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TESTED: Emerald Physics CS2 Controlled-Directivity Speaker System

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Trailblazer

May 11th, 2009 -- by Robert E. Greene
Source: The Absolute Sound
Products in this article:CS2 Controlled-Directivity Speaker System

 

Conclusion

 
 
 

Comments

Paul (not verified) -- Thu, 05/14/2009 - 12:24

I hope I'm being terribly unobservant, but does anyone see a price anywhere in this article? Measurements? Anything? Bueller...? Bueller...?

Jim Hannon -- Fri, 05/15/2009 - 16:37

Sorry Paul.
They've been added in two places:
1. At the bottom of the review
2. At the top of the review---Products in this article. Click on the link and it takes you to the specs and other info on the product.
Hope this helps!
Jim

Gustavo Vera (not verified) -- Sat, 05/16/2009 - 07:46

Are these speakers available, I went to the Emerald Physics webpage and it seems they have been replaced by the CS2.3 a three way evolution of these..

Anony-mouse (not verified) -- Sat, 05/16/2009 - 14:37

Yup, the other poster is correct, judging by the manufacturer website this review is out of date when it is published.  The line looks to have been entirely redesigned, with coax mid/tweets on the "2" appearing to use the mid cone as the waveguide in a 3-way configuration with changed crossover points, an internal passive crossover between the upper frequency drivers, and wholly revised cosmetics on the baffles.  The price also went up by a grand to $4K.  At this ($3K) price point, they offer the "3", a 2-way coax with a single bass/mid driver, which omits the external digital crossover altogether in favor of an internal passive crossover plus external DSP and no biamping...Hopefully REG can get in a followup before Emerald's next revision.
In any case, an interesting article on a product and company I'd been previously unaware of.  Much more informative on the theoretical front than Emerald's website, that's for sure (the website should also provide more product detail than it does.)  The advantages of DSP crossover technology are obvious and I'm frankly surprised at how slow the industry is being to exploit it.  (REG doesn't even mention phase-coherence.)  But I must remain an agnostic on controlled-directivity philosophy; I'm more convinced about dipole bass, but have heard too many good-sounding speakers with more conventional mid-treble dispersion patterns (or even wider) and too many flawed-sounding ones with limited HF dispersion to sign up based on theoretical contentions.  For a practical consideration, I like the ability to be untethered from the listening position when I want without losing too much bandwidth.  For another, HF reflections can also be handled through room acoustic treatments.

doak -- Tue, 05/19/2009 - 18:19

"The advantages of DSP crossover technology are obvious and I'm frankly surprised at how slow the industry is being to exploit it."
 
The DISadvantages of the DCX xover are also obvious when one listens to it.  "High End" it ain't. 
The CS2, IMO, was an ambitious but flawed speaker system.   I wish EP and Clayton Shaw the best with their newest products.
Doak

JR-1 (not verified) -- Mon, 05/25/2009 - 12:16

This speaker is proof that the room was *not* the problem - the speaker was !! In terms of its radiation pattern / bass loading method.
 
And REG states that Emerald's crossover "corrects". I'm not sure this is the case. This is an *accurate*, low distortion crossover...and with drive units that need little correction in the first place, the "correction" thing seems to be a misnomer.