Definitive Technology Mythos Series Thread - Page 168

Looking for some feedback on the Mythos Gem XL for rear surround.....I have Klipsh towers and center with a svs 12 sub. my rears are a couple of old infinity minuets....I can't find anyplace to listen to the Gems, but the size would work out great to keep my wife from freaking out..lol I'm looking to get some better quality sound from my rears especially when listening to music on dvd audio or sacd and blu ray....
Thanks for any help....
Rick

I have them for my surrounds with my ST's and 10 center and they work great. For their purpose in the 5.1 system they are a great speaker. I use mine mainly for HT, so can't really comment on the music front. I have one 5.1 Rush DVD and there are a couple of sounds on that that sounded pretty good in 5.1.

I don't think you will have any issue plugging these into your system.

I currently have a Paradigm Studio set-up with a Paradigm CC-490 ver. 5 center channel. I have to switch to a more compact system with a wall-mountable center channel due to space constraints in my new apartment. I just bought a pair of Mythos STS and am looking for a good matching Center Channel speaker.

I will be able to provide some feedback on the match between the cc-490 and the STS, once I get the STS set up. This may be of use to you since the cc-490 and the cc-690 are voice matched .

I think currently the new CS-8080 is a pefect match for the ST's or the STS. They sound much better than Mythos 10. I have put up my mythos 10 for sale, and am looking forward to buy a CS-8080 as soon as the Mythos 10 is sold. I might have to pool in some money from my pocket, oh well, but i guess its well worth it, by reading all the previous reviews by members who owned a Mythos 10 and their upgrade to CS-8080 definately sounds worth the upgrade.

But definately looking forward to your impressions. I guess the DefTech line up is going to stay with me for a while, and in few years i might move to a more serious DIY made mains.

Unfortunately, the CS-8080 is not an option for me as I need to wall-mount the center channel speaker.

Where have you put up the M-10 for sale and how much are you asking for it? PM me if you can't post that info here. Thanks.

Sent you a PM.

Hello,

I have the below speaker setup utilizing an Onkyo 805 receiver. I have the options of setting receiver to either 4 or 6 ohm? Is there any advantage of using one over the other? Thanks!

Fronts: Mythos ST
Surrounds: Gem XL
Center: Mythos 10

The Mythos ST is a 8 Ohm speaker. Home Theater's measurements show a minimum impedance of 5.26 Ohms at 356 Hz. The 6 Ohm setting is ideal for this speaker and your receiver.

If set the receiver to the 4 Ohms and play music at high volumes, the receiver will start clipping and damage your speakers.

Anyone have thoughts going from BP7000SC to Mythos ST? I find myself listening to music more instead of movie/games so I think I might be better off with the ST's. Looking to see if Def Tech might release a new series with the upgraded mids.

Greetings everyone,

First time poster - here goes:

I am upgrading from a Pro Cinema 600 system & have recently purchased:

L/C/R - Mythos 10
Surround - Gem XL
Sub - Supercube 6000
AVR- Denon 3313ci

I need an on wall speaker system due to space issues so towers are out of the question. I should also mention that I got a pretty good deal on this setup which helped my decision. Now as for me I am 80% HT & 20% music, although this is subject to change. I am hoping to get decent music performance out of this setup ,at least better than what I had, but I must mention I am not an audiophile. My room dims are 18X15X9.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Since I now have capability for a 7.2 setup I am toying with the idea of getting 2 more mythos 10's for the surrounds (good price) & moving the gem XL's to front height. I hear this setup favors HT, but will it also improve music if I am listening in multi channel? Would this change be significant enough to even bother with?

2) My recent sub purchase SC 6000 did not get the greatest reviews that I've seen, however I will keep an open mind. Would there be a great benefit to incorporate an additional sub into the system & if so, will it mostly benefit HT or music or both?

All opinions are appreciated

The set-up you have now is a very good one. Adding more speakers is unlikely to improve your experience in a way that would be obvious to a non-audiophile. Adding height speakers to a 5.1 setup is not as dramatic a change as going from stereo to 5.1. It won't hurt to add the height speakers, but you may find yourself questioning if it was worth the money and the trouble. If you still want to add speakers, Audessy says that Wide speakers add more to the listening experience than height speakers. Check out the Audessy FAQ here.


Adding a second sub would help eliminate any bass 'holes' that might exist in your room. But again, time spent on properly locating the single sub in your room would yield better results than simply sticking a second sub on the other side of the room.

One other thing - the XLs, with mid-range drivers angled away from each other, are better suited for surround-speaker duty than the M10s. Being a 'flat' design the M10s will add more directionality to the sound and act more like point sources, which may detract from the 'surround' effect that you are looking for.

There is no harm in doing either of the things you mentioned, but I would try other things to improve the sound in your room before adding more equipment. Since your room is relatively narrow, and the length is exactly twice the width, I would focus on adding bass-traps and other room treatments.

This is just my opinion, and I am no expert - so take it with a grain of salt.
Edited by Spock1234 - 2/5/13 at 11:33pm

I am great fan of Def Tec having owned BP 2002 for almost 15 years. I am also unfortunately, in this case, a resident of the UK. I say unfortunately because in wanting to upgrade to the Mythos STS's the going price for them over here are $5500 for the pair. I really want to stay with the brand but this extraordinary mark up makes it difficult. The question is if the STS's cost $5500 would you still rate them so highly? Also Mythos Nine center would set me back $1400. Considering the primary purpose would be home cinema, the fact they have subs built in off sets the cost of buying an extra sub (so in theory my alternative would be $3000 on "audiophile" LRs such as KEFs or B&Ws and $1500 on a sub to make it all go low) but still.... any opinions on this issue of value vs performance??

Having compared the STS to my Paradigm Studio 20's ver.5, I can safely say that the STS is NOT a $5500 speaker. The Studio 20 costs about $1300 and the STS was slightly better in the mid-range. With its built-in subwoofer, the STS was, as expected, much better than the Studio 20 in the low-end. I would equate the performance of the STS to that of the Studio 80 or 100.

You should check out the Paradigm Studio or Reference series - IF the price is right in the UK. I think you would be very pleased with the performance.

I have STS's, and like them. That said, for those prices, go with the KEF's. The R series is a very solid speaker and works well with HT and music.

Gotten to listen to my Mythos 10 x 3 + XTR20BP x 2 system with SVS PB10ISD. Very impressive, especially the mythos 10's. Only disappointments are the following:

1. The Mythos 10's were found by Audyssey to need to be crossed over at 100Hz. Obviously I wish they dug a little deeper...that 80Hz number is so nice to see.
2. The XTR20BP's are very nice and aesthetically pleasing...and that is why I bought them for rears, but again audyssey found their point they need to be crossed over at 250Hz. That's pretty darn high, I was hoping for 120Hz at least. Guess the lack of enclosure volume really hurts it hear.

Fortunately the sub in my system is in the rear of the setup so I don't think the directionality of surround effects should be that distracting. The system definitely looks great and sounds great especially for the unobtrusive nature of the speakers.

''

YMMV, but as long as you have a sub that can comfortably reach to 100 Hz without distorting or producing overly localized bass, I wouldn't sweat a 100 Hz crossover for the Mythos 10. As a center channel, I didn't trust the Mythos Nine/Ten for < 100 Hz at the - 3db point for Audyssey, let alone < 80 Hz for mains unless you had a Supercub III sub:). I'd take the specs at the -3db point at 60 Hz from DefTech with several grains of salt for actual home use in less than perfect HT settings (e.g. ideal placement and room treatments/bass traps).

The only question is whether your sub is really reaching as high as 100 Hz with sufficient SPL. It might be 'better' than the Mythos 10, but you might want to do some external post-Audyssey assessment with an OmniMic or REW to find out if you're truly getting flat/smooth bass in that region at something better than the 1/6 smoothing from the basic Audyssey charts (I'm assuming you're running XT or XT32, and the consumer vs. the Pro version). You can check the Audyssey thread for more information about how to do this, and/or the new REW with HDMI thread for suggestions about testing protocol.

One interesting thing: a Google search of your sub shows mfr. specs up to 100 Hz. Some of the newer 10" subs from SVS in the ported line can reach much higher, at about the same price range (approximately $500) for what the PB10ISD was listed at. Given your XTR crossover, that might be worth pursuing if you have the money:

http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb-1000

I've been begging the wife for a PB12-Plus to really fill up the decently large area our new HT is in. The PB10 does an admirable job...but it starts distorting a bit at high volumes. Problem is...my wife won't notice it...only I will.

I do want to run REW and thankfully, because I've designed/built my own speakers, I have everything to run it. Just have to find time to get everything set up and take the measurements to see how audyssey did. The Mythos 10's are mounted to the wall so that appears to give them some bass reinforcement. One speaker of my FL, C, FR combo measures a bit less in audyssey for bass. I assumed this to be for one of two reasons:

1. Its a bit further from a "true" corner in the room.
2. The acoustics of the room just work that way

I guess to know for sure I'd have to swap the two speakers, I'm not sure I care enough to get those down from the wall.

But you are right, I don't like "trusting" audyssey. Although for the results I hear it sounds pretty good. Definitely a much improved system from the one on my HK435 which just ate up my subwoofers power leaving my system lifeless. Oh and I have a Denon 4311 so I'm using XT32.

Good man - you're already ahead of the game . I hope the 'begging' pays off. Mine only noticed what a capable sub did to the picture when I cranked up the scene from Independence Day where the alien ship blew up major buildings!

As for Audyssey, it's still more trustworthy than no room correction or RC that doesn't EQ subs. But still, it's electronic room correction, and given the high degree of smoothing that Audyssey curves get, it's smart to follow the cliche of 'trust but verify'. Especially to fine tune crossovers with the distance tweak at the MLP.

How large is your room? Depending you might want to eventually go the dual sub route.

Room is 15 x 18 but largely open on the 15' side to the kitchen area. Trust me, I'd love dual subs in this setup...but that isn't happening anytime soon . My best bet with the Mrs is to go with as big a single sub as I can get. The basement will be where I can actually use two subs in the future...that's "off limits" to her complaints

I understand. The only thing I'll point out is that you'll get better bass response with two smaller subs than a single bigger one, given those dimensions, particularly if you have placement flexibility. But WAF influences our decisions unless we're single and/or hermits....

DefTech says that the CS-8040 has a 'Second generation BDSS midrange driver'. Is this the same as the midrange in the STS or is it better than the STS driver?
Edited by Spock1234 - 2/9/13 at 8:16pm

The actual driver is different, but the 80XX and STS's blend well. I used to have a M10 and now have a CS-8060 with my STS's.

That's good to know. I have thought about changing either my 8 or 10 for either the 8060 or 8080 but because of the black high gloss finish I think it'll create a problem. I use a projector and think it will reflect too much light or create a glare. Anyone using a projector with the 80XX as a center?

If glare is a concern why not be creative and use electrical tape to cover it......where there's a will there is always a way...

Hello Spock and Palgone, it's worth noting that we are not talking simply about performance, but also design. Just my 2 cents Best, Joe

True.

BTW, do yuo have an answer to my question the about the CS-80X0 drivers - DefTech says that the CS-8040 has a 'Second generation BDSS midrange driver'. Is this the same as the midrange in the STS or is it better than the STS driver?

It is different...improved...has a different phase plug and might have other differences...I'll let Joe chime in...

Has anyone listened to the Mythos series side by side the Monitor Audio Shadow series? I am assuming the Mythos 9 would compare roughly to the Shadow 50's

How do they handle 2 channel stereo, I would be using with (likely) a SVS SB12-NSD

Hi everyone, new to forum and have been reading around a bit before signing up. I need some opinions on rear surround and zone 2 speaker options as well as subwoofer. I have been recently acquiring new equipment for basement of house we are moving to. Here's the specs on the basement and current equipment:

Finished basement with carpet 25x26x9; roughly half of space will be for ht and other for a bar area, but it's an open room.

Setup will be mainly used for movies and tv, with music occasionally. I'd say 85-15, but I would like to be able to have zone 2 enabled by bar with two speakers. I am also trying to keep this within a smaller budget and have done pretty well so far with under 1,800 so far.

Equip so far:
Benq w1070 projector
Mythos 2 and 3 from LRC
Onkyo tx-nr717

From what i've been gathered on forums, svs pb or sb 1000 or pb sb 12 seems to be consistently performing great for movie oriented setups. So, I am open to other suggestions, but would also like your take on which size sub and ported vs compact opinions.

I was thinking of doing in ceiling rears and for zone 2 (DI series?), but also would consider the gems. Question for all of you is what size in ceiling and feedback on any current similar setups.

Lastly, any views on speaker wire?

**Edit - picking up the Klipsch RW-12d since it's $299. Probably will add another sub down the road, but to keep fiancee happy I'll start with this one.

Thanks!
Edited by js741502 - 2/12/13 at 5:14am

I have ordered the CS-8080HD today, and should arrive this Wednesday. I had mounted the Mythos 10 on the wall, but now with CS-8080 the only option that DefTech provides is to mount the center channel to a shelf rather than providing a mounting bracket.
How have you mounted your 8080's on the shelf on the wall, or stands? what stands?