New NHT Classic line to replace Super Audio - Page 335

I really don't need more speakers at home, and on top of that, I'm in the process of moving. Still, I think I'm leaning towards pulling the trigger. Just because....


Same here.

Hi All! I was going to pop into this thread to mention the sale, looks like I was beat to it. I do agree with the above about 'fan boy' posters, many threads seem to have them.

BTW, the person from NHT was Jack Hidley who left NHT right after the design of the Classic series (he was part of all their designs, except for the AT and the on-wall Zero since he left before their build).

At the current price, they are awesome. The Assends are also great speakers. They are ported, so the decision would really be in the eyes of the beholder (or the 'ears of the listener'). It really comes down to preference. I prefer sealed designs but very much appreciate other well built ported designs.

As said above, NHT has usually been good about answering questions (usually within 24 hours). I have, as said above, also had the same response from SVS, Emotiva, and a couple others. I think many of the ID companies have great response time - they are more connected to their customer base.

I don't think that NHT advertises very well (my opinion) which is why they are not known as well. Listen Up moved into our city (actually took over a place called Hudson's Audio). They have "NHT" as part of their product line, but really do not carry any demos as they push B&W, which is preferred by the owners of the store. I think when it comes to B&M stores, it really comes down to what the preference of the seller is.

Well, it's nice to see at least some activity in this thread. Has anyone here tried the powered Super Zeros yet? I'm curious what they sound like. I was planning on changing my wife's computer speakers out and looked at Audio Engine and the Audyssey Media Speakers. The powered SZ would fall in the same price range. Let me know...

I am new on the forum but now to NHT speakers. I had a HT setup with the 2.9s, 1.5s and the 1c (?) with a Boston 8" sub. All I have left is are the 1.5s and the sub. The other stuff went to my kids when we moved to a smaller place.

Long story short...I am again in the market for some HT speakers. We are going to eventually build a new house and DW has agreed to me having a dedicated Media Room.

I have tried to keep up with the NHTchanges but have not heard any of the newer (to me) speakers. My eye is on the Classic 4 towers with Classic 3 or 2 surrounds. I am using an older Pioneer Elite VX-49txi receiver. Since the world has changed in the past 10 years I now need to upgrade to either a new receiver or add a preamp/processor to the Elite and use the 160 watts per channel X 7 for the new speakers.

My research to date has me looking at the following options:
NHT Classic 4 with surrounds and center channel.
Golden ear Triton 3 with Sat50 center and surrounds
Apion (sp) Varas Tower with surrounds
Paradigm Series 7 set
?

I will be 80% HT and 20% two channel. I plan on going with a front projection system...probably the newer Panasonic 3D and will upgrade my Blue ray to on Oppo 93.

Anybody ever compared the Tritons with the NHTs? There are no dealers or either any where within several hundred miles so I am asking for first hand experience on these or other comparable speakers. My budget for speakers is about $4000 total...less would be better.

Thanks in advance

Hi Steve,

Welcome! First off, you will want to upgrade your AVR and you may not need to use your older one if you get a newer one with adequate power.

NHT's have change quite a bit. The Classic series are pretty awesome. I'm using the Fours, Threes, 3C, Twos and AZ's.

Having said that, the other speakers you are looking at are also very good in their price range. Keep in mind that speakers are the most subjective part of the audio system. It is best to hear them in person if you are able to. Here are my thoughts on them:

Paradigms 7: I have not heard these (I could as there is a dealer here) but have heard their other models and they have a pretty good sound. I found them more laid back in the midrange compared to the NHT's. Looks wise, stand 'box' type with a 'wood grain' finish.

Golden Ear: There is a dealer here that carries them (Listen Up). They are extremely nice sounding in the treble (most likely due to the ribbon tweeters). It has a very nice sound stage. The midrange I again prefer NHT - again, preference. IN the bass, the Classic Fours win. Looks wise, you will either like it or hate it. They have a cloth covering similar to Definitive towers.

Aperion Verus: these actually sound most similar to NHT's except for the treble (a little softer). This will have to be chosen based on your tastes. The largest tower does not go as low as the NHT Fours (actually non of the speakers here do) but that may not matter - dependent on where you XO to the sub (by the way, what sub are you planning on mating to these?). Looks wise, they have a rounded top and also make a nice black piano lacquer finish like the NHTs (I love that type of finish). For me, I would go with the NHT's or the Aperion Audios (Fours or Verus Grand Tower + matching center/surrounds).

As for your sub, NHT does make great subs, but you'll get another octave lower going with SVS, HSU and some others. A lot will depend on your room. One thing to note here, if you are planning on building a very large dedicated room in your new house, none of these speakers will be capable of reaching reference levels in such a place (especially if you have it acoustically treated). You may want to keep that in mind as you'll need some very efficient speakers with a lot of output. Now, if you room is going to be pretty standard size for most houses (let's say 20' x 25' or in that range), then you should have no problem with any of these choices.

Again, I'd like to stress: if you can listen to your choices first, that would be great. Aperion and NHT are ID, so unless you know someone that owns them, it may be hard to do that. Maybe if you specify your location, someone on this thread and on the Aperion thread (also the other speakers) may invite you to drop by an listen.

Another thing to keep in mind, if you purchase an AVR with sound correction (actually all of them do now), it pretty much can level the playing fields of 'similar' speakers. The most important aspect though is still the room and speaker placement...IMO.

Ray

Ray,
Thanks for the timely and extensive response and the greeting.

Some updates:
My dedicated room will be 15'X 18'. It has one set of doors which will be at the rear of the room as it is being planned currently. Furniture will be current living room stuff..couch, love seat and a couple of tables and maybe a beanbag or two for the younger folks.

I live in a pretty isolated area in Southern Utah so getting to a dealer or anyone with the speakers I am looking at is going to be tough.

One other speaker that fell into the mix is RBH...Signature series towers with matching center and surrounds. The company that builds the home uses these as built ins but I want free standing so I am not limited in location or future changes or sound quality issues.

I am suprised the Classic 4s would have better bass than the Triton 3. I do not have a dedicated cross or amp for the towers but am sure there are many fine sub-amps out there it I go this route. The issue with the Goldenear Tritons is the center channel speaker Supersat 50c which is not loved by many that say they have it and seem to want a bigger speaker.

One issue I have is some hearing issues; more in one than the other and both in the upper frequencies so a really good center speaker and not-overly bright tweeters are desired.

My plan at this point is to go with maybe the Integra 80.3 pre/pro and feed it to my Pioneer Elite 49XTi to drive the speakers until I can get a better amp(s). It has mulitchannel inputs so it can take 7.1 with no problems. I am having the room prewired for front high, side, rear, two subs, front L, C, R and will have a dedicated area in a closet adjacent to the room for a rack.

I have some older stuff I want to drag out of the closet and actually use again...despite their low definition source material...they are unique this day and age....Elite Laserdisc player, Techniques tangetal LP table, and yes...a VCR for the rare times when I want to watch on old tape. So the rack is going to be pretty tall and will be a "project" for me. I am retired and love tinkering with this stuff so it will keep me occupied and content.

DW is getting her way with the house location and the move in general so I get a dedicated HT/Media Room and tasteful man cave type room. It will also be used as the core for the whole home audio system (8 rooms) and some distributed video to three rooms...bedroom (2) and Family Room which will have a 46" Samsung (current TV). The HT will get a ~100 inch screen; most likely in cinemascope or close to it with the Panny 7000 (at this point).

I have time on my side since we have not yet finalized the plans nor sold our current home so I am more than 4 months out even if the house sold and closed today. I am still in the re-learning curve on all the "new" stuff since it has been over 10 years since I looked at audio equipment so I am reading a ton of stuff to get up to speed on the technology to get a better idea of what is needed vs just hype.

Thanks for the input.

Steve,

First off, good luck on your 'man cave', you'll really enjoy it!!! The size is actually great for any of the speakers you have on your list.

As for the Triton 3, yes on paper they say they play down to 20 Hz and the Fours only down to 27, but the Fours just sounded a lot more solid in the bass to me.

All this is really a moot point though as the best placement for your mains (L/R) are NOT hardly ever the best place for bass. I.E. a subwoofer (or 2) would take care of that. You are looking at an awesome pre/pro. The Integra 80.3 has Audyssey XT32 which is really the best. Just run it using the recommended instructions (see my links below, there is a dedicated thread for this). Your pre/pro will take care of your XO's with no problem. It'll actually make them too low (consider your speakers 'large') and you'll have to re-set them (I use a XO of 60Hz for my Fours even though they hit 25hz at the -3db point in my room). Remember, the subs are MUCH better suited for handling the bass, so let them do that and your mains will be happier with much greater dynamic range.

As far as bang-for-the-buck amp, I'd go with Emotiva.com. They have great multichannel amps that are built very well. There are others out there that are great also (Outlaw Audio and others).

I also keep some legacy equipment (turntable, SVHS Player) but mostly use bluray and streaming as main sources, including a HTPC. You can see a list of my equipment in my profile and pictures of my small man cave (only 12' x 13', so highly treated with broadband acoustical traps).

Good luck with your room and choices. It's nice you have the time and luxury to do it the way you want. Again, all your speaker choices will work for your room. Choose a good sub (or 2 subs, as XT32 will calibrate and integrate them very well giving you some very smooth bass). Keep us posted and let us know the route you choose. And most of all, ENJOY your journey!!!

Ray

As a new NHT owner of classic 3's and superZeroes the sound is great but I really like the way the 3's look, so if you will be displaying the speakers they look impressive. Sounds like u may have a chance to head to the big city and listen. I live on Kauai and bought my speakers on referral from here and I am as i said very happy with NHT.

For those interested, and if you know someone that may be interested in NHT's, the sale has been extended.

It's a great deal! I'm trying to get my bro-in-law on board, as NHT doesn't have a sale like this very often.

He wants the Absolute Towers, & Absolute Center, w/ a pair of Super Zero's for rears. This is a good first "REAL" system I would say, right? (he's buying my older 12" Velodyne sub off of me to go w/ all this)

Yes, it is a great deal.

Just a suggestion, if you can talk you brother in law to up the center to the TwoC, it is a much better center speaker and will match the other just fine. It's an extra $100, but very much worth it (the center is such an important speaker).

Your sub will work with the system just fine!

Agreed, but money is kinda tight, unfortunately.

I have the Three C and LOVE IT!

The Three C is awesome, I have it also. The Two C is pretty much the same. U do understand the $ situation very well. He'll still be very happy with the setup using the Absolute Center. Keep us posted.

Cavchameleon,

You seem to be well-versed on NHT speakers. As mentioned above, I'm thinking about getting (3) Threes for LCR. What are the pros and cons of getting a Two C for the center instead of a Three (not a 3 C)? What would you suggest/are your thoughts on this? I'm thinking about going ahead and getting a center for now.

Thanks,
UBG

If the center channel is going in a cabinet or above or below a big TV, go with a proper center channel (2C or 3C), which is designed for such placement in terms of frequency response and dispersion. If it's going to be on a proper speaker stand, positioned vertically, the Three is probably preferable to a regular center channel speaker.

Hi UBG,

To be honest, almost all center channels are a compromise to fit a speaker above or below a display screen. If you are able to place 3 of the same speakers up front, that would be ideal. I'm not sure what type of display you are using (if using a projection screen that is acoustically transparent, and placing the speakers behind at the same height, then all the speakers in the front should be the same). Now if you are placing speakers around a standard front display such as a Plasma/LCD/etc, then you'll have to place the speaker below or above the display and you'll have to 'pitch' the speaker to angle towards the listening position. This usually hard to do with a standard speaker, hence - the horizontal center speaker was created.

Having said that, the TwoC will work just fine with the Threes. Once you have your XO set in your AVR/Processor, you won't really hear a difference between the TwoC and ThreeC. As for the Three being used as a center, it would work fine, but needs to be vertical - not placed horizontally. If you have to go horizontal, go with the TwoC. You can also call NHT and ask them their opinion on the matter.

If you can give a description of your front stage (or a picture), the display and where you plan on placing your speakers, it would help (also, what stands you're planning on using - if any, not sure if you'll be placing the speakers in a TV stand as some of them are large enough to accommodate the display and speakers). The price difference is close (only $30) so it comes down to your use/placement.

Ray

PS - Looks like Matt beat me to it...

Probably because your post was much better written and explained!

Actually you said the same thing in a nice an concise manner. Good to see you back...

I never really left... Just never had anything to say in a timely manner.

I might have mentioned this already, but in case I haven't, I've currently got a cool gig doing headphone reviews for Macworld. It's a fun opportunity to try to help all the music lovers out there with iPhones, iPods, and Macs step up to better sound.

If anyone ever needs any advice on inexpensive-to-moderately priced in-ear headphones, I'm your man.

I was a novice when I got involved with this thread around the time the Classics came out, so I thought that some of you who've been around for a while might get a kick out of the fact I get to do some audio stuff professionally now

That's Awesome!!! Do you have some that you can recommend off the top of your head (no pun intended...)? I currently use headphones from AKG for the most part, but also have some from Audio Technica , Sony, JVC, and a couple others. Is there a link to your reviews or are they only from the print version of Macworld? I almost never use the headphones that come with ipods/pads. Curious to read your impressions.

On the fence about the NHT Classic Threes...at their sale price and the stellar reviews from TAS and Stereophile, they seem to be a no brainer upgrade purchase for me. But I also have the Monitor Audio BX2s on top of my list for $100 less.

I love the sound of my Monitor Audio BR1 and I'm afraid that the NHT will be too bright, forward or unforgiving for my ears...Decisions, decisions.

Thanks Matt and Cav. I was thinking that if I went with (3) Threes, that I would put them all at the same level, slightly above the top level of my TV and pitch them appropriately. I was thinking of accomplishing this with wall brackets. If I were to go with a center (2C), then I'd either put it on a wall bracket just above the TV or place it on the cabinet, just below the TV.

I have another question for either/both of you. Right now, I have a good sub (Rumba 12) and my 20-yr. old Polk RTA11TLs (I may have mentioned this). They're doing fine, but I want to go 5.1 and will have to do it incrementally (have Yamaha RX-A710). Another option is to get a pair of Absolute Zeros or Walls for the surrounds. Would this be a better idea for right now since if I only got a center, it wouldn't quite match my Polk's tweeters?

Of course, I could just keep rolling my pennies and buy everything at once, but that's not as fun. I can probably only squeak about a $500 expenditure right now. I was just getting excited because of the sale prices.

Thanks again.

But far off axis it does still suffer from lobing issues, although they occur below 1kHz...

http://www.hometheater.com/content/n...m-measurements

The review doesn't show 30-degrees off-axis, so perhaps the lobing issues are very minor (or absent) there...

Also keep in mind HT Mag typically does their measurements with grills on, and the Stereophile review of the Three shows the grill is fairly detrimental to treble performance... Which is the frequency range where the HT Mag measurements look most different than the Soundstage and Stereophile measurements of the Three.

One advantage of the 2C/3C would be that they're a little more sensitive... and being easier to drive is always a plus.

Still, if I could have a vertically placed Three, I would...

Agreed.

They won't flatter bad recordings... and have the resolution to remind you the recording sucks... but they are certainly not bright/forward sounding.

Interestingly, those are 2 words I've often heard as descriptors of Monitor Audio's speakers.

I am and will be in limbo for a while since we have to sell our current house before we can afford to build the new one. Buying any speakers right now would be ill advised since I have no place to put them or audition them prior to final decision to buy or return them.

I am leaning towards the AT with Classic 3 surrounds and a Hsv sub...still debating the tower vs no tower at this point...if no tower then Classic 3's all around and a 3C in the center with a good sub.

I like stereo with a lot of my music so the tower would be nice for that role but in HT it is essentially a waste with a sub (which I want with HT). Still reading and learning.