I have heard then all, so now what?

[Clive]

Hi Guys, I would like some input here on a few things. When you check my profile you'd notice that I don't have the best sounding speakers but they'll do for now. However, Does anyone of you experience a short-fall in sound detail and detail whenever you have a significant number of guests say from fifteen upwards? I know that our bodies absorb quite a bit of energy/sound so then choosing the right speakers, what would you recomend that will be aggressive when I want it to be and still retain detail and soundstage for a person like myself whom entertains a large crowd at times. Please include a sub.
Thanks Lex for the Sanus Faber recoms. Could you elaberate?
My Media room is somewhat "L" shaped 21x11 (21x14 on one side) with an 8ft ceiling. The basement entrance has an open concept stairway, coming down from the first floor then to the far side is a small basement window and a live fireplace. An awful lot of sound does escape upstairs which I may not have total control over this. Any advice on this and equipment recomendation would be greatly appreciated. As I've mentioned before I can only spend Five Thousand Dollars on speakers. I have listened to a few speakers so far the Martin logins, Def techs, Monitor audio, B&Ws, and NHT. I am afraid that when I get home things would change.

On to Video..........I have been impressed with the new Pioneer SD533(HD) RPTV which is widescreen. I have the Panasonic RP91 DVD audio w/ progressive scan. The television also does progressive scan with 3:2 pulldown. Are these two units a good match? Would there be some auto detection or switching to or not to convert when say we watch a NTSC broadcast or a DVD movie etc? Need to Know before I buy.
Thanx.




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[Andrew Pratt]

What did you think of the Martin Logan's? ML's might be a bit too difficult to push with a receiver but if you liked the tall deep sound stage you might want to see about auditioning some Magnepan Maggies have a lot of surface area to project sound from and IMO tend to work really well at recreating a very enveloping soundstage that seems far larger then the speakers themselves (no small feat when you see the size of some of these )

[Lex]

Ok, make me say uncle. Whoa, that's enough.

Clive, I love Sonus faber for all that they are, and all that they aren't. What they are, simply, is musical instruments that you don't play. Well, figuratively speaking anyway. Sonus faber, not Sanus faber, (That's a sinus medicine isn't it?) feature hand built italian cabinets, with hardwood or piano black side panels, leather front and rears. HQ binding posts, beautiful tweeters, and mid-range that is to die for.

I own 7 Sonus fabers, the full concert line, the model before current. Love them all. I have even played my little 1000 a pair Concertinos as mains, and was dutifully impressed by their gutsy performance, driven by my Proceed HPA-2 at 250 watts per channel.

Planers lack a directness, an in your faceness that direct firing speakers give you, and when positioned properly, can image like crazy. Yes, many people love planers. I just am not one of them, no offense Andrew.

But I think what I love about my Sonus fabers, as much as the sweet mid-range, and the beautiful non-fatiguing upper end, is their pure artistic design. Elegant, understated perhaps, definitely not gauty, nor plastic. Art for your ears. The italians it turns out, build something wonderful besides shoes.

Lex

[Andrew Pratt]

none taken doug if we all had the same tastes we'd need only one speaker for everyone..and chances are with bose's marketing it would be some awful cube system via la differance

[P-Dub]

Well, hate to say it but I'd almost guarantee that the sound will change once you get the speaker home. That is the only way to really judge how the speakers will handle your particular layout. But having said that, since you're looking at spending quite a lot, any store worth considering should have a good return policy if your chosen speakers just don't work for you.

Did any of those brands stand out? I take it you're looking for 5 speakers plus a sub for C$5,000? I'd like to recommend a listen to some of the Canadian speaker compaines, namely Paradigm, PSB and Energy. In the Paradigm range the Monitor's are the midrange line and the Reference series is their highend line. For PSB, the Image series competes with the Moitor line and the Straus competes with the Reference line. Energy has the eXL line and the Veritas line. I'm not up on prices as I used to be, so I'm sure a midrange line would most likely be well within your budget.

Paradigm
PSB
Energy

For a sub the Paradigm Servo-15, C$1,500(?) is tops followed by the PW-2200, C$850 street. There's also a couple of internet companies that make some outstanding subs, but all are US based. Namely the Adire Dharman, SVS, and HSU.

If it's detail that you're lacking, and it could be due to the number of people, the Energy eXL line is known for producing very detailed, sometime harsh highs. So matching those with your Onkyo may solve that problem.




Paul

There are three kinds of people in this world; those that can count, and those that can't.

[GregoriusM]

Paradigm's with an Onkyo will give you very distinct highs. Look at the Reference Studio 100's. Trevor knows all about these puppies.

But, I think that speaker placement is the all important thing here when you want to deal with that number of people.

If you are talking 5.1/7.1, keep your surrounds on the high side of the normal range. I'm talking distance above your head. Less will be lost in the absorption by the bodies.

And since it sounds like you are talking "party time", I think that proper placment of the surrounds and using 5/7 channel DSP mode would help as well. All 5/7 speakers contributing to the punch you're looking for.

Using direct radiating speakers for your surrounds would be better than dipoles in this situation.

I think the reason Andrew mentioned the Maggies, too, is the "height" of the sound. Your sound is not being sent from a fairly limited source usually below 36" from the floor when you are using tall ribbon speakers. The Reference Studio 100's are 45 inches tall.

Some thoughts!

... Greg

[Clive]

Andrew and Lex work it out Guys!

Keep it coming gentlemen and Lady, I will respond tomorrow the 17th oh wow, it will be my birthday tomorrow...Oh heck, I'll be here if there are no surprises!!

Thanx Guys!!!!




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[Andrew Pratt]

Happy birthday!

[Susan]

Happy Birthday Uncle Clive!! It's now the 17th!!!
Susan

[Clive]

Thanx Guys, for your insights. I just had to rush home because I totally forgot my Drivers licence expires today too! My Wife stayed home from work...Hmmm, I wonder what's going on. Anyway let me not spoil the surprise, Yeah, right!

Just a quick run, Lex thank you for the Sanus (sonus) Faber invite. Have you had any large gatherings in your theater using the sonus? how did they perform?

Andrew I heard the Mls at the Brack Electronics in Toronto about 1.5 yrs ago and of course I was blown away by them mainly because I wasn't used to that technology. I was impressed with openness and how defined they were. I listened to the Odysseys. The Maggies you mentioned seem to be great (I could not log on to the page from your link), but I will sure look into them, hopefully they are available in Canada. FYI, the Onkyo can be used as a pre-amp if necesary. It comes with the three pre-outs + sub out. So if I want to drive more powerful speakers I can, with separates.

Paul I've been told before to look seriously at the Paradigms. Based on the reviews they've been getting, I think I should. BTW, I've heard the Servo-15 in action and boy they move a lot of air, I MEAN LOTS! I like that, I want that!! Thanks for the insight.

Greg, You're right! I should of thought about raising the sound on the surrounds a tad, which BTW worked well last night. Yeh, my nephews and nieces came by AGAIN all 14 of them! I also stacked them above ear level and I did notice the the sound travelled across the room from both sides with ease instead of just sounding just in it's own area. You also recomended the Paradigms Thanx.

BTW LEX, you mentioned that your HPA-2 is rated at 250wpc. What are the ratings of the Fabers? Do you have any headroom? I learnt that your speakers should have a higher rating than the source to avoid distortion and/or clipping. Is this true?

I'll be back!




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[Andrew Pratt]

for the most part you should have a lot more power in the amps then what the speakers are rated for...ie its better to have a 1000 watt amp powering a 100 watt speaker then a 100 watt amp clipping while trying to push 1000 watt speakers. When an amp gets strained its output starts to become distorted...if it gets really strained the output will "clip" and will send a short but lethal signal to the speakers. If you had a more powerful amp it would still be coasting along and your speakers would sound the better for it. The bottom line is you can never have too much power in the amps (though at some point you're past the point of diminishing returns)

try going to http://www.magnepan.com there should be dealers in toronto. BTW where in TO are you? My parents and sister now live outside oshawa and i visit there a few times every year...might be there in a few weeks too

[Clive]

I'm still a long ways from your folks( Mississauga) which is on the westside of Toronto.

I visited the Magnepan site and wow they seem a little intimidating. It would seem that to cross them properly I'd really need to get the outlaw audio ICBM with the system plus outboard amplification. Is this part of your Configeration?




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?