Price Paid:  $650.00 from Aci

Summary:
Frankly, these little beasts are shockingly good. Summary now: If looking at monitors under $1000 place your order today. If looking at monitors under about $2000 take at least a close look or maybe check out their Sapphires.
I've seriously auditioned at least 15 to 20 different small monitor speakers. A number of these auditions have been in my own setup, some of them have been dealer setups. I've found that listening in a dealer's showroom really doesn't count for much. Rarely does it sound even similar at home.
Here's the point, I've carefully listened to some of the most well reviewed monitors in the $500-$2000+ price range. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. The Emerald LEs can hang in there with any of them, and outplay most of them. The under $1K pair monitors for the most part have serious sonic flaws with the exception of the Emeralds. Well, they aren't exactly overly powerful in the bass, but I'd rather have their tight, defined bass than the bloated upper bass that some of these speakers have.
I bought the Emerald LEs partly on the basis of looks. Wanted a very attractive pair of speakers for my bedroom system. First choice was the Sonus Faber Concerto Home. I figured if the Emerald LEs at 1/3 the price could do a passable job, that's what I wanted. Well, they've gone way beyond that! They do so much more than what I expected. First off, they are beautiful to behold. High-end look and feel at mass-market price. Then, the sound> Open, clean, always musical and emotionally involving. After a couple of months I found myself spending more time listening to this little bedroom system. I've been so impressed that I will probably order a pair of the new Jaguar LE with sub modules for my main system. Neither the Thiels or the Maggies I use in that system have completely satisfied me. If ACI can do this at under $700, what can they do for some real money?

Strengths:
Very natural, open, three-dimensional. Fantastic sonics at very reasonable price. Beautiful wood cabinetry

Weaknesses:
Bass is very tight but benefits from good sub

Similar Products Used:
Sonus Faber, B&W, Paradigm, Totem, Monitor Audio, NHT

Price Paid:  $600.00

Summary:
These are great speakers, for the price. Their weak in the lows, so I strongly recommend adding a subwoofer to compliment them.

They blow mass marketed speakers away (ie: Klipsch, BOSE), but aren't up to snuff with similarly priced Tannoy's or KEF's.

Remember, listen for yourself!

Strengths:
Good midrange

Weaknesses:
Weak Bass

Similar Products Used:
KEF, Tannoy, Klipsch

Price Paid:  $623.00 from www.audioc.com

Summary:
i purchased 5 emeralds and a denon 4800. i got the emeralds before the receiver so i broke a pair in on my old kenwood bookshelf system. the emeralds weren't dissappointing even before break in. they put my kenwood speakers to shame but that isn't saying much. after a few days of playing constantly, i became wowed by the sound quality. i would say to break them in for more than the 50-70 hours that aci recommends. the highs become much more detailed after break in and the bass has more solidity to it. as for the break in myth, i broke in two speakers and they definitely sounded much better than the other pair that wasn't broken in at all.
the denon arrived and the local hi-fi shop let me take home some paradigm monitor 3's. maybe this isn't a fair comparison, but when i did an a/b comparison, there was absolutely no contest. the paradigms weren't as clear and there seemed to be a wall of treble behind them, whereas with the emeralds all you got was what you were supposed to hear. in home theatre, sounds are often mistaken for the real thing, such as doors knocking or kids talking, or dogs barking, etc..
sound is hard to describe, but i can say that i'm addicted to the sound. there is something very satisfying about the way that high hats and cymbals sound. also, jewel sounds like she's singing right in my room. to think that i was going to buy some polk audio speakers before the guys at these forums set me straight and sent me to www.audioc.com.

Strengths:
smooth sound, clarity, separation

Weaknesses:
those darn face plates can't be taken off without pulling the plugs out. not a big deal but a little annoying.

Similar Products Used:
listened to polk audio, paradigm, jamo.

Price Paid:  $175.00 from ACI

Summary:
I built the Emerald from a kit. I was extremely loyal to the plans so the finished product should sound like the purchased units. I am very happy with the sound and clarity of the Emerald. It reproduces voices well, the number one role of a center. I am seriously considering building two more for mains in the HT and moving the Sapphires to a two channel room. The sound is a little warmer than a lot of small speakers I auditioned, such as PSB, B&W, Infinity, Polk. The Emerald covers all the necessary octaves required of the center. I set mine to large to get better male vocals. The speaker naturally rolls off around 60Hz so the sub can still fill the lower end.

There is a little off center roll off on the tweeter so it really sounds better in the vertical position rather than on its side. The non-kit has the tweeter pointed lightly down for this position as well.

As a side note, I am one of the people who did not believe in speaker break in. When I first fired up the Emerald it was fairly bright, the sound I did not like in the other aforementioned speakers. I set it up in the basement against a speaker in reverse phase and let it play for a couple of days. The purpose was to make sure the speaker was breaking in and not me. After a few days I got a completely different sound. Much better.

I highly recommend this speaker for HT and audio applications. It integrates well with all the other ACI speakers.

P

Strengths:
A great center. Clear vocals and music.

Weaknesses:
Not as forward or crisp as my ACI Sapphire mains. I usually goto stereo mode if listening to an opera DVD or live concert. But then, the Sapphires are five times the price of the Emerald.

Similar Products Used:
Too embarassed to respond.

Price Paid:  $630.00 from ACI

Summary:
Excellent bookshelf speakers overall. A tad bright at first, but just as predicted, this evaporated after breakin, which took at least 60 hours. Wonderful imaging capability and easy to drive. I use an NAD 340 amplifier and NAD CD player in addition to running my computer through these speakers (I threw away the speakers that came with the computer). These speakers live up to the other reviews located here. By the way, I bought factory seconds, and I could not even find the flaws indicated in the ad on ACI. They appear to be perfect. I also own a pair of Nestorovic 5AS and I matched the mid and tweeter against these and found the Emeralds more to my liking! Of Course the Nestys are 14 years old.

Strengths:
Great clarity and tone. Midrange is exceptional

Weaknesses:
None so far

Similar Products Used:
Polks, Paradigms