HSU Ventriloquist VT-12 6 channel system  

I heard a prototype of the system on two occasions.

Both times I demoed the system with LOTR and one time heard/watched the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" DVD, the system is very impressive for its size and cost.

Two channel music is also great, but some folks will not be able to get over the fact that the center channel is being used.

It is unconventional, but it works very well.

No...not in the same league.

Defnitely heard them with a sub....they need one for sure. I heard them with an STF-1, VTF-3, and TN1220HO.

No pestering at all!

For a small sub, the STF-1 sounded and felt great with LOTR, it shook the sofa! When it was on, I had thought it was the VTF-3, but I was corrected, and Dr. Hsu had a huge smile on his face.

I have not heard the STF-2 or STF-3, but by judging Hsu's track record, they will be great values.

These are conservative numbers, since tight tolerance of freq response is emphasized at the expense of its true extension.

This system does look interesting. Not knocking it at all - but isn't it doing basically the same thing as bass management on the newer AV receivers? Except it's "speaker-based" instead of "receiver-based"? I guess the center speaker is playing the upper bass instead of the subwoofer. With this system, would you set the speaker size to large on the receiver?

Thoughts?

Might want to post this question over on the Hsu's forum since it is not out yet and not much is known.

The center uses larger speakers than the satellites in the ventriloquist setup. The ventriloquist uses 2.5" full rangers for the sats, and some larger speakers in the center (4x6 or somethign like that). The center puts out sound down to the 80Hz cutoff. This avoids the hole from 80-200Hz that is prevalent on other sat-sub setups (like bose). You can switch the ventriloquist effect on and off to compare the sound (switch on the back of the center).

I'm quite sure you'd want to set all the speakers to small and use the sub.

Sorny

By one initial beef with this system is I don't see any of the subs as truly being "small."

The new STF-1 is a small 8 inch sub.

Dimensions: 19â€(h)/10â€(w)/16â€(d)

I guess I find dimensions like 16" and 19", well, not even remotely small.

Any dimension over 12" is big in my mind.

A small 8" sub is the Velodyne SPL800.... The REL Q108E....

YMMV

Bump... if anyone has received these, can you provide a review of your experience with them in your home?

I have my Ventriloquist system temporarily set up in an 11' by 11' room with the Hsu STF-2 sub-woofer. The rear center channel is not wired yet (I don't have a receiver that does better than 5.1 yet) and the main speakers are only about 2 feet apart right now. I need more time to mount the front speakers so they are closer to the recommended positions, but with two little kids, work time is tough to come by.

I have been watching some OTA HD, two DVDs so far and several SD DirecTivo shows. Not much music though.

To my untrained ear, the Ventriloquist sounds very good and are capable of going up to maximum listening volume without any problems in my small room. Factoring in the price, the sound is excellent. I have not really noticed a gap in the frequency range that the Ventriloquist center channel is supposed to compensate for, so it appears to be doing its job very well. Overall, I am very happy with them. Tough to beat the price too!

If you have a small- to medium-sized room and are looking for some good speakers at a reasonable price, you should really check them out.

Bruce

I have an identical setup to Bruce B's that I purchased yesterday for my sitting room mini-theater. For the paltry price that I paid I am, in a word, stunned by the sound quality of the VT-12 and STF-2. I will admit that I have not yet been able to tell the difference between the Ventriloquist and "non-Ventriloquist" modes of operation (you can turn the feature on and off via a toggle switch on the back of the center channel speaker), and I haven't sat down and fully tuned the system (I also just bought a Yamaha HTR-5650 receiver and haven't had a chance to go through a full setup routine yet).

I'll post a more detailed report when I've finished completely setting up the speakers and receiver. So far, though, my "out-of-the-box" experience with the VT-12 and the STF-2 have been very promising.

Here is a nice little write up of the system:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...-12-stf-2.html