I have been receiving inquiries about the Emerald Physics speakers that we used at the Venetian in Las Vegas at CES 2008. I want to preface this post by noting that until the show, I had not heard the speakers. I had heard good things about them, but really knew little about them.
The room at the Venetian became available to us when Rick Schultz of Virtual Dynamics called to say that they would be unable to attend CES and that he had a room at the Venetian available. I said "give me 30-minutes" and I will call you back. I called everyone I knew and scrambled to put a room together, as we already had a room reserved at Alexis Park as part of THE Show.
The Emerald Physics speakers were recommended by one of our dealers, who is also an Emerald Physics dealer and had the Class D Wyred 4 Sound amplifier (4CH) all set for use with the speakers. Clayton Shaw, owner of Emerald Physics was a real gentleman and agreed to provide us with the use of a special pair of his speakers that were already going to L.V. to be used as static display. They were finished in an atypical Ruby Red finish which I found quite striking. The 4CH Class D Wyred 4 Sound amp was also available and was an excellent fit for the bi-amped Emerald Physic speakers. The amp provided 2 x 350W for the woofers and 2 x 150W for the tweeters. A behringer digital EQ was used for both room EQ, active crossover and ultimately some degree of DSP.
Now I will admit, I was not initially crazy about the notion of an A-D/D-A stage (in the behringer) as part of the digital EQ/crossover. We were using the modified Transporter as digital source and Redpoint TT paired with our SWP 9.0SE as phono stage. The LS used was our LS 36.5 with external dual-mono tube rectified and tube regulated PS 36.5.
The beauty of the Emerald Physics speakers, in my opinion, is their ability to do away with room effects due to both their flexible electronic EQ as well as the very nature of dipole, open baffle speakers with the use of a compression driver tweeter with wave-guide. It isn't a 'horn' speaker as such, but there is a decided sweet spot for ideal listening. It is not a narrow sweet spot, but the best sound is achieved with the speakers directly towed in to the listener. This allows for the listener receiving the first incidence of the soundwave, also alleviating room effects. I am not a speaker designer, so will shut up here before I speak outside of the lines.
How do they sound? Well, they are dynamic, lively, intimate, powerful, full-range and simply FUN to listen to. Bass response is deep, tight and very controlled. The highs are very extended, fast, controlled and dynamic. The level of micro-dynamics and micro-detail allow for a very intimate and 'live' sound.
As with any speaker, they will only output what they are fed. The better the upstream electronics, the better they will sound. I do NOT feel however, that these $3K/pr. speakers were in ANY way a bottleneck in our show system. I was VERY pleased with our entire system sound and we received much positive attention from press, other manufacturers and other attendees.
For the record, the Red speakers ARE mine now, thank you very much!
. I also have no business interests in Emerald Physics, except that I want to give credit where credit is due. Clayton Shaw of Emerald Physics has broken new ground in terms of performance, value and engineering and these are all qualities that we at MWI strive to provide with our own electronic designs.
I DO plan to investigate mods for the Behringer crossover, at least on my personal unit and I will share my experiences. If I am right, a cost-effective mod to the Behringer will wring even more sonic improvements from the speakers. More on this later...stay tuned.
Net net, if you are considering the Emerald Physic speakers, I would recommend BUYING, not waiting, as I can think of nothing better for $3K/pr in the way of high-performance speakers.
Thanks,
Dan W.
