It's been a very long day but I can finally report I now have it all with the actives.
I have width, I have depth, I have imaging, I have 2pi envelopment with the right material, I have infra-sub-mid-upper bass up the wazoo with impeccable growling, articulation and spatial resolution and I have more than 30dB of dynamic headroom.
Most importantly, in 2-channel with my two 500s fed off the DSPs and the 800 from the .1, there is absolutely no difference with Audyssey XT32 engaged. I never thought I'd see that day in this cursed, terribly assymetric room.
The active 1100s are the real deal. But you may have to work hard like I did to achieve Nirvana.
They ended up 13 feet apart and 19" from the front wall. MLP is 14'. Toe-in is a little more than 45 degrees.
Here are a few tunes that result in 2pi envelopment:
P.S. To achieve bass Nirvana in my room, I've employed the following EQ settings. An interesting observation is that at reference levels, the settings below heavily tax the 160 and LFR woofers. Hence, I've crossed them at 40Hz and that works just great. It's a real credit to Axiom that they don't ignite or rip themselves to shreds. The 500s and 800 handle the on-slaught without a sweat.
Front: +6dB @ 63Hz, -3dB @ 160Hz Center and surround:+6dB @ 63Hz Sub: +6dB @ 25, 40 & 63Hz
Last edited by Mojo; 03/02/2003:19 AM.
House of the Rising Sone Out in the mid or far field Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated