I didn't hear the SP speakers, but did spend some time in the emerald physics room. They sounded good, but I didn't like the bass, or should I say lack of bass. They supposedly go down to 20hz, but I sure wasn't hearing that on the cd I brought, not even close. I was there on Friday when Chad (the designer) had problems with his source components. Saturday he said he had it set up better, but still not much low bass to my ears. I was asking him how a 15" driver went up to 1khz (if my memory serves me, I think that was the x-over point). He explained that he used pro drivers that have light cones and short excursions. O.K., but how do you get low bass from light cones that don't move too far, in an open baffle? Even with EQ and the cone area of 2 15 inchers, I would think that if you could get 20hz, It wouldn't be a very loud 20hz.
I could be wrong about my theoretical reservations, but bottom line is, I didn't hear much low bass at all, and that's why I personally didn't consider them as a purchase option. Maybe with a good subwoofer...
I should also add that Chad seemed like an honest, smart, and down to earth guy. I'm not saying that he's out to mislead people.
Obviously, I was very impressed with the LS-9 speakers, which have no weaknesses, only glaring strengths, and that's why I got them. 
I'm not sure this is all that appropriate in Danny's circle, but that's totally up to him. Keep it, move it, kill it - I'm OK with it Danny. I'll try to stay as factual and objective as possible.
One correction - the guy from Emerald Physics was Clayton Shaw, who is the owner/designer. Not that price is at all an indicator of sound quality, but in fairness, the AV123 version LS9 is (was) a $4k speaker (WAY underpriced for what it is, now $6k I think), the Emerald Physics $3k, and the SP Revelations are now $20k in "standard" form. Another $1800 buys a supplemental set of panels (not a sub) for the CS2's with 4 more 15" drivers, however he didn't bring them this year. In Clayton Shaw's words, this adds impact, though it doesn't really enable the system to play any lower. So they might come to about $5k including digital crossover, but still requiring multiple amplifiers.
Rocket_Ronny -
I have been lucky enough to hear all three speakers, but under ENTIRELY different conditions, mostly sub optimal, such as hotel rooms (RMAF) and a warehouse (SP). Each of the three systems comes from entirely different ends of the planet, design wise, to achieve results (pure line source with planars, OB dipole/waveguide/compression driver/active digital XO, and transmission line/waveguide/dome). All of them are 2-ways, which is interesting with regards to what you can hear in the coherence of all three. Given the passion, skills, and experience of these designers, each one does many things very special, and are among the best values out there such that you can't go wrong, depending on what you want.
I did not attend the offsite SP Tech party in Denver and much has been said about that demo in the SP Circle that certainly
doesn't need repeating or reinforcement here (please
don't, all you SP guys). They weren't really being demo'd at the hotel much, at least the times I stopped by. I did, however, have a personal demo of an early pair of Mundorf version Revelations for several hours at Bob's shop (a BIG warehouse) a few months ago, with my own gear, and I think it's reasonable to say that the bass they make is simply other worldly. If pipe organ fundamentals and pure bass impact are one of your first priorities, the SP is a very good place to start. A fanatically well engineered and executed waveguide and cost no object crossovers take care of the rest.
The LS9's were set up in a large room at RMAF with the Red Rock tube amplifiers. Again, a lot has been said about this that I can't add much to. In my opinion, they didn't really strut their stuff until Gary brought his Battery Preamp/120 mono's into the mix for a couple of hours one evening. It was a quick setup change, without the lavish attention given to the other room with LS6's. Danny was personally promoting the LS6's in his own room with familiar Dodd gear and setup, room treatments, as well as great material, much of it customer provided. They were letting it all hang out in a small hotel room and the LS's didn't disappoint. Great dynamics, very coherent top to bottom, clean and deep bass, all the good stuff you've been hearing about from Arthurs and now MileHighGuy, among others who have actually heard them in a good environment.
The Emerald Physic CS2's were a totally different breed 'o cat. Not necessarily "better", just different. Again, much has been said in other threads/circles, so you might take a look at those. No one here actually owns them just yet (soon though - see Tweek Geek and Zybar's threads). Big dynamic impact is not what they're about. The naturalness and ease with which they portrayed all kinds of music with was something special though. For me, not being very familiar with OB bass and dipole sound in general other than various Maggies, it was a totally different experience. No room treatments either. Ronny, you have the splendid OB5's, so you know of what I speak (other than the sealed bass part). The Orion faithful would probably say the same thing (but please
don't here). The CS2 uses a waveguide/compression driver for the top, though, so it brings something else to the table I'm not very familiar with. There's much more to come on these in other circles, so stay tuned on another channel.
With all that said, I have both the LS9's and CS2's on order and coming to my listening room hopefully very soon. I'd love to have the Revelations too, at least for comparison, but unfortunately it's now well beyond my price point. Being only an hour or so away from Bob's home base, it would be a lot of fun to try
. What the heck, maybe Rick could bring his ExcelArrays too
(doh, that's another thread). In a few more months, when these speakers are in many more people's hands, in their own listening rooms, there will be something more to talk about with regard to how they sound and might compare. Few will have more than one in their own listening rooms at the same time, so that's really just going to be speculation.
The fun wild card in all this, that is rather exciting to me, is that Danny is working within all of these technologies/approaches at any given time. Just look at what he's turning out for himself and other clients - much more ambitious OB designs, line sources with planars (GR, AV123), new subs (GR), maybe active/DSP XO (AV123?), a waveguide speaker (AV123), very fine high end compact 2-ways (Usher), etc.
The future here is indeed very bright and full of choices for folks who need different strokes in their listening tastes. The excitement comes when Danny and others start integrating these best of breed ideas into more and more unified designs, that are approachable for mere mortals in terms of cost and form factors. Good new stuff is already here with much more to come!
Tom
