Just for what it's worth, the speakers were mounted on the stands *properly* during my listening (bolted directly to the stands). The only thing I didn't do was attach the spikes because I didn't want to risk scratching my floor. The reason they are resting on the stands the way they are here is because I sat them on the stands to record my video for this review after they had been on my floor for listening with their floor mount adapter and I didn't take the time to remove the adapter. A simple request: If any of you find yourselves shopping for anything sold by the retailers below please consider using my generic affiliate link. These can earn me a small commission which goes a long way toward helping me review items and make content. It is a great way you can help me continue doing what I enjoy doing without costing you anything extra. It is truly appreciated! Amazon: amzn.to/3v6i6ov Audio Advice: www.audioadvice.com/?referral=erins-audio-corner Best Buy: howl.me/ck2IPpcOp1h Crutchfield: shop-links.co/cgZmmT81jmh Parts-Express: parts-express.sjv.io/Y9zoEB Newegg: howl.me/ck2IQg52L5b Samsung: howl.me/ck2IQ5qe16w Target: howl.me/ck2IRDNsIqn Thomann: www.thomann.de/de/index.html?offid=1&affid=2577 Emotiva: shorturl.at/pBEU9 Monoprice: bit.ly/3yAY6NH Arendal Sound: arendalsound.com/store/?refer=hardisj Purchases through these links can earn me a small commission - at no additional cost to you - and help me continue to provide the community with free content and reviews. Doesn't matter if it's a TV from Crutchfield, budget speakers from Audio Advice or a pair of socks from Amazon, just use the link above before you make your purchase. Thank you!
Thanks for the review Erin.👍 Although..I'm not clear on the price of these. Idk if it's 5k/pr OR 5k each msrp? If they are 5k/pr, I'm not surprised by the shortcomings. I was excited at the prospect of this review, as the listed specs appeared promising, but my current "life" speakers remain safe, 😂. At 10k/pr., the Rev5's are, as someone else suggested, "missing the mark," although at 5k/pr., some may go for this, but at this price, I believe you're correct that most will not want to add the cost of subs for these speakers. 🤔Also, the "elephant in the room" is the "emphatically elusive" Dovedale review! 👨🏻 As another viewer had maybe alluded to, there definitely is a market segment of audio people looking in the 5K to 10k range for a "full" freq. range, 3-way stereo speaker pair that checks all their boxes.😉
Would be very interesting to have you review some DALI speakers, especially as they just released the new Rubikore line. Rubikore 6 is a 5k€/pair floorstander and Rubikore 2 is a 2.6k€/pair standmount. They are a Danish manufacturer, who design everything, including their drivers, in-house.
I have the Atalante 3 monitors and they've convinced me to just stop looking and listen to the music. I love what Daniel Emonts has done. He headed speaker design at Dynaudio for 7 years, did the same for Focal/JM Labs and before that, Altec Lansing. He knows a thing or two about speakers. All of his drivers are proprietary and made in house, in France. Nothing off the shelf. If I ever get the money and the room size needed, the Atalante 5 are the ones I'll get. Thanks for this review.
I started my audio file journey in the early seventies when I was a teenager. I love the designs from back then, especially the receivers. And my Pioneer Sx-1010 receiver from back then can definitely hang with today's amps. But in general, today's speakers are way better than what we had back then. It's a great time to be an audio file right now.
I got a 70s era pair of EPI 100v speakers. Id pit them up against 90% of the Modern trash that exists today. A buddy once asked me to give my opinion on a $3000 pair of flagship speakers, at the local high end stereo shop. When the smiling clerk asked me what I thought of them... I couldnt help but actually laugh in his face. My EPIs utterly DESTROY them, in every single metric. It wasnt even close. Speaker technology really has really changed much over the last +50 years. What has changed, is Quality, and pricing. Quality has gotten lower and lower... and pricing has gotten higher and higher. I believe Audiophile grade speakers, used to be the majority of sales, in the 70s. However, in the 80s... the Industry changed for the worse. They went from Sealed speakers, to garbage Ported speakers... that make Artificial sounding bass. They went from heavy and thick cabinets... to thin and light-weight particle board... which leaks and flexes. They went from using high power magnets, and strong coils in the drivers... to weak "ECO" drivers, that have such poor cone control... that they create micro-distortions... and cause Muddying of Musical Details. I could go on and on. Of course, its not just the speakers that are a Modern Issue, either. When the govt. banned lead-free soldier... its been causing massive electrical shorts in all modern electronics. Many brand new devices, straight out of the boxes, are D3AD. Or the electronics will last anywhere from 3 to 5 years max, before it kicks the bucket, shorting out and frying itself. I still have a 90s era Pioneer Receiver, with 5.1 surround sound... thats like 32 years old... and still works flawlessly (after +8hr use, every single day, since its purchase). Good luck in finding a modern amp, that last a quarter of that time (and sounds equally as good / capable).
My computer has many audio files on it, and I started my audio file journey with ripping CDs and downloading them with lime torrent way back when. Audio files are great indeed. I was not aware audio files really existed in the 70s, since no one had computers or CDs, so this is news to me.
@@Artcore103 Firstly, you didnt need to have Audiophile grade music sources, to have Audiophile grade Speakers. That said... there are recording on records and tapes, that are actually superior to anything you have downloaded on MP3s... as well as often far superior to the modern studio releases. You see, in the 90s, they started HEAVILY compressing anything that came out of the Studios. There is like half the dynamic range... and each progressing year since... they have increased compression levels, to be worse and worse. I love almost all types of music. From Classic Rock, to Heavy Metal, Dance, Pop, 80s, Hair Bands, Certain Jazz, R&B, Dance, Some Techno / Electronica, Video Game Music / FM Synth stuff. And much more. I used to collect speakers, and at one time, had at least 30 different pairs. Often picked up cheap, from thrift shops. Some famous speakers were found there... because of Foam Rot, that others didnt want to spend the time and money to repair. Ive heard speakers from all price ranges, shapes, sizes, and driver types. While Id never claim to have heard everything... Ive heard enough to know what Audiophile grade speakers actually are. As once you hear things in music that you have NEVER heard before on ANY other speaker... the more Natural sounding bass, and an actual 3d Holographic soundstage image... you can never go back to a standard speaker experience. Its somewhat similar with audiophile grade headphones. However, even my top two Sennheiser Audiophile headphones, still didnt give me the magical experience of the EPI speakers. That said... those headphones destroy most speakers, in comparison, as far as Audiophile output goes. Interestingly enough... One of the speakers that I got hold of, was a pair of AR-3a 's. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to restore them, before my narcissist father stole them. But according to the reports about them... they used to bring those speakers all over the place... along with a Live Band. They would switch between the Live band, and those Speakers... and supposedly, nobody could tell the two apart. How credible that is... I dont know. All I do know, is that Ive yet to hear ANYTHING that comes close to the 70s era EPI speakers that I picked up. Not even Fractionally close. And Im 50 years old, with a Lot of experiences under my belt. I also have over 300 original music CDs, and about the same amount of DVDs + Blurays, and many digital files, too.
@@Artcore103 True enough that audio files were not commercially available until the 90's, but our team at DARPA began research that eventually led to the MP3 format in the early seventies. I was lucky enough to be involved on a high school internship. Fun fact, a scratch old 45 of "Kung Fu Fighting" was used in our early research. Those guys were serous eggheads, but had a sense of humor.
I think I will always be a sucker for the retro style...big woofers/drivers as well. This set is not too bad. I dig 'em. Another great review & speaker type that many were curious about. 👍
Great channel Erin, always useful and helpful. Your thumbnail reminded me of how I've been chasing that first real hi fi sound from the past, and while I want to achieve great sound, I've reserved to enjoying the music through the gear that I have.... That is until I get the upgrade itch again!
ERIN: one criteria that I find is missing in most audio reviews, and I would love to see added to yours is a discussion of various listening distances FROM the loudspeakers under review. In other words: how far does one have to be from a given speaker in order for the sound to cohere properly? This can be quite variable among given designs . And plenty of people have listening situations or preferences that limit listening distance. For instance, I have both a preference and a room limitation that has me listening to speakers between 7 1/2 feet from my listing position at the most, and as close as 6 feet as well. Not exactly near-field, yet I found that a number of speakers that I have otherwise loved when auditioning fell apart under those conditions. , for instance one of my favourite speakers just would not cohere and sound right unless they were at least 8 feet from the listening position. Therefore I sought out and bought speakers that were designed such that closer listening positions were just fine, which gave me a wide latitude and listening position. Is this a subject that you would consider? I’m not sure if it would mean simply your subjective impressions, varying your listening distance from the speakers, or whether the Klippel measurements can indicate from what distance the sound should coherent from a speaker. Again, I would think this would be useful information. Having been an audiophile for a long time I’ve seen plenty of polls asking about how people speakers are configured and listening distances very quite a bit, with some people preferring closer, listening positions, even near field.
you just have to play with it given the rooms dimension. in audio engineering, listen position should be at about 38% from the front wall. the triangle equal lateral between speakers and ear distance should land a little behind your head / ears. play with axis to taste based on speaker design. i figure this formula should dictate how large / small the speakers can even be. this works for mix engineers; should work for the ppl who hear the music at home that they produce i figure.
The only thing wrong with plugging the ports is it calls for a smaller cabinet so it's not a proper sealed cabinet design and probably has a weird measurement in the bass If you look at a manufacturers recommendation for a woofer it has a cabinet size for ported and a smaller one for sealed .
Thanks Erin, Grear review Great speaker. Wherever you listen, sitting, standing, left right, (off axis) it's a great allaround speaker. And even it's not the most sensitive it's great for overnight listening in low volumes. Have them with Moonriver 404 reference, GREAT combo, just listen....
I do like that style speaker enough to design and build my own style with a 10" paper kevlar, fiberglass cone . Even though big baffles are sometimes bad for imaging but my speakers image good and they are dynamic, with great bass , I'm sucker for big woofers.
To me, this looks like an ATC SCM100SL, just executed worse. I caught 3 things that could be causing the massive diffraction issues: 1. The mid and tweeter are not flush to the front baffle. 2. The front baffle edges are sharp corners. 3. The front baffle is not flush with the rest of the cabinet. What I will say is that the nonlinearity measurements really show why dome mids are so well-liked: the distortion and compression performance is _insanely_ good even at very high levels - holding at ~0.3% at 96dB anechoic is more or less "these speakers will never have audible distortion at normal listening levels".
Hi Erin, Thanks for this review, I was curious about these speakers. I am also very curious about the ATC SCM40 with a similar dome mid driver (hint). Thanks again!
Hi Erin, thanks for the great review! Did you experience any differences when using different amps/sources? I've seen other reviews where better amplification continued to improve the sound.
Thanks for this. So after 888 and Atalante 5 what's left is Dovedale's ? I think you had mentioned you might be getting those. Ultimately these 3 products have same target customer group.
I think the Dovedales beats these, but I haven't heard any of them. Look-wise, and possibly sound-wise, I would pick the Dovedales. I'll admit I love the sound and look from my Lintons, so...
👍 to your point, since my listening taste is quite varied, I'm not "for" speakers that create a strong divide by sounding much better for some recordings and sounding much worse for others. That sometimes has a tendency to happen regardless, but I'd prefer knowing when a recording is better or worse, rather than a speaker lying to me lol That said, I find myself doing different types of listening on different quality level sets that I have in a few different areas within the home here.
@@rolandd5397 DearSX meant (I presume) that the compromises that this particular Rev5 speaker makes is not to their liking or preference. Anyone that regularly views this channel that knows anything about this technology already understands that it's a series of never ending compromises, hence you are, albeit correctly, stating the obvious.
There is music I listen to on my DSP enabled flat freq speakers that just does not sound like I'm used to it sounding on "normal" PA style speakers. Sometimes flavoring sounds better to us on "classic" songs. Went to an outdoor event yesterday and I enjoyed the music a lot and it was not flat freq.
@@DearSX Inderstood.. I won't automatically prefer DSP corrected sound in a room, either; it doesn't always sound best, it just sounds different; it really depends on if you like the way it sounds with any specific source material compared to corrected your own way; some people think it's the "end all" to the pursuit of ultimate best sound, but that's a farce.
We know that most of the sound that matters is the direct radiation. So if you point it away from you, that peak is going to be less severe. However, It's gonna suck for others sitting more on axis. Estimated In Room Response is cool, until you have a wide array of seating.
I would have agreed with you but after nearly 200 speakers with data to compare my listening notes to, I put more stock in the EIR because that aligns so well with what I hear in my listening sessions. But never should we look at ONE graphic solely. It all matters.
what's a point of port stuffing ? for every speaker driver volume of ideal ported an closed enclosure will be different. so when you close ports instead of intended ported enclosure you get a closed box with completely wrong volume.
Shame about the imaging! They do sound fun. Makes me wonder if the Fink Team Kim has better imaging due to that massive AMT tweeter Erin, have you heard of Marten Design out of Sweden? Their Duke 2 and Bird 1 sets are especially legendary. Great review as always!
16:48 Close-miked HiHats will pretty much always have a spike this high. Synthesized hats also quite often hit this range and this particular area is pretty important imo. Sibilance from vocals is typically a little lower, but depending on the singer, can also sit there. I work in live sound and a lot of system have a similarly looking top octave because of the titanium compression driver (breakup mode). It drives me nuts!
I'm curious if you listened to them both on the stands and on the floor? They sound different in each orientation as you might expect. Also, did you ever properly mount them to the stands? The video shows them resting on the stands with the floor attachment still on. That should be removed and the speakers bolted to the stands. I have a set of these that I purchased sight unseen from a dealer that I had a history of positive experiences with. This was one instance where we have different opinions. I never really liked the speakers. The shouty glare you mentioned is something I noticed too. It wasn't obvious at first, but I found myself feeling fatigued after short periods with the speakers regardless of positioning in the room. Thirty to forty minutes was about all I could handle. I found them lacking some detail in the midrange (as you mentioned) and bass, and generally tonally imbalanced. Another point worth mentioning is that they are very awkward speakers to move around. They are much bigger than they look in photos and videos. They are not as big as ultra hifi speakers like Rockport or Wilson, where you expect to require assistance in transporting or positioning them, but at the same time, the dimensions are much more cumbersome than a narrower tower style speaker. Just a general PITA. All in all, I had to cut my losses with these. They were intended for a secondary system of mine that ended up being my primary system. I wound up taking a different route to get the sound I wanted in my room.
Could be wrong but it looks like the extreme high and extreme lows can be EQed. If you cut the 4.5khz ~3db and the ~60hz 4-6db it could flat out nicely. The style is really nice and extending down to 40hz gives what looks like an all round speaker.
I honestly haven't noticed a lift in the treble region in my room. These speakers do tickle the 60-70hz room mode though, so I EQ that region down 2-3db and plug the ports. It's really not the speakers fault that most rooms are going to sound boomy in the bass - that's what room treatment and eq is for!
I appreciate the in room response and off axis measurements. Especially for a speaker like this. These clearly aren’t designed to be a reference speaker for critical listening. These are really good living room speakers. After watching so many of Erin’s reviews I’ve noticed a lot of patterns. Most of these sort of retro stand mount speakers seem to be designed to sound there best in a sort of real world common setup. These fit the bill for me. I want to upgrade my 5.1 living room setup to a nice high quality stereo setup. I have a sort of mid century design, a large 12’ wide sectional and don’t want the speakers to sit too far from the wall. These are definitely going on my short list. I’m pretty sure they’d look and sound great for my space.
I have a pair and I absolutely love them. They can play loud with ease while not being fatiguing. Just have to be careful with the bass and have them far off the walls. I plug the ports in my large basement room, even 2.5 feet from the wall. They sound glorious.
I have a penchant for acoustic music, and I crave a sonic experience that faithfully reproduces the instrumentation with utmost precision. I desire to discern each instrument - be it the violin's soaring highs, the drum's dynamic attack, the flute's airy subtleties, or the guitar's rich timbre - with crystal clarity and definition. a sound signature that is unfatigueing and suitable for extended listening , very easy to ears , an all day speaker .Furthermore, I seek vocals that are layered, lively, and nuanced, with a sense of depth and dimensionality. Finally, I require a bass response that is taut, nuanced, and capable of conveying the subtlest textural details, thereby immersing me in a truly captivating sonic landscape. Sir, please suggest me a sub 500 dollar speaker best suited for my requirements and preference.🙏
I currently own these and do agree with most of your review, but I feel you got the imaging a Little incorrect. I was able to sit these right next to my Borresen X3’3 for a side by side comparison. Using Tools Chocolate Chip Trip song I compared the soundstage between the two and found the Atalanta 5S to hold their own against the X3’3 and the X3’S are one of the best imaging speakers I’ve ever owned.
I appreciate the feedback. However, the speakers you mentioned do not employ a waveguide or any control directivity means. If you do have the opportunity to listen to some well control, directivity speakers you’ll probably have a better understanding of what I mean in this comparison. 👍
@@ErinsAudioCorner Erin most of a speakers imaging comes from the source: equipment or material that’s being played. Example a better dac can give better imaging/placement. The Borresen X3’S do have a wave guide. I’m confused with what you’re saying here
@@ErinsAudioCorner Did you burn these speakers in before your review. What equipment did you have hooked up to them. You mentioned two positives in your review: A mid bass bump then also gripped about that same mid bass bump. I can’t argue with your measurements, but your review felt a little dry and lacked a lot of listening experience etc etc
Just like auto design, run out of ideas, just copy an old design, call it retro or whatever. Been an audiophile for 45 years. Still haven’t heard anything like the late eighties early nineties infinity/nakamichi/denon/yamaha super high end equipment. Oh, don’t forget the Sony ES line that wasn’t really readily accessible but in retrospect excellent sound.
@@CashGravel actually, the wider, the baffle, the larger the drivers usually used. Those drivers beam earlier than smaller ones. Which means less wraparound and less fraction.
Thanks for the review! With speakers this size the measured FR will be different between 1m distance and 3m distance, because the single drivers are so far away from each other. I wonder if this is a limitation of even the Klippel system (because it cannot predict the in-room FR very accurately)?
The sound character of this speaker set must be a specific creation of the designer, just as Dynaudio stated in your review of the Heritage Special. I think I red somewhere that the designer of this speaker had been working for Dynaudio in the past. But I’ll think it’s strange to make a choice like that, why not just a flat frequency response like Kef does with it’s more expensive systems?
if you get the chance, could you review the old Klipsch synergy f3 towers and see if the tweeters need taming with eq or not. they seem to be very bright and also the lows seem to have a bump in them.
@@sbaradaran i have heard both before the review and actually have bought the 888 for my new place. so no it wasn't because of this review but this review makes it even more clear that my hearing is still intact
You didn't say who makes the drivers would be nice the mid range and Twitter especially. Is the mid range volt? I don't know what's up with them but they should work very well with that design concept, there's some lacking synergy between the mid-range and tweeter could be changed in the crossover but I think different wave guide would be better and I'm not sure on the tweeter, not knowing what it is seems choppy.
Just out of curiosity, would you have any interest in measuring some portable speakers like the upcoming Earfun Uboom X or small Uboom L, mainly because both of them have Oluv's tuning and from my experience, 2 small Uboom Ls in Oluv's indoor mode and connected in stereo sound much more natural and smoother at lower volumes than for example Dali option 5s (heard them side by side with Earfuns sitting on top of the Dali) and also against some Atc bookshelf model... You can achieve quite a lot of sound just by dsp correcting some small cheap drivers
@@ErinsAudioCorner Oluv is an audio UA-camr (his yt account was taken down few days ago, no one knows why right now), he's been reviewing audio products of all kind for like 15 years now as well as refining his binural audio demos all that time (now at point where you really get ~90% of what he's hearing irl if you use some neutral pair of headphones) and recently got into some colab with Earfun (classic cheap Chinese company but they have nice hardware for the money) and figured out that one can squeeze out crazy amount of refinement from a small bluetooth speakers like the ones that I already mentioned just with correcting the flaws in the frequency response... When tuning the Uboom X he even used the Neumann kh 80 as a reference, I would be really curious how it would measure on your rig because, if you think about it, correct tuning can do almost anything if speaker doesn't have serious issues like distortion
@@ErinsAudioCornerOluv is the Austrian musician who was cooperating with Earfun on their Uboom L portable speaker. I have it home too and I have to say that it sounds very good. But only at lower volumes and closer distances and pointed to the listener and only with the right Oluv’s firmware 4.8. With original firmware 5.0 it sounds like 💩 Believe me. For that comical money $60 with discount code it’s fantastic piece of hardware.
The lack of flush mounting of drivers is silly, at any price point, but even more so at this price point. For various reasons this speaker appears to looks first and sound second. Diffraction is clearly wreaking havoc on the response both on and off axis, and is most likely the reasoning for poor imaging. The marketing on this speakers webpage is also just a bunch of BS full of mystical marketing speaker and . The mid provides "performance never seen in it's range". Obviously a lie. I can't take this company or it's products seriously after reading their website. This ones going in the ignore pile.
I own a pair of these speakers and they sound fantastic. I've owned other high speakers from Monitor Audio, KEF, and most recently Spendor. They don't image as well as my LS50s, or my Spendor D7s, but they are also the easiest speakers to listen to, at loud volumes without fatigue while playing deep bass with authority. The midrange sounds great, without being to in your face our shouty. Maybe listen to a pair of speakers before rattling off baseless judgements? Just a thought.
@@sbaradaran My judgements are not baseless, the issues I speak of are right there in the data. I have used ATC 3 ways so I know what is possible with this format. I have spent many years constructing speakers and anaylzing them, I know will be an issue. Diffraction from not flush mounting drivers is a well known issue. Frankly, I have an understanding of loudspeaker performance and it's correlation to what we hear that you simply do not have. I have no desire to hear these, they will not beat my 3 way diy monitors which exhibit considerably better objective performance. I have all the receipts to prove my claims.
@@joshcatstream Listening to a pair of speakers in your own room is the only way to fairly judge a pair of speakers. Spendor D7s I had before measure better than the Atalante 5 - which sounds better in my room to my ears? The Atalante 5.
Hello, I’m a big fan of your channel, and the content is awesome but the views going down really makes me sad. I would love to work with you to grow your channel to grow this channel. Is this something worth a conversation?
I will never understand why home speakers can get so retardedly expensive and why folks buy them. Just built my own for $600 each for left and right and its everything I wanted yes but even this was expensive to me for speakers that is, but I can at least see where my money went in each component. What in these speakers costs $5000 and in others that cost more than even this.
In many ways, I can agree with you. However, it really depends on the Drivers. Its easy for anyone to pick up some cheap Chinese drivers, and call it a day. However... its quite another thing, to Design your own, and Hand Build your own, unique Drivers. Drivers that FAR exceed the specs, capabilities, and sound quality... of Mass Produced, Chinese drivers... The Main problem is... is that many of the speaker mfg. are not revealing what kind of Drivers are inside of their speakers... and the technology and benefits of said drivers. As such, you could easily be getting scammed... purchasing a speaker with poor quality drivers, and being charged and arm and a leg for them. I could never afford high dollar speakers. Even $600, is absurd to me and my budget. However, I found a pair of Used audiophile grade speakers, for a mere $100... and they utterly Destroy the local high end stereo shops $3000 pair of their best "flagship" speakers. Its not even close. Comparing them ( EPI 100v ) against my cheap 90s era Techniques 12" 3ways... and the Techniques went on the Curb, the very next day. The EPI 's have one of the Widest and Deepest 3d Holographic soundstage images, that Ive ever experienced (and no matter how / where you place them). The bass is luscious, and punchy... And despite only being 8" drivers... they utterly Destroyed the bass that came out of my Techs 12" woofers (in Punch / Speed, Musical Accuracy, and Frequency Depth). I tore them both open to inspect the drivers. The EPIs woofers, had massive magnets on the woofers. Where as the techs, had magnets that may have been half the size / mass (ECO-Drivers). In fact, a single 8" EPI woofer, probably weighted more than TWO of my techs 12" woofers, combined. Reading up on the Designers notes about these speakers and drivers... He stated that he used heavier gauge wire on the woofer drivers, to automatically eliminate high frequencies... to be able to eliminate a crossover component. The belief being, that there would be a much cleaner signal, with far less potential for micro-distortion (and I think he was correct, judging by how much crystal clean detail I was hearing.. that Id never heard before, on any other speakers). The tweeter was also sheer magic. As said, the widest and more holographic 3d image, imaginable... regardless of placement. The magnets on them were pretty beefy too, for their size. But I also tend to believe, that the Concave shape of them (rather than typical domes), helps to spread the image much wider and deeper, into the room. Amazingly, the Midrange that also comes out of them, is also phenomenal, and crystal clear... and all without being Harsh / Hot. The Techs Tweeter and Mids, are ultra cheap trash. Probably $1 each, from a Chinese factory. Cheap paper cones. Very poor dynamics. Plenty of Micro-distortions. No real 3d Image to speak of. And the mids were almost absent... because they were so bad. As a tinkerer... I had experimented with various drivers, and boxes.. But I eventually came to realize, that no matter what box shapes I tried... It always came down to the Drivers themselves. Many drivers, just dont sound very good... compared to higher quality drivers. You cant fix them, even with heavy EQ. Also note... that some companies take cheap chinese drivers, and "Modify" them with things like add-on Wave-Guides, to make them "acceptable".. (and still remain dirt cheap), rather than designing and producing a completely new tweeter... from the ground up. Of course, today is also appears that many Small speaker mfg., simply over-price things... because they deal in very low volumes, as well as are trying to sell to a Wealthy audience. Sometimes, people assume that your speakers are Garbage... simply because of lower pricing tiers. And unfortunately... Most larger sized companies, refuse to produce and sell Audiophile grade speakers, at all. They over charge you for the cheapest trash that they can put together... as they recognize that the general masses dont even tend to know any better.
@@johndough8115those EPI tweeters were certainly unique. Every thing about them . Had a pair of M-50S . Unfortunately the glue holding the woofers together let go. But the tweeters seemed to be made of a hard material and a cloth suspension in addition to being inverted . Unfortunately one of those also fell victim to my past listening habits years ago. Had that good one in my hands awhile back and thinking " only if there were two of you " .
Just for what it's worth, the speakers were mounted on the stands *properly* during my listening (bolted directly to the stands). The only thing I didn't do was attach the spikes because I didn't want to risk scratching my floor. The reason they are resting on the stands the way they are here is because I sat them on the stands to record my video for this review after they had been on my floor for listening with their floor mount adapter and I didn't take the time to remove the adapter.
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Thanks for the review Erin.👍
Although..I'm not clear on the price of these. Idk if it's 5k/pr OR 5k each msrp? If they are 5k/pr, I'm not surprised by the shortcomings. I was excited at the prospect of this review, as the listed specs appeared promising, but my current "life" speakers remain safe, 😂.
At 10k/pr., the Rev5's are, as someone else suggested, "missing the mark," although at 5k/pr., some may go for this, but at this price, I believe you're correct that most will not want to add the cost of subs for these speakers.
🤔Also, the "elephant in the room" is the "emphatically elusive" Dovedale review! 👨🏻
As another viewer had maybe alluded to, there definitely is a market segment of audio people looking in the 5K to 10k range for a "full" freq. range, 3-way stereo speaker pair that checks all their boxes.😉
the audio in this video seems a bit off-balance, the right channel seems to have 1-2dB higher level than the left
But did you close the holes in the bottom with the screws provided? xD
@@shipsahoy1793it’s price for a pair 5k
Would be very interesting to have you review some DALI speakers, especially as they just released the new Rubikore line. Rubikore 6 is a 5k€/pair floorstander and Rubikore 2 is a 2.6k€/pair standmount. They are a Danish manufacturer, who design everything, including their drivers, in-house.
Thrilled to see this one reviewed. Been wondering about them since they came out.
I have the Atalante 3 monitors and they've convinced me to just stop looking and listen to the music. I love what Daniel Emonts has done. He headed speaker design at Dynaudio for 7 years, did the same for Focal/JM Labs and before that, Altec Lansing. He knows a thing or two about speakers. All of his drivers are proprietary and made in house, in France. Nothing off the shelf. If I ever get the money and the room size needed, the Atalante 5 are the ones I'll get. Thanks for this review.
I started my audio file journey in the early seventies when I was a teenager. I love the designs from back then, especially the receivers. And my Pioneer Sx-1010 receiver from back then can definitely hang with today's amps. But in general, today's speakers are way better than what we had back then. It's a great time to be an audio file right now.
I got a 70s era pair of EPI 100v speakers. Id pit them up against 90% of the Modern trash that exists today. A buddy once asked me to give my opinion on a $3000 pair of flagship speakers, at the local high end stereo shop. When the smiling clerk asked me what I thought of them... I couldnt help but actually laugh in his face. My EPIs utterly DESTROY them, in every single metric. It wasnt even close.
Speaker technology really has really changed much over the last +50 years. What has changed, is Quality, and pricing. Quality has gotten lower and lower... and pricing has gotten higher and higher. I believe Audiophile grade speakers, used to be the majority of sales, in the 70s. However, in the 80s... the Industry changed for the worse. They went from Sealed speakers, to garbage Ported speakers... that make Artificial sounding bass. They went from heavy and thick cabinets... to thin and light-weight particle board... which leaks and flexes. They went from using high power magnets, and strong coils in the drivers... to weak "ECO" drivers, that have such poor cone control... that they create micro-distortions... and cause Muddying of Musical Details.
I could go on and on.
Of course, its not just the speakers that are a Modern Issue, either. When the govt. banned lead-free soldier... its been causing massive electrical shorts in all modern electronics. Many brand new devices, straight out of the boxes, are D3AD. Or the electronics will last anywhere from 3 to 5 years max, before it kicks the bucket, shorting out and frying itself. I still have a 90s era Pioneer Receiver, with 5.1 surround sound... thats like 32 years old... and still works flawlessly (after +8hr use, every single day, since its purchase). Good luck in finding a modern amp, that last a quarter of that time (and sounds equally as good / capable).
@@johndough8115 Glad you're enjoying your EPI's - that's what the hobby is all about.
My computer has many audio files on it, and I started my audio file journey with ripping CDs and downloading them with lime torrent way back when. Audio files are great indeed. I was not aware audio files really existed in the 70s, since no one had computers or CDs, so this is news to me.
@@Artcore103 Firstly, you didnt need to have Audiophile grade music sources, to have Audiophile grade Speakers. That said... there are recording on records and tapes, that are actually superior to anything you have downloaded on MP3s... as well as often far superior to the modern studio releases. You see, in the 90s, they started HEAVILY compressing anything that came out of the Studios. There is like half the dynamic range... and each progressing year since... they have increased compression levels, to be worse and worse.
I love almost all types of music. From Classic Rock, to Heavy Metal, Dance, Pop, 80s, Hair Bands, Certain Jazz, R&B, Dance, Some Techno / Electronica, Video Game Music / FM Synth stuff. And much more.
I used to collect speakers, and at one time, had at least 30 different pairs. Often picked up cheap, from thrift shops. Some famous speakers were found there... because of Foam Rot, that others didnt want to spend the time and money to repair.
Ive heard speakers from all price ranges, shapes, sizes, and driver types. While Id never claim to have heard everything... Ive heard enough to know what Audiophile grade speakers actually are. As once you hear things in music that you have NEVER heard before on ANY other speaker... the more Natural sounding bass, and an actual 3d Holographic soundstage image... you can never go back to a standard speaker experience.
Its somewhat similar with audiophile grade headphones. However, even my top two Sennheiser Audiophile headphones, still didnt give me the magical experience of the EPI speakers. That said... those headphones destroy most speakers, in comparison, as far as Audiophile output goes.
Interestingly enough... One of the speakers that I got hold of, was a pair of AR-3a 's. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to restore them, before my narcissist father stole them. But according to the reports about them... they used to bring those speakers all over the place... along with a Live Band. They would switch between the Live band, and those Speakers... and supposedly, nobody could tell the two apart. How credible that is... I dont know.
All I do know, is that Ive yet to hear ANYTHING that comes close to the 70s era EPI speakers that I picked up. Not even Fractionally close. And Im 50 years old, with a Lot of experiences under my belt.
I also have over 300 original music CDs, and about the same amount of DVDs + Blurays, and many digital files, too.
@@Artcore103 True enough that audio files were not commercially available until the 90's, but our team at DARPA began research that eventually led to the MP3 format in the early seventies. I was lucky enough to be involved on a high school internship. Fun fact, a scratch old 45 of "Kung Fu Fighting" was used in our early research. Those guys were serous eggheads, but had a sense of humor.
I think I will always be a sucker for the retro style...big woofers/drivers as well.
This set is not too bad. I dig 'em. Another great review & speaker type that many were curious about. 👍
Great channel Erin, always useful and helpful. Your thumbnail reminded me of how I've been chasing that first real hi fi sound from the past, and while I want to achieve great sound, I've reserved to enjoying the music through the gear that I have.... That is until I get the upgrade itch again!
ERIN: one criteria that I find is missing in most audio reviews, and I would love to see added to yours is a discussion of various listening distances FROM the loudspeakers under review. In other words: how far does one have to be from a given speaker in order for the sound to cohere properly?
This can be quite variable among given designs . And plenty of people have listening situations or preferences that limit listening distance. For instance, I have both a preference and a room limitation that has me listening to speakers between 7 1/2 feet from my listing position at the most, and as close as 6 feet as well. Not exactly near-field, yet I found that a number of speakers that I have otherwise loved when auditioning fell apart under those conditions. , for instance one of my favourite speakers just would not cohere and sound right unless they were at least 8 feet from the listening position. Therefore I sought out and bought speakers that were designed such that closer listening positions were just fine, which gave me a wide latitude and listening position.
Is this a subject that you would consider? I’m not sure if it would mean simply your subjective impressions, varying your listening distance from the speakers, or whether the Klippel measurements can indicate from what distance the sound should coherent from a speaker.
Again, I would think this would be useful information. Having been an audiophile for a long time I’ve seen plenty of polls asking about how people speakers are configured and listening distances very quite a bit, with some people preferring closer, listening positions, even near field.
I'll try to keep it in mind. But the rule of thumb is typically 3x the largest dimension of the speaker.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Oof for bookshelf speakers that would be really sad
you just have to play with it given the rooms dimension. in audio engineering, listen position should be at about 38% from the front wall. the triangle equal lateral between speakers and ear distance should land a little behind your head / ears. play with axis to taste based on speaker design. i figure this formula should dictate how large / small the speakers can even be. this works for mix engineers; should work for the ppl who hear the music at home that they produce i figure.
Happy to see big boxes Come back. Big sourd for ever.
It would be cool if you could add a sweep with the bungs in for speakers where the manufacturers provide them as an alternative bass tune.
The only thing wrong with plugging the ports is it calls for a smaller cabinet so it's not a proper sealed cabinet design and probably has a weird measurement in the bass
If you look at a manufacturers recommendation for a woofer it has a cabinet size for ported and a smaller one for sealed .
ERIN is the ROBIN HOOD of Hi-Fi DIY Audio !!!
Thanks for the work as always. I do like the look as well.
loved this review. They are nice looking speakers. As always Erin Great review as always. Cannot wait for the next one.
Thanks Erin, Grear review Great speaker.
Wherever you listen, sitting, standing, left right, (off axis) it's a great allaround speaker. And even it's not the most sensitive it's great for overnight listening in low volumes. Have them with Moonriver 404 reference, GREAT combo, just listen....
Why not keep video of the speakers playing while you describe the look of them? 1:18 to 1:40.
I do like that style speaker enough to design and build my own style with a 10" paper kevlar, fiberglass cone . Even though big baffles are sometimes bad for imaging but my speakers image good and they are dynamic, with great bass , I'm sucker for big woofers.
That reminds me of the “W” shaped FR that’s quite popular in headphone land these days.
I love the retro vibes. In 2024, it does not make much sense to build or buy a loudspeaker without controlled directivity. My opinion. 😅
To me, this looks like an ATC SCM100SL, just executed worse. I caught 3 things that could be causing the massive diffraction issues:
1. The mid and tweeter are not flush to the front baffle.
2. The front baffle edges are sharp corners.
3. The front baffle is not flush with the rest of the cabinet.
What I will say is that the nonlinearity measurements really show why dome mids are so well-liked: the distortion and compression performance is _insanely_ good even at very high levels - holding at ~0.3% at 96dB anechoic is more or less "these speakers will never have audible distortion at normal listening levels".
Totally agreed.
I agree, no excuse for not flush mounting drivers. The response here frankly looks terrible to me.
Hi Erin, Thanks for this review, I was curious about these speakers. I am also very curious about the ATC SCM40 with a similar dome mid driver (hint). Thanks again!
Yea. ATC SCM40A are the most interesting speakers to me and I would like to see them in Erins review.
I'd love to see the SCM50ASL on the NFS. There's precious little measurement data on ATCs.
@@davidfuller581 That too, either works for me!
Some say they don't measure so well. Though I know they use some awesome drivers.
Thanx Erin! Heard that they need a larger room. Maybe you could test the Atalanta 3s?!! Thanx, Bill from Northeast France !!!
Hi Erin, thanks for the great review! Did you experience any differences when using different amps/sources? I've seen other reviews where better amplification continued to improve the sound.
Good question. I’d be interested in that too
may your inner 12yo never diminish!
Can you review the Wharfedale Elysian 2?
and the bigger Auras :)
Thank you Erin!
PLEASE review the Heritage Dovedale from Wharfedale. Need a trustworthy review…
Thanks for this. So after 888 and Atalante 5 what's left is Dovedale's ? I think you had mentioned you might be getting those. Ultimately these 3 products have same target customer group.
I'd like to but so far I've been unable to get some.
Drool domed midrange 😮
😂😂
😂
Nice looking speaker that misses the mark for me. I wonder how the Wharfedale Dovedale compares.
I think the Dovedales beats these, but I haven't heard any of them. Look-wise, and possibly sound-wise, I would pick the Dovedales. I'll admit I love the sound and look from my Lintons, so...
Kinda rough for $5k. I’d love to see you review the new SB acoustics Gemma.
Good review Erin! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful speakers, I can understand the voicing will work well in many song, but its a compromise. Thanks Erin!
👍 to your point, since my listening taste is quite varied,
I'm not "for" speakers that create a strong divide by sounding much better for some recordings and sounding much worse for others. That sometimes has a tendency to happen regardless, but I'd prefer knowing when a recording is better or worse, rather than a speaker lying to me lol That said, I find myself doing different types of listening on different quality level sets that I have in a few different areas within the home here.
All speakers have up and down. All are compromise to some frequencies. Now if you have flat speakers many will agree it's boring
@@rolandd5397
DearSX meant (I presume) that the compromises that this particular Rev5 speaker makes is not to their liking or preference. Anyone that regularly views this channel that knows anything about this technology already understands
that it's a series
of never ending compromises, hence
you are, albeit correctly, stating the obvious.
There is music I listen to on my DSP enabled flat freq speakers that just does not sound like I'm used to it sounding on "normal" PA style speakers. Sometimes flavoring sounds better to us on "classic" songs. Went to an outdoor event yesterday and I enjoyed the music a lot and it was not flat freq.
@@DearSX Inderstood..
I won't automatically prefer DSP corrected sound in a room, either; it doesn't always sound best, it just sounds different; it really depends on if you like the way it sounds with any specific source material compared to corrected your own way; some people think it's the "end all" to the pursuit of ultimate best sound, but that's a farce.
We know that most of the sound that matters is the direct radiation. So if you point it away from you, that peak is going to be less severe. However, It's gonna suck for others sitting more on axis. Estimated In Room Response is cool, until you have a wide array of seating.
I would have agreed with you but after nearly 200 speakers with data to compare my listening notes to, I put more stock in the EIR because that aligns so well with what I hear in my listening sessions. But never should we look at ONE graphic solely. It all matters.
what's a point of port stuffing ? for every speaker driver volume of ideal ported an closed enclosure will be different.
so when you close ports instead of intended ported enclosure you get a closed box with completely wrong volume.
Thanks - pretty speakers -
Shame about the imaging! They do sound fun. Makes me wonder if the Fink Team Kim has better imaging due to that massive AMT tweeter
Erin, have you heard of Marten Design out of Sweden? Their Duke 2 and Bird 1 sets are especially legendary.
Great review as always!
Beavis: port bungs... eheh eheh eheh
Butthead: Uhhh, my rear facing port is chuffing
after this review especially, i’d love to see your impression & measurements of GR Research’s Bully
Personally, I would too.
How would these work with EQ?
16:48 Close-miked HiHats will pretty much always have a spike this high. Synthesized hats also quite often hit this range and this particular area is pretty important imo. Sibilance from vocals is typically a little lower, but depending on the singer, can also sit there. I work in live sound and a lot of system have a similarly looking top octave because of the titanium compression driver (breakup mode). It drives me nuts!
I'm curious if you listened to them both on the stands and on the floor? They sound different in each orientation as you might expect. Also, did you ever properly mount them to the stands? The video shows them resting on the stands with the floor attachment still on. That should be removed and the speakers bolted to the stands.
I have a set of these that I purchased sight unseen from a dealer that I had a history of positive experiences with. This was one instance where we have different opinions. I never really liked the speakers. The shouty glare you mentioned is something I noticed too. It wasn't obvious at first, but I found myself feeling fatigued after short periods with the speakers regardless of positioning in the room. Thirty to forty minutes was about all I could handle. I found them lacking some detail in the midrange (as you mentioned) and bass, and generally tonally imbalanced. Another point worth mentioning is that they are very awkward speakers to move around. They are much bigger than they look in photos and videos. They are not as big as ultra hifi speakers like Rockport or Wilson, where you expect to require assistance in transporting or positioning them, but at the same time, the dimensions are much more cumbersome than a narrower tower style speaker. Just a general PITA. All in all, I had to cut my losses with these. They were intended for a secondary system of mine that ended up being my primary system. I wound up taking a different route to get the sound I wanted in my room.
I addressed your questions in the video. I did mount them to the stands via the screws but didn't bother to reattach them for the video shown here.
@@ErinsAudioCorner I guess I missed that with household distractions.
Hi Erin, Where can I buy these speakers online and could heip you earn a commission? Thanks.
Could be wrong but it looks like the extreme high and extreme lows can be EQed. If you cut the 4.5khz ~3db and the ~60hz 4-6db it could flat out nicely. The style is really nice and extending down to 40hz gives what looks like an all round speaker.
I honestly haven't noticed a lift in the treble region in my room. These speakers do tickle the 60-70hz room mode though, so I EQ that region down 2-3db and plug the ports. It's really not the speakers fault that most rooms are going to sound boomy in the bass - that's what room treatment and eq is for!
Hi Erin! If you could do me a solid and remove the glare from that one piece of wall art, it would be very much appreciated.
I appreciate the in room response and off axis measurements. Especially for a speaker like this. These clearly aren’t designed to be a reference speaker for critical listening. These are really good living room speakers. After watching so many of Erin’s reviews I’ve noticed a lot of patterns. Most of these sort of retro stand mount speakers seem to be designed to sound there best in a sort of real world common setup. These fit the bill for me. I want to upgrade my 5.1 living room setup to a nice high quality stereo setup. I have a sort of mid century design, a large 12’ wide sectional and don’t want the speakers to sit too far from the wall. These are definitely going on my short list. I’m pretty sure they’d look and sound great for my space.
I have a pair and I absolutely love them. They can play loud with ease while not being fatiguing. Just have to be careful with the bass and have them far off the walls. I plug the ports in my large basement room, even 2.5 feet from the wall. They sound glorious.
I have a penchant for acoustic music, and I crave a sonic experience that faithfully reproduces the instrumentation with utmost precision. I desire to discern each instrument - be it the violin's soaring highs, the drum's dynamic attack, the flute's airy subtleties, or the guitar's rich timbre - with crystal clarity and definition. a sound signature that is unfatigueing and suitable for extended listening , very easy to ears , an all day speaker .Furthermore, I seek vocals that are layered, lively, and nuanced, with a sense of depth and dimensionality. Finally, I require a bass response that is taut, nuanced, and capable of conveying the subtlest textural details, thereby immersing me in a truly captivating sonic landscape.
Sir, please suggest me a sub 500 dollar speaker best suited for my requirements and preference.🙏
Awesome stuff.
Think it's odd that these speakers are recommended while costing 5k. For 5k there is a world of better performing speakers.
5 grand for a lot of faults.
I currently own these and do agree with most of your review, but I feel you got the imaging a Little incorrect. I was able to sit these right next to my Borresen X3’3 for a side by side comparison. Using Tools Chocolate Chip Trip song I compared the soundstage between the two and found the Atalanta 5S to hold their own against the X3’3 and the X3’S are one of the best imaging speakers I’ve ever owned.
I appreciate the feedback. However, the speakers you mentioned do not employ a waveguide or any control directivity means. If you do have the opportunity to listen to some well control, directivity speakers you’ll probably have a better understanding of what I mean in this comparison. 👍
@@ErinsAudioCorner Erin most of a speakers imaging comes from the source: equipment or material that’s being played. Example a better dac can give better imaging/placement. The Borresen X3’S do have a wave guide. I’m confused with what you’re saying here
@@ErinsAudioCorner Did you burn these speakers in before your review. What equipment did you have hooked up to them. You mentioned two positives in your review: A mid bass bump then also gripped about that same mid bass bump. I can’t argue with your measurements, but your review felt a little dry and lacked a lot of listening experience etc etc
Thanks a lot for this review! I was thinking about those speakers but they are not as good as advertised.
I own this speakers the are super, real good sounding, had compare them with JBL, ATC , Elipson and monitor audio, the are real good performers
That looks like it might be using a volt dome.
It's not a volt dome, they make their own in house. They have a whole thing on their website about it.
@@davidfuller581 thanks, it looks very similar
Just like auto design, run out of ideas, just copy an old design, call it retro or whatever. Been an audiophile for 45 years. Still haven’t heard anything like the late eighties early nineties infinity/nakamichi/denon/yamaha super high end equipment. Oh, don’t forget the Sony ES line that wasn’t really readily accessible but in retrospect excellent sound.
Review Mission 770 please!
What’s up with that stripe? Is it an inlay? What’s it made of? I just did a similar thing with an aluminum inlay.
Not sure if I’m digging the stripe in the middle of that beautiful walnut cabinet.
Agreed. The Warfedale Dovedales are the retro-speaker to beat, look-wise. Haven't heard them, tho...
Erin you should start uploading your videos in 4k.
I would, but I don’t have the hardware to efficiently edit/process that video size nor store it. Unfortunately unfortunately.
@@ErinsAudioCorner No worries, the work you do is invaluable in this space so keep doing you. Just don't forget about it in the future! :)
how about compromise, and use 1440p.
Begs for British tea mug stains on the top of the cabinet and the smell of pipe tobacco wafting with every woofer excursion.
Soul Music. How well did they replay soul music. Did they lack soul?
💀
Where did you get that TV cabinet unit?
Here’s an affiliate link:
amzn.to/3Wnzino
I mean it’s got to be addressed, namely that big wide baffle is going to cause all sorts of problems
Not necessarily. Look at the JBL 4367.
@@ErinsAudioCorner not necessarily but usually. Round the edges at least. I get the retro vibes but u may pay a price
@@CashGravel actually, the wider, the baffle, the larger the drivers usually used. Those drivers beam earlier than smaller ones. Which means less wraparound and less fraction.
@@ErinsAudioCorner trade-offs
Have you seen the DeVore speakers? Now that's a baffle.
I'm extra early... Great review... getting even better with your reviews. Also yes, we're full of shit
Thanks for the review!
With speakers this size the measured FR will be different between 1m distance and 3m distance, because the single drivers are so far away from each other.
I wonder if this is a limitation of even the Klippel system (because it cannot predict the in-room FR very accurately)?
Yes, it accounts for it. The measurement distance is 2m but SPL is referenced to 1 meter per the CEA-2034 standard.
I could tell the Klippel software to give me the results at any distance, literally. :)
Would the construction material of the back wall make any difference? Ur opinion?
The sound character of this speaker set must be a specific creation of the designer, just as Dynaudio stated in your review of the Heritage Special. I think I red somewhere that the designer of this speaker had been working for Dynaudio in the past. But I’ll think it’s strange to make a choice like that, why not just a flat frequency response like Kef does with it’s more expensive systems?
if you get the chance, could you review the old Klipsch synergy f3 towers and see if the tweeters need taming with eq or not. they seem to be very bright and also the lows seem to have a bump in them.
you just reviewed the MOfi 888 Any comparison?
That's like comparing apples and oranges. IMHO the MoFi 888 are the more complete speaker.
Well if you watched the MoFi video it's pretty clear which are the better speakers
@@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah Based on one review and measurements? Everybody's taste is different. Better is subjective.
@@sbaradaran i have heard both before the review and actually have bought the 888 for my new place. so no it wasn't because of this review but this review makes it even more clear that my hearing is still intact
hell :), I need measurments for its little bro atlante 3
Are these morel drivers?
No.
What headphones..? What's your headphone equipment setup?
You didn't say who makes the drivers would be nice the mid range and Twitter especially. Is the mid range volt?
I don't know what's up with them but they should work very well with that design concept, there's some lacking synergy between the mid-range and tweeter could be changed in the crossover but I think different wave guide would be better and I'm not sure on the tweeter, not knowing what it is seems choppy.
No they make their own drivers
@@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah really!! what all of them?
Can you eq these speaker according to the directivity index
Price is a madness
Just out of curiosity, would you have any interest in measuring some portable speakers like the upcoming Earfun Uboom X or small Uboom L, mainly because both of them have Oluv's tuning and from my experience, 2 small Uboom Ls in Oluv's indoor mode and connected in stereo sound much more natural and smoother at lower volumes than for example Dali option 5s (heard them side by side with Earfuns sitting on top of the Dali) and also against some Atc bookshelf model...
You can achieve quite a lot of sound just by dsp correcting some small cheap drivers
If someone wanted to send me some I might be open to it. I'm not sure who Oluv is, though.
@@ErinsAudioCorner Oluv is an audio UA-camr (his yt account was taken down few days ago, no one knows why right now), he's been reviewing audio products of all kind for like 15 years now as well as refining his binural audio demos all that time (now at point where you really get ~90% of what he's hearing irl if you use some neutral pair of headphones) and recently got into some colab with Earfun (classic cheap Chinese company but they have nice hardware for the money) and figured out that one can squeeze out crazy amount of refinement from a small bluetooth speakers like the ones that I already mentioned just with correcting the flaws in the frequency response...
When tuning the Uboom X he even used the Neumann kh 80 as a reference, I would be really curious how it would measure on your rig because, if you think about it, correct tuning can do almost anything if speaker doesn't have serious issues like distortion
@@ErinsAudioCornerOluv is the Austrian musician who was cooperating with Earfun on their Uboom L portable speaker. I have it home too and I have to say that it sounds very good. But only at lower volumes and closer distances and pointed to the listener and only with the right Oluv’s firmware 4.8. With original firmware 5.0 it sounds like 💩 Believe me. For that comical money $60 with discount code it’s fantastic piece of hardware.
Midrange driver should be at least 4".
Why am I blocked is that you?
If you were blocked I wouldn’t see this …
@@ErinsAudioCorner my other comment showing up now is it okay!!
What about my question on my first comment then no don't know?
Why are all speakers so expensive? There is no material to be worth the price.
The lack of flush mounting of drivers is silly, at any price point, but even more so at this price point. For various reasons this speaker appears to looks first and sound second. Diffraction is clearly wreaking havoc on the response both on and off axis, and is most likely the reasoning for poor imaging. The marketing on this speakers webpage is also just a bunch of BS full of mystical marketing speaker and . The mid provides "performance never seen in it's range". Obviously a lie. I can't take this company or it's products seriously after reading their website. This ones going in the ignore pile.
I own a pair of these speakers and they sound fantastic. I've owned other high speakers from Monitor Audio, KEF, and most recently Spendor. They don't image as well as my LS50s, or my Spendor D7s, but they are also the easiest speakers to listen to, at loud volumes without fatigue while playing deep bass with authority. The midrange sounds great, without being to in your face our shouty. Maybe listen to a pair of speakers before rattling off baseless judgements? Just a thought.
@@sbaradaran My judgements are not baseless, the issues I speak of are right there in the data. I have used ATC 3 ways so I know what is possible with this format. I have spent many years constructing speakers and anaylzing them, I know will be an issue. Diffraction from not flush mounting drivers is a well known issue. Frankly, I have an understanding of loudspeaker performance and it's correlation to what we hear that you simply do not have. I have no desire to hear these, they will not beat my 3 way diy monitors which exhibit considerably better objective performance. I have all the receipts to prove my claims.
@@joshcatstream Listening to a pair of speakers in your own room is the only way to fairly judge a pair of speakers. Spendor D7s I had before measure better than the Atalante 5 - which sounds better in my room to my ears? The Atalante 5.
@@sbaradaran That is certainly a valid take for someone else, but not for me. This is too much into audiophool territory for me, sorry.
Hello, I’m a big fan of your channel, and the content is awesome but the views going down really makes me sad. I would love to work with you to grow your channel to grow this channel. Is this something worth a conversation?
algorithmalgorithmalgorithmalgorithmalgorithmalgorithm
I will never understand why home speakers can get so retardedly expensive and why folks buy them. Just built my own for $600 each for left and right and its everything I wanted yes but even this was expensive to me for speakers that is, but I can at least see where my money went in each component. What in these speakers costs $5000 and in others that cost more than even this.
Business and that's how some people make a living :)
In many ways, I can agree with you. However, it really depends on the Drivers. Its easy for anyone to pick up some cheap Chinese drivers, and call it a day. However... its quite another thing, to Design your own, and Hand Build your own, unique Drivers. Drivers that FAR exceed the specs, capabilities, and sound quality... of Mass Produced, Chinese drivers...
The Main problem is... is that many of the speaker mfg. are not revealing what kind of Drivers are inside of their speakers... and the technology and benefits of said drivers. As such, you could easily be getting scammed... purchasing a speaker with poor quality drivers, and being charged and arm and a leg for them.
I could never afford high dollar speakers. Even $600, is absurd to me and my budget. However, I found a pair of Used audiophile grade speakers, for a mere $100... and they utterly Destroy the local high end stereo shops $3000 pair of their best "flagship" speakers. Its not even close.
Comparing them ( EPI 100v ) against my cheap 90s era Techniques 12" 3ways... and the Techniques went on the Curb, the very next day. The EPI 's have one of the Widest and Deepest 3d Holographic soundstage images, that Ive ever experienced (and no matter how / where you place them). The bass is luscious, and punchy... And despite only being 8" drivers... they utterly Destroyed the bass that came out of my Techs 12" woofers (in Punch / Speed, Musical Accuracy, and Frequency Depth).
I tore them both open to inspect the drivers. The EPIs woofers, had massive magnets on the woofers. Where as the techs, had magnets that may have been half the size / mass (ECO-Drivers). In fact, a single 8" EPI woofer, probably weighted more than TWO of my techs 12" woofers, combined. Reading up on the Designers notes about these speakers and drivers... He stated that he used heavier gauge wire on the woofer drivers, to automatically eliminate high frequencies... to be able to eliminate a crossover component. The belief being, that there would be a much cleaner signal, with far less potential for micro-distortion (and I think he was correct, judging by how much crystal clean detail I was hearing.. that Id never heard before, on any other speakers).
The tweeter was also sheer magic. As said, the widest and more holographic 3d image, imaginable... regardless of placement. The magnets on them were pretty beefy too, for their size. But I also tend to believe, that the Concave shape of them (rather than typical domes), helps to spread the image much wider and deeper, into the room. Amazingly, the Midrange that also comes out of them, is also phenomenal, and crystal clear... and all without being Harsh / Hot. The Techs Tweeter and Mids, are ultra cheap trash. Probably $1 each, from a Chinese factory. Cheap paper cones. Very poor dynamics. Plenty of Micro-distortions. No real 3d Image to speak of. And the mids were almost absent... because they were so bad.
As a tinkerer... I had experimented with various drivers, and boxes.. But I eventually came to realize, that no matter what box shapes I tried... It always came down to the Drivers themselves. Many drivers, just dont sound very good... compared to higher quality drivers. You cant fix them, even with heavy EQ.
Also note... that some companies take cheap chinese drivers, and "Modify" them with things like add-on Wave-Guides, to make them "acceptable".. (and still remain dirt cheap), rather than designing and producing a completely new tweeter... from the ground up.
Of course, today is also appears that many Small speaker mfg., simply over-price things... because they deal in very low volumes, as well as are trying to sell to a Wealthy audience. Sometimes, people assume that your speakers are Garbage... simply because of lower pricing tiers. And unfortunately... Most larger sized companies, refuse to produce and sell Audiophile grade speakers, at all. They over charge you for the cheapest trash that they can put together... as they recognize that the general masses dont even tend to know any better.
@@johndough8115those EPI tweeters were certainly unique. Every thing about them . Had a pair of M-50S . Unfortunately the glue holding the woofers together let go. But the tweeters seemed to be made of a hard material and a cloth suspension in addition to being inverted . Unfortunately one of those also fell victim to my past listening habits years ago. Had that good one in my hands awhile back and thinking " only if there were two of you " .
Loud and mid
so... there is a hope for the big 'ol grand dad cabinets it seams;D... thumbs up for this review mate
I’d love to put these in my garage lol