**Official EMP Owner's Thread** - Page 36

Those are what I use. They are standard size and will work fine. Nice quality.

Fedex f'd up my shipment too. The closest facility is 60+ miles away (one way). My Outlaw sub arrived on a Friday but they couldn't find the house. Well that was their excuse. I ended up having to call on Tuesday night and get patched through to the driver and met up at a local store to make the delivery. Wasn't happy at all. Hopefully your wait is worth it. Looking forward to your opinions.

Looks like they can hold tight forever. Similar appearance to the monster but at much cheaper price.

Hahahhah, you sir are a funny one! I'm actually happy with the bass/sound from the Outlaw. For the first time yesterday I actually jumped because of the sound it made (Bourne Legacy, when the missle hit the cabin). After that I had this stupid grin on my face, luckily I was home alone. I must of missed it, what sub(s) are you running?

Congrats, you know if you need to sell the EMP setup. I'd be happy to take them off your hands

Those will fit. I did notice the Sewell Silverback Plugs didn't fit as snugly as I would like, but they make contact & receive a signal.

I have a couple of the Monsters and they are quite similar with the body of the Sewell be a little longer. The quality is pretty much the same. The big difference is you're getting your money's worth with the Sewell.

Haha right! Maybe I can trade the baby in on a nice sub

Nah...we're really excited. I feel young, but I'll be 26 soon and she's the same so I guess not that young at all. Just bought a house and we both have stable jobs so not too too worried lol. Can't wait...though movies will have to be quiet...er in the house.


Can't say anything about that. I haven't heard the 814 or any of the Chorus line. Hopefully I didn't put I had heard them back somewhere by getting them mixed up...but I haven't heard them. Sorry. I've heard some of the driver used in the towers including the tweeter used and I didn't find it all that great. Too much added detail that wasn't supposed to be there. I'm not a big fan of a brighter, more forward midrange-treble though


Yup. That's what I have. They were too big for my Yamaha 663, but just using some pliers and making the end a little smaller and not so "open" made them fit just fine. Work great so far and fit very snug. Look great too!! GET EM!


Well that's good! I can definitely say I miss a sub, even though my PA-120 was boomy. Not running one at the moment. I probably wouldn't even use the pa-120 right now if I had it lol. I'll pick something up soon though!


Are you local? You're welcome to come hear them if you'd like. I still have quite a bit of auditioning to do, but so far they're sounding very solid for the price. I love how they focused more on lower distortion, higher overall spl levels rather than sizzle and boom like most. Couple that with a a balanced sound with a good amount of detail rounding out the top end and that's a VERY solid budget speaker. When I took my Roku 2 XS back to Best Buy and exchanged it for the WDTVlive, they had some B&W CM9's there (didn't know the BB closest to me had a Magnolia...cool!), but I turned them on running off the Denon 3113 or 2113 I believe...it made me cringe on the top end. Didn't sound "horrible", but definitely not my cup of tea. I have no clue if they had any EQ/tune on it, but whatever...not looking to spend that and wouldn't go that route anyways lol.

I will say I was using some of my tuning discs that I use (autosound 2000 discs, focal test cd's, etc etc) and the imaging was SPOT ON across the stage. 7 drum beats lined up perfectly horizontal and perfectly spaced. I might spread them out another half foot or so and see if they stay good, just to get some extra width, but don't get me wrong...the soundstage is still very nice. They're not an in-your-face speaker, they disappear for me at least and image well behind the speaker.

Congrats on the baby and the speakers. Only one will wake you up in the middle of the night!

I also got in on the Black Friday sale on the Emp Teks. I picked up the E55ti towers, E56ti, and E5Bi bookshelf speakers for the side surrounds to make up a 5.2 system. I am running (2) Power Sound Audio XV15 subwoofers.

I am comparing this setup to an Ascend Acoustics setup that I recently bought (CMT-340s across the front and HTM-200 for side surrounds). I am faced with returning one of them in the next couple weeks.

I'm not an Audiophile and I don't know how to exactly describe how the speakers sound. But for a first impression so far I'm surprised how different the Emp Tek sound compared to the Ascends. The Emps seem to roll off a bit at the high end and overall sound much more laid back. The Towers blend with the subs much more than the 340s do. I am driving everything with an Onkyo 818 receiver and Emotiva XPA-5 amplifier. I listen to the Ascends at about -4.5db THX sound level when watching movies. With the Emps the volume seems lower and that I find I want to turn the volume up 3-4db higher than the Ascend (Audyssey level sets in between to about the same level for both sets). It seems like I feel action movies much more with the Emps. The Ascends seem to have more clarity up top and perhaps are brighter than the Emps. The HTM-200 is a really bright speaker compared to the 340s and pretty much everything else I've heard (outside of horn tweeters). With those in the back I find I want to turn the level down 2dbs or so. I don't get that feeling with the Emp bookshelfs. I'm thinking the 170s would make for a better surround speaker, but I'm also thinking of trying bipoles for my surrounds.

This is just a first impression of listening for a couple hours. I have a lot more listening to do this next week.

EDIT: I have been comparing everything with various parts of Transformers 1, 2, and 3 (bluray). My setup is 90% movies, 10% music.
Edited by dwaleke - 12/19/12 at 3:11pm

Just auditioned my EMPs last night. The verdict is still out on the sound but this is a function of my receiver. God, the Pioneer SC-2112K is just the worst, non-intuitive receiver on the planet! Had to figure out the I had to go pre-out receiver and sub line in to get the sub working for music. In addition, i had to turn sub crossover point at all the way to the right to get any reasonable volume level (and this is with the volume level cranked up). I haven't played with polarity yet.

I can chime in about needing a sub for the towers...you def. need them to feel any reasonable thump. But then again, it may be my stinking receiver settings that are marring a full appreciation of the speaker's abilities.

Movie settings are good. TRON really was phenomenal, esp in the low bass department.

Any Pioneer guys who wish to share their receiver audio settings, post them here!

I don't think I'm close to you, just guessing by your avatar. I'm close to that teams old city though. I live in WA.

Nice subs!

Let me first ask...what are you listening to that makes you think the top end is slightly rolled off? Do you have them toe'd in at all? If not, try it. I'd like to try it out and see what I'm getting out of it to compare with what you're hearing. Comparing notes on it if you will lol.

My first thought was that most "budget" speakers can come across as slightly "bright" (I hate using this word) to adhere to most that think the top end sparkle and low end boom is what makes a good speaker. I doubt that the Ascend is like your run of the mill Klipsch, Polk, etc...but it could have a slightly hot treble. Could. I don't know though..haven't heard them. My second thought was that if you're listening to a speaker that DOES in-fact have a little more treble/upper midrange than needed/should be there (especially with what you say about the HTM's) it will sound much different when comparing side by side. Take time to really listen to a well recorded song you know and see if the Ascend adds anything or if the EMP is missing anything. Ears can take awhile to become accustomed to a speaker too. You get used to certain frequencies, etc. Everyone's ears are different also, so what I hear you might not (and that could be a good thing or a bad thing). So many factors.

Sensitivity (in-room) for both:
Ascend 340 - 92db
EMP e55ti - 89db (ish..maybe slightly lower)

So it's no wonder that you're needing to turn it up slightly more. Audioholics reviewer (gene) said he wouldn't mind if they added 1db to the tweeter to make it more appealing to most, especially when comparing,...but it's not needed b/c they play flat and you can EQ the top end if you'd like. Should be super easy to get the sound you're after if you prefer a slightly brighter treble. That's why I wanted to know what you're comparing so I can figure out the freq./instrument and see what a EQ cut around there or a slight boost would do (not good to boost I know...but it's okay for a slight one lol). The e55ti's should be quite a bit more dynamic than the 340's though with the amount of drivers used, espeically with the power you have available. I've always found with my car setups that the more power I have the better, dynamically, they sound to me. Now obviously you're not using the power your amp "has or says it has" at all time, whether it be a car amp or home amp, but its there for those peaks which is nice. Not surprised you feel movies with the EMP's more as they have more drivers to add to the dynamics, can likely reach a higher spl with lower distortion, etc. Haven't watched a movie yet, but I assume they're great for it!

Very interested to hear your thoughts over the coming weeks...everyone's for that matter. I like hearing what people think and seeing if I get the same thing. Remember though that sometime speakers can ADD content to music that should not be there. I find most budget speakers do this quite a bit to my ears, but these seem very balanced and pleasing to listen to. They looking intimidating too

Yeah I'd definitely get your AVR settings/issues worked out before coming to any conclusions. Looks like you're relatively new here so try posting up question in the AVR forums (if there is a master thread for your AVR especially)

Are the speakers broken in yet?

Haha yeah. I don't really believe in a long period of "breaking in". If needed, a few minutes is plenty. I've been really busy this week taking the girl to the doctor, brothers b-day last night, work, etc. I'll have plenty of time to listen to everything and draw conclusions this weekend.

Sent you a PM.

Anyone here with experience withe EW-30's or 35's?

As matter of fact I do. I think that they are simply amazing for what I paid for them. They are very clear, though I went from an old Pioneer boxed system. But I have 3 30's for my front's. You can very clearly hear what should be where, and everything has a very natural feeling when sounds come from them. By that I mean that if a car rolls passed from off screen left to off screen right, you can easily track it when you close your eyes. I've got these set up with a a set of Paradigm cinema 100's for sides, and Paradigm cinema 100 Diapols for rears, it makes one hell of a system, if you ask me.

Update
Klipsch WF-35 vs Emptek E55ti. My friend's comment who is a non audiophile:
EMPtek's bass is as strong as the Klipsch's. E55Ti sounds crispier. One thing I noticed... no matter how high I up the volume the E55Ti just doesn't seem to get loud Overall E55Ti sounds slightly better than WF-35

Tada

I mean those pair of membrane in the ears

Tell him welcome to lower distortion

You dont realize how loud it is until you try to talk...and you cant hear yourself

This is just the reply I was looking for. No regrets on my WF-35s yet, but congrats to all the 55 owners. It was a very close second for me.

well its been a while sense I last posted any thing and wanted to show a few pictures of my system. now just missing one sub and book shelf speakers.

Congrats
Looking really nice, and I bet they sound just as sweet. You spend under 1500 bucks or so? They're beautiful.

DJoel

Bitterwaste - How hard is it to listen to the e55ti's after hearing the Songtowers on the xpa-2? From what I've got to hear so far I'm pretty impressed with the e55ti's. I think they could definitely benefit from more power, but overall quite pleased. Hopefully I'll get some auditioning time this weekend and I can write up my thoughts.


Here's why mine reside as of now:

Those surrounds look tiny.

How much power are they getting right now?

The more I look at these, the more I'm leaning towards black.

Funny enough there not as tiny as they look, in fact they have some weight and size to them that is for sure and what they can really do is help fill a room with amazing sound, I can't tell you how good this system sounds to my ears and I'm a sound engineers for a lot of older bands and I still love coming home to this setup when I can and playing with it.

To be fully honest its not hard at all and in fact my wife enjoys the EMP system more then the salks, what I can tell you is if it has a ribbon tweeter the salks blow the EMP tek away hands down but if it doesn't like mine then they are close to the same except the Salk finish I have is by far the most amazing looking finish I've seen, over all just IMO the EMP are worth it after really playing with the settings and I set my system as Large speakers at a 60 hrz crossover and that make them sound just that much more amazing.

Overall any one that buys these speakers pat your self on the back because they are just great and I've listen to a huge amount of speakers at this point and for the price you just can't beat them!

What did you use to mount them? Did you remove one of the tweeters? I think it was on Audioholics that I read that some prefer them that way.