Emerald Physics C2 or Usher BE-718

CS2s IMO are high maintenance speakers but rewarding if setup right.

To answer your setup question:
"you're going to need three pairs of balanced XLR connections: the first pair to connect to your preamplifier to the Behringer, the second and third pairs to go between the Behringer and four channels of amplification. "

As well as bi-wire speaker cables.

If you are tweaker at heart, these OB speakers will keep you occupied for a while. But, if you just want to sit down, relax and enjoy the music....... well you might be overwhelmed by the setup complexity, options and upgrade possibilities.

I hope this won't discourage you from purchasing these fine speakers.
If I had the time to play around with those and budget (it can become quite costly - depending on associated equipment), I would definitely put them on the top of my list.

But there are other options which you might find just as interesting but less intimidating and still enjoyable as well as musical.

And the last advice:
If you are not 100% sure what might work for your setup and ear.
Buy used.

Mariusz

I had Cullen mod my DCX. It was $900, but I was able to A/B test because they sent me a new unit.

There is a definate improvement in soundstaging with modded DCX both width and depth are improved also there is better separation. Not by a whole lot but it makes the whole experience more lifelike.

Emerald physics are looking to replace the DCX with there own crossover later this year (maybe next year). It might be worthwhile waiting to see what they come up with, they are going to have different levels of crossovers I believe.

It's worth giving Clayton or Walter a call if you are interested.

Indiesound,

I will try and reply to your questions in the next day or two.

As somebody who owned the CS2's (with a highly modified DCX) for over 18 months and also owned HT3's for 2+ years, I think I can at least provide some insight into your questions.

BTW, using xlr adapters with the DCX is simple and high quality Neutrik adapters are pretty cheap. You also don't need bi-wire speaker cables, you need two pairs of single wire speaker cables.

George

You can make your own Emerald Physics clones for $1000 total for all parts. These will sound tremendously better than the stock Emerald Physics....some uprades over the stock Emerald include:

Super constrained layer damping of waveguide.

Better driver for waveguide.

Cutting off part of the waveguide that distorts sound.

Felting around the outside front lip of the waveguide to minimize diffration.

Constrain layer damping of woofer frames.

Felting inside of woofer frames.

No grill cloth for more transparent sound.

Ability to hardwire woofers and tweeter directly to eliminate binding post and connecting wire sound.

Vertical rear brace for super rigid baffle.

Even with the stock xover this is incredible....naturally you will want the mod the xover.....the combo is out of this world. I have done all the above except the vertical brace, so I speak from experience. The stock speaker is not OK with me....I know lots of people like it, but once you've even done a few of these mods, you are in a whole nuther league.....this speaker done right is killer. You can do all these things to a stock Emerald too. I am thinking of putting all this info on my website because I think this speaker with mods cannot be beat, assuming you don't mind the fact that you need a xover and 4 channels of amplification.