Hello DIYers,
I'm interested in EMS drivers but can't find many reviews from DIYers, hence, this thread. I'm particularly interested in a bookshelf speaker with the LB7 or LB6 driver. These are not cheap drivers and therefore would like to hear from those who have experienced them or any other EMS drivers. Best option would be an audition but unfortunately that wouldn't be possible.
If you have experience with these drivers, please post your comment. Tell us what box, bookshelf or floorstand, you've put them in and give us your pros and cons.
So let us know what you built and what you think.
I'm interested in EMS drivers but can't find many reviews from DIYers, hence, this thread. I'm particularly interested in a bookshelf speaker with the LB7 or LB6 driver. These are not cheap drivers and therefore would like to hear from those who have experienced them or any other EMS drivers. Best option would be an audition but unfortunately that wouldn't be possible.
If you have experience with these drivers, please post your comment. Tell us what box, bookshelf or floorstand, you've put them in and give us your pros and cons.
So let us know what you built and what you think.
I followed that thread but did not lead to much about the EMS. There were only 2 members, @yves skyhero and @Wow Factor , who have hands on knowledge. Not wanting to high jack that thread, I started this one, but not much luck so far. Let's wait and see if more chime in.
EMS is a french brand, a lot of the builders who buy from that brand are local and don't speak good enough english to come on this forum (at least that's what i hear from those i know). They stay on the french fora and so mostly so that is why you can't find much info hiere about EMS (or Supravox and other french brands).
French people often only speak french and very few speak decent english (or another language), even among the youth. It's their centralistic culture that doesn't encourage them to lean other languages. It was also not needed until WOII as everybody else in Europe wanted to speak french, the language of the elite at that time... With internet that start to change now with the French youth learning english, but only very slowly. Even in the French speaking part of Belgium it's like that, where secondairy languages were an option at school, not mandatory, until very recently.
French people often only speak french and very few speak decent english (or another language), even among the youth. It's their centralistic culture that doesn't encourage them to lean other languages. It was also not needed until WOII as everybody else in Europe wanted to speak french, the language of the elite at that time... With internet that start to change now with the French youth learning english, but only very slowly. Even in the French speaking part of Belgium it's like that, where secondairy languages were an option at school, not mandatory, until very recently.
Hello I guess I am one of the client that Planet10 is talking about and that is verry happy with the EMS speakers, he and Scott have designed a set for the lb6/7/8for me with similar look as FHXL and another design for the lb12, I tested verry successfully the lb6/8 and 12 designs and I am still waiting to receive the design for the lb7 to test.
I tested lb7in a front firing back loaded horn from a german forum and was happy but not really convinced, so I mounted them now in JOAN ( FHXXL) and they are playing wonderfully, amazingly better than the Chr120 that where used before in those Joan's...Yves
I tested lb7in a front firing back loaded horn from a german forum and was happy but not really convinced, so I mounted them now in JOAN ( FHXXL) and they are playing wonderfully, amazingly better than the Chr120 that where used before in those Joan's...Yves
never tried the ex series, lb7 is delivering a way more complex sound compare to chr120, much more details in the mids and lows, is also faster in bass and goes a bit deeper, it needs a smaller cabinet to reach the lower ends. Chr will reach higher frequencies and will give more trebble, lb7 is softer and better suits my listening preferences, I would say that my lb7 sounds like expenssive and complex speakers delivering a verry accurate image and listen experience they are neutral sounding while the chr are delivering a more artificial sound with too much highs and flat mids, bass needs a big cabinet to shine.
I still beleive chr are a verry good deal and I could stay with them if I had to, but next to the ems they just can't compete... you need to goup to m10.2 to try to reach the EMS and even won't get as far...
I still beleive chr are a verry good deal and I could stay with them if I had to, but next to the ems they just can't compete... you need to goup to m10.2 to try to reach the EMS and even won't get as far...
Yes, I have read those reviews but they are for a commercial speaker and not a DIY speaker. The reviews are positive, as expected, and I'm not going to put too much weight on them. It's like deciding to build a speaker using a Mark Audio driver after reading reviews on the Pearl Sibelius.
Yves,
You mentioned "lb7 is softer and better suits my listening preferences, I would say that my lb7 sounds like expenssive and complex speakers....." What do you mean by softer and what kind of music do you listen to? Are the LB7 bright and fatiquing? How do they image? How is the soundstage? What other speakers have to experienced? I know I ask a lot of questions but since we can't hear them prior to purchase, this is the only way to make a well informed decision.
Many thanks
Yes you are right. You can read between the lines of a review. I want to know how they paint the soundstage and try to judge what the sound is like. Light or dark. Maybe neutral.
Audiophile speakers they seem to be. Clean, clear sound in the midrange.
I became interested in field coil. Read a bit about this. Good control. By far better than ordinary magnet.
Expensive, yes. But EMS are cheap compared to other brands.
Audiophile speakers they seem to be. Clean, clear sound in the midrange.
I became interested in field coil. Read a bit about this. Good control. By far better than ordinary magnet.
Expensive, yes. But EMS are cheap compared to other brands.
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Hello Leif, I had the LB8EXmk2. Maybe they have decided to call it Mk3? Because I received my set with a wood phaseplug with the same design as the one found in their popular LB12 full range. The drivers came in a plywood cradle bolted to the bottom. This thread in the back can be used to experiment with massloading seen done by some quite competent japanese audiophiles. Can also be used to create a better support/fixation of the driver or part of building a “floating” cabinet. One of these “crazy” japanese audiophiles made me a powersupply that was easy to build and costed just a fraction of the price of the drivers. They claimed that the power supply would do the job 95% - the last 5% would be very expensive - not only in parts but also a possible investment in better gear….I builded this psu and I installed the driver in a open baffle. There is persons and manufactures who point out thet the benefit with a field coil is that you can adjust the voltage and by this play with efficency and QTS. I find that point useless. The sound I liked the most was at 12 volt and I had no current limit. I tried to lower the voltage to increase the QTS and lower the efficiency to match the LF driver. Didn’t work to my liking. 12 volt and playing with a L-pad did it. I also placed a capacitor close to the driver which is recommended by Michel Feertin of EMS. In my first attemp I skipped it but after I added it the diver sounded even more natural. Opening the field coil party with this EMS driver was for me a revelation compared to the many other drivers I have owned. With me I had a set 10” with Alnico magnets made in Ukraine. Pricewise, if you look around at the different brands, alnico and fieldcoils cost the same though the fieldcoils then cost extra due to the needed psu. The alnico driver did a tad better job in the low mid. A small changes on the baffle added this to the EMS- Amplifiers in my set up was from Linear Tube Audio (Semi OTL 40watt) Audio Music (Single ended 50 and 140 watt) and Clef Audio (50 watt solidstate). With all 3 amps the EMS presented a crispyness I missed with other drivers. The beaming I found from the other drivers was less apparent and the whizzer syndrom not existing. I am sure that the used phaseplug contribute to its nice behaviour of ease of listen to. The drivers were assisted by a 15” LF crossed at 140-60Hz/ 6dB. My next step was to cut the EMS a bit lower to add more headroom and avoid burning to much LF energy off in it voicecoil. Alone the fact that the driver was in a open baffle let the driver start to roll off soft around 200hz but still receiving full load on the voicecoil below 200Hz. For some of you who read my previous post you know already what happend next. But let me recap - We had to relocate and we could unfortunattely not bring most of our gear. We sold it and brught a small high quality headset system in our cabin luggage. We found our current home in August and is close to be settled and ready to persue our hobby
I would like to add from my experience that - yes - may of these small companies is not making to much noise and some of them miss the “train” so to speak and don’t get the attention they deserve. And if you sit down and calculate then they are not at all alarming expensive compared to some popular drivers from Asia. I just saw a new 10” where a set is sold by the EU importer for Euro 2950,-. A set of LB8EXmk2 cost app Euro 1700,- street price in France excl power supply.
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Can you elaborate on this: “I also placed a capacitor close to the driver which is recommended by Michel Feertin of EMS”. is it a bypass… what value and what is the restult?Hello Leif, I had the LB8EXmk2. Maybe they have decided to call it Mk3? Because I received my set with a wood phaseplug with the same design as the one found in their popular LB12 full range. The drivers came in a plywood cradle bolted to the bottom. This thread in the back can be used to experiment with massloading seen done by some quite competent japanese audiophiles. Can also be used to create a better support/fixation of the driver or part of building a “floating” cabinet. One of these “crazy” japanese audiophiles made me a powersupply that was easy to build and costed just a fraction of the price of the drivers. They claimed that the power supply would do the job 95% - the last 5% would be very expensive - not only in parts but also a possible investment in better gear….I builded this psu and I installed the driver in a open baffle. There is persons and manufactures who point out thet the benefit with a field coil is that you can adjust the voltage and by this play with efficency and QTS. I find that point useless. The sound I liked the most was at 12 volt and I had no current limit. I tried to lower the voltage to increase the QTS and lower the efficiency to match the LF driver. Didn’t work to my liking. 12 volt and playing with a L-pad did it. I also placed a capacitor close to the driver which is recommended by Michel Feertin of EMS. In my first attemp I skipped it but after I added it the diver sounded even more natural. Opening the field coil party with this EMS driver was for me a revelation compared to the many other drivers I have owned. With me I had a set 10” with Alnico magnets made in Ukraine. Pricewise, if you look around at the different brands, alnico and fieldcoils cost the same though the fieldcoils then cost extra due to the needed psu. The alnico driver did a tad better job in the low mid. A small changes on the baffle added this to the EMS- Amplifiers in my set up was from Linear Tube Audio (Semi OTL 40watt) Audio Music (Single ended 50 and 140 watt) and Clef Audio (50 watt solidstate). With all 3 amps the EMS presented a crispyness I missed with other drivers. The beaming I found from the other drivers was less apparent and the whizzer syndrom not existing. I am sure that the used phaseplug contribute to its nice behaviour of ease of listen to. The drivers were assisted by a 15” LF crossed at 140-60Hz/ 6dB. My next step was to cut the EMS a bit lower to add more headroom and avoid burning to much LF energy off in it voicecoil. Alone the fact that the driver was in a open baffle let the driver start to roll off soft around 200hz but still receiving full load on the voicecoil below 200Hz. For some of you who read my previous post you know already what happend next. But let me recap - We had to relocate and we could unfortunattely not bring most of our gear. We sold it and brught a small high quality headset system in our cabin luggage. We found our current home in August and is close to be settled and ready to persue our hobby
I would like to add from my experience that - yes - may of these small companies is not making to much noise and some of them miss the “train” so to speak and don’t get the attention they deserve. And if you sit down and calculate then they are not at all alarming expensive compared to some popular drivers from Asia. I just saw a new 10” where a set is sold by the EU importer for Euro 2950,-. A set of LB8EXmk2 cost app Euro 1700,- street price in France excl power supply.
@DFL The result is written in the text if you read the next couple of sentences………