Airmotiv 5 short review

[Deleted]

So I had the day off of work today and my Airmotiv 5's showed up at 8am from fedex (very strange). I got everything unpacked and setup and had a few hours to play with them.

The Good
1. The soundstage is pretty amazing, not matter where I place the 5's on my desk and wherever I sat, it was spot on. Again when hooking up to my HT and living room system, always spot on.
2. The tweeter really is something special, no sounds of harshness or compression at high levels, always seem like it's in complete control
3.they look great, good build quality (except for the power button, they seem like garbage. The are all wiggly and very cheap feeling)

The Bad (so far my only gripe)

The bass.... Not much of it. I know they are not going to be spl monsters but I don't find them very good in that regard. I had my old Paradigm Titans for reference. They REALLY out shined the 5's in that regard. These IMO need a sub, even on my puter desk, I'm just not very impressed with the bass in any way, whereas the titans on my desk are much more capable of dishing out the bass even at fairly high levels.

Thats it for now, so far I'm pretty happy, I've just had to order some more cables so I can get my PC sub in the mix to add some much needed bass.

I'll post some more thoughs after I've has some more time with them.

[Deleted]

Nov 16, 2012 20:51:41 GMT -5 @n8dogg said:

The bass.... These IMO need a sub, even on my puter desk .....

I agree, although I have the model 4 which has about 6Hz less low bass extension than the model 5. I actually measured almost flat down to nearly 50Hz at my PC. However, the bass IMO was not tight and defined enough for my likes. A direct comparison with my ERM-1's revealed that the ERM-1's although not as low in extension were more to my liking in the lower bass region. I think most folks would be very pleased with the Airmotiv's even in the bass region. I am just picky enough that I ordered the Mirage Omni S8 and that was just what the doctor ordered. After reducing the lower bass on the Airmotiv4 with the shelving filter and setting the Mirage to take over at about 90Hz, oh what an improvement to my ears. Now great sound on acoustic jazz and other music genres. The lower bass is full but tight and very defined, sounds great!

I know most folks seem to be very impressed that such a small speaker has such low bass extension but a quality small musical sub will add another dimension IMO.

[Porscheguy]

I have the 4's too and wondered if the 5's would be a big difference?? The 4's are pretty good size, not sure id I want anything any bigger on my desk. To be honest, I don't play them that loudly when I'm at my desk so I' might hold fast..

[Deleted]

I found the cables I needed last night in my rats nest of cables and have the 5's hooked up to my PC systems sub (A very good PC system) Like you said chuckie, night and day difference. They sound great but they needed that extra umph. I'm pretty happy with them and the sub, they really are really good sounding speakers.

[Deleted]

I'm extremely happy with my Airmotiv4's for a PC monitor as is (the model 5 would been even better on the low end and slightly louder, but I didn't have the room). However, adding the sub turned it into a 2 channel system that is very flat sounding and tight/defined down to 30Hz or below (I haven't done a FR test yet).

I am so happy with the smooth response right up to the high end at near field. In my HT room when tested it against my Emo ERM-1, it sounded very fine, especially way off axis in the next area of the open room where my computer sits. It began to strain above 90dB's or so, but was so nice for medium loud volumes.

[AudioHTIT]

I like 'em too - last night I had a Whoathon up in the loft and listened to the 5's for hours - didn't miss the sub at all, and never got tired of the sound.

[mission]

Just got our 5's hooked up! (Christmas present.) Wow, these things sound great. Coming straight from an iPhone 5 headphone jack. Seriously good sound. Impressed.

[RightinLA]

I agree with the OP review.
These great sounding speakers connected to my laptop via a Prodigy Cube or an Audioengine D1 DAC.

I added a small Energy ESW-M8 subwoofer for the missing bass.
It complements the Airmotiv 5's well.

My only complaint is that these speakers aren't finished in piano gloss black.