Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dual EP800 vs SVS Ultra 16

If you dont measure you dont know what your fixing. Room treatments both absorbitive and diffracting are necessary.Audyssey mess's around with the upper frequencies more than i like , Dirac not so much no idea about ARC .I say try the RC if you like it good, if not you can always defeat it.

I was told, 'sold' on ARC by my audio dealer. He said it was the best thing in audio in recent memory and a must have. Being a newbie (a new newbie as I have been in Audio from the vintage side for a very long time, but not up on the latest, greatest) I thought sure, why not, lets give it ago.

It worked well with the SVS Ultra Towers (my first purchase after loosing my vintage speakers to a lightning hit), they did benefit from the ARC2 handsomely in my room. But when I replaced those speakers after a few months of use with the Bryston Model T's, I found that the ARC2 ruined the wonderful full, dynamic fullness of the T's. All of the touchy feely mids/highs of the T's just went blah. Can you read that I wanted a speaker that bested my old towers? The SVS's didn't do it.

Bottom line, I love the natural sound of the T's, I really don't want to play with it. They just work well for 'me' in my room. I don't want no stinking room correction Except for some fun tweaks with bass curves.....

As Trevor said, I have "modal issues"

My small audio room (10x10x8) has Trevor's old room treatments in it and bookcases and paintings. Based on his recommendation, I placed my speakers such that I am sitting on a diagonal. No EQ needed. The room gives a very intimate presentation that is extremely pleasing.

Then, enter my man-cave. It's boomy and muddy but turn on XT32 and it's magic. This particular room is the polar opposite of the small room - it's wide and open and with blinders on, you'd never know there were any boundaries. To achieve this level of performance without XT32, I would need professional help and I am sure custom treatments.

With the 800, the bass in my man-cave is exactly what I always dreamed it should be. Nonetheless, I am waiting in anticipation to try the new "GUT PUNCH" mode.

Mojo, you just had to do the gut punch.... How large is this man cave environment you have going? An inquiring mind just has to know

It's less than half the size of your grazing space (4,200 ft^3). It's open to the rest of the house via a staircase so I do lose some sound pressure.

I used to sit 8' away from the M80s on the diagonal but I've re-arranged the room and I am now 14' away which has made the soundstage unbelievable. Model Ts or LFR1100s would fit right in to this space for sure.

My HT room is quite irregularly shaped. The speakers fire diagonally across the listening area to my MLP from the alcove where a large window resides behind them. My MLP is 11' from the speakers & TV.

I therefore seem to not have problems with standing waves & suckouts due to this configuration which BTW is the only way that I can arrange my gear in this space.

Just lucky I guess & it is aesthetically pleasing as well...

TAM

You have dual EP800s in that tiny room which means there is no space for standing waves to develop.

That's right - just pure pleasure being injected directly into my skull.

I luv overkill...

TAM

As far as I can tell, in that room, the bottom drivers of the EP800s are united with each one of your 'nads and the top drivers are massaging your gut. Pretty soon you'll be able to upgrade your amps so you can take advantage of GUT PUNCH or NAD TICKLER modes.

I suspect that smooth Bourbon and Disco Fever might be showing up in some fashion