reviews

The new Emerald Physics EP4.7 loudspeakers will rock your world. Although open baffle technology has been in the public domain for decades, only recently have commercial products become available that use this concept effectively. Open baffle speakers have no enclosure, only a mounting board to which the drivers are attached.

The Exogal Comet digital to analog converter is a modern DAC that can process up to 32 bit 384 kHz, and DSD64 and DSD128 digital signals from the USB input. Using the AES-EBU XLR or S/PDIF BNC connections, processing is limited to 24 bit 192 kHz datastreams. TOSlink can do 24 bit 96 kHz. The compact chassis $2995 Comet can be controlled by the Exogal remote control (included) or a Bluetooth smart phone app.

I was just sitting there listening to music. I was enjoying the apparent sound stage created between the loudspeakers and wondered how my system would sound without the equipment rack sitting between the speakers and then the trouble began. My “rack” is 750 pounds of sandstone from a local quarry. There are four shelves, each 48” x 18” x 1.25” and weighing about 90 pounds each.

The Fritzspeakers Carrera BE is a stand mounted 2-way speaker. The Scanspeak Revelator mid-woofer has a 7 inch diameter paper cone. The tweeter is made in the US by Transducer Labs and has a beryllium dome. Overall response is listed as 36 Hz to 40 kHz +/- 3 dB.