These are the same mini-monitors that I enjoyed listening to briefly at the Rocky Mountain AF. I was surprised and elated to find out that Mike picked out my name at the show drawing. Well, I've had these little babies for about a month now and have formed some sonic impressions about them. After Bryan kindly shipped them to me, I connected the speakers to my modest home theater system. The system consists of a Yamaha HT receiver, Hsu subwoofer, and Oppo DVD player. The Emeralds replaced some aging ADS mini-monitors. I used them alternately as TV, DVD and CD 2 channel audio speakers. In every medium, my impression is that the Emeralds are very neutral sounding speakers. My ADS sounds very colored compare to them. The Emeralds are also balanced tonally, from the upper treble to the upper bass. I couldn't detect crossover interference. The upper bass is very satsifying, but for mid and low bass I felt they needed the help of the Hsu subwoofer. I think the Emeralds mate very well with the Hsu.
What I like best about the Emeralds is their smooth and relaxed presentation of sound. They don't call attention to themselves, as vocals sound natural and not spitty or over sibilant. Vocals also seem to have less grit than on my ADS. Instruments don't jump out at you like on some speakers, but are naturally placed on the soundstage. I have to say these speakers need a decent amount of power to get to a decent sound level. I don't think flea power amps will be a good match. I was surprised that the sensitivity is only 86 db at 8 ohms. Probably 40-50 tube watts or 75-100 solid state watts should be enough power to drive them to a satisfying level, especially if you have a medium to a large room. In conclusion, I think the Emeralds are truly hi-end speakers.
Thanks again Mike and Bryan.
Paul
happy Emerald owner
