EMP EW30 Listening Tests

CD: Larry & Lee – Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour

If you’re a jazz fan, than you are likely well aware of two of finest jazz guitarists today - Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton. They teamed up back in 1995, when jazz was a little lumpier, to produce this fine guitar duet chock full of great instrumental solos and meaty jazz music. I use this CD as a reference often because it has excellent dynamic range and really gives a speaker system a good workout while also instantly clues me in on if the speaker is tonally accurate or not. The EMP EW30s conveyed the detail in this recording I was all too familiar with. Track #1 “Crosstown Kids” conveyed a large soundstage more so vertically than horizontally. When I directly compared these speakers to my Axiom W3 on-wall speakers, I felt that the EW30s sounded more expansive and natural in the highs, but didn’t have nearly the mid bass impact and slam of the W3s. Track #3 “L.A. Underground” showed off the EW30’s ability to project a 3 dimensional soundstage, revealing the airiness of the high hats with a touch of crispness but NOT overbearingly brightness you find with lesser designed speakers. I felt the bass reproduction was a bit lacking and I highly recommend using a subwoofer with this speaker system to get the fullest range of sound. Despite the modest bass output, I never found the EM30’s to sound strained or overworked when playing at high SPL’s despite the fact I was running them full range.

CD: Steely Dan – Two Against Nature

Instrumentally the EW30s were fairing pretty well, but I wanted to see how they handled vocals thus I popped in a Steely Dan CD – Two Against Nature, which has quickly become a modern classic. Track #7 “Cousin Dupree” again showed off the very wide soundstage of the EW30s. Donald’s voice was a bit recessed but it did sound quite natural. In direct comparison to the Axiom W3s, I again felt the EW30s offered a more natural and expansive sound, especially vertically, but the W3s had a more forward and in your face presence in the vocals along with greater midbass impact on the percussions. In my mind, neither speaker could replace a similarly priced, well designed dedicated bookshelf speaker properly located in the room, but both speakers did commendably well considering their application and space savings they offered to those who cannot place a bookshelf speaker on a stand or mount them off of a wall. They also pretty much trounced any in-ceiling speakers I have heard. Needless to say, I enjoyed my Steely Dan listening session on the EW30s as I went through about 4 to 5 tracks before I moved on to my next demo disc.

CD: Dianne Reeves – Never Too Far

You’ve seen this CD pop up in many of my recent reviews. There is good reason for this as I can instantly determine if a speaker is tonally colored in the highs once I start hearing Dianne’s voice. I also dig her music style so it’s a win-win situation and thus why it remains as one of the discs in my reference collection. I started with track #2 “Never too Far” paying close attention to the vocals. I welcomed the broad soundstage but found a lack of focus I am so accustomed to when listening on my much more expensive reference bookshelf Status Acoustics Decimo speakers. Noting that limitation which I also find on many other on-wall type speaker products, including the Axiom W3s, I payed closer attention to the vocal tonality. Again the EW30s were laid back in their presentation, never sounding fatiguing or overbearing where as the W3s had a more forward sound to them, fuller in the mid bass region, but also a bit too sibilant in the top end making the vocals sound a bit spitty.

The low end extension of track #3 “Come In” was a bit lacking when listening on the EW30s running full range. This song has some serious bottom end extension warranting a true full range tower speaker or an addition of a good subwoofer or two. I engaged my Axiom EP500 subwoofer to supplement the bass and it helped to significantly round out the sound of the speakers. They blended quite well when crossed over at 80Hz which is what I recommend to those considering these speakers.