Velodyne CTS speakers: Are they good or not?

[HereticPB]

I have recently found out that Velodyne has Home Theater speaker package of sorts. The are satelites with a Velodyne sub. There are L/R Front surrounds and L/R rear surrounds and a center channel plus one of the Velodyne subs.

I was wondering if these speakers are really good or not worth spit? LOL

Im assuming that because Velodynes subs are so great that maybe thest sats are great as well.

HtPB
aka
Jason

[John Holmes]

Well that atleast makes two of us! I have heard nothing about them and the Vel site has had them listed for quite some time. Seems strange noone ever mentions them.

And welcome to the Guide!




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[HereticPB]

You want to know more. Check this site out.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_3/velodyne-cht-speakers-8-2000.html

and this one

http://www.sdinfo.com/volume_2_2/prodrev2.html

[Lex]

Jason, welcome to htguide! Always nice to see new footsteps here.

Well, I tell ya, I think Velodyne is a victim of their own success. Simply, their reputation for subs is so strong, that no one even considers that they might be good at something else.

I remember seeing the Velo packages advertised maybe a year or so ago in the HT mags, and never once a mention, hey, I went out and bought the Velo Sat package, or anything that I have seen.

Dang, now you got me curious too.

Lex




Cable Guy DVD Collection

[HereticPB]

Whoa I found some people actually talking about them. Go here.

http://www.idepth.com/P/k/kj05019.frm.speakmess.msg/259.html

[John Holmes]

Thanks HereticPB,

The reviews were good reading. It appears that the idepth site requires membership to view it. At least, the url you provided, lead me to a sign-up page.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[JonMarsh]

They look like they're well made, and available at a very nice price.

BUT, in some regards I don't think you'll find them in the same league as other Velodyne products. This is not so much the quality of the execution, but the basic premise. By all means, give them an audition if you're thinking about them seriously, but keep this in mind.

Using small satelites with 5" woofers with a sub always creates matching problems, because the radiation resistance of a 5" woofer is not so good for freuqencies below about 300-400 Hz. So, the typical big sub is designed with drivers that make it comfortably to 100Hz and a bit beyond (250 typically), so that the crossover will be smooth, but you wind up with shortcomings in the "power band" (100 - 250) of music when mating the two.

This is an area, for instance, where Maggies tend to shine, creating a lot of their appeal and presence.

The most egregrious example of bad matching between satelites and subs with mini-satelites is the Bose lifestyle/HT setups, which literally have a gaping hole in that area.

In my own system, which is biamped in the mains, I determined that the optimum crossover point was about 150-175 Hz- and that is with dual 7" Eton midwoofers in the "satelite" enclosures (each side has it's own upper module and woofer module- the latter has a 13" and 15" driver).

One way to get the most out of these Velodyne satelites would be to use a woofer cabinet with each one, say a 12" Shiva in direct radiating box/tower, and crossover with Marchand active crossovers at about 250 Hz. That might work very nicely.

Regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[HereticPB]

Thats nice insider info Jon but may I throw a curve ball at cha. The Surrounds are the same speakers. For the Front and the back the same speakers. A Tweeter and a mid woofer. Then the subwoofer.


HtPB
aka
Jason