Need Speaker Advice with $6500 Budget - Page 3

Real easy. Buy JTR, Seaton Sound and Danley and you will exceed THX by far. For subs, the three manufactures that I listed (along with many others) make subs that exceed THX requirements. I do not have that much money in my system and it probably meets THX requirements.

I use three JTR T8's in a 13.5' x 11.5' room. No, they will not be too much in your room.

That would make for a great HT. One of my four subs is a 6CF sealed Maelstrom-X.

Look at three Triple 8's for the front and look at JBL 8340A's for the surrounds. The 8340A's are about 10" deep with the front baffle angled. You mount them flat to the wall up high. http://www.fullcompass.com/product/266276.html

Now your on the right track. All great choices in my opinion. My only question is why are you adding two 18.2's for the chase package, but only 1 for the others? The chase package becomes much more economical if you only use one 18.2. Or get the 18.T duo if you want the placement flexibility.

Sounds like a helluva system taking form. Just to toss out the idea of 3 Triple 8's and 3 18.1's (18.T and a 18.1). A front line of Triple 8 on top of 18.1 three times over would have to be pretty impressive.

One last suggestion on the sub

Two passive Captivators ($999 each), and a fan modded EP2500 (~500) to power them.

This puts out ~400wpc into 8 ohms x 2

That'll give you two separate subs capable of 118db each, and because there's two, you should have more output, as well better in-room response as long as you position them properly.

Alternaviely, I think you could run the two 8 ohm subs in parallel for a 4 ohm load, and bridge the EP2500 for a 2000+ peak output, which would be ~1000 watts per driver. Just to be sure, I'd ask Jeff over at JTR for an impedance graph to make sure there's no dips down to like 4 ohms. 4 ohm dips in parallel would make a 2 ohm load, which a bridged EP2500 would probably not like.

And if you ever feel you want more headroom, you can still buy a second EP2500 and bridge both for like 1300 watts per amp!

A few thoughts...


Since the Captivator is ported you would need something to apply a high pass filter. I'm not sure right off hand what to suggest for this but there are plenty of components that do this pretty inexpensively.

The second Cap should add another 6db of peak output.


The difference between 1000watts and 1300watts is barely a db. So not the best use of funds imo. Of course, it would make the load on the amps easier, but pro amps can do 4ohm bridged in a home setting pretty easily.


There's no question that the amp that comes with the Cap is better suited to the task than the ep2500. That said, the ep2500 is a fine amp in its own right and I highly doubt it would have trouble driving two Caps. Just won't do it quite as well as the 4000w amp that comes with it.

As far as using the 1000w, which other high output subs have you had a chance to hear? 120+dbs at 20hz is quite an experience.

4000w is sort of unnecessary IMO.... i mean it'll have wild headroom but probably go unutilized in most home theaters, even on the most taxing LFE movies. Rather than push the sub hard with sheer power, if I did need that sort of other-worldly output I'd go with an Orbit Shifter LF @_@

Remember, as i said earlier, 400 watts into a single captivator will do 118db @ 20hz and even more at higher frequencies as it's more sensitive at higher frequencies.. Bridge that and you've got even more power. Add a second captivator and you have more output (perhaps 6db, although that's usually from stacking, AFAIK, when you distance the subs you don't quite get 6db but at least 3-4db more output, and much cleaner). You'll have more output than you'll ever need with a single pro amp. You'll find that the quality of sound in-room will give you far more to focus on than the quantity of it when you've hit these kinds of extreme output levels. At that point you'll find EQ and cleaning up room nodes to be a bigger goal than more output... hence why two separate distanced subs is recommended.

And yes, it was a good call on the high pass filter.. maybe something like an Elemental Designs EQ.2.... Another alternative, and i strongly recommend it, is a velodyne SMS-1. I recommend EQ for any sub, but with passive subs off pro amps it will double as a high pass filter. The alternative, an EQ.2 and a Behringer DEQ1124 to do all those functions , might be cheaper, but much more complex to set up. The SMS-1 will literally do all the work for you so you can enjoy clean ultra high output BASSSSSS

Well, I can't promise you that you'll never wonder about more expensive equipment since most of us do at some point. But any time you do wonder just go crank your setup with some of your favorite music/action movie. Your setup will have more clean output than you'll require.


Unnecessary? In this forum? Never.


Something else I should have realized during my last post. The cost of 2 passive Caps, ep2500 and Eq.2 is about 2350(give or take a little). So the only benefit I see to two passive Caps over a single powered Cap lies in smoothing out peaks and nulls. I'm not trying to downplay that at all since it's quite important(unless the spot you have one sub happens to be a good one), but in a 300 ft^2 room I'm thinking that real estate can be pretty tight. Stu, would you even have space for 2 Caps, 2 18.2s or 2 VTF-15s(these are large subs)?

I like the sealed sub route. With good sealed subs you can eventually cover the full LFE spectrum by just adding more subs. Buy a good capable sub with one or a pair of 18" drivers. By another matching sub at a later date. Keep doing so until you have four subs. This will give you nice even bass response with strong output down low. No high pass will be needed. If you go with a ported sub it is hard to get down to single digit reference level performance. If you do go the ported sub, fed by a Behringer amp, then consider buying a Behringer MIC2200. It gives you a high pass for two separate subs and two bands of PEQ (one per channel). You can find them for $50 to $100. There is one for sale over at Theater Shack right now.

I use my two 18.1 subs as stands for my SHO-10's. It is one way to get multiple subs in your room. It's really the only way I could pull off two subs in my room.

If Triple 8s are simply a no go you could consider Single 8s. They still can offer plenty of clean output in a pretty small form factor.


Something to consider. Only bad thing is that the best spot for subs is rarely the best spot for your mains, but if it's all you do then it's all you can do.


I'd stick with Audyssey for now. If it just doesn't sound right then you can try out the SMS-1 later on down the road. Be sure to listen with Audyssey on and off since some people don't like how Audyssey changes the sound.


Personally, in a living room setting, I'd get a single powered Cap. It'll have more peak output than a pair of Caps powered by an ep2500. That said, a single powered Cap is gonna be about 700-800 more than passive a Cap, ep2500 and filter. So that's gonna have to be your call. Best of luck.

I am admittedly biased, but once you're at the Single 8's I really think you need to bring the SHO-10's into consideration. The SHO-10 is a serious performer and an incredible value. I haven't heard the Single 8, but the SHO-10 would be VERY hard to beat.


That's true, but most living rooms have limited options for placement of subs to begin with. In my case, even if I didnt use them for stands, my placement options are all along the front wall anyway. And as general rule 2 is better than 1 .


Or just consider putting that money towards an AVR upgrade that gives you superior Audyssey tech(xt32) and other fringe benefits like Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ. For example the Denon 4311 which is also Audyssey Pro ready.

I suggested the Single8 only if size of the speaker was an issue. If the Triple8 is doable then I definitely would recommend them.


Completely understand. I was just pointing out the obvious.


Well, he already has an avr and he mentioned that he could only use one sub so I'm not quite sure how much benefit xt32 could offer.

My only comment here is that it seems you place little, or at least a lot less, emphasis on the choice of your surround speakers. Having recently experienced the difference between what I would characterize as "standard" surround speakers(ie -dipoles not as capable as the LCR's), and now with SHO-10's in that position, I believe that most people have no idea what their missing in many of the recent sountracks. Having a lesser speaker in the surrounds would definitely have significant effect on the overall impact of my system. They make the system complete, and not in a small way - it is VERY notable.

I guess what I'm trying to tell you is not the prevailing advice you might get, but I highly recommend that you look at the surrounds in the SAME WAY you do the LCRs. You will be missing much more than you think by treating your sides as less important.

Just my 2 cents.

Here's someone else's opinion on the topic:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...5&postcount=59

Any consideration of Klipsch's reference line?

This: http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/product...ii-1-overview/

plus the Hsu 15H sub would come in right at your budget, and be a killer 5.1 setup in your room, IMHO.

I apologize for jumping in on this thread, but I have been following with great interest. I feel like my situation is very much like the Stufine1, starting out considering the Paradigm Studio 60s or 100s, then the NHT Classic Line, the Monitor Audio RX6 or RX8s, then I visited an outstanding HT dealership, and came out with Sonus Faber's being on the top of my list. Although, the SF's really will be stretching my budget. Beautiful speakers for my HT in my living room, but I have read where there are better speakers for the same money.

So, it appears as though Stufine1 has narrowed his choices down to the JTR's or CHT's speakers. So I started researching these two brands. It's pretty difficult reading every single post in the Official Threads of these two brands, but I have, and it took around 4 hours to do so. Also, these companies' web sites are pretty basic.

Given the size of my room, I thought that floor standing speakers was the only was to go, yet there are so many rave reviews about the SHO-10s that are monitors, and the triple 8s which are small too. So, I am not sure either are a fit for me, since my living room is 5,612 cubic ft, and opens to a larger area with a grand total cubic ft of 10,292, but I certainly would like to explore further.

I am so tired of researching that I would like to make a decision this week. Is the best process to contact these two companies providing them with my objective, room dimensions, and current setup, requesting their recommendation?

I wouldn't brush them off that easily if I were you, but hey it's your call. People sometimes feel that high-sensitivity, high-directivity speakers (i.e. speakers with a "horn" tweeter) sound crisper and "brighter" than the soft-dome-tweeter speaker designs they're accustomed to. In other words, people who would steer you away from Klipsch would like do the same for a CHT-type design... in theory, they *should* share some of the same sound characteristics. Others really prefer those characteristics, especially for multichannel HT applications. My front three are Polk RTi8 with a CSi5 center... but if/when I ever upgrade, Klipsch's Reference lineup is on my short-list of candidates, after hearing them firsthand.

IMHO, you (and anyone) looking to spend $4-6+ thousand on speakers should attempt to hear them, if at all possible, before buying... OR, if offered an in-home trial period, all the better.

In the end, you (and the missus ) need to be happy with your investment - good luck with your search.

Your research has definitely put you on the right path Kathy. What is your budget? Calling is always a good idea

Kathy,

LOL. I definately feel your pain. I too went through the whole CHT and JTR thread as well. At this moment, I'm leaning towards JBL Pro.

You might want to see if there is anyone near your area that have already bought these brands and see if you can audition them. That would be the easiest way because it doesn't require you to purchase, pack, and ship it back incase you don't like them. The problem is, these are small companies and finding someone owning them are slim.