These speakers would be remarkable if they were several times their size. But given that they're relatively tiny, with a single 5.5-inch ceramic-matrix mid-woofer and a 2-inch Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter, they're unbelievable. They have the extension and dynamics of a big, full-range, multi-driver system, with bass response that's useful down to 25 Hz and highs that reach past the 30 kHz limit of my measurement mic. But they also offer the nearly point-source imaging of compact two-way speakers, with phase response that's close to linear, even down to 185 Hz. The package is comprised of a pair of Evolution Acoustics v.1 speakers, an e.300 power amplifier, and a pair of custom c.3 directional speaker cables. Also included are Cardas Audio XLR input cables, a Shunyata Research Theta NR power cord with noise filtering, a set of small stick-on isolation feet, foam plugs for the bass reflex ports, and a directional Acme Audio Labs Silver Cryo fuse with crystal fiber compound coating for the amplifier. Gil Griffith and Ryan Cole of Wave Distribution spent an hour at my Nashville studio unboxing a brand-new system and setting it up. Because Evolution ships this package after 1,000 hours of burn-in, my review system was ready for playback soon after setup, and my immediate impression was "Holy Schmoly!"
The whole system was voiced by Brian Lucey of Magic Garden Mastering specifically for mix engineers, with a slight attenuation of the highs and controlled roll-off of extreme lows. Once I had settled on a final location for the speakers, I measured -4 dB at 40 Hz and 24 kHz in my room. As expected, low-frequency phase response was better with the port closed, but amplitude response below 40 Hz was greater with the port open. Surprisingly, the small isolation feet made a significant impact on bass-heavy transients, as I started without the feet and then added them a couple weeks later.