Emerald Physics CS 3

Finally got to hear the CS 3’s at ARN Systems

Listened to the following cd’s.
1. Tchaikovsky1812 overture
2. 2L sampler – a few songs
3. McCoy Tyner - New York reunion
4. Stan Getz – Bossas and Ballads
5. Ella and Louis
6. John Coltrane - Soultrane
7. Fleetwood Mac- Rumors
8. Pink Floyd –Wall
9. Dire straits - assorted
10. Grateful dead – Assorted
11. Some assorted test cds.

This room was approximately 18ft x 16ft. From what I hear, if you can have 2ft behind the speakers, that is all you need. The minimum setting in the behringer active unit is 2ft. If you have this and the room is decent sized one, you are done.

Source – Usher cd player.
Cables- some random audio art cables.
Pre- Passive – custom made
Amplication – Symphonic line, Leben cs600, Nad c370

Note :
The symphonic line was the best. Very neutral and colorless sound. The leben came close (slightly different sound). C370 ? well most people can live with this amp too. That is the beauty of this speaker. The quality of the amp will not make day and night difference The speakers will show the difference, but it does so many things right that you will not be too bothered.

Scale – The sound stage is large and realistic. It is like real performers on a stage. Each instrument has a realistic size to it. Western classical thrives. In comparison most boxed speakers can make the size miniature and sound anemic.

Very dynamic – The sound has an “out of the box” dynamic attack. Very realistic and convincing.

No apologies - There is a “no- apologies” speaker. No comments like “ the interconnects are burning in. so the sound can be a bit constricted for a few days, please come next Saturday and it may sound much better” and such. Play the speakers and you just sit and listen. The speaker does so many things right, that you do not want to think of anything else.

Coherency – This is speaker combines the coherency of a single driver full range with the extension and slam of a multi driver speaker. Very convincing job. Hardcore, analytic followers of each genre may be able to nit-pick if you really want to but this is as good as it gets for the money if you want to combine both.

Irritability factor – The speaker removes most the irritables caused by the interaction of the room and thickness inherent with most boxed speakers in less than ideal rooms. This is a super-major plus in my book.

Bass- This is one of the best aspects of the loudspeaker. No thickness or muddiness. Out of the box and well defined and clean with lot of detail. Very balanced and convincing. For medium sized room, the CS-3 is all you need.

I was able to enjoy all genres of music, none scoring above the other. With most music, it was some of the most impressive renditions I have heard. Classical, choral, female vocals, rock, jazz……. all sounded just fine.

An audiophile told me recently, “if there is just 10 percent improvement in sound, it gets lost in time. If there is more than 30 percent, you remember it always”. This is one of those speakers which does more than the 30 percent. Very impressive.