Definitive Technology Mythos Series Thread - Page 51

The Mythos 3 is intended for a center speaker, not L/R. Check out the Mythos 2. I just got the 2's for the L/R and the 3 for the center. So far, I am very happy with this setup. Hope that helps.

I'm not against in-walls but I don't want to limit myself if I want to change the room around at some point. Also, I am renting a house right now so if I go that route, I will have to wait until I buy a place this next summer to get rears. I appreciate the input. Is there a big difference between the Gems and the XL's?

I couldn't agree more! Which is why I opted for the Mythos One + dual SuperCube (for music) + 12" Klipsch sub (for HT) setup. The ST and STS are superb speakers, but they have to be placed in a location that will be perfect for bass, mid and high frequency output, which is not possible in my room. Separate subwoofers allowed for more placement versatility in my less than acoustically perfect room.

Reran Audyssey and wrote down the numbers this time.

Front L/R -2.0 db
Center -6.0
SW -2.0

Distance
Front L 15.1 ft
Front R 15.4
Center 13.8
SW 7.9

Crossover
Front --
Center 80
Surround A 120

I ran with my ST's set as Large with LFE. Center is a 10 and gems for surrounds. SW is old 15 Dahlquist.

SW measurement is a little further then the 7.9, but does that matter?

Any other settings I should look at or tweak in your opinion?

God this is hard... I'm sitting on the fence pondering several choices. I have a family room that is 18x30 and the theater will sit in the front half and the surrounds will be at least 15 feet back. I am considering getting ST with no sub, STS with a decent sub, or Mythos Ones with a refernce sub. Center will probably be 10 no matter the LR's. Sides and rears likely Gem XL's. Any of those will no doubt be great. Here are my concerns and thoughts...
1. I have auditioned the ST and STS's several times. I have been blown away by the ST each time, but the STS's less often. At one audition, the STS was a/b'd with B&W 683's and the tweeter sounded a bit harsh on horns comparatively, but trounced the 683's in soundstage size on music and dynamics in movies. I didn't hear the same harshness in the ST's. Is the tweeter the same in the ST and STS?

2. I have never heard the Mythos ones, so I'm reluctant to jump on them, even if they are so cheap (in silver). Is this concern over blown? Especially in light of pairing them with a 10 center and reference sub?

3. Will Gem XL's meet the challenge of filling in rear surround from 15' back and 16'-18' apart? Would 8's do a better job, albeit more direct/ less diffuse? Wondering about SPL without being too compressed sounding.

Lastly, I have a Pioneer SC-07 I bought over the summer in closeout that is merely powering the remnants from my last ancient HT system (a pair of Def Tech Celcius bookshelfs). Please help me pick out a suitable system. Thanks!

I run the ones with a reference and it is money!

No, it does not matter.

Audyssey and other room EQ programs measure delay times, not distance, per se. They convert the delay times to feet and inches for the convenience of users, as most of us don't think in terms of milliseconds. Subwoofers inherently have longer delay times than other speakers, so they nearly aways measure as being "farther" than a tape measure would indicate. The readings you got were no doubt correct for your room and equipment.

As for the other settings, they are room dependent and undoubtably appropriate for your setup.

Unless you listened to them properly set up in the same room, side by side, using the same electronics with identical settings, listening to the same source material, comparisons are dubious, at best. The STS's and the ST's use identical tweeters. Professional reviewers have commented that ST's and STS's sound virtually identical in small and medium rooms.

That said, if you believe the ST's sound better to you, those are what you should buy. Either represents a substantial investment for most of us, and we tend to keep speakers for years, so don't make a compromise based on someone else's opinion that will leave you wondering "what if..."


The Mythos Ones are excellent speakers; even better when matched wit a good subwoofer. They do use different drivers than the ST/STS's (or Ten), so they sound a bit different, but it's far from night and day. Lots of people would be hard pressed to justify the additional cost of the ST/STS's over the Ones even at MSRP's. Some of us were willing to pay a substantial premium for subtle improvements, and we are not unhappy that we did, but I, for one, will admit that I ventured past the point of diminishing returns.


Generally. people here tend to recommend the more expensive alternative. However, the Gem XL's were designed by DefTech specifically for this use. Their angled drivers were developed to provide a more expansive surround sound field than the conventional Mythos designs. I tend to give DefTech credit for knowing what they are doing. Their recommended Mythos systems almost always include Gems or Gem XL's as surrounds.

The Gem XL drivers are as capable as the mid-tweeter array in other Mythos designs. Being smaller than the 8's, they might not play as loud, but IMO, if you are playing the XL's loud enough for any compression effects to take place, you would be so submerged in the overall ear numbing din that you would be very unlikely to be able to detect it. Moreover, surround speakers rarely have demands placed on them equivalent to the fronts. In any case, placement in the room will have more effect on the sound match than any presumed inadequacy of the XL drivers compared to the Eights.


There are a lot of members who have found the match between the Pioneer SC-05/07 and Mythos speakers to be a marriage made in heaven. I think you will be more than pleased, no matter which Mythos you choose.

1. I used to be in the same exact boat. I could not decide between the STS and the ST. I kept going back and forth. Price really steered me to the STS over the ST. So I decided that I'm not willing to give up even 2hz in this purchase and went with the ST. I never looked back. I'm glad because if I got the STS I think I might look back.

2. The Mythos ones are simply fantastic. I have them side by side with the STS in our showroom. They hold there own but the STS have a cleaner midrange and deeper bass(built in subs). There top end in this speaker holds up against the STS but falls short overall. I like the STS more then the Ones. Without the STS in the same room, the Ones are great. If you want a floor sub, the Ones are very nice. They don't dig deep at all. They almost sound like a very nice bookshelf speaker. There bass response is weak but clean so a good supercube sub will add the bottom end you need. I really enjoy listening to the ones even owning the ST.

3.The Pioneer Elite SC-07 is a gem that I discovered before the internet buzz and the price drop. I was shocked in it's performance and ability to make Mythos speakers sound there best. I really was struck by the mating with the SC-07 and Mythos series speakers. WOW what a combo and very affordable. When the price drop came , Pioneer was basically giving them away. Steal if you will. There was no receiver made that was better or even equal to it in it's new price class. For sound quality I believe it was the best 2200.00 and under receiver on the market. You have no worries here.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess I have an inherent bias for buying speakers I've heard, so I guess the Ones are off the list. So its down to the ST and STS. I'm leaning towards ST vs STS plus sub. If the ST's need sub support down the road, I could consider that. I just really need to land on surrounds now. Sounds like people feel the Gem XL's can fill the back 16x18 of the 30x18 room the system will go in. Next thought.. Were can I go to get a good deal on the ST's (pm me?). Thanks again for the help.

Your right the Mythos 2's look to be the ones to use for the L & R so back to my original question - Will the Mytho 10 be a good match for the center channel with the 2's or is the 3 a better center match?

I just tried it out tonight and it worked perfectly.

I auditioned the ST and STS at my local Magnolia for a few hours constantly switching between them during songs. The STS was good, but the ST just had a warmer feel and cleaner midrange. I took the STS home to demo for a week mainly due to size and price. My wife and I listened to them for a day and both felt they were good but not amazing. I swapped them for the ST the next day.

The ST did better on some celtic female vocalists (yes, an obscure genre to be sure) by having a cleaner midrange. The low end was also significantly richer. The ST has us both saying "wow."

I didn't audition the STS w/ a sub. I'm sure it would have helped the low-end, but the midrange was still a bit muddy. I decided that if I was going to spend $1k on a sub to pair with the STS, I might as well go for the ST.


I can't really comment on the One. I don't have anything against subs, but my current room doesn't really have a great spot for one. When I finally ordered my STs, my Magnolia guy threw in a ML Abyss and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. For this 14x20 L-shaped room attached to a kitchen and a hallway, the ST is more than capable of providing sufficient bass.

How does everyone here decide on the placement of their speakers?

I went to Dolby's site and am matching up my speaker placement to their recommended 7.1 system. I've measured all the angles for positioning my speakers but because there aren't any flat/straight lines on the speakers, I'm having a tough time making sure they are pointing to the exact same point that I've defined as my listening position.

Post a few pic's of your room and I'll help you get the best placement.
So for homework, learn everything you can about placement. Check out
www.thx.com , www.dts.com and I see you already visited dolby. Once you learn where the correct placement is , you can make judgement calls to get as close as possible within your room. Most people don't have a dedicated theater room for perfect placement so we all have to use our best judgement according to the spec's.

I think I can echo most of the other's comments on the STS and ST. I listened to both of them at Abt. I live in a condo and I have a toddler at home, so I'm limited to space and volume. I could not run a separate sub at the time I was looking. Although I liked the STS, I almost couldn't see myself spending that much on them, I almost felt I would have been better with the Ones with a separate sub. The ST on the other hand blew me away. Having them in the same room (at Abt, I know not a perfect listening environment, nor the same as my home) made it pretty obvious. I'm no audiophile by any means, but the best way I could drescribe the sound is that the ST is just a fuller, move enveloping sound, and even with the tweeters being the same, the highs sounded clearer, and the low end sounded "bigger." I went to Abt to look at the STS, but left thinking I didn't really want the STS, but thinking I should really save some more to get the ST.

Thanks for keeping the first post updated!

Thanks! I will take some exact measurements of the room tonight and post a diagram. My camera phone isn't good enough to show the depth (or lack thereof) of my space.

Great idea, I'll try it out with a laser pointer this weekend.

I would have expected a lot more posts/threads in the audio theory section about pointing the speakers at the listening position, but none of the placement threads there give instructions on how to ensure the speakers point to the precise location you want them to point or cross at.

That is because there is more than one way to find ideal speaker placement, and everyone has their ways.

Another way is doing each speaker individually. You start by having the speaker pressed up against the back wall, and making incremental movements forward, until you get ideal bass response. You then repeat with the second speaker. From there you work with toe in and angles.

Glad to be of help .

What type of audio do you use for playback when doing this? And do you experience fatigue/bias when doing this?

Also, is anyone here using the MFW-15 with the Mythos 1? I'm thinking of picking it up but am not sure if that might be too much subwoofer for an apartment. What would be a good apartment sub that goes down to 20hz or lower?

Probably look into REL. They make killer subs that hit low but don't punch a hole in the floor. This might be what you are looking for.

i have mythos ones and dual mfw-15's, the mfw-15's are on top of auralex gramma's, helped a lot in getting a sound i was looking for, and they do work well together.

I pulled the trigger on an mfw-15 (couldn't ignore the sale). I'll just have to turn down the gain if the neighbors complain.

Mantis10, I looked into the REL and they are nice looking subs & the perfect size but to get the low frequency response I'd be spending much more than I'd like to.