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eD[c]12 Cinema Speakers [OWNERS]

post #1 of 89
6/4/12 at 8:56am
Thread Starter 

This is a OWNER'S Thread for the eD[c]12 Cinema Line.

IF you OWN the eD[c]12s and would like to post pics and impressions, this is the place. 

If you are looking into these speakers, feel free to post or ask questions.  I dont mind answering them.  Do not post in this thread to derail etc...

I got a pair to demo and loved them so much, I soon sold my Klipsch. I ordered the cinema line speakers all the way around. I opted for the tower version which is custom. These were the first tower version of the Cinema line. There is another member on AVS getting a custom tower version also with double 12s.

I also opted for the DE250 upgraded compression driver. The main difference in these is at higher volumes. IMHO, why not spend the extra 75 bucks for the upgraded driver.

Short review:

I received these Friday evening and after unpacking everything and getting the behemoths of a sub up the stairs, I was pooped.

My first listen immediately reminded me why I had pretty much sold my klipsch before even hearing these speakers. The compression driver stood out so much upon first listen. It was so much warmer than my klipsch tweeters. The vocals in Evanescence's "Breathe no More" were wonderful. Amy Lees voice was not overpowering in any way like it was with my other speakers. It sounded so warm and probably what it was supposed to sound like. My klipsch made it sound bright and almost fatiguing.

Tried some Rock, dubstep, and a couple movies. The DVD of open range of the gunfight scene was very very nice. Gunshots rang out like I felt they were intended. With the blurays of How to Train Your Dragon and War of the Worlds, i was hearing bits and pieces if the movie that i hadnt heard before. Reason being, the towers were not so bright and in your face which in turn let me hear the vocals through the center channel. Metallica's fade to black was also nice. The guitar was in no way pushing the limits of ear bleeding. It was so much easier to listen at high volumes without the harshness or brightness. Alice in chains live (nutshell) was spectacular. This was also another song that can get bright with my klipsch. The crowd cheering and clapping was usually the culprit. Again warm vocals and guitar with the cinemas. Lindsey Sterling's dubstep violin was great. The violin was not overly harsh sounding on this track either.

After running audyssey xt32 with just the subs and cinemas, I found that the cinemas are very very efficient/sensitive. Audyssey found them at 70 hz after running a full and proper 8 point calibration. They are rated at 72hz so audyssey was spot on there! I bumped them to 80hz where I listened to everything again. Dynamic eq and the audyssey cal made them sound even more perfect to my ears. I am driving these with my XPA 5 but honestly they don't need that much power. You can easily drive these off of any avr.

On to the finish. Upon talking to Alex about these we both discussed that there was honestly no reason for me to get a gloss finish. I opted for the standard finish and IMHO it looks great. It matches my subs and in turn matches all the other black pieces I have going on.

The main reason this project started was me wanting to upgrade to klipsch rf7s. Me and Alex threw around the idea of possibly doing mains in double 12s. After receiving the eD[c] 12 tower, I knew there was no reason to spend the extra money on the extra woofer and crossover cost. Also with the subs I have now, I just didn't need the extra bump from another woofer. This set gets plenty loud. Alex had a little friendly fun when we talked about my impressions. He said "remember you wanted to do an extra 12 and they they are this loud now?"

Matt and Alex custom made the towers for me which we discussed being a certain height. We essentially wanted them to have the horn at ear level. Matt designed it and the rest is what you see here. After hearing them and being pleased, I ordered the center and two more towers just like these. I hope this review helps future customers who are on the fence about the cinema series. You can't go wrong with a pair of these. All on all, I am a very happy camper. They fill my 450 square foot room(30x15) very nicely.

Update:After getting all the speakers in the room, I ran a full 8 position Audyssey XT32 calibration. Audyssey found the mains and center at 70hz, surrounds at 50hz. Im assuming the surrounds were found lower due to my room. I have added numerous acoustic treatments. I also have just added a bass trap in the rear ceiling/wall corner.




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post #2 of 89
6/4/12 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 
eD[c]inema Series:

This lineup fits into a little different of design setting, as it is meant to be a high efficiency design featuring the directive nature of a horn/waveguide on the top end. Smooth, efficient, neutral, and up-gradable to match more demanding listening. Honestly it is hard for me to put into words a lot of what this series means/represents for me as I'm the main designer with this lineup. They offer a movie/concert experience right in your home, the efficient nature of them does require a subwoofer for the lower octaves (generally 70-80 Hz on down but with enough power on hand a pair of the eD[c]12s can shake walls in a 15'x15' room). Music, movies, video games, and every other content was thrown at these during the development process to ensure that the design stayed as far away from the negative connotations of horn loaded compression drivers as possible. They are very well balanced with the crossover design done exclusively here in Newton, each model has its own unique design to give them the best performance and ability to blend together as possible. These will actually be replacing my A6.towers over the next month or so as well. The Cinema lineup is transparent, they offer no coloration to the material and stage extremely well but they aren't as forgiving as the A6 and DL speakers with poorly recorded material. Good sounds good, great sounds great, poor sounds poor. Just as a speaker should, the goal like the EL is to be transparent in the room and sound as the material reproduces and I feel that in those terms these two share quite a bit.


Overall:

A.Series: Great intro speaker that offers one hell of a bang for the buck.
DL.Series: Beautiful step up from the A.series in what it offers in both output and performance.
EL.Series: The Flagship. Clear, Concise, and Transparent. Content as the sound engineer designed.
Cinema Series: Transparent and efficient. Looking for Movie Theater or Concert performance and levels at home, this would be the place to look.
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post #3 of 89
6/4/12 at 9:21am
There should be torrent sites for speaker porn, me so haw-ny.
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post #4 of 89
6/4/12 at 9:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaviorMachine View Post

There should be torrent sites for speaker porn, me so haw-ny.

niiiiice!
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post #5 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:32am
They look really nice.

Do they come with grilles like the SHO-10?

I must have grilles with little kids.
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post #6 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcuDefTechGuy View Post

They look really nice.

Do they come with grilles like the SHO-10?

I must have grilles with little kids.

yes, they come with grilles. I was trying to find a pic that I took with them on...
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post #7 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcuDefTechGuy View Post

They look really nice.

Do they come with grilles like the SHO-10?

I must have grilles with little kids.

older pic of when I was moving stuff around in my room, but you can see the grilles.

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post #8 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:39am
How do you adjust the blinds?
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post #9 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaviorMachine View Post

How do you adjust the blinds?

lol, I dont really ever use them. They stay in this position all the time.
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post #10 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:50am
Hahaha, windows are so overrated. Anyway terrific-looking setup, must be nice to present your babies to the gang like this. I bet it's crazy when you're watching movies in that space.
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post #11 of 89
6/4/12 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaviorMachine View Post

Hahaha, windows are so overrated. Anyway terrific-looking setup, must be nice to present your babies to the gang like this. I bet it's crazy when you're watching movies in that space.

When building the house, I had to install that window. I planned on building a false wall, but never did.
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post #12 of 89
6/4/12 at 11:32am
Thanks for the review, nezff. How big is your room? Also, a little OT, what kind of chairs are you using and do you like them? Thanks!
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post #13 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:12pm
Thread Starter 
The room is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. I am using Berkline Tangiers chairs purchased from Stargate Cinema. YES! I love them.
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post #14 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:14pm
Thread Starter 
updated pic
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post #15 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:51pm
I love my cinema 12's. They do movies well obviously, that was their design intent I assume. However the reason I really love them is for music. They look like they would sound harsh to me since I associate a horn tweeter with harshness. That is not the case with these, they are so smooth sounding no matter how loud you crank em. I may look into getting more room treatments (so far I have tri bass traps from floor to ceiling in the 2 front corners and another bass trap in one rear corner, the other corner is the staircase) but honestly I don't know if I need them!

My former speakers were Magnepans and I actually prefer theses for music!! I was hoping when I bought the eD's that I would prefer them for movies (of course) and that they would be good enough for music that I wouldn't have to use 2 separate speaker systems, 1 for movies and 1 for music. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that I wouldn't be needing the Maggies anymore! I loved those Maggies too.

For the price these are a no-brainer. If you order 3 speakers at a time you get 15% off, quite a large chunk.

All the members who have had issues with delivery times makes me nervous to recommend them, all I can do is speak to my own experience. My card was not charged until the speakers were shipped and I got them in less than 2 weeks.

My camera sucks compared to Nzeff, but you can see some pics of them on the link below.
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post #16 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

I love my cinema 12's. They do movies well obviously, that was their design intent I assume. However the reason I really love them is for music. They look like they would sound harsh to me since I associate a horn tweeter with harshness. That is not the case with these, they are so smooth sounding no matter how loud you crank em. I may look into getting more room treatments (so far I have tri bass traps from floor to ceiling in the 2 front corners and another bass trap in one rear corner, the other corner is the staircase) but honestly I don't know if I need them!

My former speakers were Magnepans and I actually prefer theses for music!! I was hoping when I bought the eD's that I would prefer them for movies (of course) and that they would be good enough for music that I wouldn't have to use 2 separate speaker systems, 1 for movies and 1 for music. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that I wouldn't be needing the Maggies anymore! I loved those Maggies too.

For the price these are a no-brainer. If you order 3 speakers at a time you get 15% off, quite a large chunk.

All the members who have had issues with delivery times makes me nervous to recommend them, all I can do is speak to my own experience. My card was not charged until the speakers were shipped and I got them in less than 2 weeks.

My camera sucks compared to Nzeff, but you can see some pics of them on the link below.

thanks!

Here is a pic of Carps setup:

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post #17 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:58pm
Awesome setup, guys! And thanks for all of the info. Frankly, I just want my build to start then have everything magically chosen for me and appear in my basement.
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post #18 of 89
6/4/12 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hogues View Post

Awesome setup, guys! And thanks for all of the info. Frankly, I just want my build to start then have everything magically chosen for me and appear in my basement.

thanks
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post #19 of 89
6/4/12 at 7:19pm
My system isn't quite as impressive as Carp's and Nezff's, but I couldn't be happier. I went with the stock compression driver since Brett said the DE250 really shines at a higher SPL than I need. I've listened for a few minutes at 5db below reference and can't imagine watching a whole movie that loud. It sounds great for a little while but it's just not necessary IMO.

I'm driving them with a Pioneer Elite SC-35 and certainly don't need any more power than it provides. Coming from speakers with soft dome tweeters (Energy e:XL 26) it's amazing to hear how clear high efficiency speakers are regardless of the volume. I decided to upgrade from the Energy's because they just didn't sound as good at higher volume as they did at lower volume. The eD's keep all the dialogue and detail amazingly clear regardless of how quiet or loud they are.

These are my first horn loaded compression driver speakers and I was a little nervous about the comments around Klipsch and others being nasally or sounding like a horn speaker (whatever that means). I can honestly say I haven't found a single thing I would change. I've listened to mostly movies but also a little music in the week or two I've had them. To my ears they are just as great at music as movies. I've used the same handful of demo songs for the last few years and I'm super impressed with the way these speakers sound.

I did have to upgrade my sub from a Rythmik FV12 to FV15HP. The FV12 is awesome at normal levels but I was asking too much of it to keep up with the eD's. My room is 14x19x9 (2400ft^3) so the FV15HP is more than enough for me.

My grills were shipped today and I'll feel better when they are on and protecting the woofers from my kids. One nice thing about compression drivers is they are virtually impossible for kids to damage. Even if they can reach inside the horn body there is a metal screen to stop them. Another nice touch is eD puts grill cloth behind the ports. While this may be cosmetic so you don't see the inside of the cabinet, it also keeps hotwheels and bouncy balls out of the speaker too.

My screen is 108" diag but these big speakers/sub make it look tiny in the photo.



Dave
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post #20 of 89
6/4/12 at 8:46pm
Thread Starter 
awesome bud.
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post #21 of 89
6/6/12 at 7:32am
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This was mine in production

700
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post #22 of 89
6/6/12 at 10:42am
Love the look of the towers, wish I had gone that direction... however, I don't know where I would have fit my subs if I did that.
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post #23 of 89
6/6/12 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
I think they would have fit fine bud.
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post #24 of 89
6/6/12 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nezff View Post

I think they would have fit fine bud.

That's the trade-off of having such a big screen, there is not much room between the screen and the side walls. The best freq response in my room is to have the subs in the front corners so I don't want to change that, but then the speakers have to go there too so the solution is to use the subs as speaker stands. It works fine, but I love the look of the custom towers you have.

The next upgrade I'm considering is going to 7.1. so I would need 2 more eD cinema speakers. I currently have the 6" bookshelf speakers in the back so I could just get 2 more of those, but I saw some pictures of those wedge speakers and am wondering if there is a sound quality difference between the 2.
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post #25 of 89
6/6/12 at 6:16pm
These speakers look hawt! Really curious to see how they sound!
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post #26 of 89
6/7/12 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pokekevin View Post

These speakers look hawt! Really curious to see how they sound!

That was also one of my favorite things about them. The look they bring and the sound.
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post #27 of 89
6/7/12 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nezff View Post

That was also one of my favorite things about them. The look they bring and the sound.

For a sec I thought the ED12 was the subwoofer in the first pic. I was like WHOOO WHEN DID THEY GET THAT BIG
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post #28 of 89
6/19/12 at 7:44am
These look really nice. I think I'm going to add these towers to my short list.

I think the pics are pretty funny. My first thought was that either that's a really big sub or those are short towers. Amazing how close in size they are.
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post #29 of 89
7/13/12 at 6:49pm
Temp home till theater is finished.
BF8762FF.jpg
2CE11714.jpg
84F665F8.jpg
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post #30 of 89
7/13/12 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
beautiful!!
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