Making major changes to my HT room has caused me to re-think everything including the subs. The quad Fathoms have been great with clean strong output but like their counter parts my Revel Ultima speakers, they were very showy and Audiophile.
Don’t get me wrong, the Fathom/Revel combo produced a very sweet sound that when balanced out represented a fantastic sounding system. While it was capable of producing very clean movie theater like sound dynamics, that was not their design intent. The Fathoms are perhaps the best music/HT subs being built and their good looks and small form factor makes them easy to integrate into any room decor. The Revels live up to their excellent reviews (both professional and owner) and for a more heavily music weighted system are about as good as it gets.
After hearing several “pro-audio” based sound systems, I slowly began to realize that I was using the wrong tools for the job I needed done. My system use is 95%HT and while I believe that films still require a music capable system, the dynamics needed to reproduce a big action movie soundtrack go beyond what most audiophile speakers are comfortably capable of producing. Please excuse the analogy but essentially, I was driving my Ferrari system off road when what I needed was a jeep.
For me, this “process” started with a demo of a Pro-audio system at a Carvin retail outlet near where I work. What I heard there was the loudest sound I had ever heard come out of speakers (well besides a Blue Cheer concert in 1971). It was so loud that it was impossible to make any judgment about sound quality but I found myself getting goose bumps sort of like an F118 fly over. Next, I had a demo at another forum member’s house. Like me (but on steroids), he had gone down the audiophile route in building a system for HT use. Now this guy is a producer of independent films and “in the business” so his interest in having a Home Theater was a bit more focused than many of us “hobbyists.
His system consisted of the JTR speakers you see pictured (above and below) as well as the Danley DTS-20 subwoofer. He was using the same SSP as me (Integra 9.8) and was powering his 7.1 system with a Wyred for Sound, 7 channel amp that is similar in power/performance to my Sunfire TGA 400/7.
What I heard at this demo was a familiar clean and articulate sound but with dynamics and sheer output capability that went beyond what my “audiophile” based system was designed to do. I also noticed that these big industrial looking speakers became much better looking as the demo progressed. While they can never match the beautiful fit and finish of my audiophile gear, they look utilitarian and the form follows function as it should. Also, my dedicated room makes having pretty looking speakers nice to have, but not a prerequisite.
So what we have here is an AV epiphany … a “paradigm shift” if you will in the makeup of my system. I know myself well enough to avoid saying I have found exactly what I am looking for, but it is (in hind sight) an interesting process I went through and I am getting closer to achieving the Home Theater I have imagined for the past several years.
There are some other changes happening. I’m getting a new projector and screen. Building an equipment closet into the screen side wall and the Av cabinet is going away. I ordered a new subwoofer from Danley Labs that should give me all that I had with my quad Fathoms in a relatively small single box solution. I will post pics here as progress is made. Room as it stands today:
