Cambridge Audio Minx Loudspeaker Discussion Thread - Page 37

More midrange, as in quantity? Probably. Better/cleaner, for sure, but remember the Min 10 has a single 2.25" driver. That means midrange, at least lower midrange, is a bit of a challenge for it. The Min 20 -- or better yet, the 21 -- would work better for you.


The first thing that comes to mind for me is

The Minx speakers have wonderful dynamics, something I very serious doubt that Sony sub will be able to match. Because the speakers can't really play below 150Hz the subwoofer becomes a far more critical component then it would under normal circumstances. Expressive speakers + fart box subwoofer = unhappy user.

I would'nt have thought the Sony sub would work well with the minx speakers either especially if you cant manually control the crossover or if you can set it to at least the 150htz setting that the minx system requires. Has the Sony sub got a crossover control and if yes what is the highest it goes. If it is one of those Home Theatre In A Box subs it would have been designed to work with the speakers in its set and not something as good quality as the minx.

I would be very interested in those/that! I haven't pulled the trigger yet on speakers. In the running still....CA Minx S325 set-up less sub, Paradigm Milleniaone set-up less sub, KEF KHT3005SE with sub or the new Gallo Acoustics you mentioned above(either). I do like the idea of the BMR. I will use either the Paradigm Monitor SUB 8 or the SVS PB or SB-1000. I just set-up my home theater; was waiting on which FP I was going to get.............New Panasonic TC-P60GT50, New Pioneer Elite VSX-33, New Panamax M5300-PM, PS3 and New Logitech Harmony One remote w/PS3 adapter/add-on. All "New " items were purchased earlier sat in their boxes and waited on the Panny. I am still running my Paradigm Phantom/atom combo with CC100 center and PS-1000. I am getting a new speaker set-up though.........and of that equiptment the Harmony One is the item I love the most. What a great remote!!!!!! I no longer have my wife screeming at me that the TV/Stereo/Cable box is not working. One touch (watch TV, watch a movie, listen to FM, listen to iPod, play a game(me not her)) and she is happy!!!!!

I will be following this, as I have been, waiting to see what happens with the AGA speakers and the Minx! Good posts, thanks!

Also forgot to say that if I go with the CA Minx S325 set-up I will try out the X300 sub before I decided if I want either of the other subs since it will be in the package. Getting a great price on the S325 package!

As far as I know the S325 is 5 X Min21's with the X300 sub.

As far as I know the S325 is 5 X Min21's with the X300 sub.

Sorry for the other post.....I forgot to hit "Quote"

Wow thanks for all the great replies guys. I learned a whole bunch just reading your responses to my mostly ignorant questions. The Yamaha (YPAO) set my crossover for the sub to 160hz. No options on the back for change i can see. just Power save, phase, "base boost"! id have to check the manual on that feature. But to be honest we rarely use the sub.

I also seem to have broken this guideline that the speaker setup should be twice the cost of the receiver. I kind of went a little overboard on the receiver because I really wanted the optical out. I figured most of this out last night reading posts and researching speakers.

Everyone confirmed what i figured. If youre going to get the Minx line, get the newer models. Id maybe mix a min21 center with 4x Min11. Or maybe 3x min21. 2xmin11... I dunno, also the closest actual brick and mortar dealer is 3 hours away (to hear them). So then I decided that the larger investment needs much more research and I'm not going to do anything hasty. The sony kit was murdering me slowly... So I did some research on the best compact bargain set and I've picked up a Energy take classic 5.0 at Sears for 150$ (tho checking slickdeals that kit has gone for 99$ and 60$ in the past...wow). Ive added the min11/min21 to my wishlist. Thanks again and now i will be off to research for a decent smallish sub in some other thread .
Edited by OrLED - 1/20/13 at 2:48pm

Thanks for that, useful information. Wasn't sure whether it'd just be the driver or not, but nice to be confirmed, and means I won't embark on trying to emulate them

Room size is 16ft x 18ft. The room has sliding pocket doors, which will restrict the volume to the room itself, as opposed to many listening rooms which spill into a dining room, etc.

I had some concern about this as well. As I said, I had not had a chance to audition the speakers before the purchase (I since have; more on this at the end). The s215 reviews that addressed this were:
http://www.whathifi.com/review/cambridge-audio-minx-s215-new
"The size of the speakers means they won’t fill cavernous rooms; we wouldn’t recommend using this system in a room larger than around 4m x 4m (13ft x13ft) – but in anything smaller, the Minx system is ideal."

and
http://www.cnet.com.au/cambridge-audio-minx-s215-speakers-339310461.htm
"To its credit, our reasonably large 7x 4m (22ft x 13 ft) listening room was no problem to fill with involving, powerful and wholly convincing surround soundfields."

I called the vendor of the s212 to see if I could upgrade to the x300 for the $200 difference. I was told that I would have to call back Monday and talk to the owner.
It came down to frugality. With the swap, it would have been an additional $200. If I couldn't and had to buy a la carte, it would have been $250. That's nearly a 40% increase for some incremental base.

As with speakers, there is a huge spread in cost with large-screen TVs. In customer reviews, I see the term "good enough" picture quality a lot. It's not as good as the $3000 unit, but is "good enough" at $1000. I felt that the x200 would be "good enough" for how our family will use it. For music listening, I still intend to primarily use my NAD/Proac 2.0 system. It is interesting that my little Tablette 50s are rated 1 Hz lower than the x200.

I got back to Abt this weekend to shop for the AVR, the TV, and the TV stand and listened to the Minx. Last time there, the salesman was pushing the Bose. This one seemed highly critical. He said the staff referred to the Minx as "Bose killers." I was able to listen side-by-side and there was no comparison. About the Bose, the salesman said "it sounds muddy to me," and regarding bass, "there is no bass."
I'm disappointed that the previous salesman would even try to sell me those. He fully admitted that Bose did not have the best sound, but felt that they were good product integrators with their Lifestyle systems.

As for the bass, their listening room is several times the size of mine, and I felt that it was more than "good enough."

They were selling a demo white s212 for $300. I'd have snatched it up if I hadn't already bought. I could have made an s215 for $450, and even had the white rear speakers for my wife!

Hi guys, i have got to this thread by accident. The Min 11 are a great size solution to install a 7.1 system in my room.


Right now my system is 5.1 with the following

Front : B&W 603 S2
Center : B&W LCR 600 S3
Rear : B&W LM1
Sub : Soon to be an SVS PB-1000
AV : Onkyo 609

i would like to turn it in a 7.1 system by installing 2x Min 11 as surround back speakers (on the ceiling which my room has at 2m height). Will they be ok for what i want ? And what would be an ideal distance to place them? i need to install them at least 2 meters behind me, or MAYBE 3 meters behind me. Will they be fine? And i should mention that i like hearing things near 70-75 out of 100 (82 = reference)

As i understand there are not better speakers at this quality and this size with this price. correct?

Thanks,
Ted
Edited by TeDeV - 1/21/13 at 12:15pm

I don't know if you can make a definitive statement like that, but for sure it would be hard to beat them. Especially for their size, but that might work against you in this case.

Does your receiver have individual crossover settings? Reason being, you can't run the Min 11 lower then 150Hz. All your other speakers can be run much lower then that, so if you have just a single crossover the Min 11's won't be able to keep up with them and will ultimately be driven way too hard.

Yes Onkyo can have individual crossover settings for each speaker. From what i see Min11 can handle 120Hz instead of 150Hz which used to be on Min 10

Definitive Technology claims the SuperCube 2000 subwoofer -- with it's 7.5" driver -- is capable of playing down to 20Hz, which quite frankly it won't be able to. My point is that you have to be careful of believing what some manufacturers claim. The Min 11 has a single 2.25" driver, which means there's very little possibility it will be able to play anything below 150Hz. At least not with appreciable output. You can certainly try crossing it over at 120Hz, but I'd be careful of turning it up very loud for any period of time. It probably won't last long that way.

well i respect your opinion, and i will try to follow it

my question is still there though, will the Min11, be able to match nicely with my system as surround back? any sound problems or distance problems (1 meter above my head and 3 meters away back)?

you mentioned the problem with the crossover, and i will handle that using my AVR menu. no worries there.

thanks again for your help Jim

I'm not sure the Min 11 would be the best choice, given your circumstances. Your other speakers have much greater abilities, and that distance isn't going to make that any better. The Min 21 might be a better choice, but the Min 11 seems to be a little small to me.

I understand that the other speakers are much better than those small ones.

but my problem is that behind the couch, there is a table, so i can't place speakers there. also the room is almost 2 meters high, and if i place the Min11 on the ceiling, i have to be careful where i place them, since this will be almost 10-15 cm less.

7.1 was never an option in this room, but with a speaker that small, i might be able to do it. Min 21 is pretty big for what i want (in size). i don't know what i am going to miss thought.

Q1) All my speakers play at 80Hz (THX and Audyssey suggestion), these little ones play at 150Hz (let's say this is the worst case). this means that i am going to miss any sounds under 150Hz that i should hear from the surround backs, or my AVR will fix that by using my Surround rear ones (B&W LM1), to help the smaller ones play the frequencies that are going to be lost?

Q2) In a 7.1 system, are the surround backs as important as the Surround Rears? Since most of the movies is 5.1, i am guessing - hoping that there will be more 'data' coming from the rear ones, than the back ones.

Q3) If Audyssey suggests that i should use the speakers (Min 11) at 90-100-120Hz for example should i leave it like that?

PS. Sorry for breaking your balls on this subject, but IF i do this, i will spend 200 euros. and it would be really bad if i am not satisfied with the result. (75€ each speaker = 150€ + Wall mounts 20€ + Speaker cable and cable channels to hide them)


here is a simple drawing of what i have in mind

I can't have my sub in front of me. (between the Left and Right Fronts), it has to be on the left side of my couch, 2 meters away from where i am sitting (under the desk).

My AVR has multiple crossovers, and it can do Front Height. but i don't think that if i try to use the Front height, my speakers will be high enough (2 meters height for the room, and my B&W 603 are like 1m and something tall), to make any difference. And since it is difficult to find a movie with that data, as you said, it will be a fake result.

I guess that if i get those little speakers, i will be able to try both things (Front Height and 7.1), and see what i like more.

The reason i want to get a 7.1 is that i want to hear sounds coming behind me. For example if u have Transformers 1, when the movie begins with the starts coming down and then all around you, i feel that the sound is passing behind me, but it is not enough. it is not satisfying. So i am guessing that with a 7.1 i will be able to feel that i am in the center of the movie, and not at the end of it.

Hi guys. I had a problem with my X300 recently. It started to make (un)funny noise then no noise at all... It was fix on warranty, they changed all the electronic (all the back panel). Got it back few weeks ago. Run Audyssey on my Denon 2312ci and everything seems fine. But I'm having problems again since it's barely audible and when I rerun odyssey auto setup, no sound is coming out from the sub. Any idea? Could it be a setting problem with the AVR or my X300 again? For setting, volume was at mid-level, phase 90, crossover at max.

Any suggestion/idea would be appreciated before I bring the x300 back to my local shop...

Well I try both preout-SW and SW but according to owner manuel, it should be preout-SW. I'm not sure though if I tried Audyssey with both connection... I think it probably is the sub again but I find it odd... 2 time in a row...

thanks for the tip... Try a CD in my blue -ray player with the sub cable in audio-out and it seems to work ok. So Probably a setup/connection problem with the AVR... I'll have to try a few things this weekend!

Hi everyone!

After studying for what seems like an endless amount of time and reading all of the excellent points in this thread, I've ordered my Minx S325 V2 speakers. These will basically be my first "real" speakers, as I've only used 2.1 Logitech speakers, so I'm quite prepared for some awesomeness here. I also have these guys paired with a Denon 2113CI.

Anyhow, I spent all my money on the audio equipment itself, but I just realized that I still have the stands to worry about. Could anyone recommend an affordable stand for these speakers? It'd be a bit rough to have to shill out $240 for four of the CA stands, that's almost enough to upgrade to the S525 by itself!

Thanks!
Edited by constrapolator - 1/26/13 at 11:52pm

Thanks. So I'd probably need to go to the hardware store if I got an aftermarket stand.

This may be a dumb question, but cound the stand affect the sound? For example, on the CA stand, I noticed there's plastic fittings -- perhaps those help dampen vibrations? If so, that might be another argument for the espensive stands.