Needing more

[Slavetothewatt]

Good day, I find myself asking a question everyone has asked themselves before.... where do I go from here? I started piecing together a Frankenstein system and its gotten really good imho. Marrantz AV SR4200 as a preamp, Peavey CS 800 running a pair of Paradigm Monitor 11v6 , QSC 1400 running a pair of Paradigm SB110 subs , Denon DCM360 CD player which is all I listen to (no vinyl, no streaming at the moment). It is quite loud but I am left wanting it louder. All in cost around $1000 cdn Mickey mouse dollars. Any suggestions or help from someone who has had this dilemma would be greatly appreciated... thanks in advance +6db

 

[lovinthehd]

How loud is it currently, tho? When does hearing damage become an issue?

 

[Slavetothewatt]

It's always a concern... safety first. With hearing loss aside would you have any suggestions?

 

[Slavetothewatt]

I suppose the first thing that comes to mind is more amps and more speakers but I would prefer not to take up any more real estate.

 

[lovinthehd]

You can try using something like this https://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

Hard to know what your situation is without some more information....but generally you'd need speakers that can get louder.

 

[Slavetothewatt]

Thank you very much... great link with valuable information. Any suggestions on speaker upgrades? I truly am married to Paradigm and don't know if upgrading to the reference or studio line would sound much different than the monitor series for the money. If there is a great difference I would stick with a Paradigm upgrade and if not it's time for a divorce.

 

[lovinthehd]

Not familiar with Paradigm's offerings particularly. The kind of speakers I was thinking of were more along the lines of something like the JTR Noesis 215s or similar high output speakers, maybe even something from the pro side of things from JBL or QSC....

 

[ryanosaur]

Pretty much in agreement with Lovin', across the board. Without knowing more details about your scene, how far you sit and listening habits, it's hard to make a good recommendation.
JTR or other Horn loaded speakers would give you greater sensitivity for certain (louder with less power) but you also don't seem to be shy on power, either, and thus would be limited by what the speaker could endure.
Well, the speaker and you ears.

Truth is most people rarely seem to listen at much more than -10dB. That gets pretty loud and makes me happy, and I don't have to worry about damaging my hearing unless I am deep diving for a full afternoon (in which case I turn it down a little).

Depending on what you are in to, and how much you want to spend, there is also Tekton. They aren't necessarily the best speaker on the planet, but people love Eric's work and they are advertised with both high sensitivity and the ability to take a good amount of power.
*shrugs

 

[Slavetothewatt]

Greatly appreciate your time. Part of my concern is a horn loaded speaker although more efficient would introduce more of a high frequency spectrum which I don't want. I want to Rock with clear mid and great bass if that makes any sense. Bring the entire spectrum high-low-bass up a notch.

 

[lovinthehd]

Horns don't necessarily mean that, tho. I use "horns" in my main system without issues like that. Now some crappy PA speaker using horns, perhaps. The JTRs certainly don't have that reputation.

 

[ryanosaur]

Klipsch has the old reputation of getting bright... something that has changed somewhat, more recently. But Horn-Loading can be done very well and result in a flat FR with a neutral and accurate quality.

 

[Pogre]

I'm a little bit unclear as to the goal here... "more" can mean a lot of things in this hobby and I'm not sure you've quite identified what that means to you. For starters, are you saying you're reaching your system's limits and it's not loud enough? With what you have now I'd think you can get more than loud enough (depending on how far you sit) to damage your hearing as it is.

That said Paradigm has been busy with some new speakers lately that look pretty nice. I don't know much about your current subs, but that tends to be a weak link in many systems we see come through here.

 

[lovinthehd]

Couldn't find much on the sub, altho the manual is still available on Paradigm's site, had to look at a few things to get some more info. It's a passive 10" ported sub with a built in crossover. Interesting, can't say I've seen something quite like it before. Couldn't find any spec for it, tho.

 

[Slavetothewatt]

You guys are amazing btw for trying to help me through this. I think you are on to something with upgrading the subs... start at the floor and crawl up from there... much love

 

[lovinthehd]

Another consideration that can be relatively free is to make sure you're maximizing speaker/sub positioning for best response....or even your own seating.

 

[Slavetothewatt]

Agreed and when it's loud I leave that room and go to another which leaves me wanting more at that difference. Same spectrum just need to be able to turn it up when I leave.

 

[Pogre]

Agreed and when it's loud I leave that room and go to another which leaves me wanting more at that difference. Same spectrum just need to be able to turn it up when I leave.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the amp driving your current speakers is 240 wpc @8 ohms, right? That's a lot of power already so I don't think another amp is gonna do it.

If you leave the room... it's not even realistic to expect what you're asking without getting really ridiculously sensitive high power handling speakers and cranking to dangerous, ear bleeding levels in the source room. I mean like, really? Get more speakers, a second system and put it in the other room, lol. I still think you're a little confused as to what it is you want? I will say a pair of more powerful subs will let you feel the music in the next room tho...

 

[Slavetothewatt]

Absolutely agree... subs are first. What if I doubled the towers and doubled up each channel with monitors to drop to 4 ohms? Would that help?

 

[lovinthehd]

Absolutely agree... subs are first. What if I doubled the towers and doubled up each channel with monitors to drop to 4 ohms? Would that help?

What do you mean double the towers and double with monitors? Why would you want to lower impedance?

 

[Slavetothewatt]

Would that not create more current from the amps?