definitely there. I would be totally comfortable using these two speakers without a sub. For movies I'm glad I have the sub, though.
I've noticed with the new speakers that I can more easily tell the poorly mixed music from the well mixed music. What I mean by that is I can now tell if the musical transitions are smooth or not, if there is hiss in the recording, and if the dynamic range is full and dynamic, or if it feels like the top or bottom end are missing. You could say that these E5Ti's play the music as it really is, without covering up imperfections in the recording. With certain tracks it's easy to get a mental picture of the musician's fingers plucking away at the guitar strings.
Several times while listening I found myself just listening to the music instead of trying to listen to the speakers. I guess it's a good thing that it's the sound that I hear and not the speakers. Obviously the speakers create the sound, but they don't seem to be "getting in the way," if you will.
One last thing that I noticed is that with these EMP's, unlike with the old speakers, when I listen at loud volumes, it's not as though it's annoying
or hurts, or even seems loud. When you play smaller speakers at high volumes, they just make you say "that's loud, turn it down." But with these
EMP's, the loudness just seems like a large powerful presence in the room, but doesn't annoy you. It's a wonderful thing.
My budget for front speakers was originally less than $200 and I wasn't even really in the market yet. I was going to put off buying speakers for at least 6 months. But considering the limited time offer, I talked to my wife and I decided to take the extra amount out of savings. I can say I'm totally pleased with that decision; I would not have bought these speakers at full price. I can't compare these to multi-thousand dollar speakers because I've never heard any. With the way they sound, the way the look, and the great price I am totally satisfied.
