Emotiva Pro airmotiv4 Loudspeakers Review - Page 19

I've had my Airmotiv 4's for a few months now and could never really figure out how the Shelving EQ settings are supposed to work.  I have them on my desk, with the AudioEngine stands pointing at ear level....they are about 5 or 6 inches from the wall...I have no option but to leave them that close to the wall, there is no room to move my desk out any more.  I've read if you have these on the shelf or on your desk, you should adjust the Shelving EQ...but I'm not exactly sure what I should listen for.  When I change them I hear no difference.  If it matters....I'm also using a sub with them.  Any suggestions on what specifically I'm supposed to listen to when trying these knobs out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by StringBoi 

I've had my Airmotiv 4's for a few months now and could never really figure out how the Shelving EQ settings are supposed to work.  I have them on my desk, with the AudioEngine stands pointing at ear level....they are about 5 or 6 inches from the wall...I have no option but to leave them that close to the wall, there is no room to move my desk out any more.  I've read if you have these on the shelf or on your desk, you should adjust the Shelving EQ...but I'm not exactly sure what I should listen for.  When I change them I hear no difference.  If it matters....I'm also using a sub with them.  Any suggestions on what specifically I'm supposed to listen to when trying these knobs out?

how is your sub hooked up to them? when using a receiver or sending the signal to the sub before the speakers, the sub will play the bass notes and the speakers will never even know they existed. In such a case, the low frequency shelving adjustment will do little to nothing for the sound, because you will be changing frequencies that the speakers are not seeing. depending on the crossover frequency, you may be alright as you have them set up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skoobs 

 

how is your sub hooked up to them? when using a receiver or sending the signal to the sub before the speakers, the sub will play the bass notes and the speakers will never even know they existed. In such a case, the low frequency shelving adjustment will do little to nothing for the sound, because you will be changing frequencies that the speakers are not seeing. depending on the crossover frequency, you may be alright as you have them set up.

I have both L/R RCA outputs split from the sound card ....Left RCA out split to L speaker / L sub input, Right RCA out split to R speaker / R sub input....no receiver in between, just split from the card.   I have crossover set to 68Hz on the sound card....I've read to set crossover to 10hz above the lowest Hz the monitors can produce.  If I read correctly, the 4's can go to 58Hz?  I see on their specs though, both 58Hz and 52Hz listed....should I change it to 62Hz? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by warpdriver 

Supposedly these are just rebranded qmsaudio pc speakers. Emvotia claims they tweaked the crossover to their specs but they are essentially importing this ODM design and reselling it for North American market (with some markup of course)

 

http://www.qmsaudio.com/

 

 

 

I checked out their website and it certainly looks the same but the model is designated the q5 gee wizz i wonder why?Unfortunately the english language translator did not work.So everything is in cryptic chinese.But it is interesting .How did you ever find out about the chinese company offering the speakers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmswjm 


The AirMotiv 6' s sound ridiculously good independent of price. If I wanted to do better I'd be looking at Focals, and I bet that the Emotivas wouldn't get smoked then. The fact that I don't need a sub is icing on the cake. If you have the room for these, it doesn't make sense to get anything smaller that would add the cost of a sub.
In a nearfield situation, it's nice having all of the frequencies right in front of you. A sub can break up the continuity. Besides music listening, I also use these to monitor my bass playing, and they have yet to falter.

Personally I like the dynaudio models a lot better than the focus models.At least for my tastes.I have heard their small wireless model but they go for over two thousand with the wireless transmitter.

They do sound very good and are able to fill a pretty good sized space with good sound.I have seen the lower end pro models and they go for about a thousand dollars a pair.Dynaudio also has introduced a powered desk top speaker with a slanted front so the sound is optimized for a desk top placing.That model also goes for a thousand dollars a pair but it uses a 7 and a half inch woofer and is rated down to 46 hz from what I remember looking at the speakers spec sheet.But It is a bit larger than the 5 and closer in size to the emotiva 6.But the 6s diimensions appear to be way to large for optimal desk top positioning.The dynaudios are sized so they would work in a desk top setting with tha cabinet beeing a little wider as opposed to beeing taller.I have not heard any of the pro models but I am sure they are excellent.The dynaudios have a stellar reputation for producing excellent loudspeakers.But they are more expensive than the emotiva.

 But I am confident enough from what I have read about the emotiva models and I ordered a pair of airmotiv5s for use as a computer monitor.I received them yesterday and  hooked them up.I have listened to them for about twelve hours and they are sounding a bit more open now than they did when I first hooked them up.I think they will make excellent computer monitors once they have fleshed in.They work well when listened to in a home theater invironment which is how I am using them now run out of the preamp output of a denon 3806 avr receiver.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StringBoi 

 

I have both L/R RCA outputs split from the sound card ....Left RCA out split to L speaker / L sub input, Right RCA out split to R speaker / R sub input....no receiver in between, just split from the card.   I have crossover set to 68Hz on the sound card....I've read to set crossover to 10hz above the lowest Hz the monitors can produce.  If I read correctly, the 4's can go to 58Hz?  I see on their specs though, both 58Hz and 52Hz listed....should I change it to 62Hz? 

what sub are you using? and what sound card?

if you are just splitting the RCA output to go to the sub and the speakers, they both will get the full spectrum of sound. if possible, use RCA output on the sound card to the sub, then the rca output on the sub to the speakers. this way, you can set the crossover on the sub and the speakers shouldnt get any of those frequencies. setting the low end shelf to a different level wont make much of a difference when you have a sub playing the frequencies you are lowering on the speakers.

usually, unless your sound card has an optical LFE out, setting the crossover on the sound card software will not do anything. that is usually meant for digital formats such as optical and SPDIF. 

I recall reading that the QM speakers are virtually the same; Emotiva had them tweeked to their specs a bit that's all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skoobs 

 

 

what sub are you using? and what sound card?

 

if you are just splitting the RCA output to go to the sub and the speakers, they both will get the full spectrum of sound. if possible, use RCA output on the sound card to the sub, then the rca output on the sub to the speakers. this way, you can set the crossover on the sub and the speakers shouldnt get any of those frequencies. setting the low end shelf to a different level wont make much of a difference when you have a sub playing the frequencies you are lowering on the speakers.

 

usually, unless your sound card has an optical LFE out, setting the crossover on the sound card software will not do anything. that is usually meant for digital formats such as optical and SPDIF. 

I'm using a Harman Kardon sub at the moment, from my home theater system...it only has RCA inputs, thats why I had to split the RCA from the sound card.  I am using an Asus Xonar Essence ST card...it has RCA L/R outputs.  I had asked the reps at Emotiva how to connect a sub using what I have, they suggested doing what I did and it seems to be working very well.   It has a "phase" setting set to normal, and "Filter" is on.  I just never messed with the Shelving EQ on the back on the speakers though.  Thats why I was wondering what I was supposed to be listening for...I cant hear a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StringBoi 

I'm using a Harman Kardon sub at the moment, from my home theater system...it only has RCA inputs, thats why I had to split the RCA from the sound card.  I am using an Asus Xonar Essence ST card...it has RCA L/R outputs.  I had asked the reps at Emotiva how to connect a sub using what I have, they suggested doing what I did and it seems to be working very well.   It has a "phase" setting set to normal, and "Filter" is on.  I just never messed with the Shelving EQ on the back on the speakers though.  Thats why I was wondering what I was supposed to be listening for...I cant hear a difference.

basically it increases or decreases the response in the frequency range that you are messing with. it is supposed to be used to account for room imperfections. if you unplug the sub, you may hear a difference when you change the low end one. 

the only HK subs i am seeing are part of a kit, so they probably dont have filters like i was talking about earlier. like you said, only RCA inputs. no outputs. 

My experience with different incarnations of the AMT: I heard the AMT in the GoldenEar SuperSats at an audio store that might not have had the speakers properly broken in, and I had purchased a pair of the Martin Logan Motion 4s. Both of those speakers had high frequency characteristics similar to the Airmotiv 4s, but both sounded hollow through the midrange where I suspect there are problems with the transition from the AMT to the woofer. Both speakers were short on bass extension compared with the Airmotiv 4s and, while otherwise well made, the Motion 4s have awful binding posts. 

With a subwoofer, the shy bass on the Motion 4s became moot, but the speakers still didn't sound as live as the Airmotiv 4s. I returned the Motion 4s, kept the Airmotiv 4s, and just ordered a pair of Airmotiv 6s to use in my basement. I still find their appearance problematic, but I am looking into the possibility of applying a veneer to the cabinets.

I need to sample more music to come to a conclusion about this, but, if the Airmotiv 4 has one deficiency, it might be that it can sound slightly overwhelmed on orchestral music.

The internal amplification of the Airmotivs is definitely a bonus over the above speakers, but integrating active and passive speakers into a multi-room system can be somewhat complicated.

I just received my pair of airmotiv4 speakers as a part of my Mac-based desktop headphone system, driven by a Burson Soloist as a preamplifier. I can't believe the only damage done to my wallet was $315 (10% discount of $350) for these terrific speakers with in-built power amps.

Dear Songmic,

I wonder when did you order your Airmotiv 4 as their website did not show any more 10% promotion discount. I am on the fence now, but the 10% discount would make me jump the fence. How do you like the Airmotive4 sound compare to the ones you had.

Thanks for sharing your thought.

BTW I did try to dig through the taobao auction in China:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?spm=a1z10.3.0.130.69d86&depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dqmsaudio%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Di6G%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=zh-CN&twu=1&u=http://item.taobao.com/item.htm%3Fid%3D13482164207%26&usg=ALkJrhils4nDNJSeSc2pWXjSwrS5b7MqJQ

3800 yuan = about 600$ for Q6, which seems to be the Airmotiv 6... 99$ on top for delivery with 5 years of warranty - I guess it will be much more expensive to get it anywhere outside the China.

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?spm=a1z10.3.0.184.69d86&depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dqmsaudio%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Di6G%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=zh-CN&twu=1&u=http://item.taobao.com/item.htm%3Fid%3D12817918203%26&usg=ALkJrhiMIAKIk49I7ocVBkIHscJ9BTALTA

1880 yuan = about 300$ for Q4/Airmotiv 4... So we have 50$ on top of the taobao price... No way to get it cheaper from QMS I believe. :)

Specs at QMS:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dqmsaudio%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Di6G%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Dimvns&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=zh-CN&twu=1&u=http://www.qmsaudio.com/productshow.asp%3Fid%3D192&usg=ALkJrhjDWR2TndTBWEnOJfOkMWnFBIqhtA

I heard significant differences with the trim controls when I had my 6s. Especially on the low end. 

I tried out the AirMotiv 5's for a bit and found them more pleasing to my ear than the AudioEngine 5+'s (and my current Klipsch 5.1 Promedia).  However, in my near field setup, they were a bit "too  much" for me.  Even had to turn down the bass a bit.  If I were to spend the money to upgrade, I think I would probably opt for the AirMotiv 4's, which might be plenty good for near field listening.  Also - wait for their annual sale if you can ... I think it's in the spring.