[zane9]

Mods, please move this post to wherever you think it should go. Sorry to post here, but...

I have tried to search the forums to see if any of my fellow Circle-eans have posted comments or questions on the ERA line of speakers, from Signal Path: www.signalpathint.com

But I can't seem to enter ERA as a search term on its own: the search faithfully returns 100s of posts due to the extraction of the letters "era" embedded in longer words.

Not sure how to resolve this, so that I may have a better search result. Thanks for any advice!

[Carlman]

I have the ERA design 5 monitor speakers and I think they combine the best of many things.  It's one of the few speakers that I read some reviews online and almost completely agreed with them when I sat down and demo'd them in person.  I said "Sold!" in about 15-20 minutes of listening.

They have a really nice midrange presence and don't over-hype the highs... yet they are still very revealing, accurate and extended.  I think they bumped up the bass a little, which I actually like but don't expect deep bass.  That's one area where I didn't agree with the reviews.  They're an impressive $1,k monitor amongst many $1,k monitors, though.  If you like a little more 'air' or 'forwardness' in your presentation, you may want to try others... But these seemed to be as uncolored in the mids and highs as any monitor I've heard.  They seem to have a sort-of Brittish-sound with their excellent PRAT and realistic mids but not many faults I associate with Brittish designs such as being overly polite or weak/flabby bass.

I hope that helps a little.  What I can tell you for sure is that I enjoy them for a family room system with a Focal powered sub.  I will be using a Musical Fidelity x-150 integrated to power them long-term but currently they are being driven by a McIntosh C220 pre and MC402 amp while my sound room is getting built.

BTW, I ran into the same issue doing searches... in the end, since I could hear (and buy) them locally, it didn't really matter... but good luck getting the search criteria issue resolved.

-C

[Mortsnets]

"ERA Design" seemed to work for me in the search box.

[zane9]

Thanks, Carlman. A dealer in Toronto has just taken on the line, and I plan to listen to the design 4, which seem suitable for a 5.1 setup in a small-ish listening environment, powered by a Cambridge Audio 540R receiver. (I'm a British audio fan!) The ERA reviews I have read are uniformly positive, and I'm looking forward to hearing them.

Doubtful if I can solve the search problem, but thought I'd ask!

Z.

[zane9]

"ERA Design" seemed to work for me in the search box.

Thanks, Mortsnets. That worked! I forgot the " " around the search term. 

If this is the suitable forum, all comments on ERA much appreciated.

[Carlman]

I was originally thinking of getting the 4's but my room is fairly large.  I don't think you can go wrong with them.  There weren't many used pairs available when I last checked... but that may be worth checking out also.

Best of luck!

-Carl

[Double Ugly]

Hi Zane,

For future reference, such inquiries are normally best made in Audio Central.

It's fine by me if one of the Critic's Circle facilitators wants to move it there.  It appears you have your answer, but the likelihood of others benefiting would probably be increased if it were moved to a more heavily-traveled circle.

Regards,

Double Ugly
Facilitator/Audio Central

[zane9]

Hi Zane,

For future reference, such inquiries are normally best made in Audio Central.

It's fine by me if one of the Critic's Circle facilitators wants to move it there.  It appears you have your answer, but the likelihood of others benefiting would probably be increased if it were moved to a more heavily-traveled circle.

Thanks, DU. I certainly have my search question answered. For future reference, if I were looking for comments on a line of speakers, would that go into the Audio Central forum or in this one? After all this time as an AC member I should know the answer...but I'm uncertain.

Z.

[TheChairGuy]

Now in it's proper place ensconsed in Audio Central...

TheChairGuy (John)
Co-Facilitator/Critic's Circle

Hi Zane,

For future reference, such inquiries are normally best made in Audio Central.

It's fine by me if one of the Critic's Circle facilitators wants to move it there.  It appears you have your answer, but the likelihood of others benefiting would probably be increased if it were moved to a more heavily-traveled circle.

Regards,

Double Ugly
Facilitator/Audio Central

[satfrat]

Hi Zane,

For future reference, such inquiries are normally best made in Audio Central.

It's fine by me if one of the Critic's Circle facilitators wants to move it there.  It appears you have your answer, but the likelihood of others benefiting would probably be increased if it were moved to a more heavily-traveled circle.

Thanks, DU. I certainly have my search question answered. For future reference, if I were looking for comments on a line of speakers, would that go into the Audio Central forum or in this one? After all this time as an AC member I should know the answer...but I'm uncertain.

Z.

Speaker reviews is for speaker reviews and would have been an appropriate place to put a ERA review, had you done one that is.   You were asking general questions which are better answered in Audio Central.  

Cheers,
Robin

[Mortsnets]

The Design 4's are definitely on my intersting speakers list (the 5's are over my budget).

Have you seen the following reviews:
http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/107era/ (era design 4 with subwoofer)
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0606/nearfield12.htm (with other small speakers)
http://www.stereomojo.com/ERAvsSILVERLINE%20REVIEW/ERA_SilverlineReview.htm (vs silverline minuet)

also reviewed in Absolute Sound a while back I think.

[Double Ugly]

Hi Zane,

For future reference, such inquiries are normally best made in Audio Central.

It's fine by me if one of the Critic's Circle facilitators wants to move it there.  It appears you have your answer, but the likelihood of others benefiting would probably be increased if it were moved to a more heavily-traveled circle.

Thanks, DU. I certainly have my search question answered. For future reference, if I were looking for comments on a line of speakers, would that go into the Audio Central forum or in this one? After all this time as an AC member I should know the answer...but I'm uncertain.

Z.

Speaker reviews is for speaker reviews and would have been an appropriate place to put a ERA review, had you done one that is.  You were asking general questions which are better answered in Audio Central. 

Cheers,
Robin

Robin's answer is pretty much dead-on, Zane.  The only thing I'll add (which is obvious, I suppose) is that if the speaker line in question has a circle here, I'd go there for comments.  Otherwise, yes, Audio Central is the place to pose general questions about speakers and pretty much everything else that's audio related.

Thanks, Robin. 

[Turnandcough]

I have yet to read a negative review on any of the Era models however...
Based on the reviews and their nice design I had my eyes on the D4s for quite a while. It wasn't a question of price it's just that I was afraid the D5s would load my "difficult" living room with bass. I had demoed them and had specifically requested that the salesperson put on something with lots of bass(Holly Cole) just to see how they would handle it. Just as expected - even in an acoustically "perfect" room the bass was just too much for my taste - I could only imagine how it would sound in my untreated room. The D4s were out that day so I couldn't do an A/B comparison. A few days later I borrowed them (D4s) to try out at home. I had high expectations figuring that they should be just the right combination of small form factor, nice design and good sound without too much bass - big disappointment. Besides the really nice top end, on my 75w/ch Cambridge amp, they just weren't happening. As much as I wanted to like these speakers to me they sounded dull and lifeless. Was I expecting too much from such a small speaker or was their low sensitivity(84dB) the problem? Could be. However I did try a pair of 9 1/2" tall Proac Tablette 8s(86dB) on the same amp and it was a whole different ball game. Whole different price range too - unfortunately.
I even have and old pair of 250$, cheapish looking,  PSB Alpha B1s that, in my opinion, in my room, in my system, run circles around the 600$ D4s.
But don't take my word for it.     

[Carlman]

Oh yes... power... thanks for that reminder..
They do need a lot of current.  The bigger the power, the higher the satisfaction.  I had the Musical Fidelity X-150 powering them and they were pretty good.. I think of the X-150 as a nice amp but nothing special.  I then switched to the McIntosh MC 402 amp and C220 preamp and things really came alive.  They love power.  More=better in this case.

When I heard them in the demo, they were powered by a receiver and that combo sounded weak.

I would think they'd sound pretty lackluster on 75w Cambridge... If you get a chance to hear them powered by something obsenely large, please give them another listen.  I promise you it is a metamorphisis.

-C