Definitive Technology Mythos Series Thread - Page 55

Originally Posted by Mark F

Spray painted? Not me but when I get the rest of mine the auto painter is waiting for them. He'll make them gloss black for me for just a few bucks.

Originally Posted by Rebound

I wouldn't... The speakers are aluminum with molded plastic end caps. Good luck getting them to match.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

mvp2005fan,
As requested , here are some pic's of my current system. My system changes a lot and the next upgrade will finally be a new Tv.













































Consists of:
TV Sony 46 RPTV(Being replaced with a Panasonic 58 or 65 Plasma)
Receiver Pioneer ELite SC-07
Power Panamax M5500ex
Control Universal MSC400 with mx950
Apple Tv
Universal Ipod House dock(Used with Mx6000)
Comcast DVR HD
DVD/SACD/DVD AUDIO/CD Pioneer ELite dv58av
Blu Ray Sony Ps3 (maybe a Oppo 83 next)
Xbox360 with HD DVD Drive and used for Netflix streaming
Speakers:
Definitive Technolgy Mythos St mains
" " Mythos 10 center
" " Mythos 10 rears
Sub is used internal ST for now , still deciding if I need a external sub.
Linksys 8 port switch for all network connections. Feed by Apple Extreme Router located in Basement with Comcast Modem.
dedicated 20 amp circuit with a Ps Audio Power port outlet in Decor white.
Lighting control around the house is currently Lutron Spacer system but is being replaced with Control 4.
Wiring is Binary HDMI , Audioquest Sub cables , Audioquest speaker wire with DH labs Silver sonic mains wire all in 14-2 CL3 rated , Audioquest custom Component cables and audio cables for all analog connections which include Remote located Ipod dock in Masterbed which also has network connection , control , Audioquest 1m Powercable from the Panamax to the wall (for shorter run and cleaner Install)
Zone 2 is sent out Line level to basement amp with Polk Audio in wall , in ceiling , outdoor speakers around the house. All locations have in wall volume controls by Niles audio. This system will change in near future with a full Control 4 control system which will replace all Universal controls and RF base units around the house.
Iphone controls Apple Tv as a source in zone 2 for cover art control in rooms without a display. It's great for the garage when cleaning the trucks or sitting out on the deck drinking etc. There is a Apple Express for other streams from Apple computers around the house. Total of 5 Itunes Libraries. This is becoming less and less important due to Easy Sharing feature with the update of OS10x Snow Leopard.

Originally Posted by Rebound

I wouldn't... The speakers are aluminum with molded plastic end caps. Good luck getting them to match.

Originally Posted by Mark F

My thinking is that even the black one's from the factory started out as silver then DefTech made them black.

Originally Posted by mvp2005fan

Mantis: Thanks for the beautiful pics!

Do you happen to have a picture taken of the fronts from the main listening position?

Also, with that system, you really must get dual Ultras, Fathoms, or some other pair of beasts--not because you need the bass, but to up the intimidation factor of your system even more

(Love those ghosts on the audio stand -- even though my wife loves to decorate for every season, have been able to avoid the figures on the stand...so far)

Thanks again--great system!

Originally Posted by Mantis10

Paradigm Cinema series are fine speakers for the price. I really dig them. I find Paradigm makes better on wall in wall in ceiling speakers then there floor standing models. I don't know what happens when they go floor other then muddy reproduction. I don't get it.

Nice to see Ones for rears. I bet they sound great. I would actually find them to be slight low , did you use any kind of stand? Like a Box or something? To get them above ear height? If I spec'd them as rears , I would find a way to get the tweeter at 72 inches from the floor. Custom matched to the room platforms would really be trick.
Actually I would use 8's in the rear. Did you consider this? On wall ? If not I assume you have placement issues or like floor standing speakers for rears. I think it's cool as you have a really matched system. So if you didn't boost up the Ones height in the rear , Consider it. I bet they would perform even better then they do now.
I remember seeing pic's of someone using Ones as rears , did you post pic's?

Originally Posted by Tman25000

Nice setup! Who's the manufacture of your rack/tv stand? I would like to find something similar in black.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

I agree the 10 is a better "center channel" then the 9 due to it's a few hz lower but if a company makes a matching center , why would one recommend something different? Granted timbre matching is key to synergy between speakers and the 10 and 9 don't really sound much different, actually they are extremely close.
But the 9 is the perfect match for STS , I just don't understand using something else even the 10. Why not finish off the front array and upgrade the STS to ST? They 2 have better bass and actually sound better then the STS. If you listen to one then the other , it's noticeable enough to want the same improvement.
Having a great channel channel is key to any theater system, I do however get it wanting more.

Originally Posted by kc8apf

A quick look up verifies that in a sitting position on my couch, the tweeter of the ST is at ear level. The tweeter isn't the top-most driver in the tower. It's below one of the 5" drivers.

Originally Posted by kc8apf

The Ten's don't have any rear porting or anything that would cause the sound to travel out the back. The design of the passive resonators should take drive nearly all the low-end sound out the front. I'd be more concerned about the subs in the STs as mine an be quite powerful especially when the LFE track on a movie is very active (and overly powerful IMO).

Originally Posted by kc8apf

My wife has extremely sensitive hearing so the majority of my listening is at low volume. The ST has a much more defined and clear mid-range along with a richer low-end. The STS was certainly a pleasant speaker to listen to, but the ST is a significant improvement for music, especially with female vocalists. For movies/tv, I couldn't tell any difference between the ST and the STS. In the end, the STS was good, but the ST had my wife and me saying "wow".

Originally Posted by rnrn

Just saw this post in the what's your configuration section:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post17307687

Might want to ask him what kind of stands those are.

Originally Posted by mvp2005fan

Those are the Sanus FF1 stands according to the poster.

Originally Posted by voigtskins

I have Definitive Mythos ST-Definitive Mythos 10-Definitive Mythos Gem XL sides and rear.These are driven by Emotiva XPA 2 fronts and Emotiva 5 for center-sides and rears.The Mythos 10 center is seemless across the front with the Mythos ST left and right.They sound great in music and moviesand the Mythos10 is a great center ch. speaker as it blends great with the Mythos ST left and right ch. fronts. Does any one know of a speaker run off with the Emotiva ERT 8.3 and Emotiva ERM 6.3 with the Definitive Mythos ST and the Definitive Mythos 10??? People on the Emotiva site say they love their new line of speakers but i love my Def. speakers for music and movies.Please give some of your opinions if you have heard the Emotiva speakers.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

Salamander Synergy series, mine is a triple 20 in maple with Aluminum supports.
http://www.salamanderdesigns.com/syn/triples.jsp

Originally Posted by Mantis10

I'm not sure what you are asking here. I don't think mixing and matching speakers anywhere in ones system is a good idea. Using the same brand/series is ideal for the best results. Gem xl's for all rear channels is really good. They are a notch above the Gem's. I went even further and used 10's for rears and when I get my theater built I will add another pair of 10's for surround back. This would be a ideal upgrade over the Gem xl's if your looking for an improvement in the back.

Originally Posted by voigtskins

I wanted to know if anyone has heard the Emotiva system and compared it to the Definitive system.The people on the Emotiva web site love their new Emotiva speakers.I know not to mix and match speakers as that is why i have ALL Definitive speakers.I wanted to know if anyone heard the Emotiva speakers and if they were an upgrade over the Definitive speakers i have in my theater.

Originally Posted by KBKellyUSA

Thanks to all who replied to my post earlier this week.




I went to a local dealer yesterday and discovered that the tweeter is at approximately 43 inches above the floor on the ST. When seated in a home theater seat in the store, my ears were exactly 43 inches off the ground.

It's a bit strange because at home, the tweeter on my NHT 1.5's (on stands) is only 33 inches above the floor and when seated on my sofa, it is at ear level. My sofa doesn't seem excessively low. The theater seat I was in was quite large, but I wouldn't say it was a 10" difference in height.



I mentioned this to my salesperson and he feels that wall mounted speakers (rear ported or not), will likely generate additional noise on the other side of the wall. Especially since the Mythos 10 can go pretty deep in the bass dept.



I was able to listen to both the ST and the STS last night (music only) and I have to agree that the difference was significant. The ST is not only an upgrade to the low end. Everything seemed more natural and fuller. I'm sold.








Thanks guys for finding this thread. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the stands in silver. It doesn't appear they are available in black. Maybe I'll just do ST's all around.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

The ST vs the STS next to each other I have found what you did. It's very noticeable all over the place. But in separate rooms the STS and ST seem very close. I love the STS and think for 1000.00 less you get a hell of a speaker. If you are willing to spend the extra money , the ST is the man no question.
Having ST's all around would be pretty killer. Full range everywhere would be nice. I would build the ST in a room so the Tweeter was at 72 inches for surrounds. I could see this being a killer theater setup. I would run all ST's large with no line level and get a Trinity for LFE. This would be the ultimate theater system. I would go further to ask Definitive Technology to build me a powered 10 center channel to match the ST exactly and make is wall mountable. Think of the possibilities of such a system. Damn!!!!

Originally Posted by Mantis10

Gotcha. I have not heard them. I will say this , the ST are going to be incredibly hard to match let alone beat for the money. They are exceptional speakers in there price class. I would challenge any speaker system again the Mythos series for both music and theater. I have heard and setup many systems. I have only found a few that I feel are a good vs battle with the mythos series.
I'd really like to hear the new Emotiva products. A lot of people seem to like them.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

LOL thanks. Actually I am a Audio Video Installer/Programmer. Whats funny is that is a rush job. I had a full Dynaudio Audience speaker package with Rotel separates , then I replaced the Preamp with the Pioneer ELite receiver , had the center channel in the cabinet where the DVD player is. All my cables where custom cut to fit the last setup. I didn't remake my cables and reused the HDMI cables with the gear in different places in the rack. I had to make due with what I had. The wire management was actually much neater.
I take pride in my work and I specialize in wire management. I love Building big racks for huge house systems.
Anyone can do it with proper training and planning.

Originally Posted by KBKellyUSA

I was only half kidding when I said that I wanted ST's all around. The problem is the other half of my brain won't allow me to stop thinking about it. When I first saw your system (ST's in front, Ten's as center/surrounds), I really wanted to do that. But I live in a condo and don't want to wall mount any speakers. The Sanus stands mentioned earlier in the thread really just don't do it for me so what other options are there?

I do have to ask though.... How would you propose raising the ST surrounds to 72 inches?

Originally Posted by voigtskins

How good are the Mythos 10 as a side and back speaker? Are they too big for surr. or do i drop down to the Mythos 9 or 8 ? Thanks for all your answers to my questions as i love my speakers and just want to improve on my sound in my theater if i can do that

Originally Posted by fquails

WOW! Amazing set up. Especially the wire management.

I was content with the unseen tangled mess of wires behind my system. Out of sight, out of mind. But after seeing your photos, I am inspired. I have just placed my order for a whole bunch of velcro cable ties from monoprice. Should arrive mid-week. Won't be able to custom cut the wire lengths, though. But I'll be happy if I can get mine to look half as organized as yours.

Originally Posted by Mantis10

Thanks,
if you need some tips , I can provide a backbone if you will for your wire project. Once you figure out the main pipe, everything falls into place.
Yeah I build most of my wires. If I had HDMI Pro kits, I would build them 2. I now Audioquest talked about doing such but I have not seen them. Speaker wire , Interconnects , Cat 5 , Flashers all can be custom built to length and it makes your job a lot easier to have the right length cable. But you have to plan for that. I make mine as I go. These pic's I reused the cables from my last system and only tailored a few that I had to. I was being lazy as I just wanted my system up and running. But I can't leave any kind of wire mess. It's not apart of my makeup. I have like OCD or something when it comes to things like this. I'll tell you this , the velcro makes it so much better when you upgrade as much as I do. I'm always back there adding , removing , moving things. This really makes life easy.

Good luck with your wire project.

Originally Posted by rnrn

Has anyone tried mounting their center channel vertically? Any opinions on it?

Originally Posted by mvp2005fan

I will offer a mild counterpoint and a humble opinion if I may...

Having 6 ST's in a system (2 fronts and 4 surrounds) would be akin to adding 6 subwoofers to the system (depending on how you would set up your crossovers).

While it certainly seems like it would be cool, it may present various problems as well with standing waves, deep nulls, bloated bass, etc, unless your room and speaker placement are spot on (not always easy to accomplish with that many subs and a less than perfect room). While such a system has the potential to sound good, it also has the potential to sound worse than the conventional set up. I would think a formal spectral analysis and calibration with this setup would be a must to avoid some of the potential pitfalls.

Further, although movie surround material is specified to be full range, the overwhelming majority of it is not. In addition, surrounds that signal their own presence is not the desired effect that many want. Therefore, having full range speakers with subs as your surrounds is probably overkill in 2009.

The extra money you would save could be put to things (i.e room treatments, a better monitor/projector, true theater seats, etc. ) that would likely have a more tangible benefit in your home theater.

All that said, I would encourage you to go for it (if cash/space/significant other permit), as I must admit a morbid curiosity of how such a system would measure out--plus, overkill is what a lot of us HT-types live for!!!

Originally Posted by voigtskins

I wanted to know if anyone has heard the Emotiva system and compared it to the Definitive system.The people on the Emotiva web site love their new Emotiva speakers.I know not to mix and match speakers as that is why i have ALL Definitive speakers.I wanted to know if anyone heard the Emotiva speakers and if they were an upgrade over the Definitive speakers i have in my theater.