Chuck's Statements 7.1 Build

[impala454]

Fro, thanks man you were on the right track. Though I think it was Denon that required the stereo. People on the emotiva site say they're using mono. As soon as I plugged in a stereo cable I measure 12v at the tip. So it's all working now! Thanks!

[FroDaddy]

Fro, thanks man you were on the right track. Though I think it was Denon that required the stereo. People on the emotiva site say they're using mono. As soon as I plugged in a stereo cable I measure 12v at the tip. So it's all working now! Thanks!

No problem, I'm glad you figured it out!

[impala454]

So I got home from being about a week away from my house, and now notice I'm getting nothing from the woofers of my center or one of my monitors. The mid/tweet combo on both works fine. So far I've taken the drivers out of the center, checked all the connections and seen nothing that looks out of the ordinary. I have cranked it a few times and maybe I blew them and just didn't notice until now. I'm about to take the woofer off the monitor and see what the deal is. I already tried gently pressing on one of the woofers to see if I heard a grinding sound (thanks to NateTTU's thread) and did not. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[impala454]

Ok checked the Monitor and there was a loose connection. Still not sure what's up with the center.

[impala454]

It seems like I'm getting some from them, but it's much weaker than the four monitors. I'm playing a 60Hz tone in 5 channel stereo mode.

[Hdale85]

Hmmm strange...

[Jim Holtz]

Hi Chuck,

What is the center set at in your processor? Do you have a crossover activated for the center?

Jim

[impala454]

I checked that first but the only thing I see (Denon 2307CI) is one crossover frequency setting (I assume for all speakers). Though this doesn't make much sense, as that setting is set at 80Hz, and I'm playing a 60Hz tone to test it with... hmm... I'll keep messing around with it tomorrow. Might be some weird issue with the 5 channel stereo setting. Thanks for the idea Jim.

[impala454]

Ok I've tried playing 85 & 100 Hz tones and still the same thing. I am getting some sound from it, but it seems about half the sound I'm getting from the monitors.

[Hdale85]

Does that only happen in 7 channel stereo?

[Jim Holtz]

Ok I've tried playing 85 & 100 Hz tones and still the same thing. I am getting some sound from it, but it seems about half the sound I'm getting from the monitors.

Here's an easy test to see if the center is working properly. Simply connect it as a left or right speaker and play 2 channel music. If it works fine, it's something in the electronics.

Are volumes set appropriately for the center? Use a DB meter and adjust the L, R and center to the same volume using test tones.

HTH

Jim

[impala454]

Yeah it turns out it seems the Denon does something weird to the center whenever you hvae it in 5-channel stereo mode. No problems with the speaker itself.

I'll solve this problem whenever Emotiva gets that UMC-1 pushed out :T

[BeerParty]

Here they are, couldn't resist taking an all inclusive pic! (5/7ths done w/the project!)

I hate to rain on your parade, but you are only 5/8ths done (you did say you were going to build a sub, didn't you?)

Of course, that makes you 5/8th more done than me... :P

[BobEllis]

or only 1/4 done since finishing the cabinets always takes me as much time as building.

Good work so far.

[impala454]

Haha good catch Chris... yeah I think Bob is probably closer to the right number. As mentioned I probably won't finish/paint them until I get all of them built. My plans to buy a house have been kinda curbed as I'm getting an apartment. So the sub has for sure been put off by a year (my current sub will do fine until then). Hopefully I will build the full sized statements some time this winter, while racing season is on hold (i.e. shop is open for me to use) and the weather for building stuff is awesome (good ol' Houston winters!). I'll have to update the first post to reflect all that. Thanks for the comments!

[impala454]

Ok so I drew a layout of the apartment I'm going to be moving into and wanted some suggestions on speaker placement (and facing). I will have my four Statements Monitors + Center. The center will fit right under the TV. Here's the rough sketch. Feel free to draw on it with paint or something if need be. The large wood item at the bottom is a desk (don't ask :P). The TV is on the left wall. The door at the top opens towards the TV and is the entry door. I'm willing to re-arrange where the furniture will go, but keep in mind there is a window behind the couch and I'm not putting the TV in front of the window . There's not a lot of room, and the placement might be somewhat obvious, but the facing is what I'm curious about. I appreciate any suggestions.

[impala454]

Ok so maybe I was a little vague with my question so I'll just resort to a simple one. For my back speakers, if they're to the sides of the listener, do I need to point them in, or forward? I.e:

A:


B:


or C:
combo of the two

[Jim Holtz]

Hi Chuck,

Mount the rears to the side and about headed height or above if possible and point them directly at the seating positions. Then balance your speakers with a DB meter. That works great for movies but I'm not crazy about surround music.

I'm a 2 channel guy for music. However, I've gotten decent results for music by lowering the volume quite a bit on the rear channels so it doesn't sound as if you're setting in the band. That's just wrong, IMHO, and one of my biggest complaints about surround music.

Jim

[impala454]

awesome thanks Jim that's what I needed to know.

[Russ_L]

Statement Monitors All Around

Hi Chuck- Just ran across this thread for the first time and I believe it will be a big help to me. You’re approximately four to six months ahead of me as I’ve just started finishing my basement (lost the battle with the wife to redo the den) for HT and multichannel SACD. I think it’s great what you have done so far but I have one question; well maybe a lot more when I get started.

What is motivating you to build the full size Satements when you’re able? Your current set up, with the addition of one, or better yet two subwoofers would be ideal. My plan is to build five Statement Monitors and an IFB* sub to fill in the lowest octave (been hanging around ThomasW’s other site) .

While I’ve not yet heard such a set up, even with a conventional sub, Kal Rubinson made quite a statement (pun intended) in one of his Music In the Round articles in Stereophile. He said “the music sounded best when he set all five of his speakers to small”. This was in his NYC listening room where he has three full-range B&W Diamonds up front, and two full-range B&Ws in the back. I consider Kal to be the expert in all things multichannel.

I’ve been told by one of the Mission Impossible members who is a Statement builder (Asi) that the Dayton’s play pretty low. If they are solid down to 40 Hz, setting your Denon’s crossover to 80 Hz would give you an octave of overlap with the sub and should result in a very nice integration of the sub and the five monitors. And of course with that comes all the good things that happen by limiting the load on a full range speaker; i.e., keeping the lows from modulating the mids and the highs..

Again, thanks for starting this thread. Good luck in your house hunting. There are lots of bargins out there if you're able to obtain a mortgage.

Russ

* https://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18218 message Private Messages on this site

[impala454]

Thanks for the kind words Russ. My intent by posting the thread was to hopefully help anyone out and share my experiences.

My motivation to build the full sized Statements once I have the room for them (now 1+ years out due to getting an apt) is that I eventually want to end up with a 7.1 system. I suppose I could just build a 3rd pair of Monitors, but I figured I'd go for the gusto and build the full sized ones, especially since I could use them independently for 2 channel stuff. I already have a sub, but will build one to replace it (again once I get a house).

[impala454]

So it's been a long time since I built anything, and the apartment gig is lasting a lot longer than I thought! I did, however, recently get a garage! Pretty good sized for an apartment, I can bring over and set up all my woodworking stuff, yay! I decided I'm going to build Jed's Lineup R4s to replace my Monitors on the back two channels, and finally round off and put a finish on all of the speakers. All in an effort to "debachelorize" my place a bit. I know I could rebuild these cabinets better, so for now I'll go with a simple paint (countertop paint or truck bed liner or something that will hide the imperfections ).

[technodanvan]

Is the R4 an effort to get a complete 7 channel setup without building the full-size Statements yet? It's a solid choice I think, I imagine they will make fantastic surrounds and take up significantly less space.

[impala454]

Without reading all of my ramblings in the first post, the idea is to downsize a little for now. I just signed another lease for my current apartment, and right now I've got four monitors and the center, and the monitors in the rear just take up too much space, so for now I'll build the R4s (reusing the drivers from my rear monitors) so I have smaller surrounds. I'm trying to keep a little WAF in mind (even though I'm single) so that perhaps when I bring women around it looks a little less bachelory :B

The final goal of a 7.1 setup will still be later once I get a house and have more room. I'll take what I have and add the full sized Statements as the front LR and shift everything else back. That's pretty far down the road though as I just signed a 15 month lease (working on paying off school loans and some old mistakes before buying a house).

[AdelaaR]

Is the R4 an effort to get a complete 7 channel setup without building the full-size Statements yet? It's a solid choice I think, I imagine they will make fantastic surrounds and take up significantly less space.

I used 4 F4's as surrounds and I like them very much that way.
I assume R4's would be even better, but I personally don't like high frequencies coming the sides and bleeping in my ears.
That's obviously very personal ... I'm oversensitive to high frequencies.
For music listening, I agree completely with Jim that it should be either 2 channel or with the surrounds turned down low.
For home cinema I have found the F4's to be great at going quite low as surrounds ... for car chases and such they really can add quite a bit of punch, without going very deep and while still remaining quite small.

[technodanvan]

Without reading all of my ramblings in the first post, the idea is to downsize a little for now. I just signed another lease for my current apartment, and right now I've got four monitors and the center, and the monitors in the rear just take up too much space, so for now I'll build the R4s (reusing the drivers from my rear monitors) so I have smaller surrounds. I'm trying to keep a little WAF in mind (even though I'm single) so that perhaps when I bring women around it looks a little less bachelory :B

The final goal of a 7.1 setup will still be later once I get a house and have more room. I'll take what I have and add the full sized Statements as the front LR and shift everything else back. That's pretty far down the road though as I just signed a 15 month lease (working on paying off school loans and some old mistakes before buying a house).

Understood, I'm in a very similar living situation myself. My goal will be a complete 7 channel system based on Jed's full size Dynamic series speakers. I have the parts for the 4T SE and 4CC SE, and have CNC'd pieces for curved cabs for a full 7 channel setup (4T SE all the way around) coming shortly, with the intent to buy the other parts in the next 12 months or so. Lots of work ahead, and I need to move to a new apartment (or maybe a house rental) in the next 3 weeks or so.

I have the parts for a Statement monitor here too, and I'd like to try the R4 sometime to compare to Paul C's Speedsters...if I ever get any of those built, it'll be a miracle.

I used 4 F4's as surrounds and I like them very much that way.

Interesting move, I have been thinking about the benefits of having full range surrounds for some time now and am wondering just how beneficial they are. While my plans above outline a clear full-range setup, I do think having smaller surrounds that are truly meant for 'ambiance' may be just as good for a lot of movies. For multichannel music I am still split - typically I will rock out with only two channel, but I have never had a proper multichannel setup so I don't want to write it off just yet.

I also wonder how the F4 (or even R4) might do for the additional surround channels offered in some newer preamps, such as the front 'heights' or additional surround channels done with Audyssey and the like.

[impala454]

I have thoroughly enjoyed the monitors as surrounds, just need to downsize. I don't feel like it'll be any huge loss on the low end, except when I'd play music via 5-channel stereo mode. Since it's the same MT combo the mids and high should be spot on for the machine guns behind your head and such .

[onyxbfly]

Understood, I'm in a very similar living situation myself. My goal will be a complete 7 channel system based on Jed's full size Dynamic series speakers. I have the parts for the 4T SE and 4CC SE, and have CNC'd pieces for curved cabs for a full 7 channel setup (4T SE all the way around) coming shortly, with the intent to buy the other parts in the next 12 months or so. Lots of work ahead, and I need to move to a new apartment (or maybe a house rental) in the next 3 weeks or so.

Not wanting to thread jack, But I have to say that I'm impressed with your goal for 4 *Dynamic 4TSE curved towers. Pls start a build thread when you do.
I'm currently in the 80/20 phase of building my dynamic sound stage. Every time I say it will be one more week its always 2 more and that has been a few weeks ago. :P

[john trials]

Chuck, hopefully you haven't painted your speakers yet. You should definitely give Duratex a try. http://store.acrytech.com/Speaker-Cabinet-Coatings/

No primer needed (it goes on bare wood), no fumes, really tough finish (a few hours after application, I couldn't make a mark in it with my fingernail). It looks similar to truck bed liner, and can alter the texture based on how you apply it. You can order a trial size kit to test it out, too. My son recently used the trial size to coat his Recession Busters, and it worked really well.

Here is some more info about Duratex: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...hing-questions

[impala454]

Nice, thanks for the suggestion! No I haven't painted yet, as said previously I figure I'll just wait until I have a house and a color scheme set up (although black would probably be the color I'd go with).