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Speaker Decisions
#2075 03/17/02 06:55 AM
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I am trying to decide on what type of speakers to get. I currently have some 13 year old towers and the rubber surrounds are shot so its time to upgrade. Here is my current mix of hardware:
Fronts - Large Mitsubishi towers (12" 3-way)
Center - Infinity CC4
SUB - Adire Rava 12" 250W
Surrounds - Optimus Bookshelves with lineaum (sp?)ribbon tweeter( cheap pair I had and actually sound good for surrounds with the 360 degree tweeter)
Receiver - Sony STR-DB930 110W per channel(almost ES quality but much cheaper and much better than their low end line)

Here is my room layout



I have only had the sub for 6 months and i'm not sure if I want to go with towers again or maybe the M22s. As you can see my sitting distance is not too far. My left rear might need to be moved back to the corner if I move the seats back a little. I usually move the loveseats around for optimum seating for movies...

I am thinking of M60s, VP150, and the QS4 or QS8.
I listen mostly to movies and probably on the loud side. Is this setup too much for my room? Thanks for any input....

Re: Speaker Decisions
#2076 03/18/02 04:23 PM
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Hi JonesR,
The M22Ti's are wonderfully neutral and they will nicely fill your loveseat area with impressive music and home theatre, ably assisted by a subwoofer, of course, and the VP150 and the QS8s (or QS4s)--so long as you won't be sitting at the far end of the room and blasting music or home theater. If the latter is a possibility, you should opt for the M60s instead of the M22s. The M60s will have improved dynamic range at high levels as well as greater ease handling complex music and home theater soundtracks.

I'm unfamiliar with the Adire subwoofer brand, but its large amp and 12-inch woofer auger well for deep bass assistance that the M22s will require in a room of your dimensions.

The QS4s or QS8s will give you the placement flexibility you'll need and still deliver a fine sense of envelopment. The Optimus speakers with the lineaum ribbon aren't bad, so you could give them a role as rear (not surround) speakers should you eventually go with 6.1 or 7.1-channel system. I doubt very much they would be a smooth timbral match for the QS4s or 8's, but they would likely suffice until you decided to replace them.

If you move the left surround into the corner, and find that the corner position causes too much coloration of the sound, you might think about placing it further back along the left 8-ft 8-in. wall. You could move the right surround further back as well to roughly match the left surround position, although QS4s or QS8s don't need to be symetrically placed to yield good envelopment.

Regards,



Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)
Re: Speaker Decisions
#2077 03/18/02 09:13 PM
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Thanks for the info. I am leaning for the M60s. With kids around, speaker stand might not be a great idea....plus it kind of future proofs them if I move everything to a bigger room....

On a side note, does driving a large speaker (that is capable of higher ouput) at a lower volume impact the way they sound? If they are designed for high output but you do not use them at the high output levels effect the way they sound? Do you have to puch a speaker hard to get the sound they are designed for?

Re: Speaker Decisions
#2078 03/18/02 09:31 PM
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Hi,
Larger speakers will exhibit as good sound at low volumes as they do when they're driven harder. In a very general sense, larger speakers require fewer amplifier watts to produce the same sound level as a compact speaker. That may seem contradictory at first, but the small woofer in a small speaker has to "work" quite hard to produce low bass, consequently it uses more energy to do so.

For example, the M60s are about 2 dB more sensitive than the M3Ti's. If you fed each 1 watt of input power, the M60s would be louder than the M3Ti's (95 dB SPL vs. 93 dB SPL). A 2dB difference in sensitivity is subjectively "just noticeable" in terms of volume.

You don't have to "push" a speaker hard to get the sound it was designed to produce. However, at low volumes our hearing is rather insensitive to low bass frequencies. So to hear bass clearly, you do have to raise the volume somewhat. But that applies to all speakers, small or large.

Regards,


Alan Lofft,
Axiom Resident Expert (Retired)

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