Main sonic differences between Stealth 6 and Airmotiv 6?

[jcisbig]

Hey All,

I was wondering what the general concensus was concerning the difference in sound quality/enjoyment between the Airmotiv 6 and Stealth 6. Lots of threads I see highly laud the Stealth 6 as an amazing speaker, where others seems to waffle on how good the Airmotiv 6 (or other speakers in the Airmotiv line) are.

Thoughts?

[sancho89]

get the stealth 6. It brings out nuances, subtle details and sounds more live than the airmotiv 6.
but I did not do an A/B testing. Just a umc-1 + airmotiv 6 vs xmc-1+ stealth 6.

[garbulky]

The answer I think is that they are both really nice speakers - both will get you your money's worth

[jcisbig]

Dec 12, 2014 11:48:16 GMT -5 sancho89 said:

get the stealth 6. It brings out nuances, subtle details and sounds more live than the airmotiv 6.
but I did not do an A/B testing. Just a umc-1 + airmotiv 6 vs xmc-1+ stealth 6.

I can't help the feeling that the XMC-1 was probably contributing a significant improvement in the audio you were hearing, so I'm not sure how much of those differences you can attribute to the speakers themselves!

[sancho89]

yeah, maybe. Only way to know for sure is if I connect the airmotivs to the xmc-1.
and perhaps also because I'm using balanced cables for the stealth.

[djreef]

I have to agree with Sancho. There is a greater degree of refinement and detail with the Stealths. They're just more revealing. I can hear deeper into the mix. The down side is they're much less forgiving than the Airmotivs when it comes to crap recordings. You kinda hear everything - the awesome, good, bad and the ugly with these guys.

[creimes]

I myself have never heard the Airmotiv line, having the Stealth 6's I must admit they sound amazing and could only imagine the Airmotiv 6 are also a great price/performance, the deciding factor imo could be your budget if you have one , I would love to have some Airmotiv 4's for the computer but just not in the cards for me at the moment

Chad

[sancho89]

wish i could trade my airmotiv 4 for 1 of your stealth 6.
but my tv is the old huge type and the stealth 6 wont fit on top as its too heavy.

[entropymann]

Big Decisions, yes. Search for my postings (and other postings concerning S6 review, and "Help I can't Decide between S6 & AM6") since I've auditioned The S6, AM 6s, 5s, and 4s. I decided to go with the AM series because of these reasons:
1. Stealth 6: good low end, super clear high end; at the default setting (flat, via dip switches in the back), the treble sound harsh to me. The mid bass was lacking for me. Organ/Orchestra, and male voice sound leaner on the S6. For tracks with a lot of bass, you'll hear it; for others, the music is leaner. Bass is taught.
2. AM series...to me, the music has more midrange; Organ/Orchestra/male voice sound fuller; the bass is a bit less taught than the S6; and a bit more boomy (AM6s vs S6). So this is why I went with the AM series. The AM5s is my favorite. They are superb near-field monitors too. The AM5s, IMHO, beats out the other 10pairs of equivalent-sized bookshelves I've auditioned (e.g., Paradigm A2, B&W, Monitor, GoldenEar, and a few others).
3. The S6 is better for movies because it goes a few Hz lower and more taught.
4. In either case, I would suggest the AM series. I have a pair of AM6s as L/R, pair of 5s as center; and pair of 4s as rear...
5. You can't go wrong, especially considering the price of the AM series. You can mix and match these; to me, they have the same timber.
6. Have Questions?...let me know.

Good Luck

[pop]

airmotiv if your budget is tight
stealth if you want to not look back