please help with speaker/sub set choices

[benolium]

Ben,

That system looks outstanding in your room. I bet you hate to put the grills on. That sub is really nice. I didn't think it was that large. The rubber/foam surround is massive. Does that sub hit hard, or play deep (if you had to lean towards one characteristic)? What do the controls on the back of it look like? I've never seen the plate amp.

I had assumed that setup was more for HT. It appears it's also great for music. I know you need some break in time, and since you have a little one, probably can't jam like you used to. Let us know how it does with music.

Did the wife know exactly how much you dropped on that 7.1? Was she amazed when it was setup the bang for the buck?

Finally, do you have your rear surrounds backwards? I would think the effect would be greater if the tweeters were facing out. Does the manual say to face them in?

Thanks for all the pictures. They are great!

Thanks for the compliments. I went out for some tacos, and came back and my wife was dying to show me what she wrote I guess that she aproves. I love looking at the gold cones! But must keep them covered since my baby is crawling really well these days. It just may keep him from poking them She is however giving me grief on the surrounds on the stands. Wires are too visible and it's not so baby proof. I can't say that she exaclty knows that the extra surrounds were 200 ish. But in all perspective, the total price was way way way below all the other systems I was looking at!
On to the sub. It hits hard, but not Cervin Vega 1988 era mini truck hard playing some bad rap tape. Does that make any sense? Nor is it Banda Carnival thump accoumpanied by the acordian and drums. It has a nice clean hit. So far so good with the movies I've played. So I went on to a CD- Alice in Chains. Soooo nice. Staley's never sounded so good. Now the wife can't wait for me to put on the Foo Fighters. Too bad the kids already asleep

Oddly enough; the surrounds are suppost to be placed like that according to the manual. I'm going to experiment with them tomorrow night. I'll report back with pics of the rear sub.

 

[benolium]

.....Benolium, is the ceiling 12 1/2 feet high over the TV end of that room?.....

The floor to ceiling height is 12 1/2. From the top of the tv I suppose that it is 7' or so.

 

[eric0531]

Benolium:

Beautiful room! The flooring looks really nice, Pergo (or similar) laminate? That's what we've got in our family room where we have our little set up as well. In fact I had just finished putting it in last spring (family room, my office, and the stairs up to the next level - man that was a lot of work) when we stumbled across the Acoustechs at Costco. Fortunately I was able to convince my wife that the speakers were a nice reward for a job well done

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

this is benolium's wife. yes i know how much he spent. yes it is worth it. i was raised in a house where my parents put me in the swing in between the speakers, turned up dark side of the moon really loud and that's how they got me to sleep. music is SO important in this house although not as loud now with the kid. i think for the money these are the best speakers to buy. my hubby has been researching new speakers for 4 years now (no joke!) so i know they are worthwile. i was a little hesitant because they are a "no name", but i totally trust him. so far they sound great. and the speakers right behind the couch aren't as loud as i thought. they are just right- not blowing out your eardrum. anyways... if it's too loud, you're too old.

Can I borrow you for a weekend? I'd like to upgrade again. That's really cool how your folks got you to sleep. We've got one on the way (that makes 3 ), and I may try that out.

Wow, 4 years. That's a lot of soul searching. I think they fit in the room very nice. Not too large, and much better looking that those tiny "cubes." Now to get him that plasma tv set to go along with the new 7.1. So what are you going to do with all that money he's saved?

Acoustech is actually part of a great company - BIC, or British Industries Corp. They were huge in the 60's with Wharfedale speakers, Garrard turntables, and Luxman power amps. They were the first to design and market a belt drive turntable. The Venturi line by BIC was a huge hit in the mid 70's (in the top 5 best selling brands). The Venturi center channel - DV62CLR-S (Which is about a mirror image of the Acoustech center with a soft dome tweeter), has a cult-like following and touted to be one of the best center channel's for the money, period. These center channels are some of the few that actually produce solid bass - something unheard of in a center. I'm anxious to get Audioholics to review both lines. By the time they do, it may not even be necessary, as these units are finding quite a few homes from members here at Audioholics. I've yet to see one negative review.

 

[benolium]

It's Lumber Liquidator Utopia laminate (bob Villa) stuff. 25 yr guarantee. I put 1400 sq ft in in the past 2 yrs. My back still hurts. Good find at Costco btw. I wish I were so lucky!

 

[benolium]

wife again

Can I borrow you for a weekend? I'd like to upgrade again. That's really cool how your folks got you to sleep. We've got one on the way (that makes 3 ), and I may try that out.

Wow, 4 years. That's a lot of soul searching. I think they fit in the room very nice. Not too large, and much better looking that those tiny "cubes." Now to get him that plasma tv set to go along with the new 7.1. So what are you going to do with all that money he's saved?

Acoustech is actually part of a great company - BIC, or British Industries Corp. They were huge in the 60's with Wharfedale speakers, Garrard turntables, and Luxman power amps. They were the first to design and market a belt drive turntable. The Venturi line by BIC was a huge hit in the mid 70's (in the top 5 best selling brands). The Venturi center channel - DV62CLR-S (Which is about a mirror image of the Acoustech center with a soft dome tweeter), has a cult-like following and touted to be one of the best center channel's for the money, period. These center channels are some of the few that actually produce solid bass - something unheard of in a center. I'm anxious to get Audioholics to review both lines. By the time they do, it may not even be necessary, as these units are finding quite a few homes from members here at Audioholics. I've yet to see one negative review.

plasma... i don't know where we'd hang it since the room is perfectly set up for surround now, and behind the tv is a big window. i guess we could get one of those table-top ones. not for a while though. we need to set up a college fund first- or just encourage our boy into being an F1 racer or something.
thanks for the background info on the company. my dad has a HUGE vinyl collection, so i have a great appreciation for that. i'd really like to get a good turntable, but they seem to be so darn spendy and rare these days. and it's not like i'm going to go to best buy to get one...
good luck on the little ones- and getting any sleep too for that matter.

 

[einsteinjb]

Acoustech is actually part of a great company - BIC, or British Industries Corp. They were huge in the 60's with Wharfedale speakers, Garrard turntables, and Luxman power amps.

GASP -- BIC owned Luxman??????? Me faints clean away! So few remember Luxman these days but when I was a skinny teenaged budding audiophile/musician/engineer, I used to visit Sassafras Audio almost daily to drool over the huge Luxman 110 watt integrated amp that sold for something like $1200. That thing was so far ahead of its time! It actually had a digital input, something most people had never heard of. Just after college I picked up a smaller 60 watt Luxman receiver used and I still think it's one of the sweetest, warmest, most pleasant sounding power sources I've heard in a long time, though it has a chronic problem with something in the output stages, a resistor or capacitor or something (I'm electronically ignorant), so it's always needing repair.

I finally picked up that fabled Luxman integrated amp a couple years ago, about 12 years old used on ebay but in perfect condition, for $250. It's powering my studio monitors right now, though it has some crackle and hiss too especially til it warms up. But when it warms up, BOY is it warm (sonically and physically hehe). Sounds amazing. Built like a tank those things were, if prone to those weird output stage failures. Their CD players were amazing too, sounded incredible (I could actually hear the difference between them and cheaper models from companies like Denon) and HEAVY, all metal parts, serious quality.

Sorry to go so far off topic but I'm really curious about this. Was BIC a parent company of Luxman? Do you have any more info on it? If it's the same company, it's a sign of serious quality and value, and it'll make me even more determined to get my hands on a pair of Ed Frias' Ext Mod BIC DV62si speakers (and a DV62CLRS or 2... or 3...). Might even replace my trusty Boston Acoustic CR75s with them if they're that good. And I can't wait to hear them with my new Hsu VTF-2, which I'll have in a week or two!!! Yum.

Room does look really beautiful BTW, nice job!

 

[mike c]

i made the mistake of walking into a JBL/infinity/HK store ...
now im confused ... the sales guy said a lot of mumbo jumbo about how HK avr235 leaving the yamaha receivers in the dust. and that the infinity primus series trumps the yamaha ef series. a quick check of specs says yamaha beats them both ... is there more to it than specs?

 

[mulester7]

i made the mistake of walking into a JBL/infinity/HK store ...
now im confused ... the sales guy said a lot of mumbo jumbo about how HK avr235 leaving the yamaha receivers in the dust. and that the infinity primus series trumps the yamaha ef series. a quick check of specs says yamaha beats them both ... is there more to it than specs?

.....Mike, your hearing is different from that salesman....your hearing is different from mine, and mine is different from the salesman's....our hearing has a +/- db count top-to-bottom just like our speakers....I might have a weakness around 2500-3000 where that region is one of your strong regions....so a certain speaker would sound different to me than you....I might absolutely love a certain pair of Athenas, and you would want to rip the face off them and use them for chicken feeders....you've got to get a little heady in attitude, and say, "I am the one paying for what will end up in my HT, and I will choose what is purchased, using my ears to determine what pleases ME, and could care less what anyone else hears".....

 

[brian32672]

Looks Great

Still waiting for the pic of the H-100 rear,

I see you had said that they sound awesome with music. I truly felt they were geared more for movies. But music does sound fine through them.

 

[brian32672]

I'm anxious to get Audioholics to review both lines.

Yea, you got reamed for that one. LOL

 

[benolium]

H-100 BIC sub- Rear

Still waiting for the pic of the H-100 rear,

I see you had said that they sound awesome with music. I truly felt they were geared more for movies. But music does sound fine through them.

Here's the sub.

 

[brian32672]

Looks great...
Humm, maybe I'll have to consider the H-100. Specially for a matching set....
At this point I may go with a dual sub set-up.

Still the SVS line is on the top of my short list second is HSU............

 

[Spiffyfast]

Wow, the system looks like it rocks. I just got the center last week and my towers get here on thursday. They look soo good with the grills off. Have you put in a bass cd to see how low that sub can go? Im kind of interested, I'm looking at the Cadence Xsub right now, but am interested in the performance of the Bic model. Anyways, enjoy your awesome system and let everyone be jelous.

 

[mike c]

.....Mike, your hearing is different from that salesman....your hearing is different from mine, and mine is different from the salesman's....our hearing has a +/- db count top-to-bottom just like our speakers....I might have a weakness around 2500-3000 where that region is one of your strong regions....so a certain speaker would sound different to me than you....I might absolutely love a certain pair of Athenas, and you would want to rip the face off them and use them for chicken feeders....you've got to get a little heady in attitude, and say, "I am the one paying for what will end up in my HT, and I will choose what is purchased, using my ears to determine what pleases ME, and could care less what anyone else hears".....

thanks mulester, i get it about the speaker ... what about the amp? the HK AVR235 gives out 50watts and the yamaha rx-v 750 gives out 100watts. HE says that even though the yamaha has 100 watts it is ONLY EQUIVALENT to the HK's 50 watts ... his reason: something about HK churning out the 50watts at 1khz? whats that about?

 

[brian32672]

Finally, do you have your rear surrounds backwards? I would think the effect would be greater if the tweeters were facing out. Does the manual say to face them in?

Yea, the manual is quite weak, but here is the page on placement. I don't really agree with it. And I would say to anyone, play around with them for the best sound. Each will have their own preference.
Here is a scan of the manual page.

 

[mike c]

re: subwoofer ...

i am getting the JBL e-250 over the yamaha 315 because the JBl has a 12" FRONT FIRING sub compared to the 10" down firing of yamaha. although both has 250watts power. you cant beat the looks of a front firing sub without the cover

 

[brian32672]

re: subwoofer ...

i am getting the JBL e-250

Nobody else will agree with your decission, but I do. I found that for 232.00 shipped was a super bargain for this sub. 550 watt peak leaves plenty of headroom. The e-150 now thats a different story, it truly did suck.

 

[mike c]

Nobody else will agree with your decission, but I do. I found that for 232.00 shipped was a super bargain for this sub. 550 watt peak leaves plenty of headroom. The e-150 now thats a different story, it truly did suck.

why do you say people will disagree?

 

[brian32672]

Everybody that has never heard the E-250P in their home, (may have heard it in the store @ 15,000 square feet) say it distorts, it is way to boomy, not very accurate, and there are way better deals. Well, I have it in home, and it is in no way boomy, it has never bottomed out, it is very clean bass. Just the opposite on the e-150. Now that thing bottoms out at very low volumes.
Granted the E-250 will not hit 20hz. But it works very well for even decent sized rooms. To hit 20hz or lower, trust me you need to spend at least 600.00 And I do plan on it, but for now this sub is a super bargain, I've said this before. Best Buy sells it for 473.00 before tax. On-line can be had for 232.00 shipped from an authorized dealer. The 2 subs to consider in this price range are the E-250 and the Cadence X-sub. The X-sub just slightly higher in price. (granted, I am going by reviews of the X-sub, I have never actually auditioned it)