EMPtek E55ti Floorstanding Loudspeakers
EMPtek E55ti Specifications Page
While EMP is a relative newcomer for an
online speaker company, the same people
that design the highly esteemed RBH Sound products are responsible for the
EMP. Rest assured there is trickle down
technology shared and benefited to EMP from RBH Sound. The E55ti was the largest and least expensive
speakers in this comparison. Standing a
tad over 4 feet tall, it also had the most drivers (6 total) including three
6-1/2" bass drivers, two 5-1/4" midrange drivers and a 1" silk
dome tweeter. The top half of the
E55ti's have an MTM driver arrangement which helps to control vertical
dispersion while also providing a lot of dynamic range since multiple drivers are
dedicated for the midrange frequencies.
The soundstage thrown off by these speakers is truly impressive and has
to be heard to be believed. The E55ti
was the second most efficient speaker in this comparison and employed 120Hz and
3kHz crossover frequencies making it a true three-way design.
Despite the
fact that the E55ti has three bass drivers, it doesn't seem to play as low as
some of the other products in this comparison (namely the Klipsch and
Axioms). EMP chose maximum output over
extension which came in spades when I tested them in my 6,000 ft^3 room at ear
bleeding levels and wasn't able to bottom any of the drivers or cause audible
distress in the critical midrange frequencies like I heard with some of the
other speakers in this comparison. They
are also a super easy load for any amplifier to drive as the impedance doesn't
drop below 8 ohms at low frequencies.
Although these speakers aren't bass anemic, I feel they are best used in
conjunction with a subwoofer. This had me a bit concerned in this comparison
since we were running all speakers full range without the use of a powered
sub. I bugged EMP enough to have them
make a running change to the bass drivers which they claim will lower the
resonance frequency of the driver by 10Hz to produce stronger output at its
tuning frequency (50Hz) and more usable low end extension. Expect a formal review of these speakers when
the driver updates become available.
EMP E55ti In-Room Frequency Response at Primary Listening Position
I measured the E55ti's for all three test trials. The dip at 400-500Hz is caused by floor bounce which is a measurement anomaly. The variations between the three measurements were due to positional differences whether they were located in the marked area closest to the left wall or further.
EMP E55ti Listener Comments for Blind Tests
With EMP directly compared to Axiom
Comments from trained listeners:
- Very natural life-like sound with pristine midrange and smooth top end.
- Fuller sound, more natural and pleasing blend of frequencies than [the] other speaker.
Comments from other listeners:
- Lacked details in highs with average imaging and soundstage.
- Female vocals were deeper but other speaker had more impressive soundstage
- Great vocal clarity but bass was boomy.
- Bass was tighter and drum solo sounded more life-like and real than the other speaker but overall sound was somewhat mushy.
With EMP directly compared to JBL
Comments from trained listeners:
- Natural midrange, tight bass though not very deep, clean sound.
- Very similar tonal balance with tighter bass than the other speaker.
Comments from other listeners:
- Better vocals and imaging than other speaker.
- Good imaging and midrange.
- Midrange is nice, guitar strum very clear though bass is a little messy.
With EMP compared to Klipsch
Comments from trained listeners:
- Clear highs, natural sound, tight punchy bass.
- Forward sounding and bass not as deep as the other speaker.
Comments from other listeners:
- Lacking in highs, imaging and soundstage not as good as other speaker
- Nice midrange, messy bass.
- Crisp bass but overall sound less impressive than other speaker.
See also:
Recent Forum Posts:
I think its better to agree to disagree on design aspects of loudspeakers and just be done with it. Everyone has their own reasoning that may work best (in their minds) for them. 100% truth can never be realized in something as subjective and emotional as the audiophile experience.
There are MANY satisfied Axiom customers in the marketplace and it is obvious Axiom is meeting their needs. There are also many competing brands for those wanting something else. The free market rules!
Going forward, I'd like to keep a more open mind and positive attitude towards all manufacturers and let the consumers decide based on our reviews and their experiences with the products if said products are right for their needs.
Mods please note this and lets put the brakes on any future threads that turn out like this.
I am closing this thread on a high note with hopes we can continue to cover new Axiom products for the benefit of readers interested in learning more about them.
Paul_Apollonio;857427
I followed the link to the Axiom site, and would like to make an engineering sidenote. First of all by eliminating the series high-pass capacitor (at the VERY minimum) needed to protect the midrange from dangerous levels of peak LF content, this lowers the impedance of the system in a range where the output of the mids add NOTHING to the output of the Woofer; hence lowering system sensitivity. First bad. Second bad = pretending the worst of this can be found with a distortion sweep looking for 2nd and 3rd Harmonics. RUBBISH. The problem is that by eliminating the High Pass (HP) filter on the mids, the LF content will move the VC about, possibly out of the gap and thereby allow the LF to modulate (read distort) the midrange the speaker produces. With a sweeping test (one frequency at a time) there is NO WAY to see this effect, and Axiom is well aware of that. To see this effect, one must put in two frequencies simultaneously and view the output on a spectrum analyzer. (One can see distortion products as sum and difference frequencies) This is a simple process and one all audio engineers are familiar with. Sadly, not all customers are, so the charade continues.
Even if the Midrange driver is made INCREDIBLY stiff, and placed in a very very small sealed enclosure minimizing excursion and hence this distortion, subjecting the midrange VC to the heat caused by the LF content is NEVER better than saving the price of the series capacitor. Unless, I guess, it is your money, and you don't really care about stressing an amp or drive unit you get paid to replace.
There is such a thing as recommended practice and procedures, and the practice of eliminating the high pass filter, even if only a single series capacitor from the midrange driver is not a good idea by any stretch of imagination. In fact, it is a sign the designer is clueless or could care less about the result.
As for the listening tests, there are never any shortage of people willing to claim a given distortion is inaudible. Of course, if you limit the input power to very low levels, you won't hear this problem. You won't hear many speaker distortions as most only show up on high drive levels.
Certain physical principles apply to design, and it does not matter the brand or the politics involved. Allowing the large peak amplitudes of low frequency content to get to a midrange speakers voice coil is a terribly bad idea period.
This is not a new concept. (At least to competent engineers who are not counting nickles and pennies). - Paul Apollonio
Axiom did this with the M80v1 as well with not so successful results.
Emonatics - Emotiva Fans Site [emonatics.com]
gene;856611
{Heavily edited by me}
Nobody really wants unfavorable comments written about their products and proud owners of said products don't want to see negative comments either.
The bottom line is Axiom has always had a problem with our critical review process. They don't like negative comments about products. They don't like face offs. They seemingly don't like measurements or blind tests done outside their facilities. They have told me this many times in the past in person and via email. They instead prefer consumers to accept their science and testing as gospel that spending more money than what they sell their speakers for is simply purchasing cosmetic upgrades.
I've spent 12+ years comparing speakers (sighted and blind) from virtually every manufacturer and my experiences don't always match what Axiom preaches.
In my experience Axiom is NOT up to the level of legitimately well engineered cost no object speakers however.
While there are some outlandish speaker designs out there, there are also some incredible sounding products that happen to cost a lot too.
Performance is all over the map but it doesn't necessarily stop progressing at a magic price point.
I'd honestly like to stop the bantering back and forth on this topic. It's been beaten to death and nobody gains from it.
I won't be commenting any further about Axiom on the forums. I've said everything that needed to be said.
I followed the link to the Axiom site, and would like to make an engineering sidenote. First of all by eliminating the series high-pass capacitor (at the VERY minimum) needed to protect the midrange from dangerous levels of peak LF content, this lowers the impedance of the system in a range where the output of the mids add NOTHING to the output of the Woofer; hence lowering system sensitivity. First bad. Second bad = pretending the worst of this can be found with a distortion sweep looking for 2nd and 3rd Harmonics. RUBBISH. The problem is that by eliminating the High Pass (HP) filter on the mids, the LF content will move the VC about, possibly out of the gap and thereby allow the LF to modulate (read distort) the midrange the speaker produces. With a sweeping test (one frequency at a time) there is NO WAY to see this effect, and Axiom is well aware of that. To see this effect, one must put in two frequencies simultaneously and view the output on a spectrum analyzer. (One can see distortion products as sum and difference frequencies) This is a simple process and one all audio engineers are familiar with. Sadly, not all customers are, so the charade continues.
Even if the Midrange driver is made INCREDIBLY stiff, and placed in a very very small sealed enclosure minimizing excursion and hence this distortion, subjecting the midrange VC to the heat caused by the LF content is NEVER better than saving the price of the series capacitor. Unless, I guess, it is your money, and you don't really care about stressing an amp or drive unit you get paid to replace.
There is such a thing as recommended practice and procedures, and the practice of eliminating the high pass filter, even if only a single series capacitor from the midrange driver is not a good idea by any stretch of imagination. In fact, it is a sign the designer is clueless or could care less about the result.
As for the listening tests, there are never any shortage of people willing to claim a given distortion is inaudible. Of course, if you limit the input power to very low levels, you won't hear this problem. You won't hear many speaker distortions as most only show up on high drive levels.
Certain physical principles apply to design, and it does not matter the brand or the politics involved. Allowing the large peak amplitudes of low frequency content to get to a midrange speakers voice coil is a terribly bad idea period.
This is not a new concept. (At least to competent engineers who are not counting nickles and pennies). - Paul Apollonio
agarwalro;857098
Perhaps I was a little curt in my last post. I sensed something that was valuable and worth saving and perhaps overreacted. Moving on...
$5 says Jim Salk can match the finish on any of those Lansche veneers .
My remark was not really about Gene but the credibility of the AH reviews and their process
Now we move on!!!!!!!!
Some remarks been said that the Lansche 5.1 is the best dynamic speaker some people heard.... (Obviously they didn't listen to the upscale models from same producer) well they better be considering the price tag.... but still.... need to make sure I deliver my lotto this week
