Finsup,
I received the ERR's today, after some delay over the holiday/new year. This won't be a full review since they're freshly set-up, but I wanted to get back with some information about this loudspeakers since it's a little bit scarce here.
I ordered the plain cherry finish, and the fit & finish of the speakers is very very good. They were packaged well enough to survive a shuttle launch, and arrived in perfect shape. No documentation, but I called Steve at Decware and he was very kind with his time, answering my few questions clearly.
By way of confession, these speakers are about making the best of a marginal living room situation. The room is very bright, approximately 25Lx13Wx8H, and the space flows on both ends to much larger volumes. Speakers need to be close to the walls, and in practice people move throughout the space rather than sitting in a sweet spot. While it's not the room I do my critical listening in, I do want it to sound good...without looking like some kind of Temple of Audio.
The ERR's are fairly underserved with a Peachtree Decco containing a Cullen-modded Sonos playing lossless files. Cables are Rega SC42. So they're slumming a bit. They're replace some Rega RS5's, which were wonderful, if traditionally 'focused' in their design, and a single Gallo TR3 sub.
My initial set-up has the speakers nearly 18ft apart, toed-in, very near the wall, facing the room as well as the openings to the other volumes. Right now, the ERR's are simply sitting on hardwood floors on their integrated plinths - they're not spiked. Steve said this was entirely optional - they're threaded to accept spikes, the use of which he said may affect the bass (but nothing else).
Between their newness, my neophyte experience, and the fact that this iw significant across the board jump in performance from my previous (beloved) speakers, I think all I can really offer right now is that they are exceeding my expectations, which were good bass response, open not shrill highs, not fussy about placement, clean look that works with our modern furniture (hey, I don't live alone), and most importantly, throwing a large and (er) diffuse stage. That is, the stage is something between remarkably coherent and still quite good over an enormous portion of the rooms. While this isn't a particularly 'audiophile' observation, with the RS5's I had about 20SF of sweet spot, 150SF of OK sound, and 140SF of lousy sound in that room. Now I've got what sounds like 80SF of sweet spot, no bad spots anywhere, really, and damn good sound everywhere else...including the adjacent dining/kitchen room. It's just what I was looking for.
I'll continue to play with them, give them better amplification and sources, and post more newbie comments here, but for now it's clear that I got what I was looking for. Very pleased with the company, service, product finish, and design of the ERRs.
My apologies that this 'review' isn't better informed, nor more traditional in terms of what I'm looking for from my speakers.
