Official JTR speaker thread - Page 236

Originally Posted by cshuff 

Greetings from Omaha,

Need input on amp(s) choice. Finishing new house...basement in planning stages. HT will be open to bar/pool table area, not dedicated. Space is very large. The only "sure thing" about the setup are the speakers, 3 Triple 12HT for LCR, 4 Slanted 8HT for surrounds, and 2 Caps (2400). I am 75/25 music/HT, but LCR will still be put behind AT screen. Pre/pro to be determined.

Chad

Originally Posted by logicators 

Initially the gain on the sub was set to ~11-o-clock and Audyssey was setting the sub to -12. Then I dropped the gain significantly and re-ran Audyssey and Audyssey now sets it to -2.5, but the level as measured by the RS meter is 65 db.

I will try what you suggested and post my findings.

Originally Posted by ufokillerz 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/post-production-forum/230192-radio-shack-spl-meter-correction-table.html

http://www.avsforum.com/t/505236/spl-meter-correction-tables


take a look at that, the rs meter requires correction to readings.

Originally Posted by countryWV 

For speakers its hard to beat what D-sonic and Wyred4Sound bring to the table. 1000wpc is plenty of power and one can get a 7 x 1000wpc Multichannel amp in a 50 lb chasis that is around 85% efficient for less than 5 grand. Can get 3 channels for $2300. If thats too much then Emotiva amps offer great value. Pro amps are fine also but they are not as efficient. I like pro amps for subs but not so much with my T12's as I find them a bit harsh at reference level which quickly leads to fatigue for me.
Chris

Originally Posted by ufokillerz 

with d-sonic and wyred4sound offerings, its very easy to just buy the boards they use and wire then up into a chassis, d-sonic currently uses abletec from what i've read, and wyred4sound uses icepower, it isn't too hard to source the boards, and after that its drill a few holes and its relatively plug and play. i recently built 3 monoblocks with abletec modules that do 600w into 8ohm and 1000w into 4ohm for ~400 bucks each or less, including all wiring, connectors and chasis. i estimate about 2hrs of diy work per amplifier (i'm slow).

a diy 7x1000wpc amp would probably probably cost less then half what they charge especially since they buy things in bulk, for the most part, it is plug an play asides from drilling a few holes.

if the d-sonics of wyred4sound were truely something more then just taking a oem product slapping it in a case, they would be worth the money
the only truely custom parts about them are probably the input stages, which we don't always need, unless we are running tube preamps, and the 12v trigger circuits.

Originally Posted by AV Science Sales 5 


For those looking for a good quiet amp, Parasound is closing out the A-52, so pricing on these while they last is very good. Does not have the power of the pro amps, but does 225 watts into four ohms with all five channels running. Should be plenty of power and you do not have to worry about fan noise like with the pro amps. Call me if you have any questions.

Originally Posted by mcallister 

Where did you buy the abletec modules? I did a search but didn't see a site selling them.

Originally Posted by countryWV 

For speakers its hard to beat what D-sonic and Wyred4Sound bring to the table. 1000wpc is plenty of power and one can get a 7 x 1000wpc Multichannel amp in a 50 lb chasis that is around 85% efficient for less than 5 grand. Can get 3 channels for $2300. If thats too much then Emotiva amps offer great value. Pro amps are fine also but they are not as efficient. I like pro amps for subs but not so much with my T12's as I find them a bit harsh at reference level which quickly leads to fatigue for me.
Chris

Originally Posted by countryWV 

I think D-sonic uses Icepower for his 250/500 , 500/1000 modules and Abletech for his 400/800, 600/1000, 1500/2400 modules but he keeps the exact details secret due to his past experience with W4S. I think thats correct but i'm guessing. I purchased the front 3 channels of 500/1000 and had him put it in a 7 channel chasis. The 4 surround channel are just plugged for a future upgrade to 7 x 500/1000. He quoted an excellent upgrade price almost as cheap as DIY ($500 a channel for $2 grand total for 4). The only part I worry about is the rough treatment it gets in shipping back and forth.
Thanks for the DIY info I will look lnto that since the hard part he has already done for me.
Chris

Originally Posted by N8DOGG 

You are right, he uses ICE and Abletech. They pretty much are OEM with their own cases etc. Just like every other class D amp. I can't speak for the Abletech modules but I know for a fact what ICE charges OEM wholesale for their stuff. This is the whole reason I always recommend D-sonic over W4S and I've owned both. The ASP1000's are still about $425 wholesale cost (depends on volume of buying). 425 x 7 = $2975 for the modules alone, It's a business, they have to make money somewhere. I have no problems paying what D-sonic cossts. Although of course DIY will always be cheaper, just like with speakers and subs, some just don't want to bother. Plus there is re-sale value, you do a DIY for 3K vs 4.5K for say D-sonic's amp, which one are you gonna sell and still be able to make back a good chunk of the money? it sure as hell isn't gonna be the DIY amp. Same gos for speakers and subs. I've made so many subs it's nuts but they are worth maybe half of what I paid to build them which is why I just give them away when I'm done to friends. My D-sonic will still be worth way more than half even 4 years from now, the DIY amp will be worth pretty much diddly squat. It's the nature of the DIY game. Save money but worth less.

Originally Posted by N8DOGG 

O I'm with you on DIY, I've got 2 x NC400 hypex amps that I had made 6 months ago that were great. I spend $400 on each module and another $200 on the PS. So with my case and XLR pots etc, It was a $1300 investment that sounded great. I still have it powering my bedroom system. I'm all about saving money and 100% agree that you can do it for much cheaper just like all DIY but in my case, the money wasn't an issue and I just wanted the leg work already done (which is kinda funny as I have 4 years of electronic's repair under my belt hahah)

Originally Posted by subyguy 

If you go with a class d pro amp like a crown xls they are as efficient. I went from an emotiva xpa-3 to xls 1500's and noticed a slight improvement in sound at very high volume but no added harshness or sound difference at moderate volume That was on my paradigm studio 100's and I didn't push them to the limit because the big crowns would have liquified the tweeters. I've only used the xls's on the T12's and love the sound. I did 3 channels at 1550wpc for $1050, or you could do 4 channels at 525wpc for $700 with the same amps (just depends if you bridge them or not and the fans have never come on.

I like the emotiva but I now think they are a bit outdated in size/weight/performance. If I wanted something less pro looking I'd definitely go for d-sonic or red dragons.

Originally Posted by m<rmadukeMSB 

Hello all from St. Louis.

As a long time reader, just wanted to drop in and say I just happily jumped on the JTR band wagon. I've been drooling for a long time over Jeff's stuff and just happened to see the right package on the classifieds page around Christmas. Just got two T12x's for L & R and an 8x for C installed earlier in the week and got the AVR trims and amp gains to comfortable positions with a round of Audyssey last night. I'm running them off crown xti2000 pro amps all behind a 110" Seymour AT screen (as I type this I'm thoroughly regretting not getting some pics, I was just too single minded I guess ). I opened phase two of my HT, stepping up from Infinity Primus, with The Bourne Identity and it had me smiling pretty much the whole way through. I'm definitely a loudness junkie and these monsters do the job effortlessly. It's actually the first time I've been able to scare myself in a long time. Haha.

Thanks everyone for all the informative posts and thanks Buckaman for hooking me up. Can't wait to get some more time with these things!

Originally Posted by logicators 

Initially the gain on the sub was set to ~11-o-clock and Audyssey was setting the sub to -12. Then I dropped the gain significantly and re-ran Audyssey and Audyssey now sets it to -2.5, but the level as measured by the RS meter is 65 db.

I will try what you suggested and post my findings.

Originally Posted by logicators 

I looked into XLS 1500 and it sounds very promising. I am considering to get two of them instead of an Emotiva XPA-3. Seems like a better value to me.

Do you see any issues with stacking two of them on a wall-mounted glass shelf with a PS3 slim on top??

Also, a XLS-1000 reviewer on Amazon suggested ensuring that the AVR pre-out's output is greater than or equal to the sensitivity of the amp. XLS-1500 has a sensitivity of 1.4 Vrms but I am unable to find the pre-out output rating of my Marantz SR6005. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by logicators 


Also, a XLS-1000 reviewer on Amazon suggested ensuring that the AVR pre-out's output is greater than or equal to the sensitivity of the amp. XLS-1500 has a sensitivity of 1.4 Vrms but I am unable to find the pre-out output rating of my Marantz SR6005. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by logicators 

I looked into XLS 1500 and it sounds very promising. I am considering to get two of them instead of an Emotiva XPA-3. Seems like a better value to me.

Do you see any issues with stacking two of them on a wall-mounted glass shelf with a PS3 slim on top??

Also, a XLS-1000 reviewer on Amazon suggested ensuring that the AVR pre-out's output is greater than or equal to the sensitivity of the amp. XLS-1500 has a sensitivity of 1.4 Vrms but I am unable to find the pre-out output rating of my Marantz SR6005. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by beastaudio 


No issues stacking, and stay clear of the xls1000, just get the xls1500 or higher, they are built out better. Your marantz will output plenty of voltage to run the crown.

Originally Posted by m<rmadukeMSB 

I can drive my 1.4Vrms sensitive XTI series into clipping with my Onkyo, if that helps any. I'd be surprised if it ran that much hotter than a Marantz. Could always hook up a multimeter set to AC to a pre-out and play a test tone if you can't dig up the spec.

Originally Posted by subyguy 

As mentioned above, stacking is no problem. I have 4 stacked and pushing them as hard as I can (while in another room even) they barely even get warm. The ps3 puts out way more heat than 4 of these do. I have no issue pushing them with my denon 4311 and have the gains at about half in order for them to play nice with audessey (this is with T12's). The xls1500's and above are a different beast than the 1000's with better S/N rating.

Originally Posted by COACH2369 

Here is a sneak peek….. Better pictures to come by this weekend.

After a rather long car ride, the new toys have arrived…..

Originally Posted by RMK! 

OK, I thought my photography sucked but this may be the worst example i have seen ...