Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2009 1:03:11 GMT -5
INTRODUCTION
After being chased by the villagers incessantly with torches and pitchforks clamoring for a review of the ERT 8.3 towers, I am grateful for a brief respite to properly critique the 6.3 center channel. Not because I can’t express an opinion (good Lord, that’s easy) or crank out the review but because this is damn hard and I want to make sure my impressions are a fair representation of my thoughts. Two-channel reviews are simple: there’s a left and a right and music comes out of them. It’s either good or not and the strengths and weakness will eventually reveal themselves. The center channel in a home theater system is another matter entirely, at least for me.
One small PSA on the ERT 8.3s: If you haven’t already I urge you to get in line for these beauties just so long as you’re behind me in line. Wait, I already own a pair. Well, I guess you can go in front in me then. But let me think about it. You know, they would make great surrounds . . .
SET UP
I should footnote that for the purposes of this review my aim was to concentrate solely on certain movies in the blue ray disc format that would test a center channel. (Once I add the ERD to the mix, I will do it all over again with films that have great surround sequences.) A multi-channel music review will follow. The Yamaha DSP A1 did the processor work so I was limited to the legacy formats of Dolby Digital and DTS in a 5.1 setting. The Sony BDP-350 was my source component all driven by the XPA-5. My room was 16 x 18 x 12 and I left the extension switches in the ‘off’ position.
THE EXPERIMENT
Forming an opinion on any center channel in a home theater without the left and right channels impacting that opinion is quite difficult. The towers were prominent in the review of the 6.3 center channel, obviously, but over time some impressions can be made. The critical nature of the center channel in a home theater cannot be overstated. It is truly the heart and soul in the HT setup as its duties includes nearly all of the vocals and on-screen effects during a movie. When evaluating a center channel, what you’re talking about is truth, realism, and believability. A good center channel is directly correlated with its ability to make you believe the action is right in front of you and what is happening is real. Of course, timbre matching and symmetry are very important components of this equation, most critically with the main sound stage.
In my review of the 8.3, one of the hallmarks of the towers is their neutrality and transparency, and the 6.3 center channel mirrors these traits. The voice matching with the fronts is seamless with exceptional depth and realism. The three speakers are so well matched that sound effects tend to have a “wall of sound” effect making it hard to tell from where the sound is emanating. Now that is nifty. Just like the towers on two channel listening, the 8.3/6.3 combination deliver a formidable punch. The level of detail in a spatial sense is something you expect in speakers costing far more. Bottom line, what you have with the 8.3/6.3 is a combination that is able to pinpoint sounds in three-dimensional space with realism and punch.
With the right material, the effect would make me grin like a school boy. In the opening sequence of The Dark Knight I sort of expected to find broken glass all over my living room. There’s a level of believability here that makes watching films fun. Iron Manwas another demo movie I used to test the center channel. There are scenes with Robert Downey Jr. whose voice is so real I got the sense he was talking to me or telling me a secret. Explosions and gun fire were clear and detailed.
I don’t know how the Emotiva designers did it but it most likely begins with the superb construction of the 6.3. The fit and finish are just dandy and on par with the towers. And I’m going to make a guess the crossover design and the spacing between the drivers is not by accident. I don’t pretend to understand this stuff but I know a winner when I hear one.
In The Hunt for Red October, Jack Ryan deduces Captain Ramius’ plan to defect and convinces a Navy captain to deliver him to a nearby US sub. The rain in that scene was so real I had a hard time discerning that it was coming from the main sound stage. The 6.3, aided by the towers, did its best to blur the line between sonic reproduction and reality with a seamless sound field.
Finally, the shower scene in The Rock was my first torture test with DVD and is now also in blue ray. Gunfire was reproduced with startling accurately and zest that it made me flinch in the beginning even though I knew it was coming. At the end of the scene I could hear every one of the shell casings clinking on the shower floor.
SUMMARY
I could write all day long about the 6.3 center channel. Its ability to accurately reproduce actors’ voices is exceptional while the dialog is crystal clear and never tiresome. Together with the ERT 8.3 towers, the 6.3 delivers a wave of sound so real and with great depth that challenges one’s ability to tell reproduction from reality when viewing films in the blue ray format. I’m a big fan, if you can’t tell.
After being chased by the villagers incessantly with torches and pitchforks clamoring for a review of the ERT 8.3 towers, I am grateful for a brief respite to properly critique the 6.3 center channel. Not because I can’t express an opinion (good Lord, that’s easy) or crank out the review but because this is damn hard and I want to make sure my impressions are a fair representation of my thoughts. Two-channel reviews are simple: there’s a left and a right and music comes out of them. It’s either good or not and the strengths and weakness will eventually reveal themselves. The center channel in a home theater system is another matter entirely, at least for me.
One small PSA on the ERT 8.3s: If you haven’t already I urge you to get in line for these beauties just so long as you’re behind me in line. Wait, I already own a pair. Well, I guess you can go in front in me then. But let me think about it. You know, they would make great surrounds . . .
SET UP
I should footnote that for the purposes of this review my aim was to concentrate solely on certain movies in the blue ray disc format that would test a center channel. (Once I add the ERD to the mix, I will do it all over again with films that have great surround sequences.) A multi-channel music review will follow. The Yamaha DSP A1 did the processor work so I was limited to the legacy formats of Dolby Digital and DTS in a 5.1 setting. The Sony BDP-350 was my source component all driven by the XPA-5. My room was 16 x 18 x 12 and I left the extension switches in the ‘off’ position.
THE EXPERIMENT
Forming an opinion on any center channel in a home theater without the left and right channels impacting that opinion is quite difficult. The towers were prominent in the review of the 6.3 center channel, obviously, but over time some impressions can be made. The critical nature of the center channel in a home theater cannot be overstated. It is truly the heart and soul in the HT setup as its duties includes nearly all of the vocals and on-screen effects during a movie. When evaluating a center channel, what you’re talking about is truth, realism, and believability. A good center channel is directly correlated with its ability to make you believe the action is right in front of you and what is happening is real. Of course, timbre matching and symmetry are very important components of this equation, most critically with the main sound stage.
In my review of the 8.3, one of the hallmarks of the towers is their neutrality and transparency, and the 6.3 center channel mirrors these traits. The voice matching with the fronts is seamless with exceptional depth and realism. The three speakers are so well matched that sound effects tend to have a “wall of sound” effect making it hard to tell from where the sound is emanating. Now that is nifty. Just like the towers on two channel listening, the 8.3/6.3 combination deliver a formidable punch. The level of detail in a spatial sense is something you expect in speakers costing far more. Bottom line, what you have with the 8.3/6.3 is a combination that is able to pinpoint sounds in three-dimensional space with realism and punch.
With the right material, the effect would make me grin like a school boy. In the opening sequence of The Dark Knight I sort of expected to find broken glass all over my living room. There’s a level of believability here that makes watching films fun. Iron Manwas another demo movie I used to test the center channel. There are scenes with Robert Downey Jr. whose voice is so real I got the sense he was talking to me or telling me a secret. Explosions and gun fire were clear and detailed.
I don’t know how the Emotiva designers did it but it most likely begins with the superb construction of the 6.3. The fit and finish are just dandy and on par with the towers. And I’m going to make a guess the crossover design and the spacing between the drivers is not by accident. I don’t pretend to understand this stuff but I know a winner when I hear one.
In The Hunt for Red October, Jack Ryan deduces Captain Ramius’ plan to defect and convinces a Navy captain to deliver him to a nearby US sub. The rain in that scene was so real I had a hard time discerning that it was coming from the main sound stage. The 6.3, aided by the towers, did its best to blur the line between sonic reproduction and reality with a seamless sound field.
Finally, the shower scene in The Rock was my first torture test with DVD and is now also in blue ray. Gunfire was reproduced with startling accurately and zest that it made me flinch in the beginning even though I knew it was coming. At the end of the scene I could hear every one of the shell casings clinking on the shower floor.
SUMMARY
I could write all day long about the 6.3 center channel. Its ability to accurately reproduce actors’ voices is exceptional while the dialog is crystal clear and never tiresome. Together with the ERT 8.3 towers, the 6.3 delivers a wave of sound so real and with great depth that challenges one’s ability to tell reproduction from reality when viewing films in the blue ray format. I’m a big fan, if you can’t tell.
. . . besides the horrid green banner is still up . . . 
) you will see. Once you hear them, its over. Pleas enote that I REALLY liked my 8.3s in my set up but I had a 50/50 music-home theatre system.