Buying new towers, T2s were recommended. pro/con/comments?

[b1pilot]

Hi all:

This is my first post.  

I was looking to buy a new set of towers (along with matching center, and eventually rears) for a central entertaining space in my house. 

My budget point as around $1000 for the pair (assuming other speaker are adeuqately priced)

After research I am narrowed down to the following choices:

1. Airmotiv T2s
2. ELAC Uni-Fi F5s
3. DefTech BP9040s
4. Chane A5.4s (whenever available)
5. Kef Q350s on stands

I think my primary use will be music listening, both in the room and near by, but also TV watching, and some home theater type viewing.  The room is ~18 Wide by 16 deep with 18' ceilings and open floor plan flow to other rooms, Main viewing is on a 65" wall mounted screen.  Speakers would be to either side of my BDI cabinet, so placemment would be somewhere between 8-12 feet apart and no more than 1 foot off the back wall.  Seating distnace is approximately 10'.

Concerns:

I want sonic purity and full-spectrum roundness of sound-- happy to buy speakers meant for a bigger space as long as they give good response across all frequencies at lower volumes.
I want to have a clean look, but dont really care too much about exotic materials. 
I worry about space behind the speakers being adequate.
I am torn on using an exisiting subwoofer, getting a new sub (both options break up the clean look at present), or going witht he powered speaker solution (hence the DTs in the list).

Questions:

I suspect strong support of the Airmotivs over the others in the list, but what am I not considering?  Why T2s over the other options?
Should I look to the smaller T1s or the 5-channel bundle based on the size of the space?
I haven't ventured beyond higher end receivers; what combo would you recommend for powering these that gave both HT and 2.1 playback capability?
Does Emotiva ever run any black friday / cyber monday type specials i should be patient for? 

Thanks in advance.

[garbulky]

Not having heard any of them, my eyes go to 1,2, and 4 as promising choices!

[novisnick]

Since you’re doing the research and I’m not, and I haven’t heard any of these speakers let me offer this.
Since you require speakers no further then one foot off the wall id seek a non or front ported speaker, id even look at rear ported stand speakers like the KEFs.
You’ll have no idea what bass off that wall will do to your room.

Good luck with your search and please keep us informed as you decide.

Welcome to the nuthouse  friendliest forum on the net! So glad your here. Ill pour a cup of friendship known as EmoBlue!

                         

[hemster]

I have not heard the Chanes or the Def Techs. The others I have.

Considering your room size and listening preferences make me lean toward the T2s and Elac. Both are good choices, IMHO and would work for you.

For me, the tie-breaker is the T2's incredible tweeter (obviously very important for music).

That said, if you wanted built-in sub then the Def Tech is the only option in the above list. You would have a "clean look" but no option to relocate the sub to an optimal location.

If it were me, given the need criteria (room size, priority of music over movies), I would get the T2s and run an external sub.

[klinemj]

I have not heard most of the speakers, but I have heard the T2's and they are quite amazing. They punch hard yet clear and neutral with great soundstage. I would take over many speakers I heard that go for 2-3x their cost, including various vandersteens, golden ear, and martin logan.

Frankly, the only thing that concerns me is the 18' ceiling with open floor plan to other areas. That can interfere with "sonic purity", especially if the "open" part is from your main room to a room above your listening area. I have a large open floor plan on my 1st floor with a loft area above the first floor. When playing anything on the 1st floor or loft area, sound travels to the other areas and echoes back around to the other areas.

This is why I have a dedicated listening room that is not in that part of the house.

Mark

[creimes]

Being on the Emotiva forum questions like these will usually be biased because most of us here obviously own Emotiva gear and/or speakers, I have not heard the T1 or T2 towers but from having previously owning the Stealth 6 powered monitors I could only assume the Emotiva towers are most definitely great sounding speakers. I currently own Chane A5rx-c towers and can speak very highly of them as well and pondered selling them to try the T1 towers but I'd imagine it would be a sideways move. No one here can tell you what speakers you will like the sound of and that's the hard part about purchasing speakers direct on the internet, I can say from what I have owned from both Emotiva and currently own from Chane they are all of great value as in you get really great speakers for a measly price.

Chad

[geebo]

I can vouch only for the T2's in your list. I also have the C2 and E2s and couldn't be happier with the sound I'm getting in surround or stereo. The T2s can function quite nicely without a sub and if you get a little boominess with placement close to a wall you can experiment with partial or full port plugging. One of mine is close to a corner and with the help of Rory settled on a 1.5" tube surrounded by foam to plug the port. Took 6dB out of a 45Hz peak I was getting on that side.

[jasn]

The Elac Uni-Fi UF5 is presently on sale at Amazon for $399 ($100 off).   Love mine.

[pallpoul]

Go for the T-2's, and never second-guess your choice.

[rbk123]

Nov 16, 2017 18:59:46 GMT -5 hemster said:

For me, the tie-breaker is the T2's incredible tweeter (obviously very important for music).

I would agree with Hemster on this about the AMT tweeter. Try the Emo and if you don't like them, return them.

Another to add to your list is the Tekton Lore, or if you go used you can get Tekton Dragons/Enzo's in that price range if you're patient.

[b1pilot]

Nov 16, 2017 18:59:46 GMT -5 hemster said:

I have not heard the Chanes or the Def Techs. The others I have.

Considering your room size and listening preferences make me lean toward the T2s and Elac. Both are good choices, IMHO and would work for you.

For me, the tie-breaker is the T2's incredible tweeter (obviously very important for music).

That said, if you wanted built-in sub then the Def Tech is the only option in the above list. You would have a "clean look" but no option to relocate the sub to an optimal location.

If it were me, given the need criteria (room size, priority of music over movies), I would get the T2s and run an external sub.

Thanks for the inputs.... reading through most of this forum and the review sites, the AMT definitely interests me and pushes me toward the T2s.  I think I will continue to run my Sub if I get these.

[b1pilot]

Nov 16, 2017 23:18:56 GMT -5 klinemj said:

I have not heard most of the speakers, but I have heard the T2's and they are quite amazing. They punch hard yet clear and neutral with great soundstage. I would take over many speakers I heard that go for 2-3x their cost, including various vandersteens, golden ear, and martin logan.

Frankly, the only thing that concerns me is the 18' ceiling with open floor plan to other areas. That can interfere with "sonic purity", especially if the "open" part is from your main room to a room above your listening area. I have a large open floor plan on my 1st floor with a loft area above the first floor. When playing anything on the 1st floor or loft area, sound travels to the other areas and echoes back around to the other areas.

This is why I have a dedicated listening room that is not in that part of the house.

Mark

Thanks for the comments.  the rear of the room is actually a solid wall up to the ceiling, its just the the two rear "corners" that are more open, one leading for a formal dining room, and one leading to a entertaining area off the kitchen.

I also have a dedicated listening room, but thats all two channel.  This room is meant to play music for when we are puttering around the house or entertaining guests, and HT / gaming when the kid wants to.  I understand I will have to give some based on the architecture -- from my reading it appears a T2/C2/rear to be named combo should be flexible enought to manage.

[b1pilot]

Nov 16, 2017 23:30:20 GMT -5 creimes said:

Being on the Emotiva forum questions like these will usually be biased because most of us here obviously own Emotiva gear and/or speakers, I have not heard the T1 or T2 towers but from having previously owning the Stealth 6 powered monitors I could only assume the Emotiva towers are most definitely great sounding speakers. I currently own Chane A5rx-c towers and can speak very highly of them as well and pondered selling them to try the T1 towers but I'd imagine it would be a sideways move. No one here can tell you what speakers you will like the sound of and that's the hard part about purchasing speakers direct on the internet, I can say from what I have owned from both Emotiva and currently own from Chane they are all of great value as in you get really great speakers for a measly price.

Chad

Thanks for the puts on the Chanes.. they seem equally awesome to the Airmotivs... the only issue is non-availability and no speculation when.  That will probably push me to get the Airmotivs now.

[b1pilot]

Nov 17, 2017 7:58:32 GMT -5 geebo said:

I can vouch only for the T2's in your list. I also have the C2 and E2s and couldn't be happier with the sound I'm getting in surround or stereo. The T2s can function quite nicely without a sub and if you get a little boominess with placement close to a wall you can experiment with partial or full port plugging. One of mine is close to a corner and with the help of Rory settled on a 1.5" tube surrounded by foam to plug the port. Took 6dB out of a 45Hz peak I was getting on that side.

I saw mention of this earlier in the main T2 thread.  Any pics or further decriptions of how you did this?  Any specific type of tube/foam?  Ive seen pipe insulation foam used before.

[fredr]

I'm going to agree with hemster. The Airmotiv tweeters are just incredible; not overly bright, but detailed and incredibly airy. I've not heard any of the speakers in your list, but I did audition a pair of highly regarded Totem Acoustic Hawks ... and they didn't have the air and subtlety that the T2 tweeters bring to the game. I've found that the T2s work well even in a smaller room, but they are sensitive to placement. Once I got past overt boominess by putting them too close to the wall, I found that within a two inch range of distance from the walls I could make the sound go flat or have it come to life. Take the time with these speakers and they will reward with incredible sound.

[geebo]

Nov 17, 2017 11:46:43 GMT -5 b1pilot said:

Nov 17, 2017 7:58:32 GMT -5 geebo said:

I can vouch only for the T2's in your list. I also have the C2 and E2s and couldn't be happier with the sound I'm getting in surround or stereo. The T2s can function quite nicely without a sub and if you get a little boominess with placement close to a wall you can experiment with partial or full port plugging. One of mine is close to a corner and with the help of Rory settled on a 1.5" tube surrounded by foam to plug the port. Took 6dB out of a 45Hz peak I was getting on that side.

I saw mention of this earlier in the main T2 thread.  Any pics or further decriptions of how you did this?  Any specific type of tube/foam?  Ive seen pipe insulation foam used before.

This is the stuff I used but anything similar should work as well. For a tube I used about a 6" length of a mailing tube. The size of the opening can be varied and the smaller the opening the more bass attenuation. Interestingly the lower bass below 30Hz was actually increased according to REW.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01COF51DO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[foggy1956]

Nov 17, 2017 12:03:27 GMT -5 geebo said:

Nov 17, 2017 11:46:43 GMT -5 b1pilot said:

I saw mention of this earlier in the main T2 thread.  Any pics or further decriptions of how you did this?  Any specific type of tube/foam?  Ive seen pipe insulation foam used before.

This is the stuff I used but anything similar should work as well. For a tube I used about a 6" length of a mailing tube. The size of the opening can be varied and the smaller the opening the more bass attenuation. Interestingly the lower bass below 30Hz was actually increased according to REW.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01COF51DO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can you post the REW graphs please?

[geebo]

Nov 17, 2017 12:34:28 GMT -5 foggy1956 said:

Nov 17, 2017 12:03:27 GMT -5 geebo said:

This is the stuff I used but anything similar should work as well. For a tube I used about a 6" length of a mailing tube. The size of the opening can be varied and the smaller the opening the more bass attenuation. Interestingly the lower bass below 30Hz was actually increased according to REW.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01COF51DO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can you post the REW graphs please?

I might just do that tonight.

[foggy1956]

Nov 17, 2017 12:44:07 GMT -5 geebo said:

Nov 17, 2017 12:34:28 GMT -5 foggy1956 said:

Can you post the REW graphs please?

I might just do that tonight.

Thanks, love seeing what other people are measuring☺

[creimes]

Nov 17, 2017 11:44:58 GMT -5 b1pilot said:

Nov 16, 2017 23:30:20 GMT -5 creimes said:

Being on the Emotiva forum questions like these will usually be biased because most of us here obviously own Emotiva gear and/or speakers, I have not heard the T1 or T2 towers but from having previously owning the Stealth 6 powered monitors I could only assume the Emotiva towers are most definitely great sounding speakers. I currently own Chane A5rx-c towers and can speak very highly of them as well and pondered selling them to try the T1 towers but I'd imagine it would be a sideways move. No one here can tell you what speakers you will like the sound of and that's the hard part about purchasing speakers direct on the internet, I can say from what I have owned from both Emotiva and currently own from Chane they are all of great value as in you get really great speakers for a measly price.

Chad

Thanks for the puts on the Chanes.. they seem equally awesome to the Airmotivs... the only issue is non-availability and no speculation when.  That will probably push me to get the Airmotivs now.

That is one thing that bugs me about Jon, this is the third version of the speaker being released in I believe five years so in doing so he runs out of stock, not only because of that but they are very popular from word of mouth. from speaking with Jon himself multiple times over the past few years he seems like a really great guy and designs really great speakers for the price.

Like how others talk of the Airmotiv tweeters I have the same findings in the Chanes, but given no stock at the moment the T2 may be your best bet.

Chad