Erin's Audio Corner Reviews the Airmotiv T2+ Towers!

[Hair Nick]

[housetech]

The two rooms we listen to audio are good size, floor to ceiling (10ft & 9ft) raised wood paneling with hard and soft surfaces and a good mix of furniture.
I find the T2+ too room dependent, imaging is fair- removing the grills is a must and the higher frequencies as the other reviewers did, bright sometimes shrill.
My first listening was in a (smaller) room where they were not intendent to stay, they sounded pretty good. But when moved to where they were purchased to be, they total fail. Listening to Chris Rea "The Works" track #13 The Things Lovers Should Do, the T2+ crapped all over itself, sounded terrible. I've had speakers (metal domes) 2x & 3x the price never sounded so bad or reacted to room acoustics as T2 did. It's not a speaker for everyone or just any room, you need to be ready to do work to the room acoustics and adjust location for it to sound good. As the reviewer showed in his measurements, the T2+ has potential to be satisfying in the right location. I had high hopes for this "budget" speaker.

edit, I actually thought the crossovers failed, but was told it's a room acoustic issue. Nothing could be more true.

[Boomzilla]

Yes, the T2s are picky about room placement and room treatment. I'm sure Emotiva designed them in a well-treated room, and expect their customers to provide a similarly posh acoustic environment. But, if you've got a poor-sounding room, then unless you get really lucky, other speakers won't sound so great there either. Now saying "I found a pair of speakers that worked really well in my room" just means you got lucky - not that the speakers are good - the speakers that happen to "like" your room's acoustics might sound really bad in another room.

So to assess what speakers really sound like, you've got to do some room treatment to get the room near neutral. My room IS neutral but for the bass that has a hard time keeping up due to the room's open corners. Bass traps won't help, either. On the positive side for bass, there are no huge standing waves (like most rooms have). But it took a lot of absorbers and two big diffusers to get the best sound (and a lot of experimentation).

So back to the T2 speakers - If they're too bright in your room, I'd think it says more about the room than the speakers. A few absorbers might well boost the performance of those puppies by an order of magnitude. It's at least worth a try.

Cordially - Boomzilla

[Sayer]

My room is definitely not ideal. It is fairly small with 9 foot ceilings and open in the back (to the kitchen). There is a huge (8 foot) aquarium along the left side that is close to the seating area, which consists of a single three seat couch.

Having said all that, the T2+, C2+, B1+ sound fantastic. Full, enveloping, dynamic, clear and natural dialogue. I ran Dirac, but did not like the results, so I set the levels, distance, and crossovers manually. I leave the grills on and don't find them to be at all harsh. I've had Infinity Kappa speakers with the Emit ribbon tweeters in the past, so maybe I am more used to that type of sound.

It took some position tweaking (over a few days) to get the T2+ to sound their best, especially in two channel mode. They ended up being around 3 feet from the back wall and toed in slightly.

[drtrey3]

I had mine all set up to provide the good sound, then we moved everything to make room for the Christmas tree! For the rest of the season, I will just move them around willy nilly and see what I learn. It is fun sometimes to move them too close or too far apart and too close as well. It helps learn about the room and speakers, but man, some of the placements are dogs!

Trey

[brutiarti]

Dec 8, 2021 14:52:41 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Yes, the T2s are picky about room placement and room treatment. I'm sure Emotiva designed them in a well-treated room, and expect their customers to provide a similarly posh acoustic environment. But, if you've got a poor-sounding room, then unless you get really lucky, other speakers won't sound so great there either. Now saying "I found a pair of speakers that worked really well in my room" just means you got lucky - not that the speakers are good - the speakers that happen to "like" your room's acoustics might sound really bad in another room.

So to assess what speakers really sound like, you've got to do some room treatment to get the room near neutral. My room IS neutral but for the bass that has a hard time keeping up due to the room's open corners. Bass traps won't help, either. On the positive side for bass, there are no huge standing waves (like most rooms have). But it took a lot of absorbers and two big diffusers to get the best sound (and a lot of experimentation).

So back to the T2 speakers - If they're too bright in your room, I'd think it says more about the room than the speakers. A few absorbers might well boost the performance of those puppies by an order of magnitude. It's at least worth a try.

Cordially - Boomzilla

In my personal experience with the T2’s, I found them better sounding in an untreated than a well treated room. My 2 cents