Mine will also be here next week. Can't decide which recording to listen to first. Decisions, decisions. |
I spoke to Jonathan Friday and he said they were about 4 weeks away from shipping the first MicroOnes. Apparently they have had production issues typical of startup companies and/or products. |
Jonathan says they are in customs and should be out soon. I hope these long awaited speakers will finally become available. |
Seadogs1, I am not completely sure but I do not believe any mmmicro ones have shipped either to customers or to the few dealers they have. I am on their waiting list but have heard nothing for a few weeks. |
I believe that they are indeed being made in China. I came late to the game with these after reading the rave reviews online and hearing them at the recent Newport Beach Show, and I ordered a pair. I am aware that there have been a lot of production delays but I would imagine EA will have an arrangement to repair them here in the US. Sooner or later they will have to deliver them to customers or cut bait. Hopefully it is the former. |
Hi, Unoear. You are starting to ask questions for which I have little knowledge. Regarding the other EA speakers, I know that their volume is a fraction of potential MMMicro One sales, so I doubt that there would be much of a potential overall cost reduction on a small volume of manufactured speakers in China. My guess on the Micros is that all production will be in China including the component manufacture and assembly, i.e. a major labor and regulatory compliance cost reduction. For confirmation of my best guesses, you will have to speak to Jonathan Tinn. And if the production model differs from the "show" model, I will be very disappointed, so let's hope that is not the case. |
I have only heard them during a day at the recent Newport Beach Show. They are in my opinion an enigma. They have a full, immediate sound in the midrange and do a terrific job of disappearing, i.e. if you closed your eyes you would have no clue as to the speaker location. Voices and instruments have a robust presence. Highs are well-defined but sweet and not promiment, calling no attention to any part of the treble or specific instruments. The enigma part comes with the fact that they are extremely fast like a good panel speaker, especially in the bass. On one particular orchestra recording the bass had a transient crack that was unreal, making bass from virtually any other speaker I have heard sound slow and discontinuous, while still doing a good job with extension. It was hard to believe that these little speakers could have this type of speed and impact throughout the frequency spectrum. I heard a lot of speakers at the show and the only ones I thought measured up to the MMMicroOnes were the mbl 101e's as part of a very expensive setup--everything else was somewhat disappointing. While some have opined that a lot of the sonics were due to an expensive front end, it just indicates to me that these speakers are merely limited to the quality of the associated electronics. Maybe not everyone likes this type of sound but obviously I was impressed and ordered a pair. |
I was on vacation for a week (out of phone, cell, pager, computer, carrier pigeon, and smoke signal range) which was glorious, but now returned to find my MMMicroOnes and hooked them up yesterday. Yes, they were fantastically packaged and flawless, but the real treat is the sound. I agree that they sound great out of the box, a little constipated but there will certainly be no gritting of teeth waiting for break-in. All of the fullness of sound along with speed is there. BTW, these are replacing my Ridge Street Audio Sasons and I use Essence solid-state (amp) and tube (preamp) gear along with SME/Graham/Lyra/Manley Steelhead analog front end.
One word on pricing. I am a small business owner and I have had numerous instances where I, in the best of intentions, severely underestimated pricing prior to full production. I am going to give EA the benefit of the doubt that they had no intention of doing the bait-and-switch on pricing after they initially drummed up interest on their products. |
Before anyone dismisses these speakers entirely based on possible rising prices, I would strongly encourage you to seek out a pair for listening. They are one of the best-sounding speakers that I have heard in almost 40 years in audio. |
I am in a much smaller room than your 20 x 30 x 8 and sit nearfield between the speakers, so I am not entirely sure if the speakers are good candidates for your larger room. A lot of it will depend on how much amplifier power you have. The speakers produce 87dB at a distance of 1 meter at 1 watt essentially, so 10 W will produce 97 dB peaks at 1 m, 100 W 107 dB peaks. The sound pressure levels fall off as the square of the distance from the speakers, so you can work this out. I would think a larger room would dilute the bass volume also, so a subwoofer would help here. Hopefully EA will respond to your inquiry soon with a more definitive answer. One thing I can say: once you hear the gorgeous midrange of these speakers you won't care about the bass. YMMV of course. |
Dear fellow Goners: I just wanted to state for the record (I have no afilliation with EA) that I have always found them to be responsive and am completely satisified with the delivery, quality, and sound of my MMMicroOnes. I can also sympathize with EA in that going from manufacturing low volumes of expensive speakers in the US is a world apart from manufacturing high volumes of relatively inexpensive speakers in China. The MicroOnes are no doubt the best small room speaker I have heard, bar none. I think some real engineering went into these speakers and it is unfortunate that so many others do not. I commend Jonathan, Kevin, and the EA team for enduring what certainly had to be a painful birth of this speaker line. |
One thing that seems to help tighten focus and bass is loading the stand risers with lead shot. I also wrapped a lead shot-filled ankle weight around the bottom of the risers for a total of about 20 lbs per speaker. Finding lead shot here in CA was very difficult as there have been environmental movements to prevent lead poisoning of animals but adding the shot was well worth the effort. I have about 15 hours on the MicroOnes and they are starting to open up more and the spatial solidity is astounding. |
I believe I have read that the best engineering practice is to couple an audio component to something that is more stable and decouple it from something less stable. Since I have a cement floor under my carpet I couple my MMMicroOnes to the floor using Star Sound Sistrum Stands that use brass cones. Conversely, I decouple my turntable from my equipment stand since it is less stable. I have spent a lot of time trying different vibration control schemes and my results confirm this rule of thumb. |
Hi, Iknev: If it were me I would just repackage the speaker since it is not that massive and send it back to be fixed under warranty. No doubt it will be painful not listening to your new speakers, but the last thing you want to do is compound the problem if you are not entirely sure how to replace drivers and crossover components, especially if you were to take out an amp channel or such. I have a pair of these speakers and have been lucky so far with no problems. Good luck with Jonathan--I am sure he will take care of you. |
I am not taking sides here, just my experience at an audio show for what it is worth. I attended the 2012 Newport Beach Audio Show specifically to listen to speakers and heard dozens of them, mostly costly designs that cost in excess of $18K/pair. IMO, the overwhelming majority of them sounded cold, sterile, clinical, bright, boomy in the bass, and with a flat soundstage. Maybe it was the rooms, I don't know. But there were five or six speakers that sounded like live music--I have 4 sons who all play music, as does my wife. Only two of these natural-sounding speakers were inexpensive and one was the Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. So I bought a pair and they are the best speakers I have had in my system, including some that cost $40K. And I can say that Jonathan Tinn has always been an honest gentleman, at least in my own experience. |
Shsohis: Point taken. There is no arguing in matters of taste. I also have heard most of the speakers you noted and disagree that they outclass the MicroOnes. There is also no doubt that you are speaking of designs far higher in price. |
