[pert]

Hello,
I am almost completely intrigued by comments about CS2.
I hope to clear further up the ideas, maybe someone is able to answer the following.
What are the characteristics that other speakers can rival to the Emerald Physics CS2 and what that they can't?
I mean other speakers from the same and from the above price range...

Regards

[Affordable$$Audio]

Pert:
From a conversation I had with Walter of Underwood, the Emerald Physics are quite possibly a paradigm shift in speakers.  The TAS review hopefully will illuminate some answers to your question.

[TomS]

Though there have been many comments posted on the specific sound, a couple things strike me most about them. 

The first, which is what caused me to buy on impulse (rare for me), was that no matter what music I threw at them, I could thoroughly connect with it.  They didn't have any "holes" so to speak.  They brought out enough in each genre to enjoy the performance without just homogenizing the sound to make it "pleasant".  After living with them for several months, that is still true.  I find myself more often listening for pleasure rather than constantly searching for how to make them "better".  I'll still do that, but it doesn't make or break my listening sessions.

The second aspect remains how deceptively dynamic they are.  By appearances and with the driver complement they just don't look like they would crave big power music (as in "give me more, I can take it"), in the way a big 7' line source like LS9's, panels like Maggie 3.6r/20.1, full range Dynaudio's, or maybe SP Tech Revs would (and do).  I am continually amazed at how they deliver the goods, low bass and all... and I'm even a pipe organ aficionado.  Those other speakers do that too, but mostly at higher price points.

I wouldn't go so far to say they represent a "paradigm shift" of some sort, but I do find myself listening differently and consistently getting more from the music.  I consider myself shifted and frankly, I like it that way 

Tom

[jaspal kallar]

I was wondering (curious) what room sizes the CS2's have been used in?

My room is quite small, around 12.5'x14.5'. The clearance from the front wall to my current speakers is around 3'.  The side wall clearance is 3' for the left speaker and 6' foot for the right speaker.

  jaspal.

[ASi_TEK]

My experience with the CS-2's is they sound the best in medium to large size rooms. In a 13'x19' room they needed more room to breathe I thought. In a 22'x26' room they are performing alot better and more larger spacious and dynamic sound and lower/better bass. Hope this helps.

[mca]

In a 13'x19' room they needed more room to breathe

This concerns me, as my room is 14'x18'.

[opaqueice]

I haven't heard the Emerald's, so I have no opinion on them (other than being very intrigued). 

I was wondering what folks here - especially those with some experience with other open baffle speakers - think of this comment (and the others in this thread):

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1432015#post1432015

Here's a taste:

My own uninformed opinion as to why the Emerald Physics OB offering was so well received is because there were a ton of people who had never heard a reasonably well executed FULL RANGE open baffle set up. Most of the people commenting were high dog, monkey coffin listeners, and those, sound nothing like OB. Second, the Emerald is about the only commercial offering I can think of that addressed employing open baffle response for the lower register/bass in the design; the Bastanis had similar approbation at these shows, but is in my mind, an essentially flawed design in that it uses sealed drivers for bass. The money zone in OB sonics is <1500Hz, as anyone whom has heard this likely will readily agree.

[zybar]

In a 13'x19' room they needed more room to breathe

This concerns me, as my room is 14'x18'.

I don't think you need to be concerned MCA.

I have tried the CS2's in three different rooms in my house and I was able to get very good sound in the smallest room which was roughly 13'x20'.

BTW, what full range speakers won't generally sound better in a bigger room?   aa

IN your room would you have the speakers on the short or long wall?

George

[mca]

Speakers along the short wall. GIK traps on front wall, corners and 1st reflection points.

[zybar]

Speakers along the short wall. GIK traps on front wall, corners and 1st reflection points.

I am pretty confident you will be fine with that setup.

Having them close to the side walls doesn't seem to negatively impact them.

George

[OrJazzM]

Has anyone tried the CS2 with the Sig 30.2 on the compression tweeters?

[zybar]

Has anyone tried the CS2 with the Sig 30.2 on the compression tweeters?

I would love to.

Now if somebody would just lend me a Sig 30.2...

George

[Russell Dawkins]

It seems to me the Winsome Labs Mouse is the poor man's Sig 30!

[TomS]

I've had mine in both a 13x24x8 and 13x19x8 room with great success using the different distance settings on the DCX.  Proximity to side walls is a non-issue.  Mine are 1' away from the edge.

In regards to the OP's comments on noob's to OB bass.  Fair enough, but it shouldn't take anything away from what EP has accomplished.  Though I haven't lived with them, I've heard Orions and Nao II's, among others, and even in that context the CS2 is a very special system.  Contrary to the presumptuousness of the diy poster, CS2 buyers are coming out of a wide range of speaker types box, panel, partial OB, all types - Vandy, Merlin, Maggie, Nola, etc.  There aren't a lot of affordable full range OB's out there, so I suppose it's true not many have heard a good one, but most of these buyers are experienced and quite discriminating nonetheless.  Are they the best speakers in the market - no.  Are they taking share away from box speakers by providing an accessible low cost full range OB speaker that is very enjoyable - absolutely.  Keep 'em coming Clayton, and we'll enjoy them in our ignorance 

[opaqueice]

Are they taking share away from box speakers by providing an accessible low cost full range OB speaker that is very enjoyable - absolutely.  Keep 'em coming Clayton, and we'll enjoy them in our ignorance 

One of the interesting things I took away from that thread is the idea that a decent but affordable full-range open baffle could really take off and go mainstream.  Seems like the Emeralds might be it, but - without adding too much to the cost - I wonder if the design could be improved.  The following comment (from that same thread) might be worth considering:

The system itself sounded very over-EQ'ed, with an unnatural frequency balance and no sense of depth, perspective, or stage ambience at all. Dynamics weren't as good I was hoping it would be - the HF was pretty harsh and strained much of the time, and the mids were murky. Combining a big 15" driver with a little small-format horn tweeter is not going to be easy to do, even with 24 dB/octave crossovers - both drivers are working at the absolute edge of the working range, and it sounded it.

If the speaker had a proper midrange that would have made all the difference - the 15-inchers could have been dumped around 200~300 Hz, and the 1" compression driver could have been crossed at 2.5 kHz or higher. The PR170 or any number of other pro mids would have been the obvious choice, and the system would have required much less EQ than it must have had. Much more headroom, better imaging, more relaxed sound, and much clearer midrange.

I honestly don't know why they tried to combine a very mundane-sounding Eminence 15" driver with a small-format plastic-diaphragm compression driver - any way you look at it, there's going to be at least an octave where things aren't working very well. Worst of all, this octave is going to fall right in the middle of the spectrum.

[zybar]

Are they taking share away from box speakers by providing an accessible low cost full range OB speaker that is very enjoyable - absolutely.  Keep 'em coming Clayton, and we'll enjoy them in our ignorance 

One of the interesting things I took away from that thread is the idea that a decent but affordable full-range open baffle could really take off and go mainstream.  Seems like the Emeralds might be it, but - without adding too much to the cost - I wonder if the design could be improved.  The following comment (from that same thread) might be worth considering:

The system itself sounded very over-EQ'ed, with an unnatural frequency balance and no sense of depth, perspective, or stage ambiance at all. Dynamics weren't as good I was hoping it would be - the HF was pretty harsh and strained much of the time, and the mids were murky. Combining a big 15" driver with a little small-format horn tweeter is not going to be easy to do, even with 24 dB/octave crossovers - both drivers are working at the absolute edge of the working range, and it sounded it.

If the speaker had a proper midrange that would have made all the difference - the 15-inchers could have been dumped around 200~300 Hz, and the 1" compression driver could have been crossed at 2.5 kHz or higher. The PR170 or any number of other pro mids would have been the obvious choice, and the system would have required much less EQ than it must have had. Much more headroom, better imaging, more relaxed sound, and much clearer midrange.

I honestly don't know why they tried to combine a very mundane-sounding Eminence 15" driver with a small-format plastic-diaphragm compression driver - any way you look at it, there's going to be at least an octave where things aren't working very well. Worst of all, this octave is going to fall right in the middle of the spectrum.

I respectfully disagree with those comments.

While I am using a highly modified DCX, the rest of my CS2's are stock and I do not feel like they sound unnatural, murky,  or artificial in any way.  Furthermore, the midrange is an area of strength, not weakness.  I have no issues getting the proper depth and soundstage.  Also, I don't feel that the CS2's are over EQ'd or harsh in anyway.  They are quite revealing so if somebody were to put a weak front end or have amplification not up to the task, that would certainly negatively impact the sound.  Of course, this result would happen with any well designed and executed speaker.

To put things into context, my last two pairs of speakers have been Salk Sound Veracity HT3's and Vandersteen 5A's.  Both are outstanding in terms of midrange clarity and presence, as well as dynamics.  I still own the 5A's, but they have been sitting on the sidelines for past six months or so while I have enjoyed the CS2's.

George

[Wind Chaser]

The system itself sounded very over-EQ'ed, with an unnatural frequency balance and no sense of depth, perspective, or stage ambience at all. Dynamics weren't as good I was hoping it would be - the HF was pretty harsh and strained much of the time, and the mids were murky. Combining a big 15" driver with a little small-format horn tweeter is not going to be easy to do, even with 24 dB/octave crossovers - both drivers are working at the absolute edge of the working range, and it sounded it.

If the speaker had a proper midrange that would have made all the difference - the 15-inchers could have been dumped around 200~300 Hz, and the 1" compression driver could have been crossed at 2.5 kHz or higher. The PR170 or any number of other pro mids would have been the obvious choice, and the system would have required much less EQ than it must have had. Much more headroom, better imaging, more relaxed sound, and much clearer midrange.

I honestly don't know why they tried to combine a very mundane-sounding Eminence 15" driver with a small-format plastic-diaphragm compression driver - any way you look at it, there's going to be at least an octave where things aren't working very well. Worst of all, this octave is going to fall right in the middle of the spectrum.

What planet did you dig that up from?

[OrJazzM]

Has anyone tried the CS2 with the Sig 30.2 on the compression tweeters?

I would love to.

Now if somebody would just lend me a Sig 30.2...

George

Maybe you could lend me your CS2' 

[zybar]

Has anyone tried the CS2 with the Sig 30.2 on the compression tweeters?

I would love to.

Now if somebody would just lend me a Sig 30.2...

George

Maybe you could lend me your CS2' 

Maybe...where do you live?

George

[OrJazzM]

Has anyone tried the CS2 with the Sig 30.2 on the compression tweeters?

I would love to.

Now if somebody would just lend me a Sig 30.2...

George

Maybe you could lend me your CS2' 

Maybe...where do you live?

George

I'm in NY, if you're in the area, I could probably bring my Sig over, btw I have the 30 not .2.