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BEST bookshelf speaker for under $500. Everybody help out!!! - Page 3

post #61 of 119
1/10/13 at 9:48pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cschang View Post

The 340SE is tuned deeper than the 170SE (that can be found by just looking at the specs) and it definitely has more output.
what you mean by "tuned deeper" im sorry, im a noob when it comes to this, learning all of this here.
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post #62 of 119
1/10/13 at 9:50pm
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Originally Posted by skidog View Post

As I said in a previous post I have the SF34B1 stands for my 170's and I can tell you the cable management is two plastic eyelet type pieces, one connects to the top of the tube and the other the bottom, they are pretty much a joke. If I cared about cable management i would just use a couple black zip ties. As far as filling them with sand or shot the holes are pretty small but honestly unless you are doing it for sound reasons I don't think you need to worry as I can tip mine pretty far and they don't fall over. I'll try my hand at some pictures one will be the holes in the top and bottom of the tubes and the other me tipping the stands as best I can while taking a picture.
thank you for the pictures, did you filled yours with sand or something and form where i can buy that? im gonna buy the same one but a little smaller.
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post #63 of 119
1/10/13 at 9:50pm
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Great guys! Later on i will upgrade my whole HT and i will be back for more information and research. but for now i will go with the Arx A1b "love the design" and the Sanus SF26B Stands. i will try to sell my 2 Polk monitors 70 and CS2, if not maybe just give it out to someone. as usual, love this forum and you guys too. great great help. its a pleasure being part of this forum!! but i got 1 more question.
with my new Arx A1b, how can i set up my HT for music? Polk monitor 70 as rear and my Arx A1b as front? or what is a best configuration, i wanna play loud!!!! also remember i got a VSX 1020K, i think my decent receiver can handle it. what you guys think?
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post #64 of 119
1/10/13 at 10:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

thank you for the pictures, did you filled yours with sand or something and form where i can buy that? im gonna buy the same one but a little smaller.

Home Depot, Lowes, or any hardware store sells 50 pound bags of sand for $2-3. I found it easier filling my stands with sand by wrapping and taping a piece of cardboard into a funnel on the top of the steel columns. That way you can just pour cups of sand without worrying about waste or taking 10 minutes to fill. Sand should make the stands more sturdy and reduce resonance.
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post #65 of 119
1/10/13 at 10:27pm
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Originally Posted by cyde01 View Post

Home Depot, Lowes, or any hardware store sells 50 pound bags of sand for $2-3. I found it easier filling my stands with sand by wrapping and taping a piece of cardboard into a funnel on the top of the steel columns. That way you can just pour cups of sand without worrying about waste or taking 10 minutes to fill. Sand should make the stands more sturdy and reduce resonance.
great!! ill check home depot for that, any particular sand? or just regular one is fine? thank you for your input
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post #66 of 119
1/11/13 at 5:45am
No I did not fill them with anything. I don't have kids or a large dog so I'm not worried, not to mention you would basically have to tackle the stands for them to fall, bumping them will not do it.
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post #67 of 119
1/11/13 at 8:01am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skidog View Post

No I did not fill them with anything. I don't have kids or a large dog so I'm not worried, not to mention you would basically have to tackle the stands for them to fall, bumping them will not do it.
Oh ok. I thought it was a good reason behind fling them, maybe improving the sound. Anyway I'll get the stands and I will check if I need sand or something. Thank you for the info.
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post #68 of 119
1/11/13 at 9:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

great!! ill check home depot for that, any particular sand? or just regular one is fine? thank you for your input
Just make sure it is cleaned and dry. I believe what I got was also labeled as playground sand.
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post #69 of 119
1/11/13 at 10:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

what you mean by "tuned deeper" im sorry, im a noob when it comes to this, learning all of this here.

It will have a lower frequency response before it begins rolling off--so a little deeper bass. 45hz (-3db) for the CMT-340s vs 53hz (-3db) for the CMB-170s.
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post #70 of 119
1/11/13 at 10:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cschang View Post

I believe what I got was also labeled as playground sand.

That choice makes sense. Our audio setups are our "toys" now, aren't they? biggrin.gif
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post #71 of 119
1/11/13 at 12:10pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cschang View Post

Just make sure it is cleaned and dry. I believe what I got was also labeled as playground sand.
Ok great. Do I really need to fill the stands with sand with the arx a1b? Any improvements or it just for making the stands heavy so they don't fall?
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post #72 of 119
1/11/13 at 12:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

Ok great. Do I really need to fill the stands with sand with the arx a1b? Any improvements or it just for making the stands heavy so they don't fall?
Other than for stability, it is debatable if you need to fill stands for any other reason for any speaker. Some say it helps with sound, some say it doesn't.

If I remember correctly, there was some blind test involving filling stands with sand and sound quality. In that particular test, it made no difference.
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post #73 of 119
1/11/13 at 9:38pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cschang View Post

Other than for stability, it is debatable if you need to fill stands for any other reason for any speaker. Some say it helps with sound, some say it doesn't.

If I remember correctly, there was some blind test involving filling stands with sand and sound quality. In that particular test, it made no difference.
Ok. Thank you for the info. If there is no difference then I will
Not use sand. I thought filling them improve the quality of sound dramatically.
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post #74 of 119
1/12/13 at 7:46am
The only way it would benefit is stability or in some cases a speaker with good bass capabilities it might cause the stand to resonate. But the Sanus stands look very solid and thick gauge metal so shouldn't be an issue.
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post #75 of 119
1/12/13 at 9:13pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 View Post

The only way it would benefit is stability or in some cases a speaker with good bass capabilities it might cause the stand to resonate. But the Sanus stands look very solid and thick gauge metal so shouldn't be an issue.
Ok. Thanks. One more question, with my setup, 2 polk monitor 70, a polk CS2 center and a pair of Arx A1b. What's the best setup? The bookshelf as fronts and the polk as rear?
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post #76 of 119
1/13/13 at 7:02am
I would think, and I'm sure others will agree, that you would want to keep the Polks up front because you want the center channel speaker to match the front L/R speakers.
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post #77 of 119
1/13/13 at 2:51pm
Do any of you attach the speakers to the top plate of the stands or do you just sit them on top? What options are there if I don't want to drill into my speakers?
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post #78 of 119
1/13/13 at 3:06pm
I've always just sat the speakers on the top plate. Never screwed the speakers to the stand, and I've had some fairly tall monitors sitting on stands. Speakers were 24" tall and never felt like they would fall over.
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post #79 of 119
1/13/13 at 9:41pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skidog View Post

I would think, and I'm sure others will agree, that you would want to keep the Polks up front because you want the center channel speaker to match the front L/R speakers.
OK, i guess ill do that, put the Arx A1b as surrounds "back". also whats the best setting for utilizing all speakers when playing music, i wanna play music but be able to use all my speakers. not just 2.1 configuration. Dolby Pro logic II, Neo 6: Music OR any other? i have the Pioneer VSX 1020K
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post #80 of 119
1/13/13 at 9:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

OK, i guess ill do that, put the Arx A1b as surrounds "back"
I would test them on stands as front channels first, to compare the midrange and treble against the Polks.
Check their overall balance sound with a sub from 80 hz up > if it is overall better, then you may have a
real decision to make. I would not under estimate them, before testing them - you can always figure some
thing out about the center options.
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post #81 of 119
1/14/13 at 3:10am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zieglj01 View Post

I would test them on stands as front channels first, to compare the midrange and treble against the Polks.
Check their overall balance sound with a sub from 80 hz up > if it is overall better, then you may have a
real decision to make. I would not under estimate them, before testing them - you can always figure some
thing out about the center options.
i was thinking the same about testing them first. but i have a big feeling that they will indeed sound better than the polk. and i will set my sub to 80hz and try to see. i dont really know what i will look for wit the sub to 80hz "kind of a noob on that" and i gotta do that with the sub or in the AVR settings
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post #82 of 119
1/14/13 at 8:11am
The A1b will sound much better than the Polks IMO. I would run them as mains and still use your Polk center, just level match them and should be fine. The Arx will probably feel like they need more power compared to the Polks, so they will probably have the level in the receiver set higher than the Polks did. I would also set the A1b's crossover to 50hrz in your receiver to give them time to "break" in. At first the bass will be weak and tiny sounding, just play a bass heavy rap cd or something and walk away for an hour or two and should be full and bassy sounding. When I first hooked up each Arx speaker I played something familar, ACDC's Back In Black high rez disc and listened to one song. Set my cable box to a 24hour music channel (lower volume) and went to work. Came back and re tried the same cd and the bass was drastically improved and full sounding.

Some claim break in is false but Jon has measured a 20% change in driver specs compared to new driver vs used driver.
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post #83 of 119
1/14/13 at 3:49pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 View Post

The A1b will sound much better than the Polks IMO. I would run them as mains and still use your Polk center, just level match them and should be fine. The Arx will probably feel like they need more power compared to the Polks, so they will probably have the level in the receiver set higher than the Polks did. I would also set the A1b's crossover to 50hrz in your receiver to give them time to "break" in. At first the bass will be weak and tiny sounding, just play a bass heavy rap cd or something and walk away for an hour or two and should be full and bassy sounding. When I first hooked up each Arx speaker I played something familar, ACDC's Back In Black high rez disc and listened to one song. Set my cable box to a 24hour music channel (lower volume) and went to work. Came back and re tried the same cd and the bass was drastically improved and full sounding.

Some claim break in is false but Jon has measured a 20% change in driver specs compared to new driver vs used driver.
very nice! great info, i will def follow your advice, so do i have to leave them playing bassy music at a normal level or low is fine? ill do that 2 days straight. also i will have to check that on my receiver if i can set that for them individually and for the sub Big America F12, what frequency? note: the sub has a freq button on the back too. http://i48.tinypic.com/2epkgf7.jpg
any information so i can set my system up the best? i will have the Arx A1b as main "front" the Polk CS2 as Center for now and the Polk M70 as surrounds. also any setting to utilize all speakers when listening to music?
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post #84 of 119
1/14/13 at 4:31pm
You don't need to play them for more than a few hours. Hour or two at full range with some decent output would be more than enough. But just set them to normal tv volume and cross them at 50hrz and leave for work or whatever and that 8hrs or so is MORE than enough. 2 days is just a waste of energy.

I keep mine at 80hrz and subwoofer at 80hrz. Occasionally I would run them in just stereo mode without subwoofer crossed at 50hrz.
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post #85 of 119
1/14/13 at 7:54pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 View Post

You don't need to play them for more than a few hours. Hour or two at full range with some decent output would be more than enough. But just set them to normal tv volume and cross them at 50hrz and leave for work or whatever and that 8hrs or so is MORE than enough. 2 days is just a waste of energy.

I keep mine at 80hrz and subwoofer at 80hrz. Occasionally I would run them in just stereo mode without subwoofer crossed at 50hrz.
ok perfect. when you say "set the speakers at 50hrz," you mean go into the receiver options and disable the Sub and set the Cross "freq" to 50Hrz?
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post #86 of 119
1/14/13 at 7:56pm
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right now i was playing a lil with the receiver and i set the crossover "back of the subwoffer" to 80hrz and on the receiver at 80hrz too.
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post #87 of 119
1/15/13 at 6:28am
Guess it depends on what receiver you have as mine for example I can set any of my speakers L/R, C, Surrounds to 40,50,60,70,80,90 ect without disabling the subwoofer. Just go into your receiver and set your L/R main (A1bs) to 50hrz you can leave subwoofer on or off it wouldn't matter just for break in.
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post #88 of 119
1/15/13 at 6:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Truquitos View Post

right now i was playing a lil with the receiver and i set the crossover "back of the subwoffer" to 80hrz.

Do you mean the crossover on the back off the subwoofer itself? Make sure you set the switch on the back of the F12 to "Digital" not "Prologic." That will bypass the crossover on the sub. You want to let the receiver crossover do all the work.
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post #89 of 119
1/15/13 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Ye
Quote:
Originally Posted by cel4145 View Post

Do you mean the crossover on the back off the subwoofer itself? Make sure you set the switch on the back of the F12 to "Digital" not "Prologic." That will bypass the crossover on the sub. You want to let the receiver crossover do all the work.
yes. I changed the crossover on the back of the sub to 80hz and switch to Dolby "digital" So, on the receiver menu should I set the speakers to small and set the crossover or freq to 80hz and try going down?
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post #90 of 119
1/15/13 at 10:30am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 View Post

Guess it depends on what receiver you have as mine for example I can set any of my speakers L/R, C, Surrounds to 40,50,60,70,80,90 ect without disabling the subwoofer. Just go into your receiver and set your L/R main (A1bs) to 50hrz you can leave subwoofer on or off it wouldn't matter just for break in.
On my receiver the Pioneer vsx 1020k I can't set them individual, I don't see an option. It only allow me to set them small or large and set a freq or crossover to 50hz-200hz all around. I will post a picture later when I get home. So you see. Also I'm going to ask in the official thread for my receiver.
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