Post by garbulky on Jan 31, 2014 5:37:59 GMT -5
Welcome to my Emotiva airmotiv 4 review. If you are new to my posts, just know that it's going to be long and subjective. Details: my living room is not neutral and it is small to medium in size. It has a panel of acoustic treatment. Also, it does sound good in here. 
I also want to thank my good friend and fellow poster, our resident B'zilla for his kind loan of these speakers.
For small speakers, these are relatively heavy but they will not throw your back out.
They came to me on an ingenious attachment solution for speaker stands….velcro.
The sheer genius, of this idea - I'm not joking - threw me for a loop. They stayed absolutely firm on their stands which were mounted on a bass with a tripod of sorts. They velcroed nice and tight in way that you have no worries at all of it tipping over etc. Plus you could remove them and reattach them without difficulty. I don't know why this isn't standard for bookshelves because it really should be.
Build quality:
A rap test on the speakers produces no hollow sound that I could hear. The sound was also less resonant than a rap test on my much larger Axiom M80 towers.
However, when playing sound it should be noted that placing your hand against the sides you could feel a whole lot of the sound being transmitted onto your hand much more than my towers. So even though it passes the rap test I wouldn't say that these cabinets are inert in the least.
Other than that, there is nothing to complain about the build quality. They look solid.
Looks:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And IMO these speakers are cool cats. They have style. They look distinct. The cone looks "special". The shading of the black/grey is nice. Also they are tiny. It was comical to set them up next to the axioms as they were dwarfed by the larger unit. This is IMO a good thing. In a living room small is tasteful and I don't think you could get much smaller and preserve the sound. My axioms do take up the center attention of the room. The airmotivs try their best to get out of the way but look good doing it.
Setup:
PC Foobar WASAPI -> asus xonar essence ST dgital out coax- > XDA-1-> (RCA) passive pre-amp-> airmotiv 4.
RCA used to mitigate the lossy volume control on the XDA-1 as the passive pre only has RCA
Ease of use:
I've seen people comment about the convenience of having active speakers and the appeal for regular people who appreciate modernization and convenience. This is the way forward etc.
I don't know what they are talking about.
Here's why: You need to have two power cables and they need to reach from wherever you want your speakers . This is a pain. Because I do not have that. The power cables just barely reached what I thought was acceptable distance and that was because my strip just happened to be near the center of the soundstage.
Next those RCA cables/XLR need to reach to however far you want them….and these wires will run from the DAC. So if your dac just happens to be a small DAC like a USB dragonfly, I would hate to see the kind of accidents that could happen.
So...now what you have is two long power cables which may be hooked into different outlets across the room.
Then you have the two RCA cables snaking out from the DAC just makes the setup look messy. It's do-able but convenience, the future, modern - it's not.
Sorry for the rant as that is the only main issue I had with the airmotivs. Granted it may be that I'm used to passive speakers. To setup it's much easier with a central amp. You can have long BENDY easily hidden speaker wires. The amp is right next to all your gear which is right next to the power strip. The RCA wres can be as short as you like. Easy - at least for me.
The sound.
Note:
- I unfortunately had (my fault) only a few days actually spent with the unit.
- I can't believe the kind of critical scrutiny I put towards these speakers that cost $350. Any other speaker of this price would not have this kind of scrutiny because….they wouldn't be able to hold up to it.
But I only do this because they do have something special and do so much right that I am forced to start comparing it with the kind of scrutiny that I would reserve for non active speakers in the 1k+ range.
The sound is instantly attention grabbing. It impresses you immediately.
Here's the thing you will notice about the airmotivs.
- It has bass. It does. Get rocking
- It's mid range and treble is of an ethereal open window to the soundstage.
When I say open window - that's exactly what it feels like. This is IMO the most impressive thing of the airmotivs. One needs to have some resolution to be able to pull this off and if I had to guess it was the combination of that ribbon tweeter combined with the small driver.
For instance, my 3.5X the price axioms couldn't pull off the etheral-ness and open window feel of the soundstage of the airmotivs. In fact the feel was more Magnepan 1.6 feel than cone driver speakers.
It did depth! And it did it decently. It had that airy reble extension. It had most of the details. They communicated music. Vocals, instruments and things hovered in the air. The words airmotiv just struck me as being a perfect descriptor of these speakers. It's got air and it brings emotions.
Tonally there is a shift "upward" in its presentation. The sensation I got was a liquid sound of sorts. What I imagined tubes to sound like.
The Bass:
I was really shocked. In my small-medium living room these airmotivs did have bass. I could hear double basses, bass drums etc. Say it with me 4-inch- drivers. What on earth?! This shouldn't be possible.
But there was something a little funny about it. I did some bass sweep tones. To my shock it had really low bass extension.
Memory fails me but yes you can hear the 50 hz tones AND LOWER. IF I wasn't mistaken I heard upper 30hz tones in my living room. Incredible. Also when the bass was playing the speaker held onto composure (within reasonable limits - I didn't test it).
However there have been design tricks to achieve this and they do show. Until about 80hz, the bass was not steady in power and varied widely as the bass sweep went upwards.
In comparison, the axiom m80 towers were significantly better behaved and did not show the same wide variations during the bass sweep. In my room the axioms, had "useable output" at 25hz and started with strong output in the 40's. In my smaller living room it can shake everything. In a larger room I tried it the axioms didn't do very well in bass probably starting authoritatively at 60 hz if that. So in a small living room I would say you wouldn't be feeling lonely or blue (da ba dee da ba dai) without a subwoofer. However a larger living room is not a good match for the airmotivs.
If I had to guess the bass response of this speaker is a clever port design and engineering trick/design and not so much the cones/amp. They balanced the compromises well to bring the bass extension down low. The overall balance is well done. But the bass in practise (IMO) isn't what the FR specifications may give you an impression of. These are 4 inch drivers. It is still a damn good acheivement IMO. Just wanted to communicate that it's a (very nice) illusion…but not true authoritative bass. You need to go larger and more $$$ for this.
Coherence:
This is a term that I recently started to really appreciate with the DC-1. The airmotivs throw a soundstage mainly between the two speakers. But the soundstage it does, it does well. There is a coherence in the soundstage where you feel like it is all connected. This is not easy to do. The axioms couldn't quite do this until it encountered the DC-1 and yet it couldn't get that liquid sounding open window.
Edit: with the XPA-1 gen 2s in fully balanced class A mode....though not liquid sounding, it's portrayal of space can outpace the airmotiv 4.
Big vs small:
I think part of the sound seems to be related to the dispersion pattern of the ribbon tweeter (they disperse in a specific horizontal like plane). And also the small driver and closeness of it with the tweeter. Almost like a point source. It makes the soundstage is nice open but also just a tad narrow in height. About the height of a man's trunk. In other words, it doesn't have a LARGE sound.
Comparisons:
I want to make sure that I do a fair comparison to these airmotivs. Luckily I have quite a bit of experience in its $300-500 price range.
I have good experience with
$400 Cambridge Soundworks megaworks 510D
$500 large vintage mistubishi tower speakers
$400 Klipsch promedia THX PC speakers.
$500 Logitech Z5500 (with 10 inch subwoofer)
Numerous retail store HTIB speakers in this price range.
All those speakers I mentioned completely stomp on HTIB speakers upto $600.
And...
The airmotiv 4's stomp all over all the above speakers. Period. There is just no comparison.
The only speaker in the price range that was comparable that I've heard was the KRK rockits and also an adam audio entry level monitor which is an active setup. However I heard these speakers in an unfamiliar room and I will not comment on them.
Recording, neutrality, coloration and the cons:
I do very basic amateur diy recording as a hobby. And I have to be honest.
This is not an audio producers speaker. And if I'm being honest neither was the DC-1. These are not knocks against either the DC-1 or the airmotivs. If you haven't noticed already, I am enamored with them. IMO if you want to record music and want to hear exactly what was on the recording - you should adjust your expectations if your budget for speakers isn't - well a lot more than what these little gems go for
Anyway that aside...they do not reproduce exactly what is in the recording though it is obvious that was the intention. There is simply only so much performance you can get at this price range. Basically it's an exercise in getting the most out of your dollar. And this does deliver. But you cannot rely on it to create recordings. The liquid mid-range I mentioned is a coloration of the sound. It feels very real and it's a beautiful effect that could easily live with but...it's not neutral. It colors the sound. It also loses some finer details in both the midrange and treble.
And more importantly. The mid-range isn't as full bodied as it should be. That last bit of slam in dynamics, the fullness of the low midrange is very difficult for speakers to communicate. But it is audible. And this where more expensive speakers separate themselves.
Wife's impressions:
Surprisingly my wife didn't share my enthusiasm for these speakers. It was quite the opposite. I didn't quite understand her reaction. She was unabashedly enthusiastic about the DC-1. But when the airmotiv's did their groove thing it left an unimpressed lady
Note: she doesn't have a whole lot of experience with with sound quality for the $$. But she does know sound being that her degree and profession is in music. So I will leave that as it is. A second person's opinion and different strokes.
The road not taken:
Here's the neat thing. If you'd never heard good speakers above 1K you wouldn't notice any of this.
I would like to step up and say if back when I was longing for better audio if I had stumbled on these for $350. And if I bought the Behringer UCA 202 DAC for $30 I WOULD HAVE STOPPED LOOKING. My journey would have ended. And I would have been happy. If I would have then spent $1500 for my axioms. I would have wondered why I spent so much money as the airmotivs do so much RIGHT. I would wonder where that nice liquid midrange of the airmotivs went!
And this is the take away message for anybody who is on a budget, has a small room, and wants good quality sound.
$30 Behringer UCA202 DAC
$ 350 airmotiv 4.
I dare you to find better sound at that price. $370 gets you quality amps and quality sound. Yes there is better for $$$. But man I don't think you can get more budget than $400 for real sound.
This is now my enthusiastic recommendations for people with small rooms and budget.
So if you are that person, really this setup is a no-brainer. It's got it all. Unless you go with another reputable active monitor, I would be surprised if you equaled its performance (and price).
It's easily in the top 5 speakers I've heard regardless of price and I've heard some good ones...
Good job Emotiva and many thanks for the opportunity B'zilla!
I also want to thank my good friend and fellow poster, our resident B'zilla for his kind loan of these speakers.
For small speakers, these are relatively heavy but they will not throw your back out.
They came to me on an ingenious attachment solution for speaker stands….velcro.
The sheer genius, of this idea - I'm not joking - threw me for a loop. They stayed absolutely firm on their stands which were mounted on a bass with a tripod of sorts. They velcroed nice and tight in way that you have no worries at all of it tipping over etc. Plus you could remove them and reattach them without difficulty. I don't know why this isn't standard for bookshelves because it really should be.
Build quality:
A rap test on the speakers produces no hollow sound that I could hear. The sound was also less resonant than a rap test on my much larger Axiom M80 towers.
However, when playing sound it should be noted that placing your hand against the sides you could feel a whole lot of the sound being transmitted onto your hand much more than my towers. So even though it passes the rap test I wouldn't say that these cabinets are inert in the least.
Other than that, there is nothing to complain about the build quality. They look solid.
Looks:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And IMO these speakers are cool cats. They have style. They look distinct. The cone looks "special". The shading of the black/grey is nice. Also they are tiny. It was comical to set them up next to the axioms as they were dwarfed by the larger unit. This is IMO a good thing. In a living room small is tasteful and I don't think you could get much smaller and preserve the sound. My axioms do take up the center attention of the room. The airmotivs try their best to get out of the way but look good doing it.
Setup:
PC Foobar WASAPI -> asus xonar essence ST dgital out coax- > XDA-1-> (RCA) passive pre-amp-> airmotiv 4.
RCA used to mitigate the lossy volume control on the XDA-1 as the passive pre only has RCA
Ease of use:
I've seen people comment about the convenience of having active speakers and the appeal for regular people who appreciate modernization and convenience. This is the way forward etc.
I don't know what they are talking about.
Here's why: You need to have two power cables and they need to reach from wherever you want your speakers . This is a pain. Because I do not have that. The power cables just barely reached what I thought was acceptable distance and that was because my strip just happened to be near the center of the soundstage.
Next those RCA cables/XLR need to reach to however far you want them….and these wires will run from the DAC. So if your dac just happens to be a small DAC like a USB dragonfly, I would hate to see the kind of accidents that could happen.
So...now what you have is two long power cables which may be hooked into different outlets across the room.
Then you have the two RCA cables snaking out from the DAC just makes the setup look messy. It's do-able but convenience, the future, modern - it's not.
Sorry for the rant as that is the only main issue I had with the airmotivs. Granted it may be that I'm used to passive speakers. To setup it's much easier with a central amp. You can have long BENDY easily hidden speaker wires. The amp is right next to all your gear which is right next to the power strip. The RCA wres can be as short as you like. Easy - at least for me.
The sound.
Note:
- I unfortunately had (my fault) only a few days actually spent with the unit.
- I can't believe the kind of critical scrutiny I put towards these speakers that cost $350. Any other speaker of this price would not have this kind of scrutiny because….they wouldn't be able to hold up to it.
But I only do this because they do have something special and do so much right that I am forced to start comparing it with the kind of scrutiny that I would reserve for non active speakers in the 1k+ range.
The sound is instantly attention grabbing. It impresses you immediately.
Here's the thing you will notice about the airmotivs.
- It has bass. It does. Get rocking
- It's mid range and treble is of an ethereal open window to the soundstage.
When I say open window - that's exactly what it feels like. This is IMO the most impressive thing of the airmotivs. One needs to have some resolution to be able to pull this off and if I had to guess it was the combination of that ribbon tweeter combined with the small driver.
For instance, my 3.5X the price axioms couldn't pull off the etheral-ness and open window feel of the soundstage of the airmotivs. In fact the feel was more Magnepan 1.6 feel than cone driver speakers.
It did depth! And it did it decently. It had that airy reble extension. It had most of the details. They communicated music. Vocals, instruments and things hovered in the air. The words airmotiv just struck me as being a perfect descriptor of these speakers.
It's got air and it brings emotions. Tonally there is a shift "upward" in its presentation. The sensation I got was a liquid sound of sorts. What I imagined tubes to sound like.
The Bass:
I was really shocked. In my small-medium living room these airmotivs did have bass. I could hear double basses, bass drums etc. Say it with me 4-inch- drivers. What on earth?! This shouldn't be possible.
But there was something a little funny about it. I did some bass sweep tones. To my shock it had really low bass extension.
Memory fails me but yes you can hear the 50 hz tones AND LOWER. IF I wasn't mistaken I heard upper 30hz tones in my living room. Incredible. Also when the bass was playing the speaker held onto composure (within reasonable limits - I didn't test it).
However there have been design tricks to achieve this and they do show. Until about 80hz, the bass was not steady in power and varied widely as the bass sweep went upwards.
In comparison, the axiom m80 towers were significantly better behaved and did not show the same wide variations during the bass sweep. In my room the axioms, had "useable output" at 25hz and started with strong output in the 40's. In my smaller living room it can shake everything. In a larger room I tried it the axioms didn't do very well in bass probably starting authoritatively at 60 hz if that. So in a small living room I would say you wouldn't be feeling lonely or blue (da ba dee da ba dai) without a subwoofer. However a larger living room is not a good match for the airmotivs.
If I had to guess the bass response of this speaker is a clever port design and engineering trick/design and not so much the cones/amp. They balanced the compromises well to bring the bass extension down low. The overall balance is well done. But the bass in practise (IMO) isn't what the FR specifications may give you an impression of. These are 4 inch drivers. It is still a damn good acheivement IMO. Just wanted to communicate that it's a (very nice) illusion…but not true authoritative bass. You need to go larger and more $$$ for this.
Coherence:
This is a term that I recently started to really appreciate with the DC-1. The airmotivs throw a soundstage mainly between the two speakers. But the soundstage it does, it does well. There is a coherence in the soundstage where you feel like it is all connected. This is not easy to do. The axioms couldn't quite do this until it encountered the DC-1 and yet it couldn't get that liquid sounding open window.
Edit: with the XPA-1 gen 2s in fully balanced class A mode....though not liquid sounding, it's portrayal of space can outpace the airmotiv 4.
Big vs small:
I think part of the sound seems to be related to the dispersion pattern of the ribbon tweeter (they disperse in a specific horizontal like plane). And also the small driver and closeness of it with the tweeter. Almost like a point source. It makes the soundstage is nice open but also just a tad narrow in height. About the height of a man's trunk. In other words, it doesn't have a LARGE sound.
Comparisons:
I want to make sure that I do a fair comparison to these airmotivs. Luckily I have quite a bit of experience in its $300-500 price range.
I have good experience with
$400 Cambridge Soundworks megaworks 510D
$500 large vintage mistubishi tower speakers
$400 Klipsch promedia THX PC speakers.
$500 Logitech Z5500 (with 10 inch subwoofer)
Numerous retail store HTIB speakers in this price range.
All those speakers I mentioned completely stomp on HTIB speakers upto $600.
And...
The airmotiv 4's stomp all over all the above speakers. Period. There is just no comparison.
The only speaker in the price range that was comparable that I've heard was the KRK rockits and also an adam audio entry level monitor which is an active setup. However I heard these speakers in an unfamiliar room and I will not comment on them.
Recording, neutrality, coloration and the cons:
I do very basic amateur diy recording as a hobby. And I have to be honest.
This is not an audio producers speaker. And if I'm being honest neither was the DC-1. These are not knocks against either the DC-1 or the airmotivs. If you haven't noticed already, I am enamored with them.
IMO if you want to record music and want to hear exactly what was on the recording - you should adjust your expectations if your budget for speakers isn't - well a lot more than what these little gems go for Anyway that aside...they do not reproduce exactly what is in the recording though it is obvious that was the intention. There is simply only so much performance you can get at this price range. Basically it's an exercise in getting the most out of your dollar. And this does deliver. But you cannot rely on it to create recordings. The liquid mid-range I mentioned is a coloration of the sound. It feels very real and it's a beautiful effect that could easily live with but...it's not neutral. It colors the sound. It also loses some finer details in both the midrange and treble.
And more importantly. The mid-range isn't as full bodied as it should be. That last bit of slam in dynamics, the fullness of the low midrange is very difficult for speakers to communicate. But it is audible. And this where more expensive speakers separate themselves.
Wife's impressions:
Surprisingly my wife didn't share my enthusiasm for these speakers. It was quite the opposite. I didn't quite understand her reaction. She was unabashedly enthusiastic about the DC-1. But when the airmotiv's did their groove thing it left an unimpressed lady
Note: she doesn't have a whole lot of experience with with sound quality for the $$. But she does know sound being that her degree and profession is in music. So I will leave that as it is. A second person's opinion and different strokes. The road not taken:
Here's the neat thing. If you'd never heard good speakers above 1K you wouldn't notice any of this.
I would like to step up and say if back when I was longing for better audio if I had stumbled on these for $350. And if I bought the Behringer UCA 202 DAC for $30 I WOULD HAVE STOPPED LOOKING. My journey would have ended. And I would have been happy. If I would have then spent $1500 for my axioms. I would have wondered why I spent so much money as the airmotivs do so much RIGHT. I would wonder where that nice liquid midrange of the airmotivs went!
And this is the take away message for anybody who is on a budget, has a small room, and wants good quality sound.
$30 Behringer UCA202 DAC
$ 350 airmotiv 4.
I dare you to find better sound at that price. $370 gets you quality amps and quality sound. Yes there is better for $$$. But man I don't think you can get more budget than $400 for real sound.
This is now my enthusiastic recommendations for people with small rooms and budget.
So if you are that person, really this setup is a no-brainer. It's got it all. Unless you go with another reputable active monitor, I would be surprised if you equaled its performance (and price).
It's easily in the top 5 speakers I've heard regardless of price and I've heard some good ones...
Good job Emotiva and many thanks for the opportunity B'zilla!
