SVS MTS Family

I've been speaking with Tom from SVS and that is an impressive tweeter they come with. One of the best from what I understand.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...96&postcount=1

mBs... glad to see a larger bookshelf speaker. From a standard x-over perspective, how will these mate with a sub (i.e. perfect slopes)? When do we get to see the FRs? Also, how loud will these play without distorting or compressing? My HT is pretty large...

These speakers are not out yet. Pre/orders will start soon. So I don't think anyone can answer your distortion question. I'm sure like most speakers with proper amplification they will preform well.

Any quality sub should blend well with them.

I'm really excited to see more about these speakers. I can't wait to see more specs hopefully the sensitivity will be higher than the sbs-01s

It will be interesting to see how they sell at this price point, outside of their loyal fan base, with those silly panels attached to a plain speaker. Even Ascend Acoustics, with their loyal fan base, didn't try to sell ugly at that price point.

thats an interesting take I won't dissagree that there not cheap but I wouldn't call them ugly.

I think they look awesome.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I was not happy to hear about the rear ports though. The center will either have to be placed out from the wall (not wall mounted-I admit I am assuming here) or behind the screen. Well the mains can just be pulled out a couple of inches and don't need mounting.
I still have my SCS-01's as mains in the boxes, still waiting for the cabinet people (an awful mess), but I was attracted to them because of the non-rear porting; mounting possibilities as well as the reviews and pedigree.
This looks awesome, and I would be excited to hear them, are you listening Santa?

Same old MTM design for the center speaker.

Does it matter about the design? Or how they sound? Same design doesn't mean, same sound.

very interesting, superb parts but everyone knows a speaker is more than the sum of...

I like the panels. It is sort of like what ACI used to do:
http://audioc.com/gallery1/gallery.htm

I quite agree Curtis. I LIKE it that they've got yet another and different choice. An interesting and unique look all their own.

It does matter. An MTM design has inherent problems that cannot be overcome by crossover design or driver selection.

It's too bad, the other speakers in the lineup look interesting.

I only have one question on this - who the hell is this guy????

Captain Crunch

What guy?

He is Captain Crunch. Who the hell are you?

I have to agree with the MTM statement, I have followed enough threads and read enough articles to know that there are problems with that type of setup...

Lets also state that this is a Mid level speaker, not a High End speaker... and they are still yet to release info about their up and coming LTS line, and Im sure/hope they will be incorporating a WMTW design.

I don't think they are ugly, but not to sure that panel design would win my approval, but you can't say they didn't reach for incorporating some good drivers 'n tweeters into the speakers....

GR Research AV-2s are MTM and they are a hell of a speaker. Jury's out for me. I do think the center is just too tall for most racks though.

But a toppled MTM guarantees crappy sound.

A better investment than that flashy tweeter would've been a competent center channel design.

Being a mid-level speaker isn't an excuse for producing a horizontal MTM design.

Revel Concerta C-12, Infinity Beta 360, Kef Q-Series and Aperion Audio (5 and 6 series) are all examples of intelligently designed center channel speakers that sell for the same (or less) price.

A lot of people lumping all MTM centers into bad as a whole. A properly designed MTM center is not an issue.

The off center tweeter on the other hand leaves me wondering.

Actually, in this case it's the basic design that's (irrepairably) flawed rather than any execution issue.

A toppled MTM will have narrow horizontal directivity, limiting the size of the listening area. It will also have wide-open veritcal directivity, smearing dialogue and other center images with floor and ceiling bounce signals that are similar in amplitude and arrival time to the main signal. See here for some data on how worthless toppled MTM centers as a class are.

The bottom line is that the toppled MTM is a grossly inferior design to any other alternative. Any system that employs one does not have high-fidelity as one of its goals. No matter how expensive the tweeter is. Speaking of which, note how they're using the tweeter? Any attempt to control its directivity at the bottom of its passband in evidence? Nope, just a good ol' 180deg horn, i.e. flush-mounted on the baffle. Again, spending less on the parts and more on the design seems like an appropriate recommendation...

I do like the KEF RDM-series knockoff cheekpanels, though.

Doesn't The Sound Authority know that a horizontal center is vastly inferior?

Let's look at real world speaker design. In my set up, as well as most of yours a horizontal center is the only option. I happen to have a very large (70") tv. So a vertical center under it is not workable, and putting one on top of it would make it
7 feet tall!!

Anytime somebody comes out with a new speaker/sub/cd player/amp, there is going to be chatter about how good/bad it is. The good news is that most of the players are trying to build a better product. Thats how competition works.

The beauty of a company like SVS (and others) is that their product is available to a much larger market than some others. I live in a small town. I would have to drive at least 100 miles to hear anything decent at all.

The bad news is that in a market as old as speakers, the odds of a truly revolutionary product are slim. We can hope for a product as good as others, but for less money. That's about it.

I will be more interested in the larger models. I hope they go over the top on those!

We have been talking about real world speaker design.

The problem isn't horizontal center speakers as a whole. There are several good ones available at this price point.

The problem is when you design one using a horizontal, MTM design.

The issue is lobing.

In "good" MTM designs, the center lobe will easily cover the listening area, which presumably would be between the left and right mains.

If you get outside of that...you have other problems to deal with.

Can you explain MTM?

Isn't it WTW (woofer, tweeter, woofer?)

Oh, come on. A lot of speakers have this design. And I don't think the RDMs were the first to "sport" it, either.

I think MTM refers to "mid woofer- tweeter - mid woofer".

These new SVS's look kinda cool! Very original, and almost contemporary look to them. I will be very curious to see more specs and etc. The competion for high end but affordable small bookshelf speakers is growing fast, now with both ascend and SVS taking a stab at it. I have the sierras from ascend on order and these look intruguing too. Of course they will be paired with an SVS ultra that I have had for a while By the end of the year, a comparison between the 2 bookshelf lines will be very interesting & dangerous for those who conduct it.

I wish both companies good luck!

Thanks,
Brandon