Update on Zellaton Emotions: one of the primary reasons I began my prior search for new speakers was because of the overwhelming bass the previous ones. Maybe in the right room, they would've worked well. But in my small (8 x 12) room, 10 inch woofers were simply too much. No amount of room treatment or placement technique could eliminate the over emphasis and swollen lower frequencies. Before that, I had monitors with 5.25" "woofers" and that simply wasn't enough. I'm happy to report that after many hours of listening, the Zellaton Emotions are the sweet spot. It is somewhat surprising how much bass the 7 inch drivers can generate, and more importantly, generate precisely and accurately. As I previously reported, these are very linear speakers and the bass notes are, to my ears, perfectly in line with that description. Some might look at the specs and think that 45 Hz means the speakers won't go low enough. For those who listen to pipe organs and a few other somewhat obscure instruments, that may be true. But pull up an instrument frequency chart and youll see that there aren't many instruments that produce frequencies below 45 Hz. In the end, that means that I am missing out on a very small slice of very deep frequencies (assuming my ears can hear them), but I'm happy to sacrifice that for the accuracy presented by the Emotions – particularly because of their other overwhelming positive characteristics. I recognize that others will disagree and either insist upon a truly full range speaker or the addition of a subwoofer. But for my room, the Emotions' bass response is "just right."
At the risk of impairing my credibility, I'll make one additional point. As I said previously in one of my prior posts, I am more of a "music lover" than an "audiophile" (although at some level, this distinction seems a bit ridiculous). Nonetheless, as a result, the vast majority of my catalog is 16/44 rather than Hi-Rez. I've downloaded some stuff from the likes of HDTracks and I'll admit that much of it is better. I will also admit that a bad recording is simply a bad recording, and that's how it's going to sound on almost any gear. But I also have to say that the Emotions do an outstanding job of making almost anything pleasurable to listen to. When my local record/CD shop closes, and given the current market, it inevitably will, I will no doubt turn to Hi Rez as the "state of the art,". But it's not something I feel is necessary for true musical enjoyment when listening to the Emotions.
