[MorbidToaster]

I haven't heard them all unfortunately but Project86 probably has the right idea in that the higher up the range you go the louder they need to be played to sound great. They also will most likely become less punchy. If you read the impressions I complain about the lack of punch but praise the extension of the 6s. 
 
It all depends on where you're listening, IMO.

 

[buson160man]

Well I just saw an email from emotiva announcing another sale but this sale is only for two weeks.I was sitting on the fence for couple of months thinking about getting the 6.But after looking at the dimensions it is quite large for a desk top and just did not look to be a practical speaker for a desk top system. Unfortunately their summer sale ended at the end of August so I missed the sale.Well I looked at the 4 and the 5.The 5s are still a bit large for a desktop setup but I decided to try the 5 and try to make it work.This time I am taking the plunge and I ordered the 5s to take advantage of the savings.This is uncharted territory for me as far as powered speakers other than those undiscript speakers that come with the computer when you by the computer. The only experience I have had with powered speakers was when I heard atc active speakers in showrooms a couple of times. Those were much more substantial models both beeing  floorstanders.That was over five years ago too.They were impressive from what I can remember but especially the atc 100 model.That speaker was amazing there are few speakers setups that could play as loudly and cleanly at elevated levels with little if any compression.The dealer played a count basie recording in a large loft and it sounded like the band was in the room.
  But getting back to the emotivas of course they are a lot smaller and I am sure they are not atcs I am hoping they will be a good sized step up from the non-descript computer speakers I have been using.Hear goes Geronimo!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[project86]

I think you will really dig them. I use the 5s daily and they are excellent. Yes, there are better speakers out there, but spending more doesn't necessarily guarantee any improvement.

 

[lmswjm]

I used the 6's primarily for about a year. While I haven't heard the others, I can't think of a better bang for the buck line up anywhere else.

 

[buson160man]

 Well I have now had the 5s for about three days.I have put maybe 12 hours on them and things are getting better they are sounding more open and the bass is sounding pretty impressive given the mid bass drivers size(5 1/2).But I am using them on 4 post 2 ft tall sound anchor stands and I am sure this is helping the bottom end a lot. the sound anchors are indepensable for getting the most out of  a speaker providing a very solid base for most any book shelf speaker.At two feet they are a bit short for optimal ear level listening from this small a speaker but for auditioning it provides a extremely rigid footing for the speaker and enables the speaker to achieve better bass than one would think for such a small bass driver.
  I have been mixing cd playback with movie playback.But mostly movies and the 5 is looking like it will be a stellar home theater speaker in a small package.I listened to the movie twister today and I am amazed at the amount and quality of the bass from such a small speaker.The highs are excellent as well with no harshness whatsover.The speaker seems to do pace pretty well and can  lead to foot tapping while playing music of that nature.So far I am very satisfied with the 5s performance.I do not know how much better it will get when I put more play time on it but for now things are looking very promising.This should make an outstanding speaker for my computer desk top system.
 I will try to make further evaluations as the speaker break in period progresses.But for now I definitely think the 5 is a keeper.

 

[buson160man]

 Well it has been three months since I bought my airmotiv 5s and things have pretty much settled in as far as sound goes.I have added a emotiva iec power cord to each speaker to good effect.Things sounded better in general when I upgraded the power cords.
 I like the performance of the 5s as computer desktop speakers and I think it would be difficult to find any computer speaker that would better this one at the price let alone one that is higher priced.As a video sound system in small to medium sized rooms this speaker works very well if listened to at optimal ear level positioning.
  I think it could be a little too small for optimal listening in my medium sized living room for cd playback but it is just dandy for desktop use.
   I was thinking about possibly getting a airmotiv 6 for my living room setup.Well the emotiva pro website has had them on sale through the holiday til january 15th.So i have been sitting on the fence for a bit and despite my holiday spending binge I pulled the trigger and ordered a pair of sixes.I beat the sale date by two days.I had seen the new stealth 8s on their website but at 1500 usd they are bit steep though they look like they are still a stellar buy when compared to comparably priced active speakers.
 I would have loved to buy a pair but now that I am retired 1500 is a pretty steep purchase for me.The 579 usd sale price(expires january 15th 2013) is a great price for what was already a high value product and is obtainable for me with some penny pinching in the next few months.This is going to be my last purchase for awhile so I hope they will work well in my medium sized room for both music and home theater use.
 I will try to make some observations about the sixes when I receive them and as they progress in their break in period in my set up.
This should be interesting seeing how much of a step up they are from my airmotiv 5s.

 

[buson160man]

 I just got my airmotiv6s on january 17th and hooked them up in the evening.I have airmotiv5s since september and have been using them as dual purpose speakers with my peachtree decco 2 serving as a preamp/dac but I wa getting tired of moving them back and forth.So to minimize the work I decided to spring for the 6s at the holiday sale price(which has just ended) and because i think the 5s were just not suited for my medium sized living room.I need something that can fill the room somewhat better.I am hoping the 6s will do the job.I am using my decco 2 as a preamp and have started the break in process playing movies in my living room.I have the speakers sited on my sound anchor 4 post stands which are two feet tall.I played them for a few hours the first day and played them a bit the next day.I took a chance and picked up two hi fi tuning supreme fuses for the speakers(small 2 amp slow blow) fuses after I called emotiva to check the fuse size.The emotiva people offer wonderful customer service.Well I put the fuses in yesterday and powered them up so these impressions are of the speaker with the upgraded fuses.I also am using emotiva upgraded iec power cords on the speakers which worked well with my airmotiv 5s.I did not replace the fuses in my 5s though.Well I watched two movies last night and have had the speakers and electronics powered up for most of the day.Things started to improve in the midrange a bit.But I still have a ways to go on the break in with these on my 5s it took probably a weeks use before they started to really settle in.They still sound closed in at the top and bottom and I have to really turn up the volume on my decco 2 preamp to at least half volume before I get satisfactory volume though by no means loud listening levels.I wonder if I may have to get a preamp with more gain capability to obtain really high levels with the 6s.I know the 5s took a while before they got louder in my living room set up.I guess it will take a while before the speaker loosens up a bit so they can play more freely and loudly.I had tried a audible illusions modulus three tube preamp on my 5s after they had fleshed in and the mix was not great the audible illusions preamp was very midrange centered and the blend with my 5s was not ideal.There was just too much midrange and not enough at the top and bottom(MIA).
   I think I may do some looking around at preamps for a good match at a reasonable price for the sixes with sufficient gain as a living room video monitor for movie playback.But for now I have to do some more break in on the 6s before I can form any serious opinion of their capabilities as a video sound monitor for living room duty in my set up.I hope they will get a lot louder as they break in some.

 

[buson160man]

   I probably have around 15 hours on the 6s now and things are getting better.They are opening up more now and getting a bit louder though I still have to ramp the volume of my decco 2 preamp to around twelve oclock on the knob to get a satisfing level.The speaker has very good clarity even better I think than my airmotiv 5s.I imagine the extra 110 wattts might have something to do with that.I am begginning to hear why so many people are waxing about the airmotiv 6 model.I do not know what a appropiate break in is for this speaker so I am hoping it gets looser yet and play louder yet.At this time I have no plans to look into a preamp with possibly more gain but I may eventually.I have been looking at preamps that are around a thousand dollars and there does not seem to be many in that price range that seem suitable.
 One that did look good was a used cambridge 840e preamp for around 900 on ebay.But I am tapped out finanacially for a while.But so far I am thinking the airmotiv 6 was a wise choice for my living room for movie sound.

 

[sor1n]

Quote:

 The speaker has very good clarity even better I think than my airmotiv 5s.I imagine the extra 110 wattts might have something to do with that.I am begginning to hear why so many people are waxing about the airmotiv 6 model.

I imagine the added clarity has something to do with the much larger ribbon transducer size in the 6, and yes more power (watts) too.  The 6's ribbon is larger than both the 4 or the 5 model.
 
Enjoy your 6's, they get better with age. I love mine, but I wanted more bass and so I added a sub.  They really shine in a 2.1 setup. 

 

[buson160man]

Quote:

I imagine the added clarity has something to do with the much larger ribbon transducer size in the 6, and yes more power (watts) too.  The 6's ribbon is larger than both the 4 or the 5 model.
 
Enjoy your 6's, they get better with age. I love mine, but I wanted more bass and so I added a sub.  They really shine in a 2.1 setup. 

 Well I have been listening on and off for two more days and things seem to be improving soundwise but I still am not getting as much volume from my set up with the decco 2s preamp section in my medium sized living room.But I have to say the fuse upgrade to the hifi-tuning supreme fuse has helped.The sound of the speaker is smoother and the dynamics have improved somewhat after I swapped the stock fuse in and out today to check what the difference was by changing the fuse.The bass is also improved by the fuse upgrade.I tried the speaker with another preamp I borrowed from a high end store in my area and things definitely improved.The preamp is used and at least 18 years old but the performance of the airmotiv 6s has jumped considerably higher.I have to say I am impressed not only with the sixes but also the performance of this almost twenty year old preamp.I guess they got it right when they designed this preamp.The speakers play much more freely and I can get a satisfactory level for listening at around 9 oclock on the volume  knob.The listed gain on this preamp is 18 in single ended fashion.I cannot comment about the gain level of the decco 2 because there was no published spec denoting it.
  But that has just pointed out the need for a dedicated preamp to get the most out of the emotiva activ monitors.You really are not hearing the potential of these speakers until you try them with a preamp that can reveal their potential.And I am sure that after only five days of sporatic use that the emotiva 6s still probably have a ways to go before they are broken in.
  But for those who's units have broken in I suggest you at least upgrade their power leash or cord you will get a good jump in performance if you do.But the fuse change is also very beneficial so I advise you to check that avenue as well.The fuse size is a small 2 amp slow blow.I got the value from emotivas customer service(which I might add is wonderful) when I called them to obtain the fuse value.
  Well time for somemore listening.I am thinking about the preamp but the activ 6s sure sound great with a suitable preamp of sufficient gain attached to them.

 

[kazsud]

I wish to get the same fuses. Care to link the brand/model # and place you ordered them from?

 

[buson160man]

Quote:

I wish to get the same fuses. Care to link the brand/model # and place you ordered them from?

  The fuse size is 2amp slow blow from hifi-tuning the fuse I went with is their supreme fuse which is their best offering.I bought my fuses from music direct.com.They run about sixty dollars each of course you need two of them one for each speaker of course.The power cord is available from the emotiva website under interconnects.The power cord is available in a two meter length for about seventy dollars each.
 The fuse again is a hifi-tuning supreme fuse the value is small 2 amp slow blow the fuse is changed from the back panel under the iec power inlet you jst pry the cover out with a small flat blade screw driver.

 

[buson160man]

 Well I was just not happy with the sound of my airmotiv 6s using the decco 2 as a preamp.I auditioned a couple of used high end preamps and I bought the second one it sounded much better with the airmotiv 6s.Well I have put almost another week of casual use on the 6s and things are finally opening up.The loudness is coming in and the dynamics are now getting much better.Today especially things are now sounding much more involving and the sound of different recordings is way more apparent as far as beeing able to determine the quality of a recording.I have to say that I am really hearing the sound of recordings for the very first time.These speakers are just so revealing.I have been at it for 4 almost  decades and too many systems to even remember some of them having some pretensions to at least the lower end of the high end.I have had variuos speakers 1) utah homemades 2) adc 303axs 3) scott s10s 4) acoustic research ar 11s  5) 3d acoustics cubes  6) proac model 100s  7) b&w 601 s2s 8) b&w 603 s2s and b&w 683s.None mentioned can even remotely come close to the sound that these active monitors are producing.I have to say my present set up is in a completely different universe sound wise.I had heard some atc actives around five years ago and I was impressed by what I heard at that time.The atcs are a ways out of my budget more like a lot  for their actives.But these emotiva 6s remind me of what I had heard from them.They are nothing short of amazing at the price emotiva is offering them at.I can add a lot of esoteric speakers to that list that I have heard some beeing very expensive. I have to say these little giants can hold their own against a lot of them and in more ways than not embarasses a lot of them.. I am hearing what I had heard with the atcs that impressed me so much.After having these actives I have to say there is no way I can go back to passive monitors from here on.The actives are just so much more revealing of recorded artifacts.Maybe some day I will be able to afford an atc 20 active boy that would be heaven.
  I have to wonder how the new stealth 8s sound they must be awsesome sounding for the the price emotiva is offering them at based on what I am hearing from the 6s.I imagine they are the complete package and just this side of heaven.
  I have to stress that you have to use a preamp of suitable quality to really tap the capability of the six.When you do these can really be something special.I do not know how much better my sixes will get but even if they have arrived they are truly special in a way that defines the difference between high fi in a high end pretension and reality.These are reality and if you want to hear what recordings really sound like you should check out active monitors.They are the real thing.

 

[sor1n]

I use my 6's with an Emotiva XDA-1 dac\preamp and they sound wonderful with that combo.  You can probably pick up a discounted used XDA-1 locally or online (e-bay) if you want to give it a try, or the XDA-2 direct from Emo.
 
 

 

[kazsud]

What pre-amp did you go with? There is a new peachtree grand pre x-1 that looks promising.
When I took my 6s to a local hifi shop I auditioned them w/ the nova pre and was impressed but ended up getting the nuforce dac-100 because I needed it for my hd800s as well.