7.2.4 GoldenEar and Paradigm - Thoughts?

[blcskate]

1pr Triton 1 Goldenear Speakers $4,999.98
1 Super Center XXL GoldenEar Center Channel $1,249.00
2pr Surround 3 Paradigm wall mount speakers $1,596.00
2pr Invisa 650 (for ATMOS in-ceiling) $1,196.00

Got a quote from a local installer and these are the speakers that were recommended to me for a pretty high end home theater. Room 14x19x9.

What are your thoughts?

My thoughts/concerns.
Triton 1 built-in subs are pretty beast, but will they be adequate for home theater by themselves. I can always add another sub later. I demo'd the T1 and T2s and the T1 subs are WAY WAY more powerful.

I am a little concerned with using non-GE side/rear speakers, but the installer knows Sandy Gross personally and was recommend to use these Paradigm's since they are a close match and at the time GE didn't have a bookshelf speaker. He still likes to use them since they spread better than the aon series.

Spending about 9k on speakers alone does this system strike you as a good value? The reviews on the T1s have been pretty much amazing, but I haven't seen too many that focused on home theater usage. I did demo this system and its pretty nice. A bit more than I wanted to go on speakers alone. I was hoping for more like 6k on speakers and then have some extra money for the other stuff. So this is a bit of an up-sale for me. This hinges heavily on if the T1s are worth going in an extra 2-3k.

 

[slipperybidness]

I have not heard the T1, but I do own the T2. For movies, the T2 absolutely needs a sub and I would suspect that you still want/need a sub for movies for the T1 (not needed for music, but you also get sub placement benefits that you lose with built in subs).

Why not get the GE Sat 50 or Sat 3 for the surrounds??? That would make more sense to me. In general, I think 7 channels is dubious unless you have a very large room. 5 Ch is the sweet spot.

Personally, if this were my $, I would be leaning a lot more towards a pair of the T7 and a pair of killer subs from the likes of SVS, Rythmik, HSU, or PSA.

 

[blcskate]

I am not really sure why he didn't recommend the Sat 50 or Sat 3 for surrounds. They are not full size bookshelf and maybe he doesn't think they are as good. The reason I am shooting for 7 is to get the most possible effect out of ATMOS and later DTS:X. It may be minor, but that's ok. I am willing to spend more for something like that.

As for going with the 7 and two nice subs. I have been thinking the same thing over and over. I have went back and forth on it in my head 20 times. There are other upgrades in the T1 beyond just the subs, but I don't know if they are worth it in comparison. If I was going to use the room for music and theater then I would definitely lean towards T1s, but this is movies only.

 

[Cos]

Don't know how I missed this post, been very busy with work and contractors on new house.

• The Triton Ones: I can tell you without hesitation, you will not need additional subs.
• I just purchased the SuperCenter XXL but also a great choice, nice bump up.
• I would not go with the Paradigm Surrounds, though not as important to match as LCR
• I would choose the Invisa HTR 7000 for ceiling, the reason is the angled tweeter works better to Atoms Setup for 5.1.4 or 7.1.4.

Other Comments

• In a room that size the 1s will drive plenty of bass, you can always add additional subs int he rear, but I seriously doubt you will need it.
• In my setup I started out using the Aon 3s, but will be replacing them with the T7s from Bedroom setup as I plan to downsize the the Superstat 60 & 60C. If you must have bookshelves, then the Paradigms might be the way to go.
• If you are looking for some of the upgrades of the T1 in a non powered sub tower, than I would strongly suggest the T5 over the T7. Its a happy medium between the two.

 

[slipperybidness]

• The Triton Ones: I can tell you without hesitation, you will not need additional subs.

You're saying the subs in the T1 are powerful enough for movies too?

 

[agarwalro]

I'm don't like towers with powered subs as a replacement for actual subs. To get the towers properly placed will necessitate bad placement for the built in subs and vice versa.

+1 Slippery's recommendations to downscale the towers and get a couple of dedicated sub.

 

[Cos]

You're saying the subs in the T1 are powerful enough for movies too?

Yes, I would defintely say so.

My test room was 22x26x9 in my HT Area before the remodel.
- Intersteller sounded fantastic even with my subs turned to 11 O'clock
- Batman, you definitely feel the base

Speakers were 10 ft apart, I was 10 feet from listening position with speakers slightly toed in.

When I was at The Little Guys Audio Store and met Sandy, he did a Dolby Atmos Demo in a theater room that sat about 15-20 people and he did the Star Trek Demo. He didn't tell anyone, but he only used the subs from the Triton ones. He mentioned that at the end. In that case, it sounded great, but I a room that big could use a subs in the back.

As I stated, if you want sub separates, go with the T5s and external subs. It shares a lot of similar technology with the 1s.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I'm don't like towers with powered subs as a replacement for actual subs. To get the towers properly placed will necessitate bad placement for the built in subs and vice versa.

Could be, but not necessarily IMO.

According to Gene/Audioholics, one of the best placements for 4 subs in a simple rectangular room is in the 1/4W corner location. So if a room is 20' Wide, that means the 4 subs are 4-5ft away from the side walls and 10-12ft apart. If you have 2 speakers in this same room, you would probably place the 2 speakers in the same exact location, which is 4-5ft from the side walls.

 

[agarwalro]

Could be, but not necessarily IMO.

According to Gene/Audioholics, one of the best placements for 4 subs in a simple rectangular room is in the 1/4W corner location. So if a room is 20' Wide, that means the 4 subs are 4-5ft away from the side walls and 10-12ft apart. If you have 2 speakers in this same room, you would probably place the 2 speakers in the same exact location, which is 4-5ft from the side walls.

You're partially right for a limited situation. But, deeper research in to locating multiple subs has proved that placing at room boundaries is better at combating room modes (without EQ).

Further, the AH article shows all subs against the walls. This recommendation is in accordance with Harman/Toole research on multiple subs.

From the AH article,

Harman/Toole White Paper, Slide 40 talks of the 1/4W placement yielding relatively good results. But, if you go to Slide 59, based on lowest Max-Min and Max-Ave difference in bass SPL, the three best placements of 4 subs, for even bass in multiple locations, were against the walls and (in no order)

1. 4 room corners
2. 1/2 width of walls
3. 1/3 and 2/3 of front and back walls

A location at 1/2 width of front and back walls yielded best results for 2 subs.

 

[agarwalro]

I wanted to add that the AH diagram's show nicely rectangular rooms and the Harman/Toole research used a rectangular room with no two dimensions in multiples (to keep room mode overlap to a minimum). Anyone with a living room HT/listening setup knows that these are far from ideal. Indeed the AH Reference room is L shaped.

For us without dedicated HT/listening rooms having perfect dimensions, the subwoofer crawl is the best way to find potential locations where the sub couples with the room in a positive way.

 

[Ricardojoa]

Thats alot of money on those golden year speakers. I woould go with some real subs and not the integrated on mains.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Further, the AH article shows all subs against the walls.

...for even bass in multiple locations, were against the walls...

I forget. Did anyone test the subs 1-2' away from the front and rear walls?

Most people probably don't have the room to have 4 subs 1-2' away from the walls. Most people don't even have the room to have their front or rear speakers speakers 1-2' away from the walls. I think most people have their speakers 6" away from the walls.

Even when people do the crawl test, which is great, they probably don't have the room for the best possible subwoofer placement for even 1 sub, much less the best possible subwoofer placements for multiple subs. They have to fit the other 5 speakers, big screen TV, BD players, AVRs, amps, sofas, etc., somewhere in there.

 

[Dan Thomas]

I had the Paradigm monitor surround 3 speakers. They are bipolar speakers and were on my back wall. It seems the bipolar design is becoming less popular but I thought they sounded good. I recently upgraded to Paradigm Prestige series and now use the 25S as my surround speakers. All that said, if you go GE on front speakers I would stick with them for the rest so you are timbre matched.