Pioneer Andrew Jones vs. Wavecrest HVL-1?

[psbfan9]

So, are the HVLs definitely better than the Andrew Jones Pioneers?

One thing also, if I go with the HVLs, those suckers are too big to mount in the small corners of our walls. They would stick out like a sore thumb.

Will the 3 HVLs in L-C-R still sound good if I decided to go with a different brand and smaller size for the rears/surround? Thank you all very much for the info and suggestions! Kurt, thanks for taking the time to show the graphs. Honestly they are a little over my head, but I am slowly learning!

The Wavecrests are far better than the Pioneers.
Surrounds don't have to match the LRC. I'm using PSB's as surrounds and it's fine.

 

[slipperybidness]

Hi Maverick22,

I've heard the pioneers and the HVL-1's. I bought the HVL-1's and love them. I have them set up in the configuration you're thinking about. L/R/C. I have them toed in about 20 degrees crossed over at 80 hz. to a SVS NSD 12 sub.
The HVL-1's go loud and clear. I'm driving them with a Yamaha A830. In a review by Jman, he says," They seem impervious to power". So if needed you can add and external amp to fill your room, but I'm not sure it (an amp) would be necessary.

Plus, Curtis was/is great to work with before and after the sale.

Cons: Only color option available is black.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/wave-crest-audio-hvl-1.94454/

http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/speaker-subwoofer-reviews/72159-wave-crest-audio-hvl-1-speaker-review.html#ixzz2pI53Dbd4

That front stage seems just a little low in the pics. Do you have the tweets lined up with your ears at the seating position?

 

[slipperybidness]

So you are saying the HLV-1s are better than the Pioneers? Yes I did hear he is leaving for Elac.

Sorry for the noob question, but if I got 5 HVL-1s (thinking just 3 for now), does the receiver know how to utilize the speaker best once each speaker is plugged into the receiver? Just seems weird to me that 5 of the exact same speaker are better than 5 speakers in a set designed what they are each supposed to do. Again, I am a noob haha.

Thanks!

Any and all speakers *should* be designed with the same end goal of a ruler flat frequency response across the entire audio spectrum! Movies, Music, Pro Mixing Studio, ruler flat across the audio spectrum is the goal!

Obviously, no speaker perfectly achieves that goal. There are always compromises for one reason or another.

 

[KEW]

If you listen to a 5.1 setup, you will find very little sound typically comes from the rear speakers. Think bullets whizzing by or a shattered pane of glass with some of the pieces landing behind you.
It is much more important to have the front three sound good than the surrounds. Consequently, good use of money is to save money on the surrounds and invest it in the fronts.

Note: there are a few recordings that actually use the surrounds aggressively, but thus far it has not become popular... Maybe once we get Holidecks in our homes!

 

[KEW]

Quick tutorial on the charts. Vert axis is frequency in Hz, Horiz axis is time in ms. Color is loudness or SPL in dB. (the colored bar to the right is actually a key showing the color coding used to indicate loudness in the chart - this can be confusing if you think it is part of the chart data).
A short loud pulse is delivered to the sub, and a microphone in front of the sub measures the response to that short pulse. The longer a sound hangs after the pulse is over, the muddier the bass will be. The chart for the E15HP shows a quick (and consistent with respect to frequency) die off of the sound level consistent with the input. The others show more overhang.

Here is a chart for you to refer to. This is the $500 SVS PB1000. It is tighter than the SUB-1200 in the higher frequencies, but the overhang on the low end is worse. For me, this bloat in the low end really compromises music sound quality, it overpowers the rest of the bass:

Ignore the next statements if they don't make sense! It is a detail that you don't need to understand to get the gist of it:
Note that the SUB-1200 and LV12R charts are only for the ports. That is why they don't extend into higher frequency. The E15HP and PB1000 charts are for the entire sub (no port exists). You can see charts for the drivers at the linked locations. The actual response would be the combination of the port and driver charts; however, that gets really confusing and the port charts adequately show the concept I am wanting to present.

 

[maverick22]

Thanks everyone! So I am leaning toward the AVLs and Denon 1100 receiver.

(1) Now for the sub: say if I went with a $400 budget for subs, would one "good" one be better than 2 budget Daytons?

(2) What are some decent rears? The HVLs will be too big. I need something small for the corners of the walls. Wifey doesn't want anything on the floor as far as rears go.

(3) Recommensations for speaker wire?

(4) stands for the HVLs? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sanus-30-speaker-stands-pair/5923888.p?id=1063670359162&skuId=5923888

http://www.amazon.com/BF31-B1-Speaker-Stands-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00006JQ5O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435643849&sr=8-1&keywords=sanus+speaker+stand+31 These are quite a bit cheaper than BB's if these will work.

(5) Is BB Geek Squad good for installations or should I find a local company that specializes just in HT?

 

[psbfan9]

That front stage seems just a little low in the pics. Do you have the tweets lined up with your ears at the seating position?

The pictures are deceptive. That's why Afterlife keeps breaking my, um, eggs, about moving the center forward. The bottom of the speakers are abt. 31" from the floor and the top of the tweeter is abt. 42" high. Which is very close to seated height.

 

[psbfan9]

Thanks everyone! So I am leaning toward the AVLs and Denon 1100 receiver.

(1) Now for the sub: say if I went with a $400 budget for subs, would one "good" one be better than 2 budget Daytons?

(2) What are some decent rears? The HVLs will be too big. I need something small for the corners of the walls. Wifey doesn't want anything on the floor as far as rears go.

(3) Recommensations for speaker wire?

(4) stands for the HVLs? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sanus-30-speaker-stands-pair/5923888.p?id=1063670359162&skuId=5923888

http://www.amazon.com/BF31-B1-Speaker-Stands-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00006JQ5O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435643849&sr=8-1&keywords=sanus+speaker+stand+31 These are quite a bit cheaper than BB's if these will work.

(5) Is BB Geek Squad good for installations or should I find a local company that specializes just in HT?

Get the HVL-1's and try them. Wavecrest has a very liberal return policy and Curtis is great to deal with.

1) Add, or save, another $99.00 and get this, http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb-1000
check their outlet page for deals.

2) The Pioneers BS21's or BS22's will work great as rear/surrounds.

3) Blue Jeans Cable; http://www.bluejeanscable.com/index.htm

4) Anything that has a high WAF will work. Should be stable and tall enough to get tweeters at, or above ear level.

5) NO GEEK SQUAD. You can do it yourself. I'm an idiot and I did mine myself. I had lots of help from people here though.

 

[afterlife2]

If you are really on a budget get 2 Dayton or save a bit and get: http://www.svsound.com/specials/outlet-specials/pb-1000-outlet_4
I have both in a small apt. Dayton for music and SVS for Movies and once in a while SACD 5.1/DTS 5.1
Stands: http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Adjustable-Satellite-Speaker-MS07B/dp/B000VRREPG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1435766243&sr=8-5&keywords=speaker+stands
Don't forget to look on Craigslist as well.

 

[zieglj01]

(1) Now for the sub: say if I went with a $400 budget for subs, would one "good" one be better than 2 budget Daytons?

(2) What are some decent rears? The HVLs will be too big. I need something small for the corners of the walls. Wifey doesn't want anything on the floor as far as rears go.

If you are really limited to $400 - then the HSU STF-2 subwoofer
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html

However, I would aim a little higher if you can

For surrounds - Boston 4.5 SoundWare speaker
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/bossoundwareespra/boston-acoustics-soundware-4.5-in-indoor/outdoor-speaker-espresso-each/1.html

 

[KEW]

(1) Now for the sub: say if I went with a $400 budget for subs, would one "good" one be better than 2 budget Daytons?

Go with the Daytons.

Avoid the PB1000. I posted impulse response for it in post 25. It is not as articulate as Dayton!
if you mainly wanted a sub for home theater, then the SVS would be a reasonable consideration.

 

[afterlife2]

Not to be rude Kurt, but I would not avoid the PB1000 it does very well with music and yes it does well with movies and explosions. If I had the money I'd get the SB1000 for my music setup, but like Kurt said Dayton 1200 does very well with music. I never tested the Dayton with movies but I'm sure it would be good as well. Try them both and you make the decision. SVS has a 30 day trial and free return. Great customer service as well. By the way the HSU bookshelf speakers mentioned are great. I bought a pair recently and they surprised me.

 

[maverick22]

Thanks for the input everyone! I really do appreciate it.

I went ahead and went with this:

Denon 1100 receiver
5 HVL-1s
PSA XS15 sub (on sale for $599 - Tom said sale off in a couple of days)

Hope this is all worth it! Thanks again.

 

[afterlife2]

That looks like a really good start, congrats. We want pics once it's setup.

 

[slipperybidness]

Not to be rude Kurt, but I would not avoid the PB1000 it does very well with music and yes it does well with movies and explosions. If I had the money I'd get the SB1000 for my music setup, but like Kurt said Dayton 1200 does very well with music. I never tested the Dayton with movies but I'm sure it would be good as well. Try them both and you make the decision. SVS has a 30 day trial and free return. Great customer service as well. By the way the HSU bookshelf speakers mentioned are great. I bought a pair recently and they surprised me.

What's the story on the Dayton 1500?

I always see yall talking about the 1200, but I see the 1500 on PE.

 

[afterlife2]

Maybe because it's HUGE, slip.

 

[maverick22]

That looks like a really good start, congrats. We want pics once it's setup.

Thank you! I like the fact that PSA lets you try it out also. With it being bigger, on sale, and risk-free, thought I'd give it a shot.

 

[slipperybidness]

Maybe because it's HUGE, slip.

LOL!

Never stopped you before!

So, the 1500 is indeed a nice sub? Better than the 1200 in pretty much every performance respect?

 

[afterlife2]

LOL!

Never stopped you before!

So, the 1500 is indeed a nice sub? Better than the 1200 in pretty much every performance respect?

Slip I've never tried the 1500, but I'm sure it's great for a big room. I live in a small tiny apt, so that's not an option and the 1200 does the trick.

 

[zieglj01]

5 HVL-1s
PSA XS15 sub (on sale for $599 - Tom said sale off in a couple of days)

Hope this is all worth it! Thanks again.

Enjoy the adventure