Some random and not-so-random observations:
Every six months or so in high end audio there's another power cord, speaker, amplifier, digital source, (you name it) that's got the hot buzz among audiophiles. Within a year (or less), the latest hot-buzz item is seen for sale in the classifieds as owners move on to the next hot-buzz product."
Probably true, and for every 'hot buzz' product there's a guy who hasn't heard them who says they can't be much good for this reason alone. Fascinating indeed.
The manufacturers and seven layers of middle men should be ashamed of themselves.
We actually used physics to get where we wanted to go.
I don't care what the components are made of.
Agree; these are cogent and perceptive observations that tend to observe the world for what it is, not what some externally imposed 'ideal' says it should be.
The CS2's try very hard to cheat the laws of physics
These are not laws created by man or beast. They are natural laws and as such cannot be cheated. (Worked around, perhaps). Otherwise they would not be called laws. EP never stated they were trying to cheat anything, least of all YOU.
I do not own a pair of CS2's but my friend is a dealer
And this fact, being a dealer, makes him somehow all things in one: Golden Ears, supremely intelligent, and so on? Last I checked it was ridiculously easy to become "a dealer". Heck, even ** I ** was offered a dealer deal once (I passed). There are several poorly represented brands out there that will sign on any warm body to be a dealer. What have they got to lose? The dealer buys inventory and may even make a sale or two a year. Now, if you said SUCCESSFUL dealer along the lines of a Kevin Deal or, um, let's see, UnderwoodWally, who just happens to be the biggest single-person operation in the audio world, and who has marched out on a limb and said in writing, and says so every day: "The Emerald Physics CS-2 sounds more like live music than any under $30k speaker that I have ever heard." Walter's been kicking around this game for way longer, quantity AND quality-wise, than anyone I've corresponded with. Oh yes, he sold me my pair of CS2s. As for the 'one dealer' argument, what does this have to do with how they sound? If it centers around the possibility that the dealer and mfg are somehow linked, note there were several dealers until a few weeks ago but their franchise with EP was terminated. I believe the reason was that few of them understood this speaker, certainly none as well as Walter did.
Look, Ive never heard the Emerald speakers, so like you my observations are based on what Ive read.
Well, THAT certainly renders everything you say credible.
Not bad, but so easy to copy and get these off the shelf parts and build an open baffle like this that it would cost anybody very little time or money..
So why doesn't somebody DO it? Last I checked it was still a free market. If someone can do better for less then it follows that they will, assuming the target is already doing well, which EP is.
As to the cost of parts, etc, here is a post I made on AA over a year ago. The whole thread is a good read:
http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=general&n=468114&highlight=pierre+kkc&r=&session=
I guess we need to tell the guy who bought the latest Picasso for $xx million that he only bought about $5 worth of paint and canvas and got horribly ripped off.
I was going to stay out of this thread as it rarely makes sense to get into a pissing contest when the other guy has nothing to piss with, but the constant jabbing just to put someone or something down "just because", even though the weak pisser has never experienced the product, got a little too much to take. I own a pair of CS2s. I have owned, in the past 5 years, not one but two pairs of speakers that now retail over $10k. I don't miss them one bit.
The issues about multiple amps, cables, the physics and cheating thereof, the parts cost, are all smokescreens. I was a little daunted by the dual-amp thing. What I find is that it has been a sort of release, in that I can buy an amp for the bottom end that is good in that regard, and likewise for the top. How many times have you read users agitating about great treble or midrange but weak bass, etc? (eg tube amps). Or a great bass (many SS amps) but grainy or etched treble? These problems have now become non-issues. I recently bought an ICE-powered amp for the bass that has been noted for a 'whitish' upper region and I thought the treble was a bit etched, but does a fantastic job in the bass. Great, no problem. Like low-powered Class A or tubes for their mids and highs? No more worries about the bass!
Long post, I will end it now and await the spray.
