Triad Owner's Thread - Page 5

Wow, that red rosewood looks awesome.....

I'm interested in seeing if I can get my center channel to match the furniture it'll be sitting on.

I realize no 2 pieces of wood are the same and it won't match 100%...not sure how I could get a sample out to my dealer without sending in a piece of furniture though!

It's a darker 'ash' I think....could someone take a look at the attached photos and just let me know if there's something close to this available in vaneer? Otherwise I'll just go gloss black to at least match my Sharp TV

You should conact Paul. I believe they can match to just about anything. Of course it will not be perfect, but I bet they could get pretty close.

Are you currently running a Triad system?

That wood almost looks like mahogany, or at least the same color. I would match the speakers if they were to be in a wood wall unit, or if most of the furniture in the room were one furniture finish, but for a center channel speaker that isn't on or near a wood finish, black is probably the best choice. And if you place the center on a shelf or in a cabinet, you may not even notice the $300 difference between black and a custom wood finish. Mike's case is decidedly different, as all his front speakers are freestanding, and they match a large custom cabinet.

Let me see some pictures of those Chargers sometime. I was racing Fords at the strip in '68-'70, and my very last race was against a '69 Charger R/T with a 440 6-pack. My Chapman Automotive-built '69 428 Mustang lost by about three lengths. I am depressed about it to this day.

Paul and others,
I just got a new house and have a similar open plan set-up to what some other people have mentioned, with the kitchen directly behind the living room. I am currently looking to purchase a set of in-ceiling surrounds and rears, the fronts and center I will probably stick with my Paradigm Monitor 7's for now, but will likely upgrade in the future (maybe Triads, but who knows). Since this is my first in-ceiling application I am VERY concerned about speaker choice and placement as trial and error isnt really an option. My budget for surrounds can pretty much only fit the sub $600 models, so I think that limits choices to the Bronze LCR's/surrounds and Silver/6 Omni's.

I have attached a scale diagram with my proposed locations, Im looking for comments on my locations and what types of speakers I will want to put there. I have seen some people suggest direct, and others indirect, like the Bronze/4 Surrounds, but Im really not sure which speaker will be right for which position. I believe Paul mentioned earlier it depends on distance from seating area, and "liveness" of the room.

I have tried to work with some Triad dealers in town, but have been thus far unimpressed with their assistance in my choices. They also aren't able to show me any triad in-ceiling demos. Hopefully AVS will be able to give me some insight into this.

tim

 

Tim Livingroom HT Setup.doc 80.5k . file

Tim, thanks for the great drawing. Because of the narrow spacing of your fronts (because of the fireplace), side surrounds are mandatory, or you'll have imaging like you're in a long hallway. And because of the size of the room and your seating, you can actually use direct-radiating surrounds. I would do four InCeiling Silver/6 Omni speakers for surrounds, at $550 each. That is within your budget, I assume. Your Paradigms are nice speakers, and they'll work well for now...at least.

Send me a PM and tell me where you are, and I'll try to help with the dealer coordination by getting my rep involved. I seem to be able to get their attention. And because we have almost no retail dealers, a demo is hard to come by. But read Cajun_Mike's comments on buying Triad without a demo. If the most appropriate Triad products are selected and the installation isn't botched, the results are usually better than anticipated.

I have a similar set up... kitchen right behind the living room. I went with direct and have been really pleased with the results.

Hi Paul; everyone,

here are some photos of my room....the front and rear walls are each 8' long. The room is 17' from front to back, and 14' wide. As you can see, the house is wide open, and the wall is 8' high and the roof vaults to 12'.

Sub is Sunfire True EQ and is hidden in front of the couch to the right of the TV. Receiver is Onkyo 875

Proposed setup is LCR L+R Bronze in walls, center channel LCR inRoom (to be placed where the receiver currently is in the photo), rear will be Surround Bronze on wall..... all of the AV equipment is going downstairs.....

Should I be looking at something different, or is this a good way to go?

http://www.autowarehouse.ca/speakers/IMG_1858.JPG
http://www.autowarehouse.ca/speakers/IMG_1859.JPG
http://www.autowarehouse.ca/speakers/IMG_1860.JPG
http://www.autowarehouse.ca/speakers/IMG_1861.JPG
http://www.autowarehouse.ca/speakers/IMG_1862.JPG

PS- here are some photos of the 511CI 440 build that's in the Charger now...made 780HP and 750 TQ on the dyno....I sure do love my Mopars! Ceramic coated pistons, hard block, etc http://www.autowarehouse.ca/chargermotor/

Paul, thanks for the great response, this is the type of insightful information I was hoping for when I provided my dealer with the same information.

On the choice for the sides, if i were to eventually push my seating wider, would the direct sides "overshoot" the outer seating position? With 10 foot ceilings I was figuring ball park I would want my direct speakers 4-6 feet away from the listening position so I would correctly direct the sound to there. If I were to be going wider in the future would you lean towards indirect sides like the bronze/4 surrounds, or would you still think the silver/6 omni is the right choice for out there?

As far as future upgrades, I'm guessing three in room silver LCR's would match well with these surrounds? Those are the ones that would be right in my price range for a L/C/R upgrade when I decide that my surrounds are blowing away my fronts and I just can't live with them anymore .

For a receiver, would something like a Denon 3808ci be a good option to drive these?

Again, thanks for your advice and help.

Tim

Tim, looking at your drawing, I would still use the Silver Omnis, even if you go wider. The "money seats" will sound better with them.

The room is large enough that you could go with Silver LCRs. They have about 4 dB more headroom than the Bronze LCRs, and they'll work great with that Denon receiver.

Tim,

I ended up going with the in-room Silver LCRs in my relatively small theater and it was the best decision I ever upgraded to. In addition to the headroom Paul mentioned I'm constantly astonished by their spatial accuracy and the detail that can be heard in most soundtracks. I love hearing the most subtle footstep or sound that previously went unnoticed.

I also have bronze on-wall surrounds that seem well matched to the Silvers.

Go Silver!

Regards,

BillMac

thanks, I'll take another look at the silvers on the site!

Paul,
What about using the InRoom Mini LCR for rear surrounds? They look to be the smallest InRoom model Triad makes.

The InRoom Bronze Omni and InRoom Silver Omni are smaller. You could use the InRoom Mini LCR for a surround, but it has a tighter vertical dispersion specification than you'd want. If that's the size you would need, I'd do the InRoom Silver Omni instead, for fifty bucks less each. ($400 vs. $450.)

Hi Paul. Maybe you can answer a surround question for me.

I'm looking into the InRoom Gold LCR's and InRoom Gold Center for my potential next system. I would also like to go with OnWall Gold Surrounds, which look pretty amazing. I currently run a 7.2 system, with surrounds on the sides and rears. This is in a dedicated theater room with two rows of seating - the second row on a riser.

The back surround speakers in my set up are against the back wall, and due to the layout of the room, the back row of the seating is up against the back wall. Not ideal, I know, but the only option I have.

My side surrounds are placed perfectly in the center of the two rows of seating, so their placement is nearly ideal.

The question I have is, do you think it would be necessary in my situation to have two sets of Gold Surrounds - since the back pair would be relatively close to the side pair, and the back row of seating is up against the wall? I would ideally like to run a 7.2 system, but not sure if it makes sense in this case. Would I be losing out much with just one set of surrounds?

Thanks for any feedback.

FWIW, one guy's impressions...

Recently had the chance to hear the In-Room Gold Monitors at a local store (I actually wanted to hear the In Room Gold LCRs, but they didn't have them - still curious; after this experience, even more curious). Fully-treated theater room, McIntosh amp/preamp, Integra source. We listened to a variety of music, two-channel plus a Triad sub. The sales guy also revved up the full dealie for a scene from Gladiator which I've seen at least 10 times. Verdict: very impressive - extremely impressive. I normally do a good job staying level-headed and not being overly effusive, but for me, they had the whole package: airy but smooth highs; clear mids - clean and pure; no obvious coloration; big soundstage; tight low end that sounded right, not overdone (then again, there was that sub). All combined exceptionally too; they just sounded so well-balanced.

I have PSB Platinum M2s and a Martin Logan Descent sub that I'm generally happy with. But curiosity and the unknown frequently get the better of me, and I've auditioned several other speakers to find out what else is out there and where (someday) I might like to end up: the bigger Platinums, Revel Performa M22s and F52s, Aerial 7Bs, Paradigm Studios (v.3 and v.4) and Signatures (v.1 and v.2), Axiom, Thiel MCS, PMC, Magnepans, Vandersteen, Swan D2.1se, those ridiculously expensive Meridian DSP powered speakers, Sonus Faber, Krell Resolutions, various B&W models, Wilson Duettes, to name a few. Many sounded real nice and, in some cases, I thought they sounded better than my own (in some cases, I thought they didn't... which made me pretty happy). Almost all were on different combos of gear. Some rooms were treated; others were not. So it has rarely been apples to apples.

That said, the Gold Monitors made the best impression on me to date. They're now on my really short list which, after 2-3 years of sporadic auditioning, just gained its first entry (the short list is much longer... if that makes sense). I'd still like to hear Dynaudio, the Monitor Audio GS and Platinum series, Onix Reference 3s, and Dali, among others. But the Gold Monitors are, I think, an extremely good speaker and, if you're in the market in that price range, well worth a tryout.

Now if I can just scare up a spare grand or ten...

Your setup sounds a lot like mine. I would do direct-radiating rears, even if they hotspot a little. Effects from the back channels should have a bit more immediacy, and alarm you once in a while. Consider that speakers on a back wall have to fire through the back of your ears to be heard, so most of what you hear from the rears is reflected, anyway. Gold Omni SEs have very similar Seas drivers as the Gold LCRs, and are a great match.

That is exactly my impression of the Gold Monitors, three of which reside in my theater. With tweeter response to 60 kHz, the 8 kHz-15 kHz range is handled with ease. To me, the most dominant quality of these speakers is that they have no sonic signature of their own; neutral and startlingly realistic.

For clarity, the InRoom Gold Monitors are $3,450 each, and the InRoom Gold LCRs are $1,900 each. They don't sound much different from each other, but to an enthusiast, it's a significant step up. I am glad you liked them, and happy to hear you were given a good demo.

So you would suggest the Gold Omni's for the rears and the OnWall Gold surrounds for the sides? Are the Gold Omni's wall mountable?

The Gold Omni SE is not the Gold Omni; it's the same dimensions, but with upgraded Seas drivers, similar to what's in the Gold LCR. There is no model suitable for mounting on a wall, but there is an inwall, an inroom, and an inceiling model of the Gold Omni SE. If you need to do an onwall, there is a version of the Gold Omni called, appropriately enough, the OnWall Gold Omni.

And thanks for asking.

Paul, I have a question for you. I run Dali Helicon 400 Fronts and the Dali C200 Center Channel, as you may or may not be aware these are a ribbon tweeter speaker. I am in need of a pair of in-ceiling speakers for my rear channels. This would be for both home theater and multi-channel audio. Does Triad offer anything that might be a close timbre match for me? Thanks so much for the help!

Paul, recently I have been reading your posts from the past several years, and you have been a wealth of information. I would like to tap into your wisdom on my 5.1 system plans (with a 50" plasma). I am planning this system for my family room, which is 21' x 17' with a vaulted ceiling height of 18' in the center. The ceiling is about 45 degrees sloping at a angle pointing toward the sides of the seating positions. I am designing this system to be optimized for music, but I will use it for HT as well. I am prepared to spend $12 on speakers.

From your posts, I think I have settled on the following speakers - 3 Inwall Silver/4 or 6 Monitors, 2 Inwall Silver/15 Powersubs with 500 watt amplifiers, but don't know which rears to select. My plan is to design a custom cabinet for the subs since my walls are only 4" deep. Can you please help me with your thoughts and recommendations. And specifically, which rears would you recommend for this application, and could I use direct radiating speakers in the lower porting of the sloped ceiling pointing at the sides of the listeners on the couch, which is on the back wall.

Also, would you suggest placing the subs directly under the L/R Inwall Monitors? And finally, would you recommend including the left, center, right Monitors in the cabinets (hence my thought about using the Silver 6's) such that they could be time aligned, i.e. the center channel set back a few inches from the L/R ones. I realize you recommend having the center channel aligned vertically on the same vertical plane as the L/R, so I'm trying to determine how to do this with the tweeters at a 40" height but not having the plasma too high for comfortable viewing.

I appreciate your help.

Are you sure you are only willing to spend $12 on speakers? That is a pretty tough budget to work with...

Thanks rydenfan. That was supposed to read $12k.

That seems to make much more sense. Are you set on definitely doing in-walls for your fronts? With your budget you could probably do the In-Room Monitors which are supposed to be outstanding for music and home theater.

I'm not totally set on InWalls. My main goal is to hide the speakers since it is in a family room setting; i.e. I have the WAF to consider. If there was a benefit to using the InRoom, and I could hide them in a cabinet with good quality speaker cloth, I would certainly prefer it. I thought that in a cabinet (or in walls) the InWalls may have a better accoustics design than the InRooms?

I gold believe the gold monitors are like $3,400 each (I cannot imagine the In-Walls would be much more). I would think even with the subs and the surrounds you could do the Gold In-Wall Monitors no problem. Paul would certainly be able to tell what is best for your application.

Paul, since there so are many different products that Triad offers would it be possible to get something like a full retail price list? I never have any idea of cost when I look at products on your website.

I am aware of Dali. We are the U.S. distributor for Lyngdorf Audio. Matching them is not a timbre issue, but a dispersion issue, more than anything else, and surrounds benefit from not being as directional. Because of the extension of a ribbon, I (again) would go with a version of the InCeiling Gold/8 Omni SE. The 45-degree angle of the baffle directs the sound towrads the listening area; not straight down to the floor like the majority of ceiling speakers.

InRoom Gold Monitors are $3,450 each, and the InWall Gold/6 Monitor is $3,650 each. They perform nearly identically. BTW, the old TacT Audio speakers that used the same drivers sold for $4,590 a few years ago.

Send me an e-mail at pscarpelli@triadspeakers.com and I'll reply with a retail price sheet in a .PDF.

Cheers.

Email sent

Al, I'm sorry I missed your post until I noticed it this morning. Silver Monitors are a nice alternative to the Gold LCR, at about 10% more cost. They're smaller, have the same sensitivity, and are just a smidge better for music applications. The Silver PowerSubs are as tight as any subs I've heard, and two will give you plenty of output down to 19 Hz or lower, with room gain.

It's hard to align a speaker vertically with a video display, and if most of the seating is directly in front of the TV, horizontal placement is not the end of the world. The ill effects are more noticed as you get off axis. Do it if you have to.

Consider a version of the Silver MiniMonitor for surrounds. They use the same drivers as the Silver Monitor, but with one less midrange, and in a much smaller package.

In a cabinet, there won't be a big difference between the InWall Silver/6 Monitor and the InRoom Silver Monitor, as long as you pack the area behind the speaker with foam.