$3500 System Recommendation

[AcuDefTechGuy]

OK Everything is aquired or on order but I need to order cables.

I have no clue what I will need here. Are there other cables besides speaker wire for these speakers. Seems like I read something about SUB wires or something.

I anticipate putting this all together by the end of next week.

TV-Panasonic - TH-50PX77U
Receiver-Onkyo 605
Def Tech BP7006 X2
Def Tech CLR 2300 (Decided to go ahead and get this)
2 older surrounds (Will upgrade in the next couple of months)


I'm holding off on the HD DVD on the XBOX for now. I may get a dedicated HD DVD later on.


Thanks!

I can't wait for this.......my television now is the one I had in high school....18years ago!!!

Awesome!

The BP70006 has a built-in SuperCube III-equivalent. Like you said, it won't blow away a bigger, more powerful subwoofer from HSU or SVS. But for a room size 11' x 16', the two SuperCubes will be more than enough to rattle the walls.

Okay, for speaker wires, I would get Blue Jeans Cables 14-gauge. Bare wires are good; you don't need banana plugs or spades. You will also need a Y-Splitter (1-Male-to-2-Female Y-Cable). This is for the SINGLE LFE output on your Onkyo since you have TWO SuperCube Subwoofers to connect. With the Y-Cable, you now have TWO subwoofer outputs.

For other cables, get Monoprice.com. That would be 3 HDMI cables (1 from the Onkyo 605 to the Panasonic TV, 1 from the HD DVD or equivalent to the Onkyo, & 1 for future needs like blu-ray, Direct TV HD, etc.). Get 2 Digital Coaxial Cables (for the 2 SuperCube subwoofers in the BP7006s). Digital Coaxial cables can be used for both analog signals like subwoofers or digital signals. You will hook each digital coaxial cable to each of the Female-end of the Y-splitter. Then hook them to the LFE input on each of the BP7006.

For 2-Channel Music, use the Direct Stereo Mode on the Onkyo 605. This will shut off most of the circuits for cleaner sound.

For 5.1 HT, set you speaker configuration for LARGE/FULL range FRONT LEFT, CENTER, & RIGHT. Set the surround speakers as SMALL.

I would set the Subwoofer Volume Knobs on the BP7006s to 12 O'Clock Noon & the CLR2300 to 1 or 2 O'Clock. I set my BP7000 to 12 o'clock & CLR3000 to 2 O'Clock because I like my walls and remote controlls to shake, but that's just me.

Again, congrats! I know it must be very exciting!
I know I was extremely excited when I got my DefTechs. Heck, I'm still excited.

Edit: Oh, & don't forget to calibrate your speakers levels. But that's last--when everything is hooked up.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Another very important point is placement of the BP7006s. Face the Active subwoofers towards each other, not to the side walls. Pull them away from the front & side walls at least 2 feet or more if you can.

 

[fish4life]

You will also need a Y-Splitter (1-Male-to-2-Female Y-Cable). This is for the SINGLE LFE output on your Onkyo since you have TWO SuperCube Subwoofers to connect. With the Y-Cable, you now have TWO subwoofer outputs.
QUOTE]

I found this on blue jeans:

One-foot Y cable, 1 Male/2 Female RCA $15.00

Is this what I need?

Also what about the CLR 2300? Doesnt it have a powered woofer as well?

There are also a ton of different HDMI cables on Monoprice.

Here the coax I found. I think I can get by with 3 feet but there is a 6 footer as well.
High-quality DIGITAL COAXial Audio RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm S/PDIF Subwoofer - 6ft $5.42

High-quality DIGITAL COAXial Audio RCA Cable M/M RG6U 75ohm Gold connector S/PDIF Subwoofer - 3ft $4.95

 

[GlocksRock]

You can save money and just get the digital coax cables from monoprice, as well as all the other cables you need. No sense in spending extra on the cables and shipping from Bluejeans, when everything you need can be had from monoprice.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I found this on blue jeans:

One-foot Y cable, 1 Male/2 Female RCA $15.00

Is this what I need?

Also what about the CLR 2300? Doesnt it have a powered woofer as well?

There are also a ton of different HDMI cables on Monoprice.

Here the coax I found. I think I can get by with 3 feet but there is a 6 footer as well.
High-quality DIGITAL COAXial Audio RCA CL2 Rated Cable - RG6/U 75ohm S/PDIF Subwoofer - 6ft $5.42

High-quality DIGITAL COAXial Audio RCA Cable M/M RG6U 75ohm Gold connector S/PDIF Subwoofer - 3ft $4.95

Y-Cable: Yes that is the correct one from Blue Jeans Cable.

CLR2300: The Center speaker has a built-in 150-watts active subwoofer, but the Subwoofer input is not meant for the LFE channel. Instead, it is meant for the CENTER channel output for BASS effect only. If your receiver has a Center Channel Output, you could hook it to the CLR2300 AND ALSO must hook the speaker cables to the CLR2300. However, you DON't need to hook that up. Just hook up the speaker cable to the CLR2300 directly from the Onkyo 605. My CLR3000 has the Subwoofer input also, but I just use the speaker cables. Even with just a single speaker cable from the Onkyo to the CLR2300, your CLR2300 is (in effect) being BI-AMP'ed. The Onkyo's amplifier will drive the tweeter & midrange/upper bass drivers, which do not require much power at all. The Subwoofer is being driven by the 150-watts RMS amplifier inside the CLR2300. This will allow for better sound quality in the tweeter & midrange/upper bass. So you just need 2 digital coaxial RCA/subwoofer cables; one for each BP7006.

HDMI cables:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024004&p_id=2412&seq=1&format=2

Subwoofer cables: get at least the 6 ft.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236&cs_id=1023602&p_id=2680&seq=1&format=2

The reason I have like a million cables in my closet is because I have this bad habbit of buying the SHORTEST possible cable. Don't make the same mistake!

Alternatives:

Y-Cable:
https://www.cablesforless.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=14145

Yeah, you could just get everything from monoprice, but some of those products look and feel extremely cheap and questionable quality. For example, their $1.60 Y-Cable is not very impressive:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=663&seq=1&format=2

I think the digital coaxial/subwoofer cables & HDMI & most cables are fine from monoprice, but I personally would not buy speaker cables, Y-cables, & banana plugs (which you don't need) from monoprice.

CablesForLess also sells decent product, so you might compare prices.

I'll tell you one thing. If I were to redo my entire cabling--like moving to a new custom home with a new HT room----I would buy from Blue Jeans Cables 100%! Yeah, it might cost me $400, & it probably won't increase the sound quality one bit, but I'm going to feel good about anyway.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You can save money and just get the digital coax cables from monoprice, as well as all the other cables you need. No sense in spending extra on the cables and shipping from Bluejeans, when everything you need can be had from monoprice.

That would be the rational & economical thing to do.
But I am an audioholic, and rational & economical both went out the back door a long time ago.

My cables need to feel good & look good. Sure, the sound quality may not be an issue. But I just don't know about a $1.60 Y-cable that looks like it came free from a Wal-Mart brand component.

I think the BJC speaker wires look a lot cooler than monoprice & most other places too.

 

[fish4life]

Alright I'm all set up. I held off on the Def Tech Center and Surrounds for now. I'm using old MTX surrounds and a Boston Center until I can upgrade.

I'm not sure what you mean my setting them big or small. I'm not seeing anything in the receiver manual.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Alright I'm all set up. I held off on the Def Tech Center and Surrounds for now. I'm using old MTX surrounds and a Boston Center until I can upgrade.

I'm not sure what you mean my setting them big or small. I'm not seeing anything in the receiver manual.

When you do the Automatic speaker setup (Audessey), the receiver will automatically set up the speaker & subwoofer volume levels (dB) & the speaker type (Large/Small) for you. Ideally, you will have all the speakers & subwoofer level at 0dB, instead of +/- 1dB, 2dB, etc.

If the receiver automatically sets the subwoofer level at +1dB, +2dB, etc, I would increase the subwoofer level on the BP7006 up one notch, then redo the Audessey speaker setup. If the Audessey has the sub level at -1dB, -2 dB, you might want to decrease the subwoofer level on the BP7006 one notch.

The important thing is that the subwoofer needs to sound good with both MUSIC and MOVIES.

But if you want to experiment later on and do MANUAL speaker setup using a SPL meter (like the $60 Galaxy Audio digital meter), you can set your own speaker levels & type.

Most Audioholics will, of course, do manual speaker setup.

 

[AVRat]

The Onkyos don't use a Small/Large setting, they just have you setup the appropriate x-over settings.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Onkyos don't use a Small/Large setting, they just have you setup the appropriate x-over settings.

Oh, so you just set each speaker with a cross-over like 40 Hz (if Large) and 80 Hz or 100 Hz (if Small)? That will do.

It does have the Audessey Automatic Speaker Setup, right?

 

[fish4life]

It does have the set up and I've been through it. So I should set the Def Techs to 40 and the others to 80-100?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It does have the set up and I've been through it. So I should set the Def Techs to 40 and the others to 80-100?

Yes. The others will probably be 100 Hz & the BP7006 to 40 Hz. It's kind of weird, though. The Onkyo will send all signals from 40 Hz & up to the BP7006s, but it will also send everything below 40 Hz to the two BP7006s' Subwoofer inputs. In effect, the BP7006s are being bi-amped. The onkyo's amps are driving the tweeters & midrange/upper bass while the DefTech's 300-watts amps are driving the subwoofers.

 

[AVRat]

It may be better to use an 80 Hz x-over on the 7006s to relieve the load on the receiver since the woofs of the 7006s are powered.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It may be better to use an 80 Hz x-over on the 7006s to relieve the load on the receiver since the woofs of the 7006s are powered.

It's kind of weird, but in this case, it doesn't really matter. The BP7006 will automatically send everything below 100 Hz to the subwoofer anyway. So even if you could set the speaker to FULL range (20 Hz-20 kHz), it will still send every Low Bass to the subwoofer. That's why some people (professional reviewers) don't even hook up the LFE/Subwoofer section. They just set the speaker to FULL range and set the subwoofer in the receiver to NO SUBWOOFER. This way, all the low bass is sent to the Fr L/R & the SuperTowers will automatically send them to the subwoofer.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The beauty is that the Subwoofer is ONE with the speaker and not a separate component. The subwoofer is the 3rd driver; the tweeter & midrange/upper bass are the other two drivers.