Emotiva Audio Pro Airmotiv 4s powered loudspeaker USED with Box, For Pick Up

Connectivity

Wired

Model

Emotiva Audio Pro Airmotiv 4s

Type

Front speaker

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews Emotiva Audio Pro Airmotiv 4s powered loudspeaker Robert J. Reina | Mar 24, 2015 "I'm intrigued how Emotiva can offer an active speaker for so little." This was John Atkinson's response to my request to review Emotiva's Pro Airmotiv 4s ($299/pair). My colleague Steve Guttenberg had been discussing this speaker with me at a recent industry event, and I'd realized that it had been some time since I'd reviewed an entry-level loudspeaker. I'd reviewed Emotiva's X-Ref XRT-5.2 floorstanding speaker in the August 2012 issue and had been impressed with its combination of sound quality and price. I requested samples for review. Design Emotiva designs and makes a wide range of audio components, and maintains a high ratio of value to price by designing in the US, manufacturing in China, and selling manufacturer direct, bypassing the dealer markup. As their products come with a 30-day back guarantee, the buyer runs little risk by trying them at home. The Pro Airmotiv 4 is quite small at 9.5" high by 6.25" wide by 7.5" deep and only 10.8 lbs, but seems to offer a good bit of value for $299/pair. Each speaker has a 1" by 1.25" (26 by 32mm), folded-ribbon tweeter, and a 4.5" (135mm) mid/woofer with a Curv polypropylene-composite cone. The 4s is biamped: Each drive-unit is powered by its own 25W class-AB amplifier with toroidal transformers, large electrolytic power capacitors, and stacked metalized-film capacitors. The cabinet, of 18mm-thick MDF, includes a 3mm layer of acoustic damping. The Pro Airmotiv 4s also has a faceted, low-diffraction baffle and, vented to the rear, a tuned port with a linear taper. Each 4s has balanced and single-ended inputs and a number of adjustments: a level-trim control to optimize the amplifier gain for the input source, and separate high- and low-frequency equalization adjustments for each driver. Although the Airmotiv 4s is marketed through Emotiva's Pro division, and is intended for use in recording studios as a nearfield monitor, I listened to the speakers at home using my usual procedure. In both my large and small listening rooms, I placed them on 24"-high Celestion Si stands, 4' from the front wall. For all of my listening, I left the frequency trim switches in the neutral positions. Sound The Emotiva Airmotiv 4s's dead-pure midrange made it an excellent showcase for well-recorded voices. On "Highway 51," from Bob Dylan (LP, Columbia CL 8579), every subtle inflection of Dylan's phrasing was captured via the speaker's dynamic envelope. The Airmotiv showcased Cassandra Wilson's voice on her New Moon Daughter (LP, Blue Note 8 37183 1) as rich and supple as it floated holographically on a bed of air. I'm always a bit nervous when listening to a dynamic midrange driver paired with a ribbon tweeter—I worry, especially with so inexpensive a speaker, that the midrange and high-frequency textures won't convincingly integrate. I had nothing to worry about with the Emotiva 4s—all high frequencies were reproduced with clarity, extension, and no trace of coloration, and perfectly integrated with the midrange timbres over a broad range of music. In Vivaldi's L'estro armonico, with Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields (LP, Argo ZRG 733-4), the massed strings were silky but had the requisite bite, with plenty of top-octave harmonic extension and air. A good acid test for midrange/high-frequency integration is Max Bruch's Violin Concerto 2, with Itzhak Perlman and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Jesús Lopez-Cobos (LP, EMI France C 069-02284). Perlman's violin was reproduced with the requisite extended airy bite but without a trace of harshness, perfectly integrated with the midrange textures of the orchestra. I was amazed at the quality of the Emotiva's bass reproduction and depth of its extension for so small a speaker. In "Clean Plate," from The Golden Palominos (UK LP, OAO 1001), there's some very active interplay between the bass guitars of Bill Laswell and Jamaladeen Tacuma. The Airmotiv 4ses reproduced both with pounding clarity; it was very easy to differentiate each master's individual bass lines. The Emotiva's extraordinary resolution of detail made it a good match for well-recorded classical music. In George Crumb's Madrigals, with Elizabeth Suderburg codirecting the Contemporary Group of the University of Washington (LP, Turnabout TV-S34523), the sound of the recording venue was clearly delineated, and each instrument seemed to pop out of thin air in its appropriate place on the soundstage. The Mikaeli Chamber Choir's Kör, conducted by Anders Eby, includes sacred choral works by Hovland, Verdi, von

Brand

Emotiva