Please help me choose some speakers :(

Thanks, tommyboy. It seems that we have similar tastes in equipment (Elsa Gladiac, DC Pro 24/96, and Yamaha RX/V1), so I will definately give them a listen when I am ready.


I am so disappointed about the B&W deal falling through, though, I'll just need some time to get over the hurt. I don't think I am ready right now to listen to other speakers, as I need time alone to forget my beloved B&W's. Every once in awhile, while walking through a stereo shop, I think I hear a beautiful arpeggio behind me, widely dispersed, and my heart skips in anticipation of seeing a natural cherry finished Nautilus 805, but when I turn I find that my ears have fooled me with a cheap Bose knockoff. Then I know I am not ready yet to give myself to another speaker http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif


Does anyone know anything about Aerial 5's? I see a lot of posts on Aerial speakers, but I have never heard them. Does anyone know how they compare to the B&W's? They seem to be pretty expensive, but maybe they don't have the same policy on price control, hopefully.

Bob,


I had to tell you about this. I just picked up a pair of Paradigm Stylus 150 indoor/outdoor speakers to use as rear centers. They are 8 ohm/50 watt speakers that are perfect for my setup. I wired them up in parallel to the single rear center speaker post on the RX-V1 and have them hung behind me angled down, each pair slightly aimed left/right for good coverage.


Anyway, I popped in Saving Private Ryan DTS and hit the DTS ES button on the RX-V1 remote and ...wham...I couldn't believe my ears. It was amazing how much stuff was extracted from the left/right rears and how nicely things panned from left to center to right. Hell, I was taking cover behind my recliner! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif I can't wait to get the Haunting (even though it DTS 6.1 discrete) to see how something that is DTS ES sounds.


Anyway, good luck and good listening. I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised at how good the Paradigm Reference stuff sounds.


Tom




[This message has been edited by tommyboy2 (edited June 16, 2000).]

Tommy, I heard quite a few great speakers, so it was a really tough decision, and I ALMOST bought the Paradigm's (they were a LOT better than I expected), but I ended up buying Dynaudio Gemini kits. Yes, that's right, I bought kits, and to be truthful, I couldn't even hear them. I did listen to a few other Dynaudio models, the Contour 1.3 mkII, which is a lower model than the Gemini's, and the Contour 1.8 mkII's, which is a slightly higher model. The worse of the 2, the Contour 1.3's, were among the best speakers I have heard under $5000 per pair. They had all the qualities that I liked about the Nautilus 805's, but were slightly brighter with tighter, more accurate bass (IMHO) even without a sub. The only place where these speakers lacked at all was the extreme low bass (below about 50hz), which I plan on leaving to a sub anyway. The 1.8's had better low bass, but basically sounded the same otherwise with slightly better presence. Both speakers have a distinct separation of instruments, so that you can actually hear horn players gasp for breath, slight squeaks from the sax keys, finger noise on the strings of a guitar, etc. with a soundstage that makes me feel like the band is right in front of me. I have been a rock and classically trained musician for about 25 years, so I am pretty familiar what it sounds like to be right in the middle of the band, and these speakers made me feel that way without picking up an instrument. The Contour 1.3's cost $2400 per pair and the 1.8's cost $3500 per pair, so the Gemini kits at $1060 per pair are an absolute steal. I bought these at Madisound, so I was able to custom pick my system and I bought 3 of the Gemini's for front left, right, and center, and I bought 3 of the Vifa A/V's, a similar design with slightly lesser drivers, for the surround left, right, and center, for a total cost of $2236.50, leaving me almost $800 to build a sub. I know I am taking a chance, but what the heck, you only live once. I'll keep my fingers crossed http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

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By all means build a sealed compound load system. I have built lots of them and in my opinion two ordinary quality (cheap) American made woofers in a face to face compound load sound better than any expensive European made woofers used singly, and at a much lower cost. Build your bass box out of 3/4" MDF with a double thick front baffle and internal bracing. Paint the inside of the box with 3 or 4 layers of Sears Weatherbeater exterior latex paint in white (white has more titanium dioxide in it). That will reduce cabinet resonance. Cover the boxes in Formica or Wilson Art. I like Formica "Koa" or Wilson Art "Gunmetal" or basic black. That will increase stiffness tremendously as well. Make sure the woofer surrounds do not touch each other as they will be facing each other. Madisound has some good 15" dual voice coil "Sledgehammer" woofers for this purpose as well as electronic crossovers. You need a box volume of about 4 cubic feet stuffed with "Acoustistuff" damping material per box. Build two for stereo bass - a must! With room gain you will get bass flat to 20hz and about 88db efficiency. The woofers are dual voice coil designs so you connect them in series, then in parallel, and you end up with an 8 or 4 ohm load depeding on the woofer you choose (8 ohm or 4 ohm per coil). Connect them out of phase electrically so they are in phase mechanically. This system give you a 15" woofer with the tightness and detail of a 8" woofer. They will sound bottomless and you don't need the worlds best amp to run them, just a powerful stereo amp.


Building subwoofers is the easiest thing in the world and lots of fun.