Emerald Physics CS-2, Opinions Please

I would buy the Emerald Physics CS-2 sight unseen just because of who said what about them and because I have been hearing about open baffle speakers for a couple of years now. The idea makes sense to me and this particular attempt at the design concept has been roundly applauded.

Besides that, Underwood Wally is the consummate entrepreneur. You can bet he knows what he is doing in buying a monopoly on these speakers.

The open baffle concept for the bass is wonderful but I'm wondering how the compression driver mates to the bass. There is probably some loss of coherency here. It's very hard to beat the coherency of a single driver like an electrostat or a double mouth back loaded horn. CS-2 is a two way speaker.

I use Single driver speakers and love them, but I must admit the CS2s are just as coherent as my SDs. I do not hear any coherency problems. You really should hear them set up properly before passing judgement.

So far they are the only speakers with full bass I've heard recently that I could live with. If it's not TL or open baffle bass ..I'm really not interested.

This was one of my concerns (the other is the AD-DA conversion, which I still need to run some tests on, but suffice to say at this point that I do not notice digital nasties. At all.)

I have tried very hard to pick out a coherence issue. Listening to various kinds of music at various volumes, unfamiliar as well as the numbingly familiar, I cannot say there is anything going on in the crossover or in the fabric of the music as it is handed off between lower and upper. It is important to note that you should work at the gain in the crossover, even if your amps are of like gain. I have not tried two identical amps so can't say there, but likely that will be ok with the factory settings.

I alluded to the benefits of two amps earlier. The gain adjustability is part of this flexibility for me... on some recordings which are voiced hot, I can drop the upper gain perhaps 1/10 or 2/10 of a dB, and things are more listenable. Perhaps the purists will barf all over this technique... I'm not a purist. As I said before, I know what I like and I like a system that lets me tailor the sound within reason.

Well, I couldn't stand by anymore. The CS 2s are a godsend for me as they work very well with my SET amps on the treble. I've owned more speakers than I care to mention. Forgotten more than most people have a chance to hear.Ranging from $2000.00 to $20,000.00 a pair and the CS 2s are as good as any of them. Because you free up your SET to do only 1000 hz up really lets you hear what a SET is all about. The EQ doesn't bother me cause it's about the sound that I'm about. They can be forward or relaxed depending on your adjustments of the gain. You can even change it per your mood or music. My system is so dailed in now it's scary live sound. Some don't like a live, upfront sound so, you would not want to choose a SET amp for the top end.Boy, I like it though. Nice to get 98 db if you want it with no compression from a 4Watt SET on the top. Enjoy Kehut and Zybar! I sure am!