Monoprice monolith setup

J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
On a whim I scored an amazing deal on the monolith 365C center channel. Now, it appears I am invested in a new setup. I am coming from a klipsch synergy 5.1 set I got in 2011 with an Onkyo NR 515 AVR. Since then, my tastes have changed...

I'm going to start with 5.1 for now. My listening will be 50/50 movies/music. Atmos is out of the question because of my vaulted angled ceilings. However, will be moving at some point and a rectangular HT room is a requirement for new house.

I'm going back and forth on getting the monolith 365Ts right now, or waiting for the 460 towers. Don't care about Atmos unless it's discrete speakers (will do in new house).

Also, I am thinking dual monolith 10" or 12" subs, or SVS 2,000 or 3,000s. I generally prefer sealed, but am open to new things.

For the AVR, looking at Denon 3600 or Onkyo rz840. Both seem somewhat future proof and allow me to upgrade to atmos when the time comes. The monolith towers/bookshelves are 4 ohm rated.

Denon is nice because it allows you to separately amp the front three when all other channels in use and has the discrete dual sub outs. However, the Onkyo appears to have more power and some features I like - mainly more power and the ability to go into a "stereo only" mode where it shuts everything off except for what's needed to drive the 2.1 music. This seems really cool to me.

For surrounds, I am just thinking NHT super zero 2.1s. I might be out to lunch, and please let me know if I should go bigger here... The room is very large and open to the kitchen, etc. but the couch is also close to one wall, so it's not ideal at all for surround speaker placement. I will need to wall mount the left surround. Right surround will be placed on a bookshelf much farther away. This is my life for now... I'm thinking the nhts because they are so cheap and I can upgrade later at little cost when my space is better. They also are on theme with the 5 speakers having good mid-high range and then just doing good bass management with dual subs to round it out. I'm not going in wall speakers.

Let me know your thoughts. First time poster, long time reader. Thanks!
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Unless you intend to listen at very loud levels, I think the 365Ts speakers should nicely. As for subs, I would be aiming for the Monolith 12 or SVS PB-3000s. The NHT speakers are good but might not be suitable if you are aiming for louder listening levels or if they are going to have a fair bit of distance from the listening position, in which case you might look for more powerful bookshelf speakers.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I love SVS, but the monolith subs look to be legit performers and lower cost. I'd probably go with them. I'd also probably get the 365s for fronts and plan on getting the 460s later, then move the 365s to surround duty. Tho Shady makes a good point with the 365s. They'll do a good job as mains with subwoofer support. I'd want towers because I just like owning towers.
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
One of the best surround options is DCM T160S -- I like them better than both the SuperOne and the SuperZero --- on blow-out pricing and almost sold out in dark cherry ... and they can take the power
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pack-6-5-Bookshelf-Home-Theater-Speakers-100W-RMS-TP160S-CH-DCM-by-MTX-Audio/193084846113

Black is a little bit higher
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-5-Bookshelf-Home-Theater-Speakers-100W-RMS-DCM-MTX-Audio-TP160S-B-2-Pack/183941789735?hash=item2ad3c8f827:g:bZ0AAOSwK7xdcUuZ
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
Thanks for the input. I figured the larger subs would be the recommendation. Any thoughts on sealed vs ported? I generally like the tight bass of sealed for music listening.

I am leaning towards having the monolith subs over the SVS as well. No real preference other than I really appreciate how monoprice comes in to disrupt industries and offer such good value and attractive prices.

Any thoughts on the AVRs? are either of these enough to drive the 4ohm loads comfortably? Any other considerations or should I put that question in a different forum section?

If I went with the 365s now and possibly towers later, I feel like the 365s would be overkill for surrounds. I hate it when people don't have it set correctly and you get way too much coming from the surrounds and you are super aware of it. Do you think if set up properly there would be a benefit to having such a high octane speaker for a surround?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Why do you think sealed is particularly suited for music? A good sub does either well. Ported is more efficient for low bass, particularly in large rooms for HT content let alone music. Myth generally the sealed for music thing IMO.

Upper end avrs tend to do well enough with 4 ohm loads, look for bench tests of particular avrs for some info, not many rate for 4 ohms, tho that's where the pre-outs as an option for power amps may come in handy. Proper setup of the surrounds both in position and level isn't very hard to do (or just to taste). I use towers for surrounds in my main system....what's overkill? :)
 
Verdinut

Verdinut

Audioholic Spartan
If you have a very limited space, then a sealed subwoofer is the way to go. Otherwise, a well designed ported sub will be more efficient, have less distortion and dig to lower frequencies without having to necessitate EQing.
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
One of the best surround options is DCM T160S -- I like them better than both the SuperOne and the SuperZero --- on blow-out pricing and almost sold out in dark cherry ... and they can take the power
Thanks for the suggestion. I also noticed there is a similar priced di-pole/bi-pole version on eBay that looks interesting.
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
If you have a very limited space, then a sealed subwoofer is the way to go. Otherwise, a well designed ported sub will be more efficient, have less distortion and dig to lower frequencies without having to necessitate EQing.
So, ported generally means easier bass management?
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
Why do you think sealed is particularly suited for music? A good sub does either well. Ported is more efficient for low bass, particularly in large rooms for HT content let alone music. Myth generally the sealed for music thing IMO.

Upper end avrs tend to do well enough with 4 ohm loads, look for bench tests of particular avrs for some info, not many rate for 4 ohms, tho that's where the pre-outs as an option for power amps may come in handy. Proper setup of the surrounds both in position and level isn't very hard to do (or just to taste). I use towers for surrounds in my main system....what's overkill? :)
No bench tests that I can really find. Both say they are rated for 4 ohms. I am assuming since most of the low end will be crossed over to the subs that I should be pretty safe with either?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
No bench tests that I can really find. Both say they are rated for 4 ohms. I am assuming since most of the low end will be crossed over to the subs that I should be pretty safe with either?
I see 6 and 8 ohm ratings for the Denon altho they tend to do fine in that part of their range with 4 ohm, I see vague ratings (dynamic and a speaker impedance range) for the Onkyo for 4 ohm....I'd think either would work, prefer the feature set in Denon myself.
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
I see 6 and 8 ohm ratings for the Denon altho they tend to do fine in that part of their range with 4 ohm, I see vague ratings (dynamic and a speaker impedance range) for the Onkyo for 4 ohm....I'd think either would work, prefer the feature set in Denon myself.
I see 4 ohm minimum rating on Crutchfield detailed specs for both. Sounds like it should be fine.

What features in particular stand out to you in favor of the Denon?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I guess I have the terminology mixed up. I was thinking ported will be easier to get as flat as possible frequency response in my non-ideal room with less EQ if that makes sense.
More curious on the speakers, prefer monopole myself even for surrounds. For wall mounting front ported or sealed speakers work well enough.

EQ of a sealed sub is often done already in the amp, one nice thing about the Denon's XT32/SubEQ is ability to do well with two differently placed subs and eq....
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I guess I have the terminology mixed up. I was thinking ported will be easier to get as flat as possible frequency response in my non-ideal room with less EQ if that makes sense.
Well.....no. It doesn’t lol. Flatter response had to do with location vs listening position. Moving the sub and or LP will change the response. Placement is rule one. Then eq/treatments.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I see 4 ohm minimum rating on Crutchfield detailed specs for both. Sounds like it should be fine.

What features in particular stand out to you in favor of the Denon?
I never go by a retailers' info, prefer the manufacturer's own specs. I like the Audyssey XT32/SubEQ features in the Denon. I also had an Onkyo that failed so am a little shy, altho they do seem to have resolved some issues but their financial condition prior to being acquired by Sound United/DEI was also a concern....and their home spun AccuEQ, even adding in some of the features of the Pioneer MCACC I don't think is up to Audyssey.
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
More curious on the speakers, prefer monopole myself even for surrounds. For wall mounting front ported or sealed speakers work well enough.

EQ of a sealed sub is often done already in the amp, one nice thing about the Denon's XT32/SubEQ is ability to do well with two differently placed subs and eq....
Ok, ported vs sealed won't have an impact on how easy it is to get a good response, given positioning is set based on the best placement in the room?
 
J

JRED 1219

Audioholic
Ok, ported vs sealed won't have an impact on how easy it is to get a good response, given positioning is set based on the best placement in the room?
Just to be clear, I will be finding the best placement then measuring with REW and adjusting to get the best response in my room. To your knowledge, will a ported sub be more forgiving or easier to manage this, or does it not matter?
 

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