What speakers to get?

[revnice]

I have the Rotel RSX-1065 surround receiver (100 watts per channel, 5 channels) and I'd like to know what a good set of speakers would be for that unit.

That's the five surround speakers and a sub-woofer.

By 'good' I mean efficient in terms of power, decent in quality and reasonable in pirce. I have no idea what that would cost but I could raise 2 - 3,000 USD.

Thanks - rev

 

[jcl]

You can put a decent system together for that money, but you need to provide information about your room, as well as your tastes to get the best recommendations. In the end you'll get opinions, but you'll need to go listen to see if you like the speakers .

 

[AVRat]

Are you yanking our chain??

I have the following speakers that need an amp:

2 Magnaplanar 1.6 front
2 Magnaplanar ?? (the four foot long wall mount kind) rear
1 CCR Maggy center

I've been trying to drive them with 100 watts per channel but it's nowhere near enough. With the amp at 80%, the volume is little more than conversation.

I don't need a receiver, just basic power and plenty of it.

Thanks - rev

I have the Rotel RSX-1065 surround receiver (100 watts per channel, 5 channels) and I'd like to know what a good set of speakers would be for that unit.

That's the five surround speakers and a sub-woofer.

By 'good' I mean efficient in terms of power, decent in quality and reasonable in pirce. I have no idea what that would cost but I could raise 2 - 3,000 USD.

Thanks - rev

 

[digicidal]

I have no idea about this and you could be totally correct AVRat, but isn't it possible that his current setup is 5 Maggies and a Rotel RSX-1065. He's not happy with the output and is making two separate posts in the related subforums - one looking for suggestions in replacing the AVR - or at least converting it to preamp/processor and connecting separates to power the maggies... and in the other looking for suggestions of a replacement 5.1 setup which would give him the volume and dynamics desired with the limitation of keeping the current AVR he has.

Just a possible observation from someone that has done something similar (albeit in a totally different forum and on a totally different topic). Many forums have moderators that will warn you or even delete your posts if they feel the question is not specific enough to the subforum in which it was posted - i.e. asking about speaker OR amp suggestions in a "speakers" subforum. While others will warn and delete if you make multiple posts of the basically the same question in different subforums (potentially this case). Of course the worst is when they do both - but usually those forums are pretty quiet after a few months.

 

[KEW]

Well, he knows he doesn't have the power for his current speakers. Also in the other thread he complained about the lack of surround in his surround sound, so swapping speakers is certainly a consideration.
I am not familiar with the Maggies aside from knowing they take plenty of power. Would the electrostatic design impair the surround aspect? What about keeping Maggies up front and putting some dipoles or omni's in the back?

 

[revnice]

digicidal pretty much said it. I'm thinking I have the makings of two systems here.

New amp (or whatever) for the maggies and new speakers for the Rotel. They definitely don't go together and I don't want to try and make them go together.

I'd rather move the Rotel to the bedroom and get appropriate speakers for it and have the bigger (Maggie) system out in the living room.

So no, I'm not yanking anyone's chain, I'm genuinely out of my depth here and in need of advice.

I don't see anything wrong with my two posts. They're two separate questions.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think you should buy DefTech bipolar speakers with built-in powered subwoofers.

Don't pay any attention to my name as I am not a DefTech fanboy or anything like that. I am 100% impartial.

And don't pay any attention to the frequency response on the DefTech website. DefTech, along with some other companies "lie" about their actual frequency responses.

These Powered Bipole speakers are very sensitive and require very little power since the built-in subs have their own internal amps.

At one time I had my BP7000SC hooked up to a 50WPC HK receiver and it played > 90dBA in my 15'W x 16'L x 15'H room. I actually don't listen above 85dB.

 

[GranteedEV]

Get a pair of Emotiva ERT-8.3 and an ERM-6.3 center.

Unless your rotel struggles with a 4 ohm load, these things will definitely impress you.

I read somewhere that those things were be able to play 140db cleanly.

They`re very neutral in the midrange and highs with crossovers by Vance Dickason, who of course wrong the "Loudspeaker Design Cookbook". While the bass is a bit peaky in the graph two things should be noted about it

1) It's the type a receiver's auto EQ or graphic EQ can solve quickly and easily
2) It's critically damped in a sealed enclosure so it should sound very relaxed and clean once you do EQ it.
3) it'll probably look less prominent as there's usually a null around 75hz in most rooms due to floor-ceiling standing waves. I'd rather EQ down some peaks than EQ up some valleys!

Despite being nominal 4 ohm it's reasonably easy one:

It's got "tweeter", "midrange" and "bass" switches in order to tweak the sound if you don't like the sound of neutral, so it's sort of like having multiple speakers. The bass switch is the most useful as it will deal with boomyness near walls.

 

[revnice]

Grant:

THAT is an awesome response! I'm off and running now.

You didn't mention rear speakers?

rev

I just took a look at them, wow, I bet I would be impressed. Not a bad price either.

 

[KEW]

Grant:

THAT is an awesome response! I'm off and running now.

You didn't mention rear speakers?

rev

I just took a look at them, wow, I bet I would be impressed. Not a bad price either.

Whoa!
Do yourself a favor and slow down.
You are where you are now because you jumped to quickly.
Grants suggestions may well be your perfect solution, and will make a decent high slam bedroom system, but give the other thread a couple more days before you jump on this!
Just wait a couple of days and hash things out with us.
We don't like to see good equipment put to bad use!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Grant:

THAT is an awesome response

Are you saying that Grant had an awesome response or that the Graph had an awesome response?

 

[AVRat]

Sorry if I came off condescending or errogant, but things/response didn't seem to jive. And you made no effort to mention that you were trying to power the Maggies with the Rotel.

How big is the bedroom?

 

[revnice]

"you made no effort to mention that you were trying to power the Maggies with the Rotel"

Because I'm really not. I'd like to put it aside and get something more appropriate. I wish I'd never mentioned it all I'm starting to feel like 'Two Sheds Jackson.'

If you were the salesman in the store and I walked in looking for something to drive 5 Maggies, you probably wouldn't sell me the RSX-1065, right?

So what would it be?

Gotta go out - I'll be back. Thanks for all your help!

 

[GranteedEV]

Are you saying that Grant had an awesome response or that the Graph had an awesome response?

well the graph isn't even showing up I think....

he's imagine the response curve to be a straight line +/- 0.3db
:eek :

anyways to the OP i will say a few things since I seem to have missed this magnepan issue:

1.6s are some very nice speakers. I don't quite know how difficult a load to drive they are for the rotel but I'd definitely focus in that direction before anything. Getting the best out of one pair of speakers should be your goal before switching to a new one... you may have a lot of untapped potential there.

ALways have 30% of your budget for anything acoustic straight towards the room.

 

[digicidal]

If you were the salesman in the store and I walked in looking for something to drive 5 Maggies, you probably wouldn't sell me the RSX-1065, right?

So what would it be?

Well, I would first tell you that you should just sell the Maggies to me for a 'good price' and I'd give you something you'd like more. But that's because I've been trying to work a pair of the 1.6's or 1.7's into my 2CH setup for a couple of years now... but I have a very small house unfortunately.

I think a lot of the problem with the Maggies is not that they can't be adequately driven by the Rotel - I've heard some powered by only 60W and it was still very nice sounding (although not 'dynamic' in any sense of the word).

It's entirely possible that the nature of their sound is problematic for your listening style and your room layout - or that their positioning is off. Although the soundstage they throw off when correctly positioned is pretty incredible - they're actually far more directional than you would think considering their size. I've found that with both planars like the Maggies, and with Electrostatics that I could pretty much change my vertical position within the sweet spot and enjoy the same incredible sound - but just moving 1ft to the left or right and the whole image falls apart (for me at least).

Although you could definitely power them for better impact - I've heard/read lots of Maggie owners rave about 1000W ICEPower amps like Wyred4Sounds' integrateds or monos. You could also (for a little less money) use Emotiva's XPA-2 for the front pair and XPA-3 for the center and surrounds. You'd 'only' be feeding your front pair 500W but that's enough to get them singing for sure.

The real issue is that although the Maggies love power - they don't need it to sound like they should. So if you don't like the way they sound - i.e. if the problem is more than a low sustained volume level or somewhat lower dynamic swings that you'd like - then you probably should make the 1.6's a stereo pair and get them a nice amp - and keep the Rotel and get some box speakers of reasonable sensitivity for your surround sound system.

I'm a huge fan of Maggies - but after critical analysis of what I liked and what they needed in terms of placement, power, etc... I decided (for myself at least) that they just weren't a good fit for my theater. But you can bet there will be a pair in my 'man cave' one of these days with a huge lovesac stuffed in the middle of the room between them!

I may have missed it, but what are the dimensions of the room and what do you have in the way of subs?? Because if your Rotel is trying to get the Maggies to play anything under 100Hz that's one of the first things I'd try looking for solutions.

 

[digicidal]

I thought I would add a suggestion to take a look at the 340SE's from Ascend Acoustics or the Sierra-1s.

Although I haven't heard either personally (yet - I'm going with the Sierra's in my HT setup, but am still in the process of moving furniture around and I blew a chunk of my budget on a pair of subs ). The reason I suggest them is that I've read a couple of posts recently (not sure which forum - this one or the ascend forum) of people that were doing in-home auditions of the MMGs and the 340SE's and although both speakers were considered fantastic sounding, the 340SE's were preferred. If HT is the main purpose I would suggest them over the Sierra's because they are a little more sensitive and have very similar FR graphs - both of which are fantastic. If you're looking for a mix of music and movies - then either one will be good with Sierra's taking the lead. I'm 90% music at least - even in the HT room... so I'm going with the NrT upgraded Sierra's - but they would probably be overkill for just movies.

Not saying anything against the Emotiva's... I'm sure they sound fantastic - that's where I bought my pair of 12" subs actually. Either should be great - but there are many, many speakers that will sound fantastic with the power output of that Rotel... unfortunately, no one else can say what YOUR EARS will think sounds the best. And that's what in-home auditions are for (provided you don't mind the hassle of keeping boxes around and shipping them back in 30 days if you don't like them).