Recording - September 2013 - 31

I first came across the Stealth 8 at last
year’s Winter NAMM show, when Mike
and I were walking the show floor prior
to the opening bell. Usually NAMM is
one of the single worst places to make a
speaker judgment, but it was surprisingly
quiet that morning and the sound and
power of the Stealth 8 stopped me dead
in my tracks—the only other speaker to
ever do that to me at NAMM was a pair
of $8000 ATC midfields. I had to hear
the Stealth 8 in a proper studio!
At home
I initially set them up in my editing suite
at home for burn-in and initial listening
tests. It’s a very small room, but it is where
I do a lot of take editing, cleaning up sound
for video, and it’s where I kick back in the
easy chair and listen to music. My usual
speakers in this room have been of the 4"
and 5" variety, so the Stealth 8 was a big
change both physically and sonically.
Aside from my day job as an audio engineer, my hobby is collecting and listening
to music. My tastes are quite broad, ranging from traditional jazz to hard rock, to
electronic-ambient to metal, world music to
country and more. Over a few months’ time
I subjected the Stealth 8 to it all.
The high end is clean and clear, best
described as pleasant. They translate
brightness and detail well, but unlike
many budget monitors they are never
piercing or peaky.
On the low end these things have bass for
days, and it got better and better as the
speakers became broken in. Rather than
tight and thumpy, I would call the bass
response big and huge... so much so that I
had a hard time convincing a friend that I
did not have a subwoofer in the room.
A downside of my home space is that the
speakers sit less than 3' from my rear wall
and this of course accentuates the bass significantly. This was not a problem for casual listening, because—other than your
neighbors—who doesn’t like more bass?
However, when doing actual editing and
such I found it beneficial to attenuate the
bass signal by as much as –6 dB using the
rear-panel switch. Otherwise I had a tendency to undermix the bass, thinking I had
more than I did.
In the studio
Moving them to my studio (Moss
Garden Music), an acoustically treated
mixing suite with proper speaker throw
and placement, I set them up alongside
my usual monitors of the past six years, a
set of KRK Exposé E8B monitors which
were reviewed back in February 2008.
For my listening comparisons, I employed
the Drawmer MC2.1 monitor controller/speaker switcher reviewed elsewhere in this issue to A/B between them.
Once again I pulled out some of my
favorite speaker testing tunes as well as

some of my own mixes, including a few
still in progress which I proceeded to
tweak a tad, going back and forth to
hear how my tweaks were handled by the
two monitors.
I was initially struck by how different the
Stealth 8 and Exposé E8B speakers really
were. I consider the Exposé E8B to be ultra
tight, punchy and focused with a brilliant
sound stage. The Stealth 8, by contrast,
comes across as fuller and sonically bolder.
As I mentioned, the word that best
describes the high end on the Stealth 8 is
“pleasant,” and regardless of the length of
your mixing/listening sessions it is about
as far from fatiguing as you can get. At
the low end they held their own against
the Exposé E8B, even when engaging the
KRK 12sHO subwoofer, reviewed
December 2012. (I might add that I do
keep my sub set for subtle reinforcement
and not full-on rumble.)

My own mixes translated well and
sounded good on both speakers, but
comparing them reminded me that there
is a learning curve required any time you
switch main monitors, and mixing on the
Stealth 8 is no exception.
I am so used to the surgical clarity and
soundstage of the Exposé E8B that I again
had to be careful not undermix the bass on
the Stealth 8, and not to push the Stealth’s
high end to replicate what I am used to
hearing on the KRK, as in the real world it
would end up being downright piercing.
The two models are quite different. The
Exposé E8B, while not as piercing as
some, still has a studio monitor brightness
to it—the kind where, as you turn them up
loud, you may need to warn clients that
high-end sources like cymbals and such
may stick out and appear brighter than
they are. By contrast, the Stealth 8 does
not, and its evenness comes across as

warmer and slightly rolled off. Note that
this is only apparent in side-by-side comparison with the Exposé E8B, and if you
walked in the room and only heard the
Stealth 8s, you probably would not think
of them as rolled off in the high end.
A second set of ears
For a second opinion I brought in my
usual mixing cohort Chris Short, who
also knows my room and monitoring
setup well. We proceeded to listen to
some well-recorded classical and jazz
recordings as well as some of his favorite
rock albums from the Beatles, King
Crimson, Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix and
more, and here we became the most
aware of how the Stealth 8 handles
midrange. Low mids seem to bloom
while upper mids are slightly recessed;
again, this was in comparison to the
KRK, which is again tighter in the low
mids and slightly upper-mid forward.
Interestingly, the Stealth 8 is really flattering to music recorded in the ’60s and
’70s, where the high end and high mids
just sat nicely in the mix. When it came to
classical music and most jazz, Chris preferred the “there in the concert hall precision and clarity” of the KRKs, but went on
record saying that for everything else,
70% of the time, he preferred the less clinical sound of the Stealth 8.
Another thing we both noticed was that
the Stealth 8 was very even and smooth
with respect to loudness changes, and as
you turn them up they just keep sounding
great. In other words, these speakers are
really crankable!
Conclusions
At the end of the day I find the Stealth
8 to have a very hi-fi, real world expensive speaker sound, and given the company’s history in the audiophile market,
that is not surprising. Actually I think the
Stealth line (and airmotiv line for that matter) may find just as much use in home
theater setups as they will in studios.
One thing I have not mentioned yet is
the Stealth 8’s price. These are sold individually for $749, so a pair is $1498.
While that is still a significant price, keep
in mind that my Exposé E8Bs are closer to
$5000 a pair street price, with another
$1500 for the 12sHO subwoofer!
In the end it comes down to learning a
speaker in your own space and deciding
if you think you can mix successfully on it
or not, a process Emotiva makes easy. In
the case of the Stealth Pro 8 it’s something
I look forward to, as I am simply in love
with how music sounds on them!
Price: $749 each (as of press time, on
sale at $639 each)
More from: Emotiva Pro,
www.emotivapro.com
RECORDING September 2013

31


http://www.emotivapro.com

Recording - September 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2013

Recording - September 2013
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
The History And Mystery Of Monitoring: A Chat With JBL’s Peter Chaikin
Better Sounds From Tight Spots
Do It Yourself: Fix Your Cables—Save Your Money!
Emotiva Pro Stealth 8 Monitors
MOTU Track16
Ashman Acoustics SOM50 Microphone
Sontronics Sonora 2
Stop Sound Leakage!
Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Do It Yourself: Build Acoustic Treatment Right Into Your Walls!
From Shed To Studio
Sneak Previews: Apple Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools 11
Readers’ Tapes
Plug-In Outlet: FXpansion Bloom
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 21: Equalization—Part 2
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - September 2013 - Intro
Recording - September 2013 - Recording - September 2013
Recording - September 2013 - Cover2
Recording - September 2013 - 1
Recording - September 2013 - 2
Recording - September 2013 - 3
Recording - September 2013 - Fade In
Recording - September 2013 - 5
Recording - September 2013 - Contents
Recording - September 2013 - 7
Recording - September 2013 - Talkback
Recording - September 2013 - 9
Recording - September 2013 - Fast Forward
Recording - September 2013 - 11
Recording - September 2013 - 12
Recording - September 2013 - 13
Recording - September 2013 - The History And Mystery Of Monitoring: A Chat With JBL’s Peter Chaikin
Recording - September 2013 - 15
Recording - September 2013 - 16
Recording - September 2013 - 17
Recording - September 2013 - 18
Recording - September 2013 - 19
Recording - September 2013 - 20
Recording - September 2013 - 21
Recording - September 2013 - Better Sounds From Tight Spots
Recording - September 2013 - 23
Recording - September 2013 - 24
Recording - September 2013 - 25
Recording - September 2013 - Do It Yourself: Fix Your Cables—Save Your Money!
Recording - September 2013 - 27
Recording - September 2013 - 28
Recording - September 2013 - 29
Recording - September 2013 - Emotiva Pro Stealth 8 Monitors
Recording - September 2013 - 31
Recording - September 2013 - 32
Recording - September 2013 - 33
Recording - September 2013 - MOTU Track16
Recording - September 2013 - 35
Recording - September 2013 - Ashman Acoustics SOM50 Microphone
Recording - September 2013 - 37
Recording - September 2013 - Sontronics Sonora 2
Recording - September 2013 - 39
Recording - September 2013 - Stop Sound Leakage!
Recording - September 2013 - 41
Recording - September 2013 - 42
Recording - September 2013 - 43
Recording - September 2013 - 44
Recording - September 2013 - 45
Recording - September 2013 - Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Recording - September 2013 - 47
Recording - September 2013 - Do It Yourself: Build Acoustic Treatment Right Into Your Walls!
Recording - September 2013 - 49
Recording - September 2013 - From Shed To Studio
Recording - September 2013 - 51
Recording - September 2013 - Sneak Previews: Apple Logic Pro X and Avid Pro Tools 11
Recording - September 2013 - 53
Recording - September 2013 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - September 2013 - 55
Recording - September 2013 - 56
Recording - September 2013 - 57
Recording - September 2013 - 58
Recording - September 2013 - 59
Recording - September 2013 - Plug-In Outlet: FXpansion Bloom
Recording - September 2013 - 61
Recording - September 2013 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 21: Equalization—Part 2
Recording - September 2013 - 63
Recording - September 2013 - 64
Recording - September 2013 - Advertiser Index
Recording - September 2013 - 66
Recording - September 2013 - 67
Recording - September 2013 - 68
Recording - September 2013 - 69
Recording - September 2013 - 70
Recording - September 2013 - 71
Recording - September 2013 - Cover3
Recording - September 2013 - Cover4
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