Emotiva T1 Towers - Audiophile Quality or Just Home Theatre Towers?

While the tweeter may look the same, it isn't the same as the Golden Ear.  I have no experience with Emotiva speakers, but I had their electronics and bright and thin was my thinking.  Cheap mid fi gear at best.

I 2nd stereo5's comments.


Matt

Nice for a HT that I wouldn’t have to listen too.

I have no experience with emotivas, but it comes down to what sounds good to you. My mains are infinity renaissance 80's so I'm sure I would be destroyed by the audiophile community. 

If you are looking for a decent inexpensive stereo speaker try the Klipsch R-28F they are on sale right now for $324.00 each with free shipping from Klipsch. Reference Floor Standing Speakers | Klipsch

i've only heard their airmotiv bookshelf model, which i believe has the same tweeter--they were bright and energetic but very detailed and very good value, if not as audiophile refined/neutral as pricier stuff. i do note that for whatever reason emotiva gets a lot of bashing on these pages (sometimes by folks who haven't heard 'em), usually because it's compared to much pricier gear.

I would say that you would likely be happier with the Elac UF5 or JBL 570 

I had a pair (part of their 5.1 deal) driven by their XMC-1 processor and BasX A500 five channel consumer amp. I was incredibly impressed. I would say they were 80% of my GoldenEar Triton Ones at a fraction of the price (with the Dirac room correction built into the XMC-1). I would certainly suggest getting a pair to try out.

80% of the Triton 1 speakers.  That leaves 20% which is the most important. 

Well the Triton Ones are $5k, whereas the Emotiva T1's were $699. Getting 80% of the way there is pretty.damn good IMHO. I doubt most people could tell the difference. If I only had $1k to spend I'd happily buy the T1's and never look back.

If you had $1,000 to spend you could step up to the T2s and get the 8" woofers.  I've heard good things about the Emotiva Airmotiv speakers, they seem to offer a lot of bang for the buck.  

I wasn't very impressed with the Triton 1s when I auditioned them.  They had tons of bass, but it felt like it was all bottom end and very aggressive treble, not much in the middle.  Of course, it was only one audition and not in the best room, so that may have played a part.  For the same $5,000 the Paradigm Prestige 95Fs I heard at the same store were heads and tails over the Goldenears.  

another Klipsch that you might consider are the RF82II .they get discounted alot lately.Right Now onEbay they can be had for $365.00 each with free shipping ..sometimes cheaper

Craigl59,

The RME dac looks interesting. Have you used the dsp options? What have you compared it to? 
Thanks

The T1's are unmatched?  Please name the 14 or 15 competitors you've compared them with double blind tests.  Lets try to keep the comments accurate.

Saying that this 700 dollar speaker is so good that you "doubt that most people could tell the difference" is just silly.  The Triton One's go down to 14 Hz and will take up to 400 honest amplifier watts to the Emotiva's 150.  The T1's have the usual budget compromises in cabinet design, speaker connection cup, drivers, etc.  

They may or may not be a decent speaker for the money, but it's a crowded market place, I've always preferred to go with an actual speaker company over a jack of all trades company that orders its products from Chinese factories.  

I bought components form Emotiva in the past.  They build to a price point, just like everyone else.

mofojo:
Have two home studios and use RME products in both, currently their UCX and UFX converters. The ADI-2 DAC is different in that it has all dsp functions only addressable through the unit controls. The other RME ad/da converters use the TotalMix computer interface -- an industry standard.
SO, there are substantial EQ and other DSP functions in the DAC but the interface keeps me from experimenting with them until May when I get back to my stereo system. All of these options are detailed on the RME website and DSP controls work effortlessly on the older units I employ.
However, have now had 3 days with the unit running very dense orchestral feeds and can tell you it is the REAL THING. Check it out.
For comparisons to standard consumer DACs, see the Gearslutz website and check out the reviews for the RME ADI-Pro 2. There are many comparisons to Schiit, Benchmark, and others. The ADI-2 DAC has the same circuitry for DA conversion as the ADI-Pro 2. The only differences are small improvements made to jitter and analog circuitry in the newer DAC.

213runnin -

The Goldenears are engineered in the US and built in China just like the Emotiva speakers.  Being built in China isn't necessarily a bad thing if proper quality control is in place, a lot of very nice speakers are manufactured there.

As far as the Goldenear specs go, Sandy Gross seems to have brought  the extremely optimistic frequency response quotes with him from Definitive Tech.  According to anechoic measurements the Triton Ones have peak bass output around 40hz and are down nearly 20db by 20hz.  They probably have some sort of output at 16hz, and room gain will help, but they're not deep sub-bass monsters.  

For under the $5,000/pair of the Triton Ones a pair of Emotiva T2s paired with one or two very nice subwoofers would offer much better bass performance, greater flexibility in placement for optimizing bass response to the room, and likely better midrange and midbass response.  

For under 5000, so would about 15 pairs of speakers made by loudspeaker only-manufacturers.  Buy whatever floats the boat, but to support the idea that Emotiva has something unique seems like a stretch.

The T2s weren't out when I bought my T1's (the whole 5 channel system was on offer for around $1100 so I didn't think I could go wrong, and I wasn't dissapointed). Yes the GoldenEar Triton Ones are better, I have them in a HT setup in the family room, but are they five times better ?

IMHO, no, not 5x better. I was running both the GoldenEar Triton Ones and the Emotiva T1's from Emotiva XMC-1s (I've standardized on them as my surround sound processor of choice, they really are that good). Is the extra 20% of performance worth another $4k ?

Depends on your budget. But I will say my neighbor went out and bought an identical Emotiva T1 5 channel setup after hearing both my GoldenEar Triton Ones and the Emotiva T1's and he is still happy with his decision.

Emotiva makes studio monitors, they know how to make good speakers.

The T1’s are good, but I would get the T2’s if you can afford it.

They image well and have a decent soundstage, and they are fairly accurate. Direct comparisons were made with their B1 bookshelves against the KEF Q100, and the B1 had better midrange and treble, but the KEF edged it out in imaging (as expected).

The T1 is my usually go-to recommendation for the cheapest good tower speaker. 

mzkmxcv:
Have been using the Emotive Stealth 8 and Stealth 6 monitors for years in studio settings and they are superb. Sadly, the 6 is no longer available. Their Heil-type drivers are different, BTW, from the ones in the T1s and I much prefer the monitor tweeters.
jra_samba:
Compare the T1s ($700) and the Double Impacts ($3350) and, like you, think the Double Impacts are better but not 5 times better. For me, the advantage to the DIs is that they are full range speakers and do not require a subwoofer. This improves low frequency soundstage.
In the high-end audio world, however, you pay a lot more for the last 5 or 10%.