[GregC]

I bought a pair of CS-2 speakers the day after I heard them at RMAF 2007 because I was so blown away with how they made speakers costing many times their price sound like boom boxes in comparison.  I have been very happy with them for the past two years.  During the time I owned them I upgraded the Behringer with the Cullen mods.  After the mods the speakers further improved in terms of clarity and dynamics (particularly in the midrange).  I always felt like the speakers excelled at dynamics and had fast tuneful bass.  I could have happily lived with them long term, but I wondered how much better the CS-2.3 speakers could improve on the virtues of the CS-2 speakers.

I decided to trade in my CS-2 speakers and get the CS-2.3 speakers.  I have given them more than 150 hours of break-in and I think the character of the sound has settled in.  I am confident that they will continue to improve for at least another 300 hours, but the differences will be too subtle to notice with daily listening sessions.  I feel I have waited long enough to comment on the sound at this point.

So how do they sound?  In a word, spectacular!  They continue to excel in the areas that the CS-2 speakers shine, but improve in some other important areas.  Like the CS-2 speakers, they have the open baffle unconstrained sound and dynamics in spades.  They also excel in producing music that sounds very close to live music.  The midrange coherency improves because of the 3 way design.  The Alphas are cut over at 100 Hz and are now used specifically for bass duty and do not need to perform duty above 800 Hz like they did on the CS-2 design.  The bass response seems to go lower and have better separation, but is still tight and tuneful.  On top of the better sonic performance, the speakers look furniture grade and less industrial.

So in summary, the speakers look better and perform better than the CS-2 speakers which I consider to be an excellent performer for the money.  I am anxious to hear them after another 200 hours of break in to hear how the bass response sounds after they open up further. 

Just a word of caution, reserve judgment until you have at least 100 hours on them because they go through some awkward break in stages where they sound great and then you say WTF and then they sound great again.

Nice review, very concise, avoiding the use of most audiophile words, the last bit seems appropriate(ie in abbrev.) without being crude, ie "WTF...."

Thanks for the compliment ttan.  When I was wondering about the differences between the CS-2 and CS-2.3 speakers I could not find reviews to compare and contrast them and help me make an informed decision.  Because of my belief in Clayton's design principles, my trust in Clayton and Walter, and my positive ownership experience with the CS-2 speakers I bought the CS-2.3 speakers.  Hopefully my review will help other potential owners.  I am thrilled and have no regrets.

[kukiman]

WOW! This is what I've been hoping to read for a long long time!

Thank you so much!

Sorry I am really interested and wish to know more. I am going to receive my soon and wish to better prepare for them!

1) Do you mind to share more on your gears? (Everything if possible)

2) How does your room look like? How much distance do you have behind the speakers and next to it? I always felt the only draw back of these speakers is that they have to be placed really far away from the wall..

thank you so much!!!

KK

[GregC]

Hi KK,

Here is my system:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems&sa=view&sys_id=879

I am in a rental so I currently do not have sound treatments or any other tweaks.  I recently moved from Colorado back to California.  In Colorado I had a treated room, dedicated 20A circuit, and cryo treated Porter Port plugs.  I currently have my system in a large 20x40x20 room with vaulted beam ceilings that is not ideal, but the speakers take the room out of the equation more than most because of open baffle design.   

I have my speakers so the inside edge is 48 inches from the rear wall and the outside edge is 55 inches from the rear wall.  The speakers are roughly 13 feet apart and toed in so they cross about a 1 foot in front of my primary listening position.

The distance from the rear wall should be a minimum of 36 inches but I think the distance from the side walls is less critical because of the nature of open baffle design.

[ratso]

found some cables and have been running in my 2.3's for 2 days now. very exciting. i also couldn't really find any reviews (*ahem* are you listening EP? - okay so that's not really fair, as wally from underwood said some reviews should be forthcoming shortly) and it was more then a little scary spending what was (for me anyways) a lot of cash on something i not only hadn't heard but hadn't really even heard a lot about. it was kind of a leap of faith. but wally is very persuasive and after having lived with martin logan vantages for the last year or so, i wanted something equally as fast but full range. i am not a huge believer in 'break in' but i do know that these speakers will settle in for the next few days and sound better. right out of the box i like it. nice taught bass, startling realism (the "crack" of the drumstick on the edge of the snare drum in massive attack's 'angel' caused me to almost jump out of my chair), nice big soundstage. the imaging is perhaps not quite as sharp as the ML's but i have yet to do a lot of playing with positioning. i will update in a few weeks if this thread is still going, but for those sitting on the fence i would say it is definitely worth taking a chance on in my book. 

[kukiman]

Really look forward to more reviews and thank you so much for your reply.

My speakers, unfortunately, won't arrive until 2010!

[lateralgs]

After some significant research this immediately past weekend, I "fear" I, too, am being sucked-in to this Emerald Physics baffle-less and EQ'd design.  The 2.3s are particularly alluring at their price point, I think.  And the W4S amps and Peachtree Nova combo package at Underwood really is an intriguing combo from everything I've read about all these pieces individually.  I am even considering an order to include an upgrade from the Behringer to the DBX unit.

I am a little leery about spending this kind of money (as much of a bargain as it may in fact be!) without first getting a good listen.  But this whole concept is very, very intriguing.  I would be very interested in hearing anything else anyone with a few hundred hours on their 2.3s might have to say about them.  Anything at all!

[bdh]

Here is a post I recently posted on Audiogon, but I added a few updates since then:

So I've had a pair of CS2.3's for over a couple of months now and thought I'd post my experiences so far in case someone else has some tips in getting more out of these speakers.

I 'm using them with a VAC Ren 30/30 (6sn7->300b tubes) driving the mids and tweeters, and a DIY Class D amp I bought along with speakers, driving the bass. I have the DBX w\ microphone package, and the source is a DMHT Havana DAC with a WE JW 2c51 tube, upgraded fuse, and fed from a laptop via USB and a HiFace re-clocker. I'm using Foobar2000 and ASIO4ALL on the laptop. I'm not using a pre-amp at this time. Cables are Straightwire.

I also have a pair of Dali Helicon 400 speakers I bought about the same time. I also used to own a pair of B&W 801 s3 with a Conrad Johnson Premier 11, but sold them about nine years ago. I've been into world-class headphones between then and now.

The description of the sound that always comes to mind is 'life-like'. Vocals are so holographic and live sounding. Far more life-like than any speakers I've heard so far. In comparison, the description of the sound that comes to mind when listening to the Dali's is 'refinement' and 'powerful'. While still having good imaging, I wouldn't say it's holographic compared to the EP's. Yet voices have a delicacy and nuance about them - a sense of refinement.

While the bass of the EP's is deep and in an audible sense - very big and strong, they do not have the sense of power and movement of air that the Dali's have. The Emerald Physics have a boxless di-pole bass, and while maybe I can agree with EP's description of accurate bass, I usually do miss that impact of air from a boxed speaker. I am soon going to try a JL F110 subwoofer with them to see if that will give me that impact that I like. But, don't get me wrong, the EP's do have audible bass impact and definition, just not the tactile impact. The EP's probably have better bass imaging than the Dali's. Adding spikes is also a must in order to get the best bass, it makes a big difference in getting well-defined and accurate bass.

Emerald Physics speakers are not for the plug-and-play consumer. There was no manual to describe how to set the system up or to configure the DBX unit or how to get the best sound. So basically I've been trying with all sorts of things to see what sounds good. I've never heard a far-field setup that wasn't boring to me, and now that I think about it, except my own setups I've never heard a near-field setup that wasn't boring either. (Retailers could probably make a lot more sales if they just setup their speakers better.) But I do like to listen near-field. The best location I've found so far is with the speakers about five feet from the back wall, the distance between the inside edges of the speakers is 52 inches and the distance between my ears and the front of the speakers is about 65 inches. Closer is just more engaging to me then far away. And despite the speaker descriptions about lack of wall interaction, speaker location IS critically important and my speakers are nowhere near the walls for my best sound. All other speakers I've tried have sounded best with just a slight toe-in, but these CS2.3's sound far superior when they are focused about a foot or two in front of my face -- so massive toe-in. And due to the narrow field-of-sound they emit, every millimeter counts when finding the correct toe-in. But once dialed in, it's holographic bliss.

I read elsewhere on this forum about an expericed audiophile visiting someone with Emerald Physics speakers and commenting about all sorts of missing frequencies. I can believe it. Any two calibrations with the microphone are different, even with the microphone in the same place. However, you just have to play with different microphone placements, height, and direction, in addition to the loudness of the pink noise. I found the best calibration I got was to put the mic at the height of the tweeter, about where my ear is and point it directly at one of the speakers. However, even with that, the sound is definitly on the brighter side to my ears. So I go in the equalizer on the DBX unit and increase the last four bars of bass (20-80Hz) about 4dB, and then adjust a few (edit: no, most to a degree) of the other frequencies by ear until it sounds right (or at least how I like it best), and every .5dB of every frequency is important and needs to be 'right' to my ears to get the best sound. I found decreasing the highs, rather than increasing the bass and a little bit of mids, ruined a lot of the excitment of the music, but I did decrease the some.

It is so easy to get a crappy calibration and the DBX unit UI is not for the faint of heart, that I can imagine a lot of EP owners listening to sub-par sound. I can't imagine what the owners of the Behringer unit hear (with no microphone), as not only is the calibration extremely critical, but even once you get a good calibration, small manual adjustments of the EQ can enhance or ruin the sound balance, the image, the distance of the image, etc. But the calibration does make a big difference if you get it right. One scary thing is that it is very easy to mess up the base Emerald Physics DBX configuration if you don't know what you're doing and start modifying things in it.  (edit: I did modify the bass crossover from 150Hz (Claytons' recommendation) to 125Hz, as to me it sounded better that way)

These are very efficient speakers and unfortunately produced too much hiss for me. I bought a pair of XLR 10dB attenuators from Clayton that I put on the DBX mid\tweeter outputs and that reduced the hiss to a barely audible amount, and luckily balanced out the gain differences between the VAC and Class D amps vs. the sensativity differences of the bass drivers and mid\tweeter drivers. The electronic crossovers in the speakers have been upgraded to the latest version -- apparently there was an earlier version of the internal crossover on earlier releases of the CS2.3. (They should change versions when they change things like that. e.g. CS2.3.0, CS2.3.1, etc.)

Another unfortunate aspect of the narrow field-of-sound is that the sweet spot is very narrow. The sound changes when I move my head inches left or right, up or down, or forward or back. I find I like the sound the best with my ears about the height of the speakers. The image is more three-dimensional than with my ears at the level of the tweeters or lower.  (edit: This is incorrect, I like it best with my ear at the level of the tweeters.  I will also point out that the sound stage is very half-circle shaped rather than a straight horizontal stage layout -- so that instruments near the extremes come closer to the front by the speakers.)

Also, despite the marketing, quality electronics and cabling do matter. Using the Class D amp for both bass and mids\tweeters makes the music sound sterile. A tube amp is defintely a must for me. I like my Havana DAC better than my Empirical-modded Benchmark DAC1 in this system. And as in my headphone systems, ASIO4ALL and Foobar 2000 settings make a big difference in soundstage, PRAT, liveliness, etc. EVERY retail system I heard when trying to decide on which speakers to buy, had little to no life in them. I usually just sat there trying to listen but wondering when I could move on to the next system and wondering if these salesmen know what good music and stereo systems sounds like. If the music does not either move me, get my foot tapping, or get me to want to get up and dance, I see little point in listening to it, let alone spending thousands of dollars for it.

I was quite disappointed with them when I first got them, but once I figured out the placement, calibration, and EQ modification, these are increadable speakers that can produce life-like music, and CAN sound better than anything I've heard. But then again, I haven't exactly heard a whole lot of different componants and systems.

There's plenty of things I still need to try -- I'll see what the sub-woofer does soon, I need to try changing 6sn7 tubes on the VAC, I need to get my record player out of the garage, and I would love to try the Spatial source at some point. And of course I'd like to try the CS1.3's.  (edit: I tried some Slyvania chromedome 6sn7GTA's, and while they removed some harshness of the VAC Chinese 6sn7's and made the sound more refined, they lost some of the excitement and pin-point (but maybe not as 'real') imaging of the Chinese tubes.  So I compromised and used on Sylvania and one VAC tube in each channel, which luckly gave me a mix of the benefits of both tubes and it sounds increadable.)

Anyway, what have you owners of Emerald Physics speakers found to get the best sound out of them?

[bdh]

Soon after posting my last post, I re-measured speaker distances and found the left speaker was about half an inch closer than the other.  Moving it back that half inch solidified the sound more, but more importantly greatly expanded the 'sweet spot'.  Whereas before it seemed to be only inches in any direction, now I can move around more and not feel I'm locked in one place.

I tried many other 6sn7 tubes - some were good, some not so good, but the VAC branded tubes that came with the amp were the worst - very harsh and constricting.  I settled on a Sylvania chrome-top and a Russian 6H8C in each channel -- much better than any single-brand matching quads I tried.

I changed the crossover to 118Hz from 125Hz.  Yes, it makes a big difference, especially in the required equalization between the two.  Probably due to room and speaker configuration and dimensions.

I switched from using Foobar2000 to J River Media Center 15, as it just sounds better to me.  Of course modifying various settings in the program effects the sound and experimentation is necessary as the settings that sound best with my headphone systems are a bit different than the best settings with the speaker system.  I'm very happy I tried MC 15 and made the change.

I bought a couple of top-of-the-line Synergistic Research power cords (demos).

I made tweeks to the equalization several times.  This is critical.  You can't rely on the microphone calibration alone.  You HAVE to adjust the DBX equalization even after a good calibration.   And really need to have a good ear to hear what frequencies need adjusting.  Half a db change on a single frequency can have subtle and yet at the same time significant effects on the sound or 'feeling' of the music.

I still haven't tried a subwoofer due to problems with the local dealer, but I'm not interested any more as the above changes  have turned the previously great sound into music and sound far better than anything previously heard.  Since the last post, I've listened to a couple of Joseph Audio speakers, including the Pearls, and a pair of Magnapan 1.7's.  The Magnapan setup made truely awful sound and the Joseph Audio setups were quite boring and uninspiring both musically and sonically.  None came remotely close to what I hear with the EP's.  (And even the Dali's)  These listens were at dealers, so a good part of the problem could have been poor setup.

I was seriously considering getting the Prism Orpheous DAC to replace the DBX and Havana, but after the above changes I'm in no hurry.  If it doesn't sound almost like the performers are right in your room you still have some playing around to do with all the various variables.  I have no problems with any genre's and almost all albums sound very good to incredible, as opposed to the many poorly recorded albums sounding like crap on a lot of hi-end systems. 

Anyone compared the CS1 drivers to the CS2.3 drivers yet?

[targa02]

I will have the 1.3 drivers installed in the next week or two.  I, like you, have found the emerald's not to be plug and play. I will tell you, in my experience, the spatial set up makes a HUGE difference over the behringer, but it can take several mic sessions to get everything dialed in.

[bdh]

You had the Behringer which doesn't have an equalizer, correct?  I have the DBX, which does - as does the the Spatial source.  I still haven't heard any comment on the improvements going from the DBX to the Spatial source.  And while I still plan to either get the Spatial system or just a plain Prism Orpheus with 3rd-party EQ, I'm currently very satisfied with the current sound and have no upgrade-itis yet.

[targa02]

No upgrade-itis. Now that is a good state to be in. 

The Behringer does have an equalizer.  I have not attempted to use it.  I find the manual not very user friendly, so I stayed with Clayton's presets for the most part.  I am very anxious to hear the new mid/hi drivers.  Hope to have them next week.

You had the Behringer which doesn't have an equalizer, correct?  I have the DBX, which does - as does the the Spatial source.  I still haven't heard any comment on the improvements going from the DBX to the Spatial source.  And while I still plan to either get the Spatial system or just a plain Prism Orpheus with 3rd-party EQ, I'm currently very satisfied with the current sound and have no upgrade-itis yet.

[versus rider]

having read the blurb on the emerals physics site, it would seem that much of what they are doing is what I am doing with my diy open baffles at a fraction of the price. I am running 15" Eminence Alpha woofers with a 130w/channel Rotel amp ( this seems to work the best out of all the amps I've tried ) and 8" full range drivers ( unknown make but very flat response ) with 2A3 mono amps through a Behringer 2 way crossover. My next move is to replace the 2 way crossover for the CX3400 3 way crossover and cut the 8" drivers at 100Hz and 3-4000Hz and from 3-4000Hz -20,000Hz a tractrix horn and compression driver.
This I believe will allow the 8" drivers to work better with less of a frequency band to handle. When this is done the midrange will be driven by a 300B amp and the hf horns by the 2A3's. The EM's seem to me to be very expensive considering the owner has to do so much setting up themselves, but at least they should work with the room. However there always seems to be a trade off in sound quality terms when eq is used. Maybe even the digital crossovers I am using  compromise the sound, but to integrate a 3 way system with a flat response between three different drivers has to to be compromise. Back to EP's site, their patent pending blurb seems dubious to say the least and smacks of marketing b**it. No disrespect to those proud owners whom I hope enjoy them very much.

[bdh]

I don't doubt you could build them cheaper, but until someone (you?) starts selling them much cheaper to the public, I'll just have to settle of what I can get, as I do not have the technical knowledge nor the tools for the woodworking, the electrical and speaker parts, the crossovers, binding posts, fabric, etc., etc.  If you can build some that look good and get a bunch of people to review them and say they are better then the EP's, I'll probably buy a pair from you.

[bdh]

Two other things.  One is that after I had moved that left speaker back half and inch and the sweet spot became much bigger, I also now sit about 4.5 feet from the speakers with them pointing directly at my face -- the singer's image is about 8 feet in front of me and at about the height of a normal sized person.  I love how big the images sound with these speakers.

The other issues was that I was hearing a buzzing sound with loud, bass heavy music, and I found the plastic bass rings located on the front of the baffle were vibrating.  I pulled these out and the buzzing went away.  I guess I could hot glue them on, but I haven't bothered yet.

[versus rider]

I don't doubt you could build them cheaper, but until someone (you?) starts selling them much cheaper to the public, I'll just have to settle of what I can get, as I do not have the technical knowledge nor the tools for the woodworking, the electrical and speaker parts, the crossovers, binding posts, fabric, etc., etc.  If you can build some that look good and get a bunch of people to review them and say they are better then the EP's, I'll probably buy a pair from you.

don't take what I wrote the wrong way my friend, I was only meaning that I have taken a similar course, unknowingly, to Emerald Physics. I'm sure they sound wonderful and far better than a box speaker.

[bdh]

So how are the new drivers Targa02?

[targa02]

Hi BDH,

Unfortunately I do not have the new drivers yet.  It is a long story, but I doubt very seriously I will have the new drivers until a week or two after RMAF.  I will report back afterwards.