Emerald Physics CS-2, Opinions Please

If you haven't figured it out, I'm a physicist by trade so I do view things a bit from the science standpoint. Hard habit to break. BTW-I use DSP in some of my data analysis so I know full well the advantages and disadvantages.

It seems you have made up your mind so some of comments seems to have rubbed you the wrong way. I never intended to do so. As long as it makes you happy, it doesn't matter what I or anyone says. I was just expressing my opinions based on my experiences and my own personal preferences.

My main point was that many of the good qualities of the CS2's are due to the use of compression drivers, properly made horn, etc. and less to due with the DSP or open baffle nature of the CS2. So it is not a bad idea to listen to some other examples of speakers before you buy.

I do not own a pair of CS2's but my friend is a dealer and I hang out at the store most weekends so I get lots of listening time with the CS2's using a variety of electronics. He also asked me to him set-up the speakers so I did spend a fair amount of time playing with them.

I never dismissed pro drivers. They are very effective when used properly (operative word is properly). They have many key advantages like power handling and efficiency. I use Altec drivers which are essentially pro drivers. My point was that you could get a speaker with parts that have a better design for less. I did not intend to mean more expensive was better. Just that the component needs to be designed to do the intended job. The 'wall of sound' is very effective in creating a wall of sound just not music reproduction. Pro audio and home audio have different design criteria and needs.

That's why I suggested looking at Hawthorne Audio. Their drivers are made by Eminence, the same company that makes the bass drivers for the CS2s and the OEM for the drivers used Zu speakers. The main difference is that the drivers used by Hawthorne have a qts value optimized for open baffle operation so they don't need to use DSP to compensate for the bass. Same story with the PHY-HP drivers. They are designed for open baffle use and don't need equalization.

Since you have or are buying the CS2's, I do agree with using the digital input on the Behringer. The extra analog to digital stage really is a negative. Not sure what to do with vinyl playback other than an outboard A/D. One thought I had about the CS2 was to replace the Behringer crossover unit with the DEQX PDC2.6 (with or without preamp). The DEQX has a more flexible crossover and will also allow for room correction. If you are going to use this stick then you might as well get a bigger stick.

Not to pile on here, facts are facts.. the Eminence Beta drivers used in these new open baffles are about 50 bucks, the waveguide is about 6 bucks.. And the DSP unit is about 199.00 online, and it is HORRIBLY cheap and not very good sound compared to the DBX P.A. speaker management unit for about 399.00 online, far higher grade..

That being said the design of these emeralds is very interesting.. Not bad, but so easy to copy and get these off the shelf parts and build an open baffle like this that it would cost anybody very little time or money..

Now the real issue comes in on the Multiple needed cables, amps.. and Room acoustics with this design and keying in on the DSP settings will not be for the novice.. So I mean its again interesting, but far over complicated if you ask me with the variety and quality of designs around..

Maybe at 3500 you can't do much better but again as mentioned above this simply looks like a system out of the norm and sorta advanced, but there is nothing magical or advanced done here, quite the opposite be exact, its just a very crude way to keep something very cheap to produce, yet have some advantages over conventional designs IF you can deal with properly tuning and implementing the design in your environment.

Matrix-

The proof of the DCX is in the listening..Clayton wouldnt choose to put a bad sounding unit in the mix..yes, there are better DSP's and one coming down the line from EP very soon/

Quite the opposite in fact re: room acoustics... The presets are very user friendly and you will find your usable preset almost immediately by ear depending on your distance from the front wall. Not a big project to get good sound. As for multiple cables, amps. What's so hard about hooking up another pair of IC's to another amp?

The CS-2's are designed so that the room has as little bearing as possible on the sound..Its why they sound so consistently good whether in a hotel at a show or in your basement listing room. You are majoring on a minor point with this speaker.

Oh...and the reason that the currently listed pair is up is because he's a dealer who was going to sell them as demo's.. but, since now there is only one authorized dealer in the US..he cant sell them as either new or demos.

Matrix-In my original post, I refrained from giving the exact breakdown on the parts used in this speaker. You didn't pull any punches here. I was a bit more gracious in the $1200 estimate. :-)

Kehut-My experience with the CS2's seem very different from yours. The reason my dealer friend called me for help was that none of the presets worked at all in his room with his electronics. I painstakingly created a new setting for his set-up from scratch and it was very different (almost opposite) of the factory presets. Everyone who heard the comparison between my program and the factory program thought the factory program was a non-starter. I found that very odd given the very positive comments at CES.

Perhaps my listening preferences are very different than Clayton's because I was hearing both digital artifacts from the Behringer and acoustic artifacts from the plastic waveguide. The waveguide artifacts are not due to the DSP but from the waveguide interactions.

I do agree the concept of the CS2 has merit. It would be intersting to DIY a similar speaker using bass drivers meant for open baffle operations (say two PHY-HP H30LB15), making the baffle a bit wider, adding sides and a top along the lines of the A23 Solovox (the Solovox cabinet uses a neat trick to deal with the rear wave cancellation problem), a damped metal horn, and a compression driver designed for audio. Or you could just stick an Altec 604 in an open baffle and call it a day.