Energy Owners Thread - Page 1104

Not sure where to post this...

I am a noob who recently got a pioneer 1021K av receiver and energy take classic 5.1 speaker system. I already have a pair of energy cb-5 bookshelf speakers. I am now trying to set everything together as a 7.1 setup. My question is which position should i use the energy cb-5 bookshelf speakers. I am not sure if i can use them as front or Surrond or surround back speakers. Or would it be wrong to add the bookshelf speakers to the above setup ??? I am not sure if this is a stupid question, but I would definitely apreciate any help in this regard.

Thanks
B

I don't see why you couldn't use the CB-5. I never saw the Take Classic but I guess the CB-5 are slightly larger than the Take satellites? I'd use them as fronts, and the four other satellites as surrounds and surround backs. The only potential issue is that the center and fronts may be slightly mismatched, but the 1021 should be able to calibrate that out using MCACC.

OMG! What a difference it makes having 2 subwoofers. I received my VSW10 yesterday. Audyssey did a masterful job of pairing it with the ESW-V8, Very musical now with tight punchy bass. Having a sub on each side, paired with an RC-70 tower is the way to go.

I don't know how to describe what it is like adding a second sub. It is as if you had been eating on one side of your mouth and then discovering you have taste buds on the other side too. I couldn't wait to get up and hear my music again this morning.

I'm listening to John Coltrane at -20 db, which is 80 db at ear level at 14 ft back. My readings, coming off both ports, peaks around 90 db. Same reading off the single port of the ESW-V8. Hope this helps.

I would look for some locally used bookshelf or towers if you can fit them in. I would move the Take satellites to surrounds and get bigger speakers for the front mains. I agree that the Takes sound great.

Use the CB-5 as fronts and the Takes satellites as surrounds. If you're going to stick with this setup, try getting a CC-5 center and you'll be all set, as the Take Classic center is pretty small and has a single 3" driver. The Take Classics are excellent surrounds and I used them as surrounds even when I had towers in the front. (I'm using them as heights right now while my dad is borrowing my RC-10s to see if he wants to buy a pair)

PM sent

You never know until you try, and I'm not sure how this would turn out for you. Some guys claim that you can put a speaker backwards and Audyssey will make it sound perfect for the situation, so in theory it could work...If you do try it, I would definitely run the wires along the floor to start, just to see if it is worth it to drill holes in the floor later.

Thanks macstatic and neutro... I hooked my CB-5 as front however I feel that my CB-5 has over powered the surround satellites of take classic. I dont get the surround feel like take classic 5.1 on its own, as CB-5 has a higher output that the rest and masks the surround speakers.. will calibration with MCACC make a difference??? I still havent done MCACC as i am still adjusting the position of the speakers a bit..

YES! If you calibrate it, it will sound much better together.

I wouldn't. The RC's are in a totally different league for quality. I really like the RC towers that I have.

Thanks.. I ll do that..

Yes....it should make a huge difference. The the main task for a program like that is to adjust volume level for each speaker.

I have mostly matching speakers, and running the Audyssey on my denon receiver made a huge difference.

And +1 on upgrading the center channel as well. Keep your eye out for sales on the CC-5 or even the CC-10. A good center channel makes a world of difference too. The take classic center is pretty weak.

I liked having two subs so much that I brought my system up to three subs
Movies are awesome, especially Transformers and The Lord Of The Rings type of movies...totally incredible sounding.

Absolutely, calibrate now and upgrade your centre channel if the opportunity presents itself.

As an FYI on 6.1:

6.1 was the first step past 5.1 about 10 yrs ago or so, the idea being to add an additional surround speaker behind you to enhance the "directionality" of effects located behind you (as opposed to having them "phantom image" using the stereo sound of the two standard surrounds).

Some movies then started being mixed in 6.1 with the center surround speaker "matrixed" into the two surround channels of a 5.1 mix, this was called "DOLBY EX" for DD tracks and "DTS-ES" for DTS tracks. Basically if played on a 5.1 setup they would play as normal 5.1, and if you had more than 5.1 and a EX/ES capable receiver it would extract the extra channel from the info matrixed into the surround channels.

However, 6.1 quickly fell out of favor as having a single speaker directly behind you has some issues with imaging, most notably the fact that there can be a false effect where your brain perceives a sound directly behind you as being in FRONT of you! Because of this, 7.1 quickly replaced 6.1, with a pair of stereo back surrounds behind you instead of a single center surround back. This made the imaging more stable and effective. Even before "true" 7.1 came out with stereo back surrounds, it quickly became the recommendation to use TWO speakers back there for 6.1 setups and have them both play the same "mono" surround back signal, to reduce that weird imaging problem described above.

Either way, you would ideally want to have some separation between the back surround and your listening spot. And ideally you would move the standard surrounds more to a SIDE position, with the extra speakers behind you there is less need for stereo "phantom imaging" from the side surrounds so they can be directly the sides, allowing the back surrounds to pan the sounds behind your head.

Any modern 7.1 receiver can still run in 6.1 mode, but if you want to go that route it is much more effective to do a "true" 7.1 setup as there are only a few movies that have 6.1 mixes, whereas many more movies and games are getting 7.1 treatment, and having two speakers back there is just more effective. Even with 5.1 mixes the matrixing technology of PLIIx Cinema does a great job of panning directional sounds to the four surround speakers.

My recommendation is to cell the CC-5 (perhaps to "meningioma" who posted above about getting his new CB-5's as front speaker upgrade to the Take Classics) and get a PAIR of small speakers for surround back if you are interested in going that route.

In the meantime, there is nothing wrong with giving the 6.1 setup a whirl to see how it sounds, but in my experience auto setup programs like Audyssey can produce funny results with a speaker that is blocked from direct sound (e.g. placing it behind the couch on the floor firing up).

awesome, you are one of the first (the first?) people on this thread to have a new Veritas sub. Can you post photos?

Does there appear to be any physical differences from the older ESW-Vxx line to the new VSW "Veritas" sub? As we discovered with the new Veritas they are NOT just rebadged RC's, Klipsch did make changes, so I am curious if the assumption that ESW-V10 and VSW-10 are the same is false.

Have you tried just playing the V10 vs the V8 alone to hear how much better the 10" version is?

Enjoy your new toys!

I can't find a full picture of the back of the older ESW-V10. Are the ports in the same place?

Only difference I can see is the new Veritas sub has a phase switch instead of a phase dial like on the older subwoofer. Otherwise the specs look the same.

If I put the LCR mains on the higher shelf there wont be any space for tilting, the space is right at 19.5". So I'm leaning towards putting them on the counter level to start... what's the worst that can happen - the wife will tell me no I suppose? Moving the tv up a couple inches will be tonight's project, it's a 2-person job!

And to speedup the break-in of RC speakers, has anyone run a variety of music on repeat for a couple days? What is recommended volume level?

Thanks a lot for this informed opinion. I'd gladly sell the CC-5; however I'm located in Canada so most of AVSers would have to pay rather prohibitive shipping rates (meningioma: if you're in eastern Canada and interested in a CC-5 with almost no use, PM me). In my current living room, as I said, I'm back to a wall; the surrounds are already on the sides, so surround backs are out of the question. In fact, the couch is back to a bay window, so there would be a little place on the floor behind the couch for a center firing up.

I'm too pretty dubious about what kind of results I'd obtain with this setup; I guess I just have to try though.

GaresTaylan: Thanks a lot for the PM but alas they won't ship to Canada. With these prices, I could afford hundreds of $ of shipping fees and still come up ahead compared to my local store. Sad situation. I think that authorized Energy dealers (such as Amazon.com) in the US cannot ship the speakers to Canada anyway. Amazon.com is glad to ship me enormous items with hundred-dollar shipping bills, except for Energy speakers. This must be in their contracts with Energy / Klipsch / Audiovox. Kind of sad if you think about it: it's a sale they don't make in the end.

Good luck with the positioning of the LCR's, hopefully you can work something out that appeals to everyone.
For the tv, don't drill new holes in the wall unless you have to. Slide the tv up the bracket if possible. I have mounted all of my tv's by myself, with the biggest one being a 90 pound, 52 inch LCD- if there's a will there's a way!!

I use the radio or a juke box cd player filled with every type of music I can think of or an iPod to break in speakers. Let it play at a medium volume level for a few days straight. Don't worry about having to play them at very soft levels, medium is going to be fine for them.

Unable to photo right now due to sunshine. From the front, looks just like the V8 but larger. Has a green led, manual says it is blue. The back looks same but doesn't have a bypass switch. Phase control has been replaced with 180 switch. Looks like the same driver behind the grill. Speaker connectors are silver instead of gold.

My room is too large for the V8 so the V10's moving more air is evident. With the ability to go lower it also sounds better. Overall they are both very musical but haven't had time to do much comparing.

When I ran Audyssey it said the V8 is three feet farther than it is. In the past it has always been right on. It could be its new resting place. I want to break in the new V10 a little and will then rerun. In the process I discovered the phase was 90 degrees off on the V8. Must have bumped when moving. At first I was astounded by its effect watching a movie. Part of the fun playing with a new toy.

Looks the same.

http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en...sw10-overview/

No phase control and No bypass switch. Otherwise, probably same product. Would need to have side by side to know.

That is the stand that I have. The RC-10's are a tad wider than the base that they sit on so I used Blue tack / Museum putty for security. You want to still use the rubber insolaters in the 4 corners, then put a decent wad of the museum putty in the middle of the speaker stand. At that point I eyeballed the approx. toe in and dropped the speaker on the stand base and pressed until the museum putty leveled out and the speaker make flush contact with the 4 rubber insolaters. Enjoy the speakers.

The speaker should be wider than the top plate of the stand, otherwise it looks awkward.

Isn't it amazing how good speakers make you want to watch or listen to about anything, even if it's not in your tastes? The other day there was a movie my wife wanted to watch that I didn't care to see, but once it started playing, even though the movie wasn't that great, the sound effects and crispness and clarity were fantastic! I can't even remember the title, it was some girly flick about some girl in the 1800s.

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the CB-10s? I picked up a pair at BB while they were on sale for $170, had them for about a week now as fronts. They sound alright. I was hoping for a little more midbass…they are nice and clear though. I’m still well within the 100 hour break in period though.

I had an idea on here, guys. If we can make a part of this thread (or a link to another thread in someone's signature here that is on here alot, I'd be willing), that has a list of our Energy Thread members and what speakers they own or have owned, that way if people have questions on specific Energy speakers they only have to look as far as the list to see who has experience with them. Sound like a decent idea? Plus it'd be fun to see the collections everyone has or has had.

Also on another note, you guys that are looking into getting Take Classic speakers for heights, surrounds, etc. Energy mentioned on their Facebook page that they're looking into selling the Take Classic satellites in pairs soon for those that are interested in adding to their systems.

If they did, and they were decently priced, I'd for sure pick up another pair. As surround speakers, for their weight and size and their ability even being so small, they're awesome.

What are considered to be "good" prices on a pair or RC-30s or RC-50s on eBay so I know whether or not I'm overpaying?

On a side note - my Sanus speaker stands came in today for my RC-10's. What a difference having them up at ear level now.