Emotiva Airmotiv 6s Powered Speaker Review

[Absolute]

I did a fun comparison with and without subs with Kii Threes (in my room the Kii's actually went deeper than the two 15" ported cheap subs) with both presets equalized to the same response and with the same cutoff at 25 hz. At this time the subs were placed next to the speakers with about 15 cm distance. Switching back and forth enough times that I couldn't remember which one was playing presented an intriguing answer; couldn't hear a difference.

Switching on and off one sub at a time while playing would make the sub instantly appear, but multiple subs playing while the fronts are playing made them all vanish. You just get more even bass at more locations.

After those experiments I've not thought twice about subs. They need to be there to combat the room and/or provide capacity. More capacity and deeper bass equals greater soundstage realism imo.

Earl Geddes said it takes about 100 ms and above to even register the sound below 100 hz (?), so transient response in the deep bass makes no sense. Toole says it's all about frequency response in the bass and al
the research even points to decay as being a moot point as we simply can't hear it over the frequency response.

So there's my unqualified opinion. Therefore you all must be wrong!

 

[aarons915]

The common mistake many make regarding large full range mains is that the capability of the speaker is all that matters but we know that's not true. The room is probably even more important than your mains regarding bass response and this is where multi subs and their positioning advantages come into play.

 

[Juhazi]

Some points about subs
- most moderns commercial subwoofers are bass-reflex type and don't actually go much below 30Hz.
- most modern main speakers are bass-reflex type and don't go much below 40Hz
- most people want to hear their subs and set them 10-15dB louder than mains

Making subwoofers to really work well and down to 20Hz is not easy. Sealed box, minimum 12" and dsp eq based on measurements are needed!

Average movie watcher gets best benefit (performance/cost) from a single commercial sub. Serious dedicated HT room installation or serious stereo listening require more effort and there are options in how to do that. A talented diyer can do it with moderate cost, but paying for acoustic consultation, pro measurements, large subs and dsp+amps will dig deep in your wallet.

Diy active dsp-controlled 4-way loudspeakers can give amazing stereo 20-20.00Hz! Here single point measurements of a single speaker in my room. A single 10" SEAS L26ROY as sealed woofer, crossed LR2@180Hz. Positioning in the room is very important, acoustic treatment next, eq last!

 

[FrantzM]

Floyd Toole uses multiple subs with his Salon 2's. It doesn't matter how loud or how low even the biggest and most expensive tower speakers can play, in room response will be a wreck. To overcome the train wreck response at low frequencies, it requires multiple well placed subs.

Word!

I can't understand the resistance. It is beyond me. I admit this is not a walk in the park kind of thing but once done...

 

[napilopez]

- most people want to hear their subs and set them 10-15dB louder than mains

I suspect this is the reason the Devialet Phantom Reactor's biggest flaw is that they actually have too much bass. The 'wow' factor. Fairly Close positioning to a wall (as I imagine would be the case in most homes) leads to bass about 6 dB higher than it should be!



(Note don't judge the wavy curves; this was just to show bass compression and the speakers were not lined up or positioned properly =])

 

[Francis Vaughan]

You can't locate frequencies below a few hundred Hz. The ear just has no mechanism to do so. But anyone can make a subwoofer that has lots of output above the intended bandwidth. Anything from port noise, cone breakup, to distortion, is going to provide a localisation tell. Modern ultra high excursion bass drivers are not a good start, they inherently have poorer distortion characteristics compared to a larger diameter driver with less excursion. Our ears find bass distortion pretty benign, so there is an argument for not worrying much about it. But this does not take into account possible localisation of the source of the harmonics. You do need to build a sub with both large and high quality drivers to have it work properly.

 

[confucius_zero]

What about the Emotiva B1? Legit?

 

[Doodski]

What about the Emotiva B1? Legit?

Here's legit low budget slam, wham thank you maam + high end too..
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-JB...558088?hash=item44253d6a88:g:AYsAAOSw1Ktbc7r0

 

[KimbaWLion]

I own a pair of 4s's and I really like them. The price was awesome and they have been doing the trick for years now!

When they go who knows what I will end up with next...

 

[CumSum]

When they go who knows what I will end up with next...

Might be a while. My Airmotiv 5S are going on 6 years without issue. Seems like the Adam T-Series would be a worthy upgrade if your 4S happens to die out.

 

[KimbaWLion]

Might be a while. My Airmotiv 5S are going on 6 years without issue. Seems like the Adam T-Series would be a worthy upgrade if your 4S happens to die out.

I run them a lot every day and all is good! I think I have had them since some time around September of 2014. At that time IMHO there was nothing out there that had the performance these did at the price I got them at! Should I need something new I will look up Adam-T and others.

 

[CumSum]

I run them a lot every day and all is good! I think I have had them since some time around September of 2014. At that time IMHO there was nothing out there that had the performance these did at the price I got them at! Should I need something new I will look up Adam-T and others.

Finally took my JBL LSR 306P's off my desktop to do a one on one comparison with my Emotiva Airmotiv 5S. The Emotiva's just plainly sounded better. Better overall tone, not as bright/harsh but much more detailed and they sounded more open than the JBL's which sounded boxy in comparison. Now with the Emotiva's on my desktop, there is no way I am going back to the JBL's. They are top notch in 2020.

 

[CASE2112]

Great food for thought everyone. I do have a pair of the original Emotiva Airmotiv 4's (the production run before the Adam-esque style change) - I've been reading this website and others for the reviews of other similarly sized "speakers", so that I might find a few alternatives that would equal an upgrade. Please tell me your thoughts....I'm curious to know.

 

[richard12511]

Finally took my JBL LSR 306P's off my desktop to do a one on one comparison with my Emotiva Airmotiv 5S. The Emotiva's just plainly sounded better. Better overall tone, not as bright/harsh but much more detailed and they sounded more open than the JBL's which sounded boxy in comparison. Now with the Emotiva's on my desktop, there is no way I am going back to the JBL's. They are top notch in 2020.

Interesting. I've done a lot of comparing between the Airmotiv T2+ and the JBL 305p(and 308p), and I strongly prefer the JBLs. Might just nbe a difference in personal preference. I wonder how the 5s compare to the T2+?

 

[raistlin65]

Interesting. I've done a lot of comparing between the Airmotiv T2+ and the JBL 305p(and 308p), and I strongly prefer the JBLs. Might just nbe a difference in personal preference. I wonder how the 5s compare to the T2+?

Years ago, I did an in-home demo of the Airmotiv 5s and the LSR305s. Kept the 305's.

 

[Chromatischism]

Years ago, I did an in-home demo of the Airmotiv 5s and the LSR305s. Kept the 305's.

I did a similar demo with the Airmotiv 6s and the Mackie MR624s. Kept the Mackies.

 

[Chromatischism]

Finally took my JBL LSR 306P's off my desktop to do a one on one comparison with my Emotiva Airmotiv 5S. The Emotiva's just plainly sounded better. Better overall tone, not as bright/harsh but much more detailed and they sounded more open than the JBL's which sounded boxy in comparison. Now with the Emotiva's on my desktop, there is no way I am going back to the JBL's. They are top notch in 2020.

Interesting. I could always hear a discontinuity in both my 5s and 6s that I thought was the crossover between the woofer and tweeter. The measurements in the OP clearly show what the issue is. On top of that, the critical upper bass and lower midrange that contains vocals and drums just sounded lazy and soft. It wasn't a good match for the super sharp tweeter. Looking again at the measurements it looks like both issues are related to that depression from 200-550 Hz, then a strong upswing in energy from 600 Hz on up.

 

[CumSum]

Interesting. I could always hear a discontinuity in both my 5s and 6s that I thought was the crossover between the woofer and tweeter. The measurements in the OP clearly show what the issue is. On top of that, the critical upper bass and lower midrange that contains vocals and drums just sounded lazy and soft. It wasn't a good match for the super sharp tweeter. Looking again at the measurements it looks like both issues are related to that depression from 200-550 Hz, then a strong upswing in energy from 600 Hz on up.

That crossover discontinuity exists in my own in-room measurements for both my Airmotiv 5S and my Stealth 8's.
A5S:


306P:


On paper the JBL's are better just by looking at the frequency response. But in practice, the Emotiva's have given me a much better sound. Having tested the Emotiva vs. the JBL in two different rooms, and testing both with and without DIRAC (which really pushes a speaker to fulfill its true potential), the Emotiva's stand comfortably ahead. For me the difference maker is in the AMT tweeter. It is WAY more detailed then the JBL, the horizontal dispersion is ridiculously good, and the sound has quite a bit of depth, all while not being fatiguing. And the build quality of the speaker you can tell is much better. The 306P improved the cabinet over the original LSR, but it still feels like a very cheap speaker in comparison. And the much smaller Airmotiv 5S plays louder much more comfortably than the 306P's. I used the A5S as HT speakers in a very large basement without issue with 18" subs.