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Since I am stalled on dual HE15 by delays on the parts and my new dilemna of whether to go ported or use the PR's, I guess I'll look for some feedback on the rest of the system I am building.
I am building a 7 speaker surround setup which will hopefully perform musically as well. It is to consist of 7 of the Orca Design Aria 5A MTM, 2 Focal 5K4211's and an Accuton c2-12 8 ohm tweeter (note: I've already purchased all drivers, so suggestions for alternates aren't really what I am looking for).
Back and side surrounds are to be built nearly exactly to the original design (larger radii on the cabinet edges is the only real deviation).
Front 3, however, will be different as follows:
A) Replacing 5K4211 with Utopia 5W4252 (Orca is supposedly releasing a modified XO for the regular Aria 5 with this driver, but I have not been able to find out if they have done so and where to get it from anyone). Since the low pass portion of the Aria 5 and 5A were the same, I was going to base mine on this.
B) Going to 1.5" thick cabinets and adding 2 horizontal cross braces. Maintaining internal volume by increasing height and depth of cabinet internally, so baffle is nearly same width.
C) For each, adding a bass module which is to be a Lambda SB10 in a 2.5 cu. ft. sealed cabinet. Each of these Aria/bass combos is to be powered by a Marchand XP59 powered XO crossed at 250 Hz.
I'm looking to have these units cover strongly down to about 30Hz. My intent is when listening to 2 channel music, possibly not use the sub (which is to be a Stryke dual power 15 with 6 PR's unless I change my mind and make it ported). Only when doing 7 channel listening or HT would I use the sub (unless it turns out I like it better otherwise).
Last wrinkle is the center channel. I've followed a half dozen threads on various forums about MTM centers, including Patrick's, and Bob Sorel & Mark Seaton's on AVS. So I am pretty familiar with the issues as far as center being responsible for a high percentage of output in HT, combing of the midbasses as it relates to driver spacing, driver passband and XO's. I have room to build a squashed Aria 5A where the driver frames would butt right against each other, but I was leaning towards taking the "tweeter up, mids together" path just because of aesthetics. However, since I am not doing the WTMW format for this speaker as I wanted to keep the drivers identical to front L and R, I'm thinking that with the midbasses crossed at 3KHz, I might get combing at my seating position even if I bring them all the way together. So the question(s) is(are), is this so, and if I go with a squished regular MTM instead, does this necessitate any changes to the XO for the unaltered Aria 5A?
I am also looking for feedback on Marchand's amp products (the XP59 is essentially an XM9 active XO integrated with their MB201 250W MOSFET amp, 125/Ch into 8 ohms. I've checked everywhere I could find, web-wise, for opinions on his amps, and the only reference I found was someone who was in the process of building an MB201 at AudioAsylum. I'm guessing they are decent quality and I'm sure they are sufficiently powerful, but with the amount I've blown on drivers, I want to make sure my amps are in line. If not, I would probably just buy XM9's and go with another amp. But my plan was to integrate the Marchand unit onto the backs of the bass modules and so only have to run a single line level connect to each speaker. So does anyone have a reference to compare these to? My alternative was an ODG odyssey.
OK, shutting up now.
Comments and critiques?
BB
I am building a 7 speaker surround setup which will hopefully perform musically as well. It is to consist of 7 of the Orca Design Aria 5A MTM, 2 Focal 5K4211's and an Accuton c2-12 8 ohm tweeter (note: I've already purchased all drivers, so suggestions for alternates aren't really what I am looking for).
Back and side surrounds are to be built nearly exactly to the original design (larger radii on the cabinet edges is the only real deviation).
Front 3, however, will be different as follows:
A) Replacing 5K4211 with Utopia 5W4252 (Orca is supposedly releasing a modified XO for the regular Aria 5 with this driver, but I have not been able to find out if they have done so and where to get it from anyone). Since the low pass portion of the Aria 5 and 5A were the same, I was going to base mine on this.
B) Going to 1.5" thick cabinets and adding 2 horizontal cross braces. Maintaining internal volume by increasing height and depth of cabinet internally, so baffle is nearly same width.
C) For each, adding a bass module which is to be a Lambda SB10 in a 2.5 cu. ft. sealed cabinet. Each of these Aria/bass combos is to be powered by a Marchand XP59 powered XO crossed at 250 Hz.
I'm looking to have these units cover strongly down to about 30Hz. My intent is when listening to 2 channel music, possibly not use the sub (which is to be a Stryke dual power 15 with 6 PR's unless I change my mind and make it ported). Only when doing 7 channel listening or HT would I use the sub (unless it turns out I like it better otherwise).
Last wrinkle is the center channel. I've followed a half dozen threads on various forums about MTM centers, including Patrick's, and Bob Sorel & Mark Seaton's on AVS. So I am pretty familiar with the issues as far as center being responsible for a high percentage of output in HT, combing of the midbasses as it relates to driver spacing, driver passband and XO's. I have room to build a squashed Aria 5A where the driver frames would butt right against each other, but I was leaning towards taking the "tweeter up, mids together" path just because of aesthetics. However, since I am not doing the WTMW format for this speaker as I wanted to keep the drivers identical to front L and R, I'm thinking that with the midbasses crossed at 3KHz, I might get combing at my seating position even if I bring them all the way together. So the question(s) is(are), is this so, and if I go with a squished regular MTM instead, does this necessitate any changes to the XO for the unaltered Aria 5A?
I am also looking for feedback on Marchand's amp products (the XP59 is essentially an XM9 active XO integrated with their MB201 250W MOSFET amp, 125/Ch into 8 ohms. I've checked everywhere I could find, web-wise, for opinions on his amps, and the only reference I found was someone who was in the process of building an MB201 at AudioAsylum. I'm guessing they are decent quality and I'm sure they are sufficiently powerful, but with the amount I've blown on drivers, I want to make sure my amps are in line. If not, I would probably just buy XM9's and go with another amp. But my plan was to integrate the Marchand unit onto the backs of the bass modules and so only have to run a single line level connect to each speaker. So does anyone have a reference to compare these to? My alternative was an ODG odyssey.
OK, shutting up now.
Comments and critiques?
BB
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