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Paralysis from Analysis, help with compact sytem- Cambridge, orb, DT 800, other

post #1 of 11
1/20/12 at 6:32pm
Thread Starter 
I have read tons of threads and finally determined this is a little bit of a rabbit hole! Fun learning all this stuff and tons of great info.

I would be most grateful for some opinions.

My room is a 16x17x10ft room with a corner TV and no way to do rear speakers. I have had 3 guys look at walls and it just can't be done without major reconstruction. The center will go under TV with the R/L on either side about 6' apart. I will watch mostly TV but like to play music sometimes too. The sub is going to have to go in the opposite corner, the floors are hardwood. The wife is not interested in large bookshelf speakers.

I am looking to build a 3.1 system with compact speakers. I read about Orbs, Minx, DT, Polk TL, Nanostats until my eyes are bleeding! I don't have a way to test any of these locally.

I have about 700$ or so budget, and have narrowed this down to:

1) Cambridge Minx M20 for center, 2 M10's for R/L and Cambridge Sub- about 700$. By far best form factor for wife. (sub is 400 of this)

2) DT Procinema 800- I can get the refurbs from bajawaverunner for Procinema 800's for R/L, Procenter, and Prosub 800 for about 740. (sub is 300 of this)

3) Orbs- Classic 2 with super 8 sub would be only 2.1. I can probably wait for some used ones at better price too.

It seems like these would all be better choices than Polk TL, Nanosats, etc, although these are all cheaper.

For each I could probably find a used sub on Craigslist that is high quality but not as expensive (Klipsch Xw300 Icon for 300, or pardigm PDR-10 v3 for 175 currently).

I need a sub that can play in the opposite corner at a higher crossover and do OK.

I am not an audiophile, but would love any insight from the kind experts here. Since I can't hear things and some can't be sent back (30% restock fee on DT 800's) want to make best choice first time.

Will my plan even work?
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post #2 of 11
1/21/12 at 5:41am
Thread Starter 
No one willing to lend a few thoughts?
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post #3 of 11
1/21/12 at 5:52am
I'll give it a try. $700. Hmmm.

The best-sounding speakers for the buck, in my experience, are made by PSB.

The PSB Image B4 ($330/pair) would be my top recommendation for the L and R speakers, and the Image C4 ($300) for the center.

You can see the specs and pictures of them on the Audio Advisor website.

Can't think of anything else for under $800 that would sound as good.

The Cambridge speakers are not bad little guys, but IMO the PSB speakers are clearly better-sounding and will do the job in your room, and they will not. The others on your list are not something you should even consider, IMO, for various reasons.

I think that the stuff you were talking about is too low-powered for your room. It would be a costly mistake to buy cheap and small and then find out that you had wasted your money on inadequate stuff and have to start over again.

I especially think you are talking about center speakers that are totally inadequate.

I could have recommended a cheaper smaller PSB center speaker, but IMO it needs to be a pretty good one to do the job in your room.

Get what you really need and do the best you can on the sub used. A better sub could always be added later, but you don't want to cheap out on the other speakers.







Quote:
Originally Posted by sdavis81 View Post

No one willing to lend a few thoughts?
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post #4 of 11
1/21/12 at 6:33am
That is not a huge room...but 3 inch or smaller drivers may struggle in that room.
Several folks have posted positive personal experiences with the Minx system in a thread that keeps coming back for more, so you can read plenty of comments in that thread.
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post #5 of 11
1/21/12 at 12:51pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks!
I will look into those speaker suggestions.
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post #6 of 11
1/23/12 at 6:27am
I had an Orb Mod2 5.1 system for many years and for the size, they sounded very good. I recently changed to the Minx system with 5 20's and a Mirage MM8 sub which sounds better to me. There is an Orb Audio thread and a Cambridge Minx thread. It's hard because the Orbs are internet direct and there doesn't seem to be anywhere to hear the Minx, but I can tell you that taking into account that these are very small speakers, they sound great. I would recommend a receiver with Audyssey or some type of room calibration because it does make a big improvement in the sound. General consensus is that the Cambridge subs are over-priced, but with any of these sub/satellite systems you have to be careful to get a sub the will blend with the satellites. All this is in the Minx thread - here's the link:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1339511
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post #7 of 11
1/23/12 at 7:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark McIntosh View Post

General consensus is that the Cambridge subs are over-priced, but with any of these sub/satellite systems you have to be careful to get a sub the will blend with the satellites.

Yep. You have to be careful to get a sub with the Orbs that can be crossed over high enough for them (I think the Orb2s recommend a 120hz crossover) and one that is somewhat articulate in its ability to produce both the low end and the mid-bass. For that reason, be wary of some of the cheap 12" budget subs regularly recommended here for HT. They aren't musical enough to produce the good mid-bass you would want with the Orbs.
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post #8 of 11
1/23/12 at 12:16pm
I think 120 would be a minimum. I set my crossover at 150, which is what Audyssey recommended when I ran it. It was the same for the Orbs and the Minx.
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post #9 of 11
1/23/12 at 1:13pm
just out of curiousity i see you said you have no place to put rears because of configuration. do rears "have" to be on walls or could you use some taller surround stands placed near your seating area
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post #10 of 11
1/23/12 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sdavis81 View Post

I have read tons of threads and finally determined this is a little bit of a rabbit hole! Fun learning all this stuff and tons of great info.

I would be most grateful for some opinions.

My room is a 16x17x10ft room with a corner TV and no way to do rear speakers. I have had 3 guys look at walls and it just can't be done without major reconstruction. The center will go under TV with the R/L on either side about 6' apart. I will watch mostly TV but like to play music sometimes too. The sub is going to have to go in the opposite corner, the floors are hardwood. The wife is not interested in large bookshelf speakers.

I am looking to build a 3.1 system with compact speakers. I read about Orbs, Minx, DT, Polk TL, Nanostats until my eyes are bleeding! I don't have a way to test any of these locally.

I have about 700$ or so budget, and have narrowed this down to:

1) Cambridge Minx M20 for center, 2 M10's for R/L and Cambridge Sub- about 700$. By far best form factor for wife. (sub is 400 of this)

2) DT Procinema 800- I can get the refurbs from bajawaverunner for Procinema 800's for R/L, Procenter, and Prosub 800 for about 740. (sub is 300 of this)

3) Orbs- Classic 2 with super 8 sub would be only 2.1. I can probably wait for some used ones at better price too.

It seems like these would all be better choices than Polk TL, Nanosats, etc, although these are all cheaper.

For each I could probably find a used sub on Craigslist that is high quality but not as expensive (Klipsch Xw300 Icon for 300, or pardigm PDR-10 v3 for 175 currently).

I need a sub that can play in the opposite corner at a higher crossover and do OK.

I am not an audiophile, but would love any insight from the kind experts here. Since I can't hear things and some can't be sent back (30% restock fee on DT 800's) want to make best choice first time.

Will my plan even work?

You said the wife is not interested in "large bookshelf speakers".

Four Primus P162's and a PC350 center will take up a total of 0.2% of the room.

That is hardly intrusive.

You are a couple. You can't have 0.2% of the total space in that room for a decent sound system?
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post #11 of 11
1/23/12 at 5:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by smasher50 View Post

just out of curiousity i see you said you have no place to put rears because of configuration. do rears "have" to be on walls or could you use some taller surround stands placed near your seating area

That's a great idea. My front right and left are on stands. They look nice, not cheap, and I got them at somewhere like Best Buy so they weren't expensive. The speaker wire runs up through the stand and isn't seen at all. There's a picture in the Minx thread but I used them with the Orbs and they should work with whatever speakers you choose as long as they have the screw-in connector on the back of the speakers. You can adjust the height.
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