[pianopiggy]

 i am new to audiocircle, but felt moved to post a thought or two about my new speakers.over the years i have owned several speakers including maggie 2.7qr's, altec 604d's, jbl d128's with 075 bullett tweeters, green mountain audio diamontes, james symphony 10's, apogee duetta signatures, etc. The emerald physics, to my ear, are light years ahead of the others. out of the shipping container, they sound awful and take 4-5 hours to begin breaking in. after that, look out! bass is plentiful, tight, and deep. not the subwoofer booming type, rather well articulated bass, but low and controlled. the mids and highs are very exact, and the width and depth of the soundstage are simply amazing!For the money or probably even several grand more, i dont think these can be beat.i am currently using a rega apollo cdp, art sla 1 200 watt amp for the low end [purchased from clayton at emerald physics for a mere $205], a rotel rb 1070 class d amp [which i am going to replace with a proceed amp 2], and a cary sl 98 pre. no subwoofer needed at all!if you are in the market for new speakers in the $3000 range, defineley consider these. btw, i am just a private audiohead and have no affiliation with any particular company. thanks for reading,dan

[zybar]

Welcome Dan.

I loved the speakers so much at RMAF that I not only bought a pair, but became a dealer.   aa

George

[mr_bill]

Welcome Dan.

I loved the speakers so much at RMAF that I not only bought a pair, but became a dealer.   aa

George

George,
What speakers are in your main system and how do the Emerald Physic compare?
Do you still have the Vandersteen 5's?
This C2 is a very interesting speaker!
Bill

[rockadanny]

I am not familiar with bi-amping. If you use two different amps, do they need to have the same input sensitivity and gain? Without using exactly the same amps this seems like a very difficult task to accomplish well. And is it necessary to bi-amp if you have a single, decently powerful amp to begin with (such as my AVA Fet Valve Ultra 550)?

[MarkR7]

I am not familiar with bi-amping. If you use two different amps, do they need to have the same input sensitivity and gain? Without using exactly the same amps this seems like a very difficult task to accomplish well. And is it necessary to bi-amp if you have a single, decently powerful amp to begin with (such as my AVA Fet Valve Ultra 550)?

Yes, the CS2s need to biamped, or need to be driven by 4 unique amplification channels.  Emerald Physics accomplishes the balancing of channels to the drivers by providing an active crossover, a Behringer unit, with the speakers.

[zybar]

I am not familiar with bi-amping. If you use two different amps, do they need to have the same input sensitivity and gain? Without using exactly the same amps this seems like a very difficult task to accomplish well. And is it necessary to bi-amp if you have a single, decently powerful amp to begin with (such as my AVA Fet Valve Ultra 550)?

You must bi-amp the speakers.  It is not an option, they are designed to be bi-amped since they don't have any physical crossovers.

If your amps have different sensitivity and/or gain, you can adjust the gain on the outputs of the DCX-2496 to compensate for the differences.  If the amps are very different in sensitivity and gain, you might want to try to even them out in the analog domain instead of the digital domain.   

In terms of difficulty...while it isn't as easy as plugging your amp in, it isn't incredibly hard either.  Your Emerald Physics dealer or Clayton (if buying direct) will be able to help and guide you if needed. 

I am personally trying many different amp combinations (all ss, all tube, ss/tube mix) so that I can help my customers (and AC members) as much as possible.

George

[TomS]

Mark is correct.  You also can adjust the relative sensitivity of the upper and lower outputs with the Behringer, as long as you can measure it somehow (out the individual outputs or SPL meter) or are comfortable just doing it by ear.  Tom

[TomS]

Emerald Physics also offers a total turn key package with two relatively inexpensive ART amplifiers, complete with cabling, allowing you to get started without learning the intricacies of bi-amping/matching.

[zybar]

Mark is correct.  You also can adjust the relative sensitivity of the upper and lower outputs with the Behringer, as long as you can measure it somehow (out the individual outputs or SPL meter) or are comfortable just doing it by ear.  Tom

You can measure things in a few different ways:

1.  Using a Radio Shack meter
2.  Measuring voltage at the speaker binding posts with a meter
3.  By ear

The first two ways are my starting point and I tweak by ear for final results (based on bi-amping other speakers). 

George

[zybar]

Emerald Physics also offers a total turn key package with two relatively inexpensive ART amplifiers, complete with cabling, allowing you to get started without learning the intricacies of bi-amping/matching.

Yup.

I will be getting this in as well (thanks for reminding me Tom) so that I can let people know how it sounds.

George

[marklivia]

Does this setup necessitate using a preamp to adjust volume?

[zybar]

Does this setup necessitate using a preamp to adjust volume?

You will need some way to adjust the volume.

This can be done via your source (if it has volume control) or preamp.

You can also have your DCX-2496 modified to give you preamp controls.

George