Sealed Statements 2.0 + Center Channel

[kevinm]

It sure is amazing at what you can do with a router. Today I finished up my veneering and only had the driver recesses to trim out.

I picked up the small bit mentioned above:



You start with this ( just used a normal flush trim Riuter bit to get her this far):



Adjust height of bit so it ends up like so:



Then go bananas with it. It cuts so smooth. After you route out the recess, just run some 220grit sand paper and remove the burs.



And all done with veneering!



That was a lot of veneer. I would be ok with not veneering for a while

[kevinm]

Alright Id love some opinions....which do you guys like better?



And another angle showing the contrast a little better

[Carl V]

Left

[bostonmurf]

looking good!!! thanks for the info on the recess trimming, awesome work. as for the stain id go right, i like the contrast in the grain.

[kevinm]

Thanks, Boston and Carl V.

Everyone I've chatted with is leaning to the left sample, but I'm kind of intrigued by the right for the same reason Boston mentioned. I think I can add another coat or two of Danish oil to richen it up a little more to compare to the left sample. Is that why you like the left sample, Carl?

[bostonmurf]

are you planning to put grills on them or just leave the drivers exposed? reason for asking is if you do go with the right-side sample it will help the drivers stand out.

[kevinm]

I was originally going to build some grills, but I forgot to put magnets in the baffles before I put veneer on. So it looks like I am going without grills!

[bostonmurf]

i prefer the non grill look myself. unfortunately, I'm sure my one year old will too
can't wait to see pics of them stained. out of interest how did you get to the look of the right hand piece i.e. how many coats of stain/oil did you use?
its turning into one amazing set up you have there!

[kevinm]

Haha. My sisters kids are the same way. I have to guard them when they are over


I sanded with 220 pretty throughly and 400 and 600 lightly. Then just did 2 coats of Medium Walnut Danish Oil from Watco. Danish oil was applied until wood stopped soaking it up as fast as I could put it on. I'd them give it 15-20 mins before wiping it off. Then waited 2 hours before reapplying.

[bostonmurf]

thank Kevin, thats a huge help. Hopefully ill be starting my finishing soon. Unfortunately walked into a leaking toilet thats run through the ceiling into the bathroom downstairs so the projects going to be on hold for a little while. its been one of those days, found the perfect home with a dream basement (unfinished with 12 ft high ceilings, its crying out for a HT room down there!) but had our offer refused. Whisky time i think

[kevinm]

thank Kevin, thats a huge help. Hopefully ill be starting my finishing soon. Unfortunately walked into a leaking toilet thats run through the ceiling into the bathroom downstairs so the projects going to be on hold for a little while. its been one of those days, found the perfect home with a dream basement (unfinished with 12 ft high ceilings, its crying out for a HT room down there!) but had our offer refused. Whisky time i think

Oh man, that's heartbreaking man. I'm sorry to hear that. That would have been a dream come true! How close are you on the R44s?

[bostonmurf]

Oh man, that's heartbreaking man. I'm sorry to hear that. That would have been a dream come true! How close are you on the R44s?

thanks Kevin, but.... its not over yet, the wife is working on a plan to strike up a comprimise deal to make both parties happy so it may still be on the cards!!!! she's very good at that, years of practice talking me into stuff i didn't want to do was apparently just training for this moment

the new resistor arrives tonight so I'm going to wire it up ready and borrow the drivers from the center channel on the weekend to try it out. that way there broken in so ill be able to give it a good review. if I'm happy with it ill order the crossover parts and drivers for the second speaker on monday. they look great next to the towers, fingers crossed they'll sound awesome.

[kevinm]

Good plan, it's be a shame to let a non-home theater hobbiest buy such an ideal basement

And awesome. Keep me updated (or your thread and I'll lurk)

[kevinm]

Cabinets have been coated with Danish Oil.

From my tests, I decided to do the first coat in Medium Walnut and the second and third coats in Dark. That gave me a little better grain variation, but kept them rich.

They've been drying for a few days - plan to start my coats of Wipe On Poly on Friday.

I don't want to do a full shot because the lighting isn't doing the cabinets justice - they're so beautiful in person. Dark and beautiful.

[BobEllis]

If that's not looking good, they must be drop dead gorgeous. Nice job. ;x(

[bostonmurf]

that looks incredible! am definitely doing the same on mine. absolutely stunning Kevin!!!

[kevinm]

Thanks, guys! They are turning out really well. I have just put my 4th coat of poly on them. They're looking incredible.

Once again, the lighting is terrible again, but here are few progress shots!

[Jim Holtz]

Beautiful! :T

Jim

[soundemon]

Excellent work! very impressed! cant wait to see how they look with drivers in

[bostonmurf]

amazing! nice work!!

[kevinm]

Thanks, everyone!

Final coat was applied last night - ended up staying with the gloss over satin - my samples just showed such a richer color using gloss.

Jim, where did you place your binding posts on the CC? It looks like the only realistic place is behind one of the woofers on the back panel. I didn't middle of the back panel was very feasible because of the mid chamber being so close. The "I-make-everything-symmetrical" part of me is twitching at the thought.

[wkhanna]

Asymmetry is the spice of life....:W

[Jim Holtz]

Thanks, everyone!

Final coat was applied last night - ended up staying with the gloss over satin - my samples just showed such a richer color using gloss.

Jim, where did you place your binding posts on the CC? It looks like the only realistic place is behind one of the woofers on the back panel. I didn't middle of the back panel was very feasible because of the mid chamber being so close. The "I-make-everything-symmetrical" part of me is twitching at the thought.

LOL! I'm a symmetrical kinda guy myself. However, on the center I place the binding posts on the side I have my electronics on so I can keep the speaker cable run short. The space behind the mid chamber is for wiring pass through. Also stuff the space heavily so it doesn't act as a port between the two chambers.

Jim

[kevinm]

LOL! I'm a symmetrical kinda guy myself. However, on the center I place the binding posts on the side I have my electronics on so I can keep the speaker cable run short. That space behind the mid chamber is for wiring pass through. Also stuff that space heavily so it doesn't act as a post between the two chambers.

Jim

Ahh, that is good to know. I think I remember reading that, but as I go to stuff them, I guarantee I would've forgotten.

Thanks, Jim.

[kevinm]

Asymmetry is the spice of life....:W

Unfortunately, you are correct.

But I do like my symmetrical lines. Ahh, life can be a struggle sometimes. Hehe

[kevinm]

I ALWAYS underestimate how long it will take me to finish the final few steps. I think it took me about 16 hours to drill the necessary holes in cabs, install the wiring, stuff the cabinets, install crossovers, connect everything up and install the drivers (mind you, the wires were all pre-cut to "expedite" things and the crossovers already completed). Whew. Then a last minute mistake put me about 1-2 hours back - accidentally shorted BOTH cabinets with my binding post plate - more on that later.

However, I am finally up and running. Sorry for the terrible pictures (Jon, you will be ashamed - but if it helps, I think your pictures have convinced me to pull the trigger on a DSLR in the near future), but the lighting downstairs in our house is atrocious at night. I'll grab some glamour/headshots of them soon.

Also, I'll post my step-by-step finishing guide just in case anyone is interested as well.

Anyways, here is the first configuration:





No audio review yet as they are still breaking in - I've heard a nice change in sound in just the 1-2 hours they've been running. However, so far I think it is safe to say the move to sealed towers and bass bins was a success - more on that later. I am running the bass bins in stereo under each tower - I have a Minidsp 2x4 running the system. So far, I just used a really basic setup on the system to just start making noise - towers have a HPF of 40z and the subs a HPF of 22hz and LPF of 85hz. I think all slopes are 24db. I have lots of testing and tweaking to do - need to breakout REW and the mic.

I am running the towers off of Emotiva XPA-1 monoblocks and the subs are running off an iNuke 3000 in 2ohm stereo. So far, the headroom on both is clearly audible - loving it.

That's it for now, I am off to listen to everything I have. Giddy all over again!

[kevinm]

So in my wanderings for music tonight on Spotify, I found this genius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Lan4tLZQA

His name is Yori Horiwaka. He has an EP called Vapor that everyone should listen to. Might be one of the most enveloping pieces I have ever listened to - he is jedi master - some of the bester mastering I have ever heard.

Also, listen to Letter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vQc1ApB5Do

[bostonmurf]

outstanding!!!!!! wow they look amazing Kevin. nice way to start 2015 oh and yes please do post a step by step guide on the finish, its exactly what im looking for!

on a side note a follow up on the home move, we got it!!! should be in there late march. so now with the 12ft high basement im going to have to go Atmos!!

[soundemon]

Congrats Kevin they look amazing!

And congrats Bostonmurf on the new house! you'll have to post lots of pix. on a side note, only now typing out your name do I realize its not bostonsmurf! lol that's how I've been reading it all this time...

[dar47]

Very nice result Kev, that walnut really pops.:T:T

Also looks like your going to have some potent base, have fun dialing it in.

[bostonmurf]

Congrats Kevin they look amazing!

And congrats Bostonmurf on the new house! you'll have to post lots of pix. on a side note, only now typing out your name do I realize its not bostonsmurf! lol that's how I've been reading it all this time...

Thanks Soundemon, yes I'm VERY excited at the thought of the build out

[kevinm]

Thanks for all the kinds words everyone. I am REALLY enjoying them right now. Plenty of tweaking and testing, but most importantly, lots of listening. So far, they have been nothing short of amazing. Been so much fun.

And congrats Boston, that's going to be a lot of fun.

I was playing around with some measurements. Here are direct, no eq measurements 15-20khz.

Here is the Left speaker without the bass bin



Left speaker bass bin


Right front speaker without bass bin


Right front bass bin


Here are the speakers integrated through the Minidsp. Minidsp has applied the following crossover filters:

Towers:
HPF at 40hz

Bass bins:
LPF: 85hz
HPF: 22hz

EQ below is applied through the Minidsp as well.

Here is the left speaker with bass bin:



Here is the right speaker with bass bin:



Anyone have any thoughts/recommendations?

[5th element]

My advice would be to seal the statements and then apply a 2nd order highpass to them at the box f3. This will give you a decent amount of bass extension but will also protect the statements vs being over driven. I'd imagine that you'd get a box f3 of around 50Hz. People have over driven their statements, either from melting the coils of the 225s or from over excursion, where the voice coils have slammed into the back plates. Sealing them and applying a high pass will give you a nice amount of extension with a nice even roll off. You could just apply a highpass to the ported statements, but then you'd end up with a 6th order roll off which doesn't suit everyone.

After high-passing the statements I would want to run the bass modules up to around 150Hz. The reason for this is to have more bass sources putting energy into the room and helping to even out the response. The higher you can run these, really the better, as you will get room mode issues up to around 200Hz, but the larger the room the lower this actually is. 150Hz is a nice compromise and the subs of the bass modules should easily cope with being run this high. 4th order electrical them with the low pass and it should give you a 4th order acoustic roll of. As to the EQ and/or high pass that you apply to them, I would want the bass modules to work as hard as they are capable of, but you will need to do some simulation work of SPL vs extention vs excursion vs power handling.

You will of course then need to blend the bass modules with the statements. As the mains will work down to around 50Hz, for example, and the bass modules will cover up to around 150Hz, there is a nice region of overlap between the two where you are going to get a raised amount of output. You should be able to apply shelving filters to both the mains and the bass modules to reduce their output, between the region of overlap, such that they sum pretty much flat. This has the added advantage of taking even more strain away from the mains.

Once they are blended you've then got to integrate your actual subs into the equation and these should, I'm presuming, have output down to 20Hz. I would want to use these up to around 100Hz, or at least 80Hz, if they are not so capable, to again maximise the number of bass sources you have within the room. This will once again require shelving filters to blend the subs with the blended mains and bass modules, but I can assure you, that if you've got the required number of DSP channels and the number of power amplifiers that you will not be disappointed. A reasonably well configured multiple source bass set up sounds nothing short of superb. Like I mentioned earlier on in another one of your threads, if you can get one of your main subs behind the main listening position that will also help significantly, instead of having all the bass sources mounted along the front wall.

I have to say though it all looks amazing I hope you are pleased with the outcome.

[kevinm]

Hi 5th! Thanks for chiming in. What's yohr procedure for blending using the shelving filters? Do you use a program like REW to setermine when/where to apply them?

Would you mind walking me through how you interpret the graphs?

I assume adjusting my bass module/statement crossover, then providing the non-EQed graphs would be the next step?

[Jim Holtz]

My advice would be to seal the statements and then apply a 2nd order highpass to them at the box f3. This will give you a decent amount of bass extension but will also protect the statements vs being over driven. I'd imagine that you'd get a box f3 of around 50Hz. People have over driven their statements, either from melting the coils of the 225s or from over excursion, where the voice coils have slammed into the back plates. Sealing them and applying a high pass will give you a nice amount of extension with a nice even roll off. You could just apply a highpass to the ported statements, but then you'd end up with a 6th order roll off which doesn't suit everyone.

After high-passing the statements I would want to run the bass modules up to around 150Hz. The reason for this is to have more bass sources putting energy into the room and helping to even out the response. The higher you can run these, really the better, as you will get room mode issues up to around 200Hz, but the larger the room the lower this actually is. 150Hz is a nice compromise and the subs of the bass modules should easily cope with being run this high. 4th order electrical them with the low pass and it should give you a 4th order acoustic roll of. As to the EQ and/or high pass that you apply to them, I would want the bass modules to work as hard as they are capable of, but you will need to do some simulation work of SPL vs extention vs excursion vs power handling.

You will of course then need to blend the bass modules with the statements. As the mains will work down to around 50Hz, for example, and the bass modules will cover up to around 150Hz, there is a nice region of overlap between the two where you are going to get a raised amount of output. You should be able to apply shelving filters to both the mains and the bass modules to reduce their output, between the region of overlap, such that they sum pretty much flat. This has the added advantage of taking even more strain away from the mains.

Once they are blended you've then got to integrate your actual subs into the equation and these should, I'm presuming, have output down to 20Hz. I would want to use these up to around 100Hz, or at least 80Hz, if they are not so capable, to again maximise the number of bass sources you have within the room. This will once again require shelving filters to blend the subs with the blended mains and bass modules, but I can assure you, that if you've got the required number of DSP channels and the number of power amplifiers that you will not be disappointed. A reasonably well configured multiple source bass set up sounds nothing short of superb. Like I mentioned earlier on in another one of your threads, if you can get one of your main subs behind the main listening position that will also help significantly, instead of having all the bass sources mounted along the front wall.

I have to say though it all looks amazing I hope you are pleased with the outcome.

I've just got to jump in with a few thoughts. I think his Statements are built with sealed bass and open mid tunnels. Since Curt and I introduced the Statements in 2007, I've never heard of anyone melting the coils in the RS225 from over driving them. They've been road tested up to 115 db. Here's a clip of the Statements II from the Meniscus DiY event last summer. The only driver that I know of that has been damaged by high SPL was the result of exceeding 117 db in a very large basement when the owner was showing them off to friends. He stretched the ribbon elements and had to have Madisound replace the element only. The RS225's aren't indestructible but they'll take a lot of abuse and keep on playing even when they're stupid loud. :T

I'd also suggest a crossover to the bass bin or subs around 50 - 60 Hz. There have been many built and integrated that way and they work extremely well with that crossover point. Dual RS225's will always sound cleaner and tighter than a sub/bass bin in the mid bass. Cross them higher and you'll get "bloated" bass which is great for movies, but not so great for music.

Anyway, this is the DIY part. Play and experiment.

Jim

[kevinm]

I've just got to jump in with a few thoughts. I think his Statements are built with sealed bass and open mid tunnels. Since Curt and I introduced the Statements in 2007, I've never heard of anyone melting the coils in the RS225 from over driving them. They've been road tested up to 115 db. Here's a clip of the Statements II from the Meniscus DiY event last summer. The only driver that I know of that has been damaged by high SPL was the result of exceeding 117 db in a very large basement when the owner was showing them off to friends. He stretched the ribbon elements and had to have Madisound replace the element only. The RS225's aren't indestructible but they'll take a lot of abuse and keep on playing even when they're stupid loud. :T

I'd also suggest a crossover to the bass bin or subs around 50 - 60 Hz. There have been many built and integrated that way and they work extremely well with that crossover point. Dual RS225's will always sound cleaner and tighter than a sub/bass bin in the mid bass. Cross them higher and you'll get "bloated" bass which is great for movies, but not so great for music.

Anyway, this is the DIY part. Play and experiment.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks for jumping in. You bring up good points. If I am not mistaken, one of the reasons I think 5th was recommending a higher crossover on the bass bins was too add extra slam to the mid bass. But like you said, it can make the mid bass bloated. I first tested a lower crossover point with the bass bins (LPF at 80 hz) and I liked what I heard for music, but I think there is more tweaking/testing to be done. My limited tests this far have me willing to continue playing with the bass bin crossover - my 150-200 crossover did smooth room nodes.

If I remember correctly, the sealed boxes are roughly 80 net litres for the RS225s, correct? If so, modeling shows the RS225's reaching dangerous excursion levels at their rated program power below 40hz:



Now to be fair, this power results in a modeled 111dbs - which is stupid loud. I was playing them hard last night (above my normal "loud" listening volume) and I was only reaching 105db peaks at the cabinet. On the other hand, I have to say the lower end of the Statements sounds cleaner and less strained to me with a HPF around 40-50hz than say 30hz.

Either way, I welcome the discussion and really appreciate everyone's opinions. It's been educational from both sides for me. Since we all have our own preferences, I like hearing everyone's - makes the road to further defining my own a little easier

[Jim Holtz]

Just a quick response and I'll move on. The comment that prompted my response was the coil melting in RS225's. I'm guesstamating that there have been close to 2000 pair of Statements/Finalists series speakers built since the original introduction date of 2007 and melted voice coils isn't a problem we've encountered. RS225's will go bad from excessive abuse as will any driver but that's not a common problem. If we had encountered that problem, we would have quit using them years ago. Anyway, I wanted to clarify our experience over several years.

Actually, the sealed Statements cabinet nets somewhere between 70 - 75 liters if you built it to spec. Mid tunnels, drivers and bracing all subtract from the total empty volume. Per Unibox, maximum linear excursion is reached at 108 db at a little under 60 Hz. But, there are other things to consider. The maximum linear excursion is not true total excursion. It easily exceeds that by a significant margin but becomes non-linear as volume increases. Take a look at the Meniscus Youtube video to see how crazy you can get with them. I wouldn't recommend it but you can.

Also, the SPL calculations are assuming the total spl volume is coming from one driver when in fact its coming from all the drivers combined. When you measure the total speaker, it's the sum of all the drivers with the size of the room influencing it as well. The reason I discouraged a 150+ Hz. crossover is because of the excellent bass quality the Statements have in the mid bass range. By crossing that high with typical slopes, you might as well have a 2-way because the woofer portion of a 3-way doesn't add much. There are lots of great 2-ways you can build for a lot less than the Statements if you want to cross high. You should be able to find a happy medium with the bass bin that will give you the slam you're looking for without sacrificing the mid bass quality completely. No disrespect of your bass bin intended.

As I ended my previous response, this is the DIY part. You can do anything you want and see what happens. Have fun playing!

Jim

[5th element]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for jumping in. You bring up good points. If I am not mistaken, one of the reasons I think 5th was recommending a higher crossover on the bass bins was too add extra slam to the mid bass. But like you said, it can make the mid bass bloated.

It has nothing to do with adding extra slam (although that may happen as a result) and has everything to do with smoothing out room modes and any floor bounce issues that could appear. The more bass sources you have (and this reads up to around 150Hz for room mode issues) the more even the in room bass response will be. This is the whole point behind multiple source bass sources or multiple subs and goes directly against the usual methodology or high passing your mains and then having the sub fill in where the mains roll off. The point here is to have all the bass sources overlap and the more you have the better, especially if the sources aren't positioned in an ideal way.

The ideal way, according to Earl Geddes, a major pioneer in this field, is to have your mains positioned as standard and run full range (or high passed to within their capabilities especially if HT is involved). You then have one sub positioned along the wall that the mains are at, one more sub ideally along the back wall of the listening room and then the third positioned somewhere NOT similar to the others, like along a side wall. So three subs with the two mains, 5 bass sources in different locations. If the subs are in ideal locations then apparently going to 4 subs offers very little benefit, vs the huge gain you get when going from 2 subs to 3.

In your case, you've got the statements, which have two bass units each that are separated by a reasonable distance. This helps with room modes. Then you've got the bass modules, which again are separate bass sources, if not ideally positioned. And then you've got your two subs. This is why I have been suggesting that if you could place one of the subs along the back wall of the room it would be far more beneficial.

The idea is to then blend everything together so that the frequency response is flat, or has a slight tilt, or house curve to it. Usually people prefer a bit of lift as you decrease in frequency.

Now you can blend things in a number of ways. Geddes uses notch filters. I've used notches and shelving filters.

Basically if you've got the mains that go from 50Hz to 20kHz and you've got a sub that goes from 20Hz up to 150Hz, you're going to have excess energy between 50Hz and 150Hz. In this case what you want to do is attenuate both the mains and the subs a little between 50 and 150Hz so that the overall summation is flat.

Obviously you need to pay attention to the capabilities of the subs and the positions they are at. Some sub drivers aren't capable of going up particularly high without their harmonic distortion increasing significantly, but the Dayton reference series of subs are quite capable and will easily extend up to 150Hz without issue. And with the bass modules positioned directly beneath the mains you're not going to have problems with localisation.

If anything all I'd do for now is apply very low Q notches centred at the centre frequency of where your subs and/or mains/bass modules will overlap and simply attenuate things equally until you get the FR where you want it to be.

Integrating my multiple sub setup took quite a lot of trial and error. Geddes uses a specially designed program to do all of this for you, but you have to pay him, or buy his subs and get the setup free along with it.



If I remember correctly, the sealed boxes are roughly 80 net litres for the RS225s, correct? If so, modeling shows the RS225's reaching dangerous excursion levels at their rated program power below 40hz:


Now to be fair, this power results in a modeled 111dbs - which is stupid loud. I was playing them hard last night (above my normal "loud" listening volume) and I was only reaching 105db peaks at the cabinet. On the other hand, I have to say the lower end of the Statements sounds cleaner and less strained to me with a HPF around 40-50hz than say 30hz.

Either way, I welcome the discussion and really appreciate everyone's opinions. It's been educational from both sides for me. Since we all have our own preferences, I like hearing everyone's - makes the road to further defining my own a little easier [/QUOTE]

[kevinm]

Just a quick response and I'll move on.

No worries, Jim. I appreciate your knowledge and experience. As an audio neophyte and a builder of your speaker design, I really appreciate you jumping in and proving insights.

Actually, the sealed Statements cabinet nets somewhere between 70 - 75 liters if you built it to spec. Mid tunnels, drivers and bracing all subtract from the total empty volume. Per Unibox, maximum linear excursion is reached at 108 db at a little under 60 Hz. But, there are other things to consider. The maximum linear excursion is not true total excursion. It easily exceeds that by a significant margin but becomes non-linear as volume increases. Take a look at the Meniscus Youtube video to see how crazy you can get with them. I wouldn't recommend it but you can.

Ahh, you are correct. I read a post a while back and I was remembering the volume the new generation RS225s needed for a ported box. I watched that video a while back - crazy excursion. Very impressive showcase for both the Statement design and RS225 durability.

Also, the SPL calculations are assuming the total spl volume is coming from one driver when in fact its coming from all the drivers combined.

Is this true when you measure multiple drivers in WinISD? I was under the impression that when you selected two drivers, it was modeling SPL capability from both of them

[kevinm]

In your case, you've got the statements, which have two bass units each that are separated by a reasonable distance. This helps with room modes. Then you've got the bass modules, which again are separate bass sources, if not ideally positioned. And then you've got your two subs. This is why i have been suggesting that if you could place one of the subs along the back wall of the room it would be far more beneficial.

The idea is to then blend everything together so that the frequency response is flat, or has a slight tilt, or house curve to it. Usually people prefer a bit of lift as you decrease in frequency.

Do you run this type of setup in your room when listening to music as well? Or is this mostly based for multichannel playback?

If anything all i'd do for now is apply very low q notches centred at the centre frequency of where your subs and/or mains/bass modules will overlap and simply attenuate things equally until you get the fr where you want it to be.

Alright, I'll try this.

You then have one sub positioned along the wall that the mains are at, one more sub ideally along the back wall of the listening room and then the third positioned somewhere not similar to the others, like along a side wall.

Eventually I plan to move them around more when I get more space in the room, but for now I am fairly limited in how much I can move the two around. I have a crawl space down below, so I've thought about doing an IB setup in the future - as this would offer much more placement flexibility. Additionally, I've considered making a coffee table sub - this would be a nice 3rd location I think

[5th element]

Do you run this type of setup in your room when listening to music as well? Or is this mostly based for multichannel playback?

For everything. It's the music it makes the most difference for imo. Well movies benefit from it too, everything does.

[kevinm]

Cool. I have lots of testing to do. Im going to try and dial in both types of setups and A/B them - luckily the minidsp makes this easy.

What's your house curve like? I add +8-12db at 20hz with a nice arch reaching 0 at 100hz.

[5th element]

I am not sure what my house curve is like, I don't remember There is a degree of lift towards the lower frequencies though, maybe not as much as you've got, but it's certainly there.

[bostonmurf]

just out of interest, what are you doing with the old statement boxes? may be worth putting them up for sale in here if anyones in the area..... or do you have plans for them???

[kevinm]

I am not sure what my house curve is like, I don't remember There is a degree of lift towards the lower frequencies though, maybe not as much as you've got, but it's certainly there.

Hehe. I'm one of those "I-can't-hear-the-bass-unless-the-comes-are-moving" types. If you have have any screenshots, I'd be really interested in your overal frequency response.

just out of interest, what are you doing with the old statement boxes? may be worth putting them up for sale in here if anyones in the area..... or do you have plans for them???

I think my parents are taking them. Although, they might switch to sealed and use bass bins after hearing the new setup. Nothing concrete yet, though.