ECA-4 & ECA-44 Listening Tests

DTS CD: Porcupine Tree – In Absentia

Although this multi channel recording tends to be a bit bright and fatiguing, the musical content is quite good and you really get a good adrenaline rush when you crank it up. Track #3 “Lips of Ashes” is a great acoustical melodic song that you simply can’t grow tired of. I sat back for a listen, closing my eyes to focus my brain on capturing all of the nuances. Although the main and surround speakers were placed above head, I still enjoyed a good sense of envelopment. Vocal intelligibility was good and the system as a whole sounded tonally consistent. Track #5 “Gravity Eyelids” starts out deceivingly calm and then builds momentum quickly taking on a more heavy metal feeling. I decided to push the system hard to see what it could do. As I turned up the volume, the EMP speakers didn’t falter. They instead gave it their all sounding quite clean despite the edginess in the recording. These speakers were definitely rocking and defying my expectations of what a system of this size and price class should sound like. Granted having dual subs really helped out here, but the fact that they were holding their own here was quite impressive. Although the soundstage wasn’t as immense as a larger box speaker system such as the RBH Sound TK series, the experience was still nonetheless enjoyable and significantly better than I’ve heard from “cubed” speakers costing a great deal more.

DVD-A: Beatles – Love

I wanted to hear what a high quality multi channel recording would sound like on this speaker system. So I selected the Beatles Love DVD-A disc. Track #1 “Because” is one of my favorites as it really exemplifies the uncanny melodic nature of the Beatles that few if any bands today can match. Hearing all of the Beatles harmonize around you is quite a mind blowing experience. The voices were a bit distance and unfocused but Ii know the poor room acoustics (vaulted ceilings) and the fact that the speakers were placed high above the listening area factored heavily into what I was hearing. Turning the volume up certainly resulted in a highly enjoyable surround experience but I couldn’t help to wonder how this system would have sounded in a smaller room with all the speakers placed at ear height. The snare drum in Track #5 “I am the Walrus” really popped into the musical landscape and it seemed the little EMP system really liked to be played loudly. The snapping sound emanating from the left front speaker in track #12 “Blackbird/Yesterday” sounded lively though somewhat compressed as expected while the cymbals in Track #14 “Tomorrow Never Knows” had a fair amount of width dynamic presence to them. As I turned the volume up, they sounded a bit spitty, but the room again was factoring into this experience. Track #26 “All You Need is Love” really woke up the room and commanded my attention. The dual subs were thumping well and the ECA-4s were doing their job to deliver the power and conviction of Lennon’s vocals. I do miss the intimacy of a good quality pair of much larger box speakers, but considering their virtually invisibility in the room, I’d say giving up a bit of fidelity for aesthetics is a compromise most people conscientious of this are willing to make