HTM1 Speaker Stand

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • gostan
    Senior Member
    • May 2003
    • 445

    HTM1 Speaker Stand

    I finally solved my Sony GWIII-HTM1 speaker placement issue by breaking down and purchasing the HTM1 speaker stand. My center channel is now at the proper height sitting directly in front of my monitor. I have readjusted all audio levels to allow for the fact that the center channel speaker is now about 10-12 inches in front of the 803 mains. No more fidgeting with angling the center up under the monitor. It sounds great and I actually love the aesthetics of seeing the beautiful HTM1 in full view. I recommend the speaker stand for use with the HTM1-although it is very expensive.

    The Mrs. is not exactly thrilled with my recent reconfiguration of the entire room, but the video and audio is now as perfect as I can get it with my existing room limitations, so, now only have to think about whether I should upgrade my rear CDMNT1's to either Nautilus 805's or 804's.
    Stan
  • jlee
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2004
    • 337

    #2
    I would upgrade the rears to SCM1's... they are a better match to the HTM1, N804, and N803... I've tested the 805... the crossover is different and it's tonally different than the N804 and HTM1... the SCM1, although it uses the same drivers, has the crossover the same as the N804 and HTM1 and it's tonally almost identical even though there is no FST midrange. The N804 would make good rears IF you don't have a high back sofa... I found that it's ALL drivers contribute to the overall sound and the bass drivers do contribute a significant portion of the midrange... so if they don't have a direct line to your ears, I found that there is a "hole" in the response... so I found that hanging up SCM1's higher up and aiming them down so that all drivers are not blocked towards your ears resulted in better sound... I've been trying to get B&W to make an FST version of the SCM1... 3 drivers... kinda like a mini N804 with only 1 bass driver and wall mountable... that would be awesome.

    Comment

    • sikoniko
      Super Senior Member
      • Aug 2003
      • 2299

      #3
      why was this moved to the rotel thread???

      how bizarre.. it keeps moving!
      I'm just sittin here watchin the wheels go round and round...

      Comment

      • gostan
        Senior Member
        • May 2003
        • 445

        #4
        Jlee:

        I am not really familiar with the SCM1, but I have two (2 questions): i. I assume that I would have to run wires in the wall for wall mounting and ii. how would the SCM1 sound on a mutlichannel (sacd) audio disc where it is recommended that you have five similar type and size speakers?

        I ask the later question, because this is where I hear the most difference between my 803's in front and my older 1NT's in the rears...difference is not as noticeable in HT applications, although I know that an upgrade of the 1NT's would be superior.

        Stan
        Stan

        Comment

        • KMD
          Member
          • Apr 2003
          • 30

          #5
          Stan, I've also been in the same delema, an opted for N805's on 36"speaker stands to get over a high back coach.I upgraded from a cdmcnt to htm1 but kept cdmcnt for future 6.1 duties. I reboxed the 601s3 (rear surround) and upgraded to N805's WOW! Most improvement was the center channel. I too wasn't sure about going with the scm1's but, wasn't crazy about running new cables threw the walls where it was just done not to long a go. Plus I could use the 805's for mains in another room at a later date. My thoughts. KMD

          Comment

          • jlee
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2004
            • 337

            #6
            1. I personally like the look of my cables so I am not afraid to have them "out in the open." Furthermore, to have inwall speaker cables, you need to get specially approved fire rated ones (they have PCV coating or something) so you are limited in terms of cable choice. I neatly used zip ties and pins and routed it along the floor against the wall, up the corner, and then to the speaker. Do a search for my other posts and you will see I posted 4 pictures of how I mounted them. I don't want to post them again and waste bandwidth.

            2. The SCM1's, once set up properly, sound surprisingly damn good from high frequency to around 50Hz... slightly better highs and imaging than the N804 due to their wall mounting (less reflected sound, even with room treatment). Midrange the N804 have an edge with the FST midrange, but the SCM1 with it's shallow box does not color the sound as much (you can test this by tapping the bass cone of the SCM1 and N805... notice how the N805 has a deep "echo" to it... that is the coloration you will hear on every note, most noticeably in the midrange.

            Now, as for the similar size thing... I agree you will lose some bass compared to N804... BUT... compared to the N805, even though they are "rated" to go much lower in bass compared to the SCM1... that's how they are measured during standardized B&W response tests... when the SCM1 is mounted to a wall, the bass response will pretty much be the same as the N805. Now, to get the bass closer to the N804, I use a REL Strata III connected at high level to the SCM1. This essentially creates a set of full range speakers out of the SCM1 with seamless integration (the REL's are very fine tunable and can be adjusted for an audiophile integration just below the speakers they are supporting... it will sound like no sub at all... just 1 full range speaker).

            The test I did is I set my Rotel 1066 to 5 channel stereo... all 5 sound very very similar... in fact, if there was 1 speaker that sounds out of place, it's the HTM1!!! That is because it sits on my TV and resonates with the TV... causing midbass coloration... I've got the N804 on custom granite stands and the bass is much more controlled. I've disconnected the front 3 speakers and used the back 2 as pure 2 channel, and it comes eerily close to the fronts... I've fooled a few people into thinking the sound was coming from the front.

            So to answer your question, with proper setup, the SCM1 can integrate very well with the N803... at the very least, it will be more of a match in the highs and mids due to having the same crossover. I too, was a doubter of the SCM1 even though my local dealer suggested it right from the beginning... I was like "yeah, but the bass response is kinda crappy... I want FULL RANGE sound" hehehe... so I tried the 7NT as rear, the 9NT, the N804... all had that sofa back problem... I tried the N805 not as surrounds ... but I hooked up 1 N805 and 1N804 as a left and right 2 ch. system... sounded funny... but I hooked up 1 SCM1 on a stand and 1 N804... sounded very good! If you had your eyes closed it would be hard to tell you were listening to 2 speakers...

            The speaker stand is an ok idea too, but takes up more room... I liked the idea of having them on the wall, out of the way, and not have any guests knock them over... furthermore, for my particular room, it's not HUGE (about 17" by 18" ft with high ceilings) and to get really good sound, it's best to get all 5 speakers the same distance and not have to rely on delay... because if the speakers are closer and you setup delays, it's still not the same because the reflections are different and come into play... it's best to come as close as possible to having the same distance... I mean, 1ms adjustments are ok, but I try to keep everything within 1ms delays (about 1ft). I've got my front distances all perfect now within 1" and the rears about 6" of the fronts... I use a 0 delay. Anyways, with stands, I was not able to get the speakers far back enough... so I went UP along the wall and then pointed the speakers down to get this "distance"... made a hugh improvement.

            This msg is getting long now... I'll stop... any more questions, just ask. Cheers.

            Comment

            • Cory Cooper
              Junior Member
              • Nov 2004
              • 5

              #7
              Originally posted by gostan
              I finally solved my Sony GWIII-HTM1 speaker placement issue by breaking down and purchasing the HTM1 speaker stand. My center channel is now at the proper height sitting directly in front of my monitor. I have readjusted all audio levels to allow for the fact that the center channel speaker is now about 10-12 inches in front of the 803 mains. No more fidgeting with angling the center up under the monitor. It sounds great and I actually love the aesthetics of seeing the beautiful HTM1 in full view. I recommend the speaker stand for use with the HTM1-although it is very expensive.
              Is it the actual B&W FS-HTM stand? If so, where did you purchase it...I have been looking for one of those for my HTM2.

              Thanks in adance,

              Cory

              Comment

              • gostan
                Senior Member
                • May 2003
                • 445

                #8
                Cory:

                Natural Sound in Framingham, MA is my B&W dealer of choice and where I purchased the HTM-1 stand. It is the B&W stand made for either the HTM1 or HTM2 and although expensive, it works perfectly with either speaker. They had to order it from me. It took about two days to be delivered. http://www.natural-sound.com Ask for Larry or Eric.

                Good luck.

                Stan
                Stan

                Comment

                • greggz
                  Senior Member
                  • Jun 2002
                  • 317

                  #9
                  When I first got the FS-HTM stand for my HTM2 I was a little disappointed. I always felt like I could hear a distracting tonal difference in the front sound stage due to the height of the center channel tweeter vs. the tweeter on my L&R 805's.

                  I called B&W and I guess I sounded disappointed enough because I managed to talk them into selling me an spare set of the "legs" from the FS-805 stands. I took those legs an cut them off slightly and now have a custom height FS-HTM stand that puts my center channel speaker tweeter just a fraction of an inch below the white part of my screen.

                  Of course in an ideal world you would like to have all of your tweeters at the same height, but in my case I did find closing the gap from about 18 inches to 12 inches offered some improvement.

                  Gregg

                  Our Home Theater

                  Comment

                  • Cory Cooper
                    Junior Member
                    • Nov 2004
                    • 5

                    #10
                    Thanks guys.

                    Gregg - nice adaptation.

                    Stan - That's where I bought all of my audio from. Those guys are great. I will give them a call.

                    Cory

                    Comment

                    • MLFan
                      Junior Member
                      • Nov 2004
                      • 2

                      #11
                      greggz,
                      Awesome mod! I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do about my similar dilemma.

                      What was the overall height of the original HTM stand?

                      Wes

                      Comment

                      • greggz
                        Senior Member
                        • Jun 2002
                        • 317

                        #12
                        Out of the box the FS-HTM stand is 11.6" tall. With the longer legs, mine is now 18" tall.
                        Gregg

                        Our Home Theater

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        😀
                        😂
                        🥰
                        😘
                        🤢
                        😎
                        😞
                        😡
                        👍
                        👎
                        Searching...Please wait.
                        An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                        Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                        An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                        Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                        An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                        There are no results that meet this criteria.
                        Search Result for "|||"