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Give me that emotion!
It has been great to receive a
pair of ART speakers called the "EMOTION". I had been promised, before they arrived, that they were wonderful but knowing manufacturer as I do, I know that each and everyone of their "newborn babies" is wonderful! Anyhow, the EMOTION have arrived and I will say from the outset that they are truly a great speaker.
These speakers re-produce the intent of the music, and I am not surprised that Derek and Ramsay (of ART) have decided on the name EMOTION for them. And, by the way, a big thanks to David Speirs, my long time audio guru, for putting me in touch with Derek in the first place, and so leading to these new speakers' arrival.
You will see from the picture that the EMOTIONS are a 2-way speaker, using the very best parts possible, including Jensen capacitors and Kondo internal wiring.
I have had the opportunity to play them to one or two friends, and the reaction has been always good, in fact ecstatic!
It did occur to me, when I came to write this piece, that I have been writing rather a lot about speakers this year. The reason for that has been my frustration (and I know it is the frustration of many) with speakers, and their limitations, and which always seems to be the component that let's the system down. I have really struggled to find a reflex box speaker that does anything other than an "average" job, at best, and it has been very frustrating.
The ART EMOTION came about because I asked Derek some time ago if he could make a speaker that could convey all the excitement and immediacy of a horn speakers but also capture the fuller, more solid sound that box reflect speakers can manage. It would be helpful too, if they could be made as domestically friendly as possible. I needed this type of speaker to mate with relating low powered amplifications.
My favourite electronics are products made by Kondo and Kimura San (Kimura San of 47Lab), and they are both of the "small watt" school. To my ear, this is a good thing, big powerful amplifiers sound to me thick and course and there is certainly nothing thick and course about Kondo or 47Lab amplifications. However, it does mean that speakers are harder to match because the speakers have to be relatively sensitive to work properly.
When I received the EMOTION, I used a pair of 47Lab Gain Card amps, with a Kondo IO-j cartridge and Kondo KSL-M7 phono amp; I tell you the result was just staggering. They produced a huge realistic presentation with a tremendous sense of the weight and scale of the music. Scale is so difficult to capture (and yet so important) and the only other speaker I have ever owned that did this successfully was the "Carfrae", now, alas, no longer made.
The other bonus is that the EMOTION can be placed against the rear wall, if necessary, in a smaller room because the ports fire down onto the base of the wooden stand which is an integral part of the speaker. I think they look quite elegant in a rather old fashioned simple way. No "bells and whistles" to their looks but nevertheless they appear pleasing with their very high quality veneer.
In any event, this speaker seems to have no fault (and this is a remarkable achievement in itself) and lots of virtues. I am always a bit amazed at how much can be said by equipment reviewers and this article is only intended as a statement of my own belief, and so keeping it short, the EMOTION works!
If any product deserves to be successful this is it; the ART name is still not very well known, but my goodness, these EMOTIONS are good enough to make them a serious player!
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