Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Low level listening & dual speaker centre HELP

I think I may just do that. The M80's seem pretty efficient too.

Thanks Gieseman for sharing your experience. Did you not notice any other benefit using two M22's instead of one? I suppose not since you ended up going with one. I would've expected two speakers would give you a wider / bigger listening area.

Thanks sirquack, I had forgotten all about Dynamic Volume and night mode! I will set those accordingly.

Nut, a few comments on your replies. Yes, it was understood that you were speaking of the usual situations where the power capabilities of your receiver wouldn't be exceeded. In those situations more than a mere "consensus" is involved; there's no factual basis(shown in properly controlled double blind tests)for claims that separate amplifiers would be audibly different. The fairly widespread audio mythology to the contrary is simply that: a mythology.

Although volume leveling processing can be useful at times(e.g., late at night or suddenly loud commercials), even a sophisticated application such as Audyssey's Dynamic Volume shouldn't be used as standard practice, since some dynamics are lost. I always use Audyssey Dynamic EQ, but rarely have the need for Dynamic Volume.

As to the dual center speaker arrangement described by Gieseman(Mike Drew has a similar one), it may have some benefits, but the single M22 should be tried first. In this connection a recent post by Ian is of interest. Although the point under investigation there in the double blind testing was the fear that comb filtering was very harmful when more than one speaker was playing the same sound, the results are clearly applicable to two center speakers which of course are playing the same center channel sound.

What exactly does the audysssey dynamic EQ do?

Thanks JohnK for the info, You're right, I keep seeing claims of better separation and clarity when using external amps on some speakers and that has be doubting myself since I'm no expert.

Yes, Dynamic EQ is what I meant. I don't use Dynamic Volume since I only watch movies and no TV on the system.

If using two M22's does not yield an appreciably more enjoyable experience for me then I'll likely stick with just one M22 or just one VP150.

[quote=terzaghi]What exactly does the audysssey dynamic EQ do? [/quote

Somone correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC it's supposed to bring out the dynamics of a soundtrack more effectively when listening at low to moderate levels. I don't know if they simply boost the bottom and top ends or what, but I've been messing with it and, for me, I like it much better ON. Apparently it turns itself off once a high enough volume is reached.

David, it compensates for low sound levels in two ways: 1)it continually adjusts the relative bass and treble levels to compensate for the lower sensitivity of the ear to the lowest bass and highest treble as sound levels decrease; 2)it increases the level of the surrounds relative to the mains as sound levels decrease, so that the surround effect isn't diminished.

What's up nut...

Ok so you're interested in an external amp eh? Well forsure you should just get (or do you already have?) the Denon 3808 and see what that bad boy has to offer. You will most likely be very satisfied. I ran my M80's for a little over a month using my Denon 4802 and was extremely happy with it, 98% of the time. I too enjoy VERY loud music/movies at times. Not all the time, but I have my moments. And I have a lot of space to fill (10,000+ cubic feet), so my Denon did run out of steam when the volume was being fully explored. But up until then, it did a fantastic job!

As for low volume level listening... I have to admit that when I first hooked the Emotiva up, I thought it sounded better at ALL volumes, and I got on here and declared my opinion. What I did not take into account is that when you're listening to speakers being run with a 300 watt amp at say -25, it's louder than the 125 watt internal amp of my Denon at -25. I didn't really realize this for a while, so my comments on how much better it sounded even at lower levels may have been a little bit misleading. To be fair I would have to go about it in a double blind test, with the levels calibrated the same and everything, before I could truthfully say whether or not it sounded any better at lower volumes. But when you think about it logically, 50 watts should sound like 50 watts, right?

Ok so what about the top end? Well in a room my size, when you're really wringing the two amps (Denon vs Emotiva) out for all their worth, the Emotiva definately runs the M80's better! The M80's are designed to handle 300 watts after all, and 300 watts fills my room at 80% better than 125 watts could at 98% (I never did go 100% with the Denon... it just seemed like something was about to break?). BUT, your room is... what, 3500 cubic feet? So it's of my opinion that the 3808 should take you wherever you need to go without any problems what-so-ever.

And if it doesn't, well you can always add an outboard amp later using the pre-out section of the 3808. So rest easy my man.

FWIW, I think it's a great feature to have.