Emotiva T2 Speaker Review — RH Audio Reviews

April 8th 2020

The king has arrived! Wait, what? The king has arrived? Are the Emotiva T2+ speakers the king of the Emotiva lineup? In this review we will find out if they are the king of the Emotiva lineup as we take a deep dive. All thoughts and opinion are my own. These speakers were sent to me for review.

Physical Description

Coming in looking like a futuristic jet fighter, the face of the speaker has angular cuts out toward the top but is purely for show. The rest of the face of the speaker is laid out in black lacquer HDF (high-density fiberboard) and the surrounding sides of the cabinet are wrapped in faux black leather. Typically used in the more expensive speakers, the T2+ uses 15mm HDF for its sides and the rear parts of the tower. A major advantage of using this HDF is less cabinet resonance which means less coloring of the sound - which is something that we do not want. And of course, another advantage is tighter, responsive bass. Needlessly to say, because of these material choices, the towers are built quite well with quality design and construction that are second to none.

The dimensions of the tower are 42 11/16” tall by 12 3/16” wide by 12 ¼” deep. The T2+ weighs in at 56.9 pounds (71.3 pounds shipped), making this quite a heavy speaker. For driver compliment the T2+ uses one 25×32mm Airmotiv folded ribbon tweeter (Emotiva’s take on a folded ribbon), one 5 ¼” woven fiber cone mid-woofer driver and two 8” woven fiber cone low-frequency drivers. With the use of the two 8” low-frequency drivers, the T2+ can now reach truly deep levels unlike the T1+’s. The uncovered look provides that raw and edgy look to any audio setup, a very nice quality, which includes a seamless grill cover that can be attached via built-in magnets. To provide the utmost level and stable installation of the towers, permanent outrigger feet have been installed with the option to install and use some included high-quality carpet spikes. Each tower is generously rear-ported and finished with some high-quality, gold five-way binding posts.

How Do They Sound?

The T2+ is a three-way loudspeaker, built around the Airmotiv platform. As mentioned before, the Airmotiv tweeter is Emotiva’s take on a folded ribbon tweeter. The Airmotiv tweeter provides airy and spacious detail in the upper frequencies without ever being shrill and stays smooth up to 28kHz.

Also, the 5 ¼” midrange woven fiber cone mid-woofer driver incorporates an aluminum phase plug. This design feature helps to produce a smoother sounding speaker which accentuates natural-sounding vocals, and a great midrange response.Also, the 5 ¼” midrange woven fiber cone mid-woofer driver incorporates an aluminum phase plug. This design feature helps to produce a smoother sounding speaker which accentuates natural-sounding vocals, and a great midrange response.

When compared to Emotiva’s T1+, the T2+ is quite a different speaker in that it sounds much more alive. It becomes more about the mix and allows the speakers to disappear and become more enjoyable to listen to and, at the same time, allow the listener to pick out more detail that’s blended superbly by the drivers.

For our first track, we listen to “Here It’s Almost Sunset” from David Crosby. This track is a complex mix of air, piccolo, David’s voice, deep rich bass, and the members of Lighthouse all in unison. Unlike the other T series speakers which do produce a fantastic reproduction of music, the T2+ takes it to a sonically new level. There is a true sense of space and depth that is painted as well as quite a weight is carried in the song.

We move on to the beautiful lyrical stylings and bass playing of Esperanza Spalding with “Earth to Heaven.” This is a challenging song. There are many stops in bass lines and yet the T2+ speakers can handle this with ease. Additionally, Esperanza Spalding harmonizes beautifully with the other singers even when the background singers go out of harmony – all easily distinguishable on the T2+ speakers.

Changing gears to 1983, we go to the studio with two blues legends and these speakers do a faithful recreation of a once in a lifetime experience. We go to the “In Session” album with Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the song “Pride and Joy.” We capture the playing of Albert and the ferocious playing of Stevie as each soulfully played note cry out in the fullness of the T2+’s. I cannot fail to mention that the T2+’s also captures the in-studio sound, as a full band was also playing with them – it’s like hearing the playback live in the studio! Time for the show as we use a few well-recorded live albums - we will look at several albums.

The first album we will look at is Pink Floyd’s “The Later Years (2019).” This is a well-mastered album containing a vast collection of predominantly remastered live music. We enter with a rather progressive bass line, accompanied by high hat cymbals and synths in the song “One of These Days,” all to meet David Gilmour’s ripping guitar. The T2+ accurately reproduced all instruments over an excited crowd only to drift in to “Time.” In the song “Time” we are meet harmoniously with the vocals of David, the background singers and all other instruments.

I think it is time to do a bit of exploration in the Alto range with “Secret World” by Peter Gabriel. In his voice, we hear the subtleties making an almost perfect vocal performance, with a hint of raspiness. In this song, Peter is accompanied by clean guitar, synths, and bass…until the end, followed by dramatic guitar solos wailing performed by the T2+ dramatically. We continue our journey with Peter, as this album is quite expansive and allows one to feel that you are there. (The album was recorded at the Round in Milan, Italy in 2003.) Peter’s song, “Sledgehammer,” starts clearly with a light drum introduction but with more of the crowd chanting above the drum. On lesser speakers, the chanting would not have been heard. This crescendo of sound is proceeded by a whack on the snare to start the song. The level on the snare is with authority and followed by a steady bass line that is driven by the T2+’s two 8” low-frequency drivers.

Setup and Adjustments to Make Them Come Alive

Since the T2+ is rear-ported, I set them up 16 inches away from the back wall to allow them to breathe. This also allowed them to go down to 39Hz without sounding bloated in my 12’x15’ room. The T2+ is rated to 35Hz, but realistically it does not go that low. Setup is critically important as the Airmotiv tweeter has a flat beam that is not as wide as a standard dome tweeter…more on this in The Downside section below. Up until now, a subwoofer was not used. I added an SVS SB-3000 (800 watts continuous / 2,500 watts peak audiophile sealed sub - https://www.svsound.com/collections/3000-series/products/sb-3000). Unlike my previous experiences with the T-0 and T1+, the listening was not dramatically changed but rather more of an accompaniment. The fact that the T2+ is rated at 35Hz and went to 37Hz in my room allowed me to run the sub at 40Hz crossover. Also, unlike the other towers, T2+ speakers require minimal assistance for toe, and thus they are easy to set their toe setup.

The Downside

There are some minor qualms or downsides to T2+ speaker.

Whiles the bass is reported to 35Hz, I was only able to have the speaker go to 37Hz. A quality sub in $1,000 will accomplish this.

Do note that these are 4-ohm speakers that you will need to make sure your source can drive them. A dedicated power amplifier is a must for a caliber of speakers such as these.

The speakers are a bit on the big side, as well on the heavy side, but this is only a small complaint at $999 for the pair.

My Recommendation

What negatives I mentioned are minor and are greatly outweighed by the positive. Overall, the experience with the T2+ was a satisfying one and they can make for an excellent sub $1,000 audiophile speaker set. Now, can I recommend these? This is a tough one, as they sound fantastic within this setup. On the other hand, they do require a bit of power to be driven properly as well as physical space. So, we come back to the question, are these the King of the Emotiva line up? Can I recommend these? These indeed ARE the King of Emotiva line up so long as you have the power and space for them. I can recommend them.

Additional Specifications

Efficiency: 91dB (2.83v/1m).