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Very cool. One of the things I neglected to mention last night was that room size matters a lot when talking about subwoofers. As frequency descends, starting say around ~80hz, you are relying more and more on the driver's ability to compress the air in the room. Anechoic, your subwoofer would start rolling off in a manner befitting it's build and configuration below this frequency (go set your sub in the middle of a field and try to get good bass out of it). In your room, you will get help from what's called the "transfer function". Lower frequencies beget longer wavelengths. You wouldn't believe how quickly those wavelengths get longer than your room, start folding over on each other and causing reinforcement and dead zones. This gives you some support against the rolloff and let's your sub play more audibly as frequency goes down. I most cars, the transfer function is ~6db per octave of support, which can pretty much directly offset the opposing 6db per octave of rolloff... so a sealed box in a car, if looking for a flat response curve, is a viable option. In a house, apartment, whatever, the rooms are much larger, and leaky as hell (doorways, hallways, vaulted ceilings). Any of that space the subwoofer will "see", meaning it's air that it has to try to compress to make for big badda boom in your listening room. This means your subwoofer is being pulled violently towards anechoic response, and less than optimal bass being presented to you on the couch. Modern DSP's and aggressive porting solutions attempt to offset this, but the biggest help you can provide is to buy a big enough sub for your space. Buy too small or too weak and no DSP or port will save you. You run the risk of being unsatisfied with the response, run the gains up too high to compensate, and run the risks of blowing the sub up. Of course this has to be tempered with budget, room aesthetics, and more than anything... what do you want out of a sub? Which is to say, how low do you want to go? Just an example of all this math: I'm a movie sound nut. I also have a lot of musical recordings that dip below 20hz (digital music, pipe organ pedal tones, etc...). For about 10 years I ran a small Polk PSW250, which had an 8 inch driver and about 125 watts RMS pushing it. The room this was in was 10 * 10 * 9 (900 cubic feet), with one doorway out that was closable. It suffered on some things for sure, but for the most part it was fine at the reasonable volume levels I had it pushing. 5 years ago I found myself in a new house with a very open floor plan. Now the room the sub was in grew by a lot. The immediate HT room is wide open to the kitchen, wide open to a hallway, wide open through a doorway into the dining room /living room. Now that sub could see ~9000 cubic feet. In that room, the rolloff was so bad below 80hz, you could shut the sub off... and it made zero difference in measured frequency response. Crank it up, and you could hear the ports chuffing, and occasionally the motor structure bouncing off the backplate. Replace that sub with the HSU for that space and everything's happy again. The old Polk is now in my office (another 10 * 10 * 9 room) and happy as a clam. jason posted:I ended up ordering the PSW505 from Newegg for $225 with a discount code. If home audio subs are anything like car audio subs I agree that a good quality sealed sub would probably make me happiest. That said good quality sealed subs look to cost way more than I'm interested in spending. This should be a major step up from the 8" HTIB sub I have been using for the past 7 years so I'm more than OK with the compromise. Just be aware that a lot of companies are a little ambitious when they list how low a HT sub will go. Polk is better than most, but that's a ported box that they indicate plays down to 23hz (3db down I presume, which is typical, but they don't say). A lot of subs in that "class", if you will, have issues playing at all below 30hz in most commonly-sized rooms. I also see no indication of an infrasonic filter on their specs. All I'm saying is be careful with super low stuff initially. 
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Jan 30, 2014 18:26
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Alleric posted:
In room that 505 has tested well down to the low 20's without distortion at good volume levels. There is a bunch of documentation and test results posted in this thread maybe a year ago. It became the go to bang-for-buck sub after the klipsch rw12d sold out. Speaking of subs, I'm thinking of buying two more drivers and turning my 13cu.ft. ported enclosures into dual opposed sealed units that are side-table sized. Running 2 drivers per enclosure will also let me go with a 2ohm load instead of 4 ohm, increasing sustained wattage to around 1200 watts per channel instead of the 650 of so per channel I have now. I figure I will get around 6db of headroom per channel.
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Jan 30, 2014 21:36
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jonathan posted:In room that 505 has tested well down to the low 20's without distortion at good volume levels. There is a bunch of documentation and test results posted in this thread maybe a year ago. It became the go to bang-for-buck sub after the klipsch rw12d sold out. I envy you. I really do. Two years ago I had drat near spec'd out an 11 foot low-slung television console with built in media cabinets and display shelves built in. In the bottom of the design? Two enclosures, 9 cubic feet each, drivers hidden, ports hidden and defeatable (tuned to 14hz). I had 15 inch drivers picked out with silly low Fs ratings, two dedicated amps picked out to push around 1000w a side, was in talks with a cabinet shop to build it, the works. I was going to wire it to where you could run them LFE for movies and stereo for music. The goal was to have seismic events in the room and no indication where they came from. Then I happened upon HSU's stuff and stopped dead. 700 shipped to have 16hz available in the room at 100+ db? Done. Still got the cabinetry done, and a nice shroud for the VTF-3. It now looks like a bit-too-large end table on the left side of the couch. Having something that potent in the nearfield is hilarious. The War of the Worlds pod emergence scene moves the couch. Looking at your math on the output increases though... you may only get 3 db, since you have a 2 @ 650 right now and going to a 4 @ 600 is a rough doubling... that should only map out to like 3db. I honestly might not even bother unless you want to do it for aesthetic reasons or really want that sealed sound. Either way, I'd love to hear that room. What drivers do you use, out of curiosity?
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Jan 30, 2014 22:47
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jonathan posted:Speaking of subs, I'm thinking of buying two more drivers and turning my 13cu.ft. ported enclosures into dual opposed sealed units that are side-table sized. Running 2 drivers per enclosure will also let me go with a 2ohm load instead of 4 ohm, increasing sustained wattage to around 1200 watts per channel instead of the 650 of so per channel I have now. I figure I will get around 6db of headroom per channel. Which drivers are you running and what amp are you pushing them with?
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Jan 31, 2014 00:35
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Alleric posted:I envy you. I really do. Two years ago I had drat near spec'd out an 11 foot low-slung television console with built in media cabinets and display shelves built in. In the bottom of the design? Two enclosures, 9 cubic feet each, drivers hidden, ports hidden and defeatable (tuned to 14hz). I had 15 inch drivers picked out with silly low Fs ratings, two dedicated amps picked out to push around 1000w a side, was in talks with a cabinet shop to build it, the works. I was going to wire it to where you could run them LFE for movies and stereo for music. Thanks and yes I came back just now as I just woke from a nap and I got the math wrong. Also it would be a switch from ported to sealed, so lots of variables. Currently it's a Behringer class-D inuke 3000 running in stereo mode, roughly 650 watts @ 4ohm load sustained per driver (2 18" drivers with pretty good excursion). I am also tuned to 14hz but in room measurements show I'm flat down to 10hz at the listening position. At what volume ? I don't know, my measuring setup taps out and clips before the amp and speakers do. I have made the cat puke and I caused the dishwasher to leak upstairs. However, what looks good out in the garage as far as size is completely different once you get 2 of them into a room. 26" diameter sonotubes standing 6 feet tall. "Don't worry babe, they will be in the corners. nobody will notice". Bullshit. As far as sound, they are awesome. I cross them over to the mains @ 80hz. I have a bar/lounge area behind the theater that shares airspace, and there is a good peak back there from the bass/room interaction that works really well for getting that bloated club sound that lots of people like. In room I run them 3db hot, after calibrating with audyssey xt32. Deep rumbles and movie type bass drops sound good, but that is no surprise. What REALLY sounds good are the very short decay bass slam from certain movies. The THX "Real life" intro where the mushrooms slam the room, or the 2009 Startrek where the ships take off into warp. Also the machine guns from the sonic guns scene of the incredible hulk. These are all things I've never heard like that from theaters, Imax, other big sound systems I've had demo's in. Anyways enough bragging and rambling. If I was wealthy I would have gone with dual Epik Empire's or dual Rythmik FV15hp's. However I built these for around $1500 total including buying $500 worth of power tools. The downside is the size. So, some math. Adding a second driver and "sharing" a channel will increase efficiency by 3db assuming you're now splitting the wattage over two subs, however if you're wiring it to cut the load in half, you're now doubling the current/wattage (Im going from 4 ohm to 2 ohm) so im doubling the wattage and the drivers which should give 6db extra. However I'm going from ported to sealed, so I will be losing efficiency below 35hz or so. I plan on running a dsp to boost the low frequency to correct for the slope, (linkwitz transform http://www.minidsp.com/applications/advanced-tools/linkwitz-transform) which will limit my headroom. However right now I figure I'm capable of 120db @ 10hz and much more above that. The loudest I have ever watched a full movie is -7db from reference, so really I've never even put a stress on the setup. FYI the drivers im using are a prototype version of these: http://www.istonline.ca/mach5_ixl_18.html They're popular in Canada because shipping the Dayton 18" across the border is very expensive. These perform pretty well with 24mm xmax (1 way) I did bottom out one of them trying to find the limits and accidentally gave it close to full wattage sign wave starting at 0 hz. They won't bottom out @ 10hz but under that is no man's land. And please don't envy me, I can afford some expensive hobbies because I work a job that is bone crushingly depressing for part of the year, and then winter comes, and it gets so cold that touching a door knob with a bare hand can freeze-burn you. jonathan fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 00:50
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jonathan posted:
Yep. That's what a massive ported enclosure gets you: delicate bass that caresses your hair while it's pounding your face into the ground. Theaters can't do it (though if the theater I was in over the holidays was any indication, it's getting better) because of the transfer function thing I was talking about earlier. The amount of piston area and power they would need to compress that air would be staggering. This is why the really high-fidelity theater rooms are quite small. If you have access, the prophecy scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on blu-ray is incredible. Drops jaws for every person I play it for. Emma Thompson reads the prophecy with some heavily processed ominous wispy voice thing going on. I had no clue until I got the HSU that they had corresponding information in the mix going all the way down below 20hz.
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Jan 31, 2014 04:11
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jonathan posted:Currently it's a Behringer class-D inuke 3000 running in stereo mode, roughly 650 watts @ 4ohm load sustained per driver (2 18" drivers with pretty good excursion). Those iNukes are absolute beasts and one hell of a bargain for the power they deliver. A danish DJ/PA site reviewed the NU3000 and found that right when the clipping indicator starts, for 0.85V RMS input it could deliver 53V RMS output. Into 2 ohms, that's 1568W RMS (76V/2888W peak). Bridged under the same conditions, it could deliver 106V RMS, which at 4 ohms is 2809W RMS (160V/5625W peak)  They ran it continuously overnight from a signal generator at that level into a dummy load with no issues (checking the waveform for clipping with an oscilloscope), and there's an additional 11dB of headroom above where the clipping indicator starts. All from 3.3kg and less than $300. Mental. Your setup sounds a lot like what I would love to have in a home theater if I had the space. Midrange and treble are easy, but deeper-than-deep well-controlled bass extension is hard to do, and so satisfying you when you pull it off. I like the idea of having better bass than even the best theaters, it makes sense that you simply cannot pull off quick bass transients in a 500+ seat theater. Do you have any plans or drawings for those subs? Some day I might want to build a couple myself. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 14:17
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jonathan posted:I have made the cat puke If I ever find myself building speakers for a living this will be a cornerstone of my marketing campaign.
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Jan 31, 2014 16:07
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jason posted:If I ever find myself building speakers for a living this will be a cornerstone of my marketing campaign. this is why I still go to SA over more specialized messageboards, this made me chortle something fierce
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Jan 31, 2014 18:24
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MMD3 posted:this is why I still go to SA over more specialized messageboards, this made me chortle something fierce It's infinitely better than dedicated AV boards (possibly excepting hydrogenaudio), that's for sure. Here, we are spared the horrors of 27-page threads discussing the best power cables for your hifi, how to convince an electrician to wire up a completely separate dedicated 32A circuit for AV equipment, whether circuit breakers or fuses in the breaker panel give the best sound and which order to plug the devices into audiophile power strips for the best sound. In the last of couple of pages it even veered into discussion about the best polishing compounds to polish the fuses in the breaker panel for the best sound 
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Jan 31, 2014 18:32
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So if I understand the previous couple posts correctly (which is kind of unlikely), my 14x35 room with a door to the kitchen and stairs will be vastly underserved by something like the Polk PSW10? Is it even worth purchasing?
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Jan 31, 2014 19:23
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Yeah, that's a pretty large room for such a small sub, at least if you want any kind of volume out of it. You need at 12" at the very least, and probably a 15".
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Jan 31, 2014 19:40
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Ranma posted:So if I understand the previous couple posts correctly (which is kind of unlikely), my 14x35 room with a door to the kitchen and stairs will be vastly underserved by something like the Polk PSW10? Is it even worth purchasing? Having owned a PSW10, I probably wouldn't bother. My house has an open floor plan and the airspace I have is probably close to 14x35. It was fine for music, but didn't get the job done for movies. I'm much happier with my Polk 505 and should have just spent the money and bought that to begin with instead of wasting 100 bucks on the PSW10 that now sits in the garage unused. I might be able to dump it on Craigslist or on someone at work for 40 bucks.
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Jan 31, 2014 19:54
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Ranma posted:So if I understand the previous couple posts correctly (which is kind of unlikely), my 14x35 room with a door to the kitchen and stairs will be vastly underserved by something like the Polk PSW10? Is it even worth purchasing? Depends. Lots of us are spoiled by years of upgrades and tweeking and constant improvement of sound. My first surround system, a Sony home theatre in a box, I thought sounded awesome. That was with some ported 8" subwoofer. I replaced that with a klipsch Sub 12 and thought that was the best ever. The Polk psw10 is a step above the home theatre in a box stuff. If all you've ever heard is crap, it might be worthy to try.
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Feb 1, 2014 01:58
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Ranma posted:So if I understand the previous couple posts correctly (which is kind of unlikely), my 14x35 room with a door to the kitchen and stairs will be vastly underserved by something like the Polk PSW10? Is it even worth purchasing? If that's truly all you want to spend and you currently have no sub then it will be worth it. Especially if the rest of your system is made up of small bookshelf speakers. I have been using a 8" ported sub from a Onkyo HTIB in a room that is close to yours in sqft. for at least 7 years. I don't "feel" the bass in movies but it definitely fills out the sound from the bookshelf speakers that make up the rest of the system. I wouldn't enjoy my system at all without it.
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Feb 1, 2014 02:52
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Right now I've got a pair of the Pioneer SF-FS52s and I just picked up the SP-C22 when it dropped down to 70 bucks a couple days ago (looks like it is already back up to $100 now, drat). So it does some bass, but my plan has always been to eventually get to a 3.1 system.
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Feb 1, 2014 05:40
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Ranma posted:Right now I've got a pair of the Pioneer SF-FS52s and I just picked up the SP-C22 when it dropped down to 70 bucks a couple days ago (looks like it is already back up to $100 now, drat). So it does some bass, but my plan has always been to eventually get to a 3.1 system. The product sheet on your mains claims they go down to 40hz (presumed f3). I've no experience with those Pioneer's, so I can't give you any indication as to if they actually do that in your room. If you look closely at the PSW10's specs, they tell you it f3's at 40hz. So at best you would be reinforcing what your mains already do. But that's not always wasted. You might have bass nulls in the room (god forbid one in your listening position) that adding that sub could smooth out. It's not going to expand the frequency response of the room, but it might even out your low end. Easy test: Throw on a piece of music you know like the back of your hand that has some good bass presence. Listen to it (at common listening positions) with the sub off, listen to it with the sub on, tune sub settings, rinse, repeat. If you don't hear much of a difference, the sub's not really doing anything for you. Now watch a scene from a good bassy movie. Listen for for 1. Bass, 2. Port noise. 3. rattles/slamming/bad things. If you don't hear 1, but you do hear 2 and/or 3, the sub is just too small for that room to bring anything to the party. If you like it, roll with it. If not, that's a big room... I'd save and keep looking. Upside, though... you have towers. You've got a whole octave more to play with than most bookshelf folks already. Oh, and just to be sure: Your towers are set to be full-range in your receiver/amp/whatever, yes? Run them full range for this.
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Feb 2, 2014 14:40
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Since we're talking about the difference between the 505 and the 10, maybe this will help. It's been awhile since I used the setup in my living room. I have a pretty similar setup in both my living room and office - Aperion 4t towers and psw10 sub in a smallish (20x10) room vs Aperion 5t towers, 4c center, Polk bookshelf surrounds and psw505 sub in a much larger room completely open to the dining room, which is in turn open to the kitchen. Normally, I game on my computer, and I kind of assumed there wouldn't be a huge difference. Well, I got Tomb Raider for the PS4 yesterday, so I fired up the living room system. All I can say is  . The bass is night and day different, even with all that air to move. You can seriously feel the impact, and it just adds so much to the mood. I guess what I'm saying is if you're on the fence and you do any gaming or movie watching, get the 505.
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Feb 2, 2014 15:10
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Well, I just did it. Bought the 505. Will give a trip report once it arrives.
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Feb 2, 2014 16:16
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Ranma posted:Well, I just did it. Bought the 505. Will give a trip report once it arrives. Arrived today. My set up is: Onkyo 616 2x Pioneer FS-52 Pioneer C-22 Center Polk 505 SW To my uneducated ear, it sounds amazing. I have the sub turned down fairly low as it rattles everything in the house if it is turned up at all. Overall, I am very pleased with this set up, both for music and movies. Maybe someday I'll add some rear speakers for 5.1, but I really don't feel the need at the moment.
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Feb 5, 2014 20:29
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The subwoofer volume should be set by audyssey. You will find that the optimal subwoofer volume for movies is actually pretty quiet. Run Audyssey and follow the instructions. It will get you to adjust the subwoofer gain to 75db as indicated on screen. After that leave the physical subwoofer controls as is, and adjust the subwoofer volume via the quick menu - audio - subwoofer control.
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Feb 6, 2014 00:32
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I have a yamaha receiver, so no Audyssey but I have the gain on my 505 around 25 or 30% usually. I can tweak it +- 6 dB from the OSD pretty easily. Just my experience with a similar setup
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Feb 6, 2014 01:59
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Thoughts on this? http://tech.woot.com/offers/onkyo-7-2ch-a-v-receiver-w-wi-fi-bluetooth-7 I like it has Audyssey MultEQ and streaming stuff but I don't need 7.2 or multiple zones and I would like to get something closer to 200. Do I have any realistic options to keep an eye out for or is this as good as its going to get?
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Feb 7, 2014 19:02
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Raymn posted:Thoughts on this? Hoooly poo poo, that's a good deal.
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Feb 7, 2014 19:05
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I posted in here a while ago looking for speakers, but realised that my TV/media area really doesn't have much space for speakers. So I'm thinking about getting these Q Acoustics Concept 20s: http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/concept-20-hifi-speakers.htm They seem well reviewed and will *just* fit, one to the left of the the TV and one on the bookshelf to the right of it. The one on the left might have to squeeze behind the TV. I was thinking getting this Marantz 1504 to power it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Marantz-NR1...=I2XOQWO64W544B. The guy in the shop I went to recommended this though: http://www.musicalfidelity.com/v90-amp/ It costs the same as the receiver but does less? I'll be plugging it all into my TV, PS3 and HTPC, and it will be a mix of watching TV and movies, as well as music. So, my questions: 1) Are there any other speakers I should be looking at that price point that are the same size or smaller? 2) Is putting the speaker behind the TV a really bad idea? I can't see any way to fit it in otherwise. 3) Would you recommend the Musical Fidelity Amp or the Marantz Receiver?
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Feb 8, 2014 20:38
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I'm looking for an inexpensive 5.1 receiver that plays audio from the HDMI inputs. New/used, doesn't matter. The Onkyo I have is about 5 years old, and for some reason has HDMI inputs that only pass through the receiver. Any suggestions?
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Feb 10, 2014 02:37
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FogHelmut posted:I'm looking for an inexpensive 5.1 receiver that plays audio from the HDMI inputs. New/used, doesn't matter. The Onkyo I have is about 5 years old, and for some reason has HDMI inputs that only pass through the receiver. Any suggestions? Amazon is currently offering the Yamaha V375 for $199.95, which is $50 below the usual price. http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RX-V375-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B00B981F38/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392064733&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+375
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Feb 10, 2014 22:42
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Is there a good thread or primer on digital audio? I'd like to know how to make the most of the collection of FLAC files I have but things like DACs and what kind of receiver to use are all new to me. Avian Pneumonia fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 01:07
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Avian Pneumonia posted:Is there a good thread or primer on digital audio? Rule #1: Don't worry about it. What are you using right now? If you're using the analog output of your motherboard's onboard sound chip, I would recommend getting either:
All of these options will do a good job of reducing noise, which is the bane of any computer sound card. I went with the TOSLINK option to completely sever any ground loops, and it works really well with a ~$30 FiiO D3 DAC. As for the receiver/amplifier, you can pretty much use whatever you want, as long as it has RCA (or TOSLINK/S/PDIF) inputs and enough grunt to power your speakers. Anything about 30 watts per channel is generally plenty. As for the best player, I really like Foobar2000, not for any imagined sound quality reasons, but because it has a simple straight-forward interface and global hotkeys, and because it plays just about every format ever made, with the right plugins.
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Feb 11, 2014 10:26
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Raymn posted:Thoughts on this? I bought this. It was easy to set up and overall pretty fast. I paired it with the Andrew Jones floor standing/center channel/subs and it's pretty great, but like every receiver I've ever used (granted this is probably the nicest one), sometimes the menus just refuse to open. The remote signal is fine because other commands work. Blows my mind I can't figure out how to make the front panel show the current time though, that would be super useful. There also is a non-disruptive amount of lag for video games, and a/v sync is good for things like Rocksmith. Haven't tried Guitar Hero. I'll post more proper thoughts on this setup when I get a chance.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:26
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a couple of pages ago I asked for recommendations for in-ceiling speakers. Now I'm thinking that in my home theater maybe I'd be better off going with bipoles for rear surrounds in 5.1. I have a floorplan that should help illustrate what I'm working with.  We are in the middle of remodeling an older home and we literally have it down to the studs in the basement right now. We are about to begin framing out the wall between the den and the laundry room so the wall will actually be pushed back another 1-2' into the laundry room to make the den a little bit wider. The sectional we have (might replace it but it's a good fit for the time being) is approximately 7'x9', so for scale that half of the den is about 10'x13' The den is actually a long open room w/ 2 steel square tube pillars in the middle for support, there's no dividing wall but we might put some cabinets or shelving between the walls and the pillars. So while I realize having my couch pushed up against the back wall isn't ideal, I'm kind of limited by the size of the space. My options are either to just stick to 3.1 or to try to find some speakers that will sound at least alright for rears to do 5.1. Sound deadening all of the walls is certainly in the works. I've already asked our contractor to make sure the drywall in the wall between the laundry room & den is deadened as well as the walls behind the couch. I'm also looking for recommendations on acoustic paneling for the ceiling or even doing a soundtrap in the corner by the tv if it'd help. So I'd love to hear your guys advice on what I should do for rears & how I can ensure this space sounds as good as it possibly can. My fronts are these Aperion 5T's: http://www.aperionaudio.com/intimus-5t-tower-speaker Center is this Aperion 5C: http://www.aperionaudio.com/intimus-5c-center-channel-speaker-3 Sub is this 10+ year old Velodyne 10" that I picked up for a song on Craigslist: http://www.tmraudio.com/product/velodyne-spl-1000-subwoofer-mint-condition-in-factory-box I haven't been able to find much info on it but the driver was brand new replaced by velodyne when I picked it up a few years ago and the amp was shorted out, I took it in to a velodyne dealer and they sent it off to velodyne who reconditioned it for the cost of shipping. So even though it's old it's essentially new in all ways that matter. I'm not opposed to replacing it with something better if someone who knows more than me thinks it's the wrong size for my space. Receiver is this Pioneer: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-1020-K Recommendations?
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Feb 12, 2014 00:55
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KozmoNaut posted:Rule #1: Don't worry about it. This is ultra helpful. The only question is: Does anyone make a receiver capable of powering a 5.1 speaker arrangement that isn't a disgustingly large black box that looks like it was designed in the 1980s? (I guess the signal would be coming from SPDIF or direct from the DAC?) Video isn't even an issue as it'll be going direct from my video card to two large computer monitors via DVI. Avian Pneumonia fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Feb 12, 2014 |
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Feb 12, 2014 03:59
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Avian Pneumonia posted:This is ultra helpful. AV receivers are usually sized for a reason. Heat sinks and power supplies are pretty big. Lots of brands offer silver finishes if that makes a difference. If you want something that looks different, maybe look at NAD?
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Feb 12, 2014 12:42
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The slim line if marantz receivers look really nice also.
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Feb 12, 2014 13:03
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Mmd3 I will type up some thoughts re your post in the next day. Currently cementing in an oil well casing in -30* temperatures and just don't feel like thinking right now.
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Feb 12, 2014 13:05
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Retired my Onkyo 705. I was never happy with it, it was bought used. The thing always sounded off. I ran the audyssey 8 point, tweaked it via the AVS link jonathan linked up and while it did sound better dialogue was always lacked definition. I decided to get an Onkyo 828. It was a risk but I just got it set up with audyssey and decided to continue watching House of Cards. Immediately I noticed that the voices were fuller, clear, and warm. Once the opening credits came up the room came alive. At this point I found out why my 705 was sold to begin with, something was wrong with it, I'm a bit pissed and want to throw it in the trash, never to buy used again. One thing that I noticed is that the audyssey setup for the 828 put my speakers at 40hz instead of the 60 or 80 that the 705 did. I forgot if I need to change this. Was there something in the AVS megathread that I need to go back over? If you have that link I'd love it.
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Feb 13, 2014 04:57
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Have you seen my apex seals? I seem to have lost them.
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jonathan posted:Mmd3 I will type up some thoughts re your post in the next day. Thanks, looking forward to it!
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Feb 13, 2014 08:04
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MMD3 posted:a couple of pages ago I asked for recommendations for in-ceiling speakers. Now I'm thinking that in my home theater maybe I'd be better off going with bipoles for rear surrounds in 5.1. If you're happy with those towers and center in general, then I'd say that part of the equation is good to go. That's plenty of speaker for that size of sound field. If you're happy with that sub, I'd also say that's a done deal. A 10 inch Velodyne that f3's at 23hz anechoic should hammer in that space. Even moreso if you can get it nearfield by the couch (say under a coffee table?). You'll catch a bit more reinforcement from that loooooong wall on the back as well. Besides, bass that people can't locate easily just makes me giggle. Surrounds/receiver... Let's talk surrounds first. Yes, your couch is on the back wall, but it's workable. I've had very good luck over the years in using in-ceiling speakers for surrounds in 5.1 setups when depth of field issues are unavoidable. I run this way right now with 12 feet max from TV presentation and front stage to listing area on an opposing wall. It's just the nature of the particular beast in my house. Whan purchasing my mains/center 2 years ago I asked the guy who designed my speakers what he recommended as far as brands to match best his product. His answer, and now mine: Sonance. Now, Sonance's website sucks, and they split everything out along a bunch of esoteric-sounding product lines. It's a pain in the rear end. What I will tell you is that what I bought was the second to LOWEST tier line of in-ceilings (the one line they had at Best Buy at the time), and they are just killer. Their specs claim they'll run down to 40hz and they will. You can run them full-range without issue. I believe I have the Z6R in equivalency. Receiver ties into the above. It's fine unless there's a feature you feel you're lacking. What you might consider though... is another pair of in-ceilings for the other half of the den? Get a little Zone 2 loving going (I run Zone 2 to my patio amp with the 1120-K). That way if you're in an ambient, background music state of mind you can even out the sound presence for both spaces. Or do what I do and run Zone 2 to a second amp and put speaks in all the main living spaces on that floor? Sonance does make a dual voice coil "single-stereo" in-ceiling as well.
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Feb 14, 2014 17:30
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Alleric posted:If you're happy with those towers and center in general, then I'd say that part of the equation is good to go. That's plenty of speaker for that size of sound field. Awesome awesome info, thanks! I'll check out Sonance... Wow, those Z6R's are not cheap... looks like it's a $1500 pair. Not that that's out of budget per-say but if I were to spend that much I'd probably look into upgrading my front speakers at the same time. I was looking at something closer to a $4-800 pair for the rears. For the other zones I'll probably go Sonos for listening to stuff on the main floor of the house in the kitchen and living room. Any listening that isn't in the den would certainly be less critical... I have a turn-table and a modest record collection and I was thinking I might get a vintage receiver to power some bookshelf speakers in the office or another room. I'll definitely consider wiring for a second zone on the other side of the den but it'll certainly be more budget speakers if I do it. Aperion has some in-ceiling speakers that I may go audition since their showroom is close by http://www.aperionaudio.com/speakers/in-wall-and-in-ceiling-home-theater-speakers Is Sonance worth the price if the rears were to end up being the single most expensive component in my audio setup? seems like I should be looking to change out center or fronts before dropping that kind of dough on rears no? I feel like I saw some breakdown at one point on what percent of sound goes through each speaker in a 5.1 setup and it was like 10% or so in the rears.
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Feb 14, 2014 22:32
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I was also meaning to ask what you guys use for power supplies? are home theater power console's like this worth it? http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-AP20800FC08-BLK-PureAV-Theater-Console/dp/B001548Q38 I'm mostly just looking for surge protection.
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Feb 15, 2014 00:14
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