The Design 10 actually works well in stereo. It's shocking how many
other floorstanding speakers and monitors don't.
They not only deliver satisfying performance, they do it in a form factor
that's both modest and modern. Rarely do I trot out the old
enthusiast-reviewer's cliché about a product sounding as good as
much higher-priced competition—because rarely is it true. But the D5s are
genuine overachievers that deliver a magnificent slice of what high-end audio
can offer at a real-world price. Demo these speakers, and you'll see what
I mean.
It was as though someone had switched on lamps one after another,
while walking deeper and deeper into the soundstage, as the wall behind
the speakers disappeared. Each voice and instrument was fully realized
with texture and shadow. I started visualizing the distances of
microphones from lips and guitar amps, and I wasn’t trying to be clever
and analytical—the amount of information coming out of familiar test
tracks was simply overwhelming.
Era sells their speakers through a growing
network of specialty audio retailers around the U.S. At $1,900 for the system
(all models available individually), with a five year warranty, the D3/Sub8
combo provides a good value and an exceptional balance between performance and
appearance.
I have no qualms about saying that these Era speakers are one of the finest
small speaker systems I've ever listened to. The system split time between my
dedicated home theater room and our family room where we do much of our
"everyday" listening to music and viewing of TV programs and some
movies. In both settings, the D3s sounded great, but the latter (living room)
really made me appreciate the system's ability to blend into a room both from a
high fidelity audio and an aesthetics standpoint. I thoroughly enjoyed these
speakers and I'm sad to see the review samples go.
It was as though someone had switched on lamps one after another,
while walking deeper and deeper into the soundstage, as the wall behind
the speakers disappeared. Each voice and instrument was fully realized
with texture and shadow. I started visualizing the distances of
microphones from lips and guitar amps, and I wasn’t trying to be clever
and analytical—the amount of information coming out of familiar test
tracks was simply overwhelming.
Despite their small size these little brutes delivered surprisingly
robust, open sound, thanks to beefy, sophisticated custom drivers.
