Snell A1 Theater Integration?

[SQishard]

First time posting, long time reading. Before I begin, I just wanted to thank everyone for the time and effort that you've dedicated to this forum. Your advice and opinions have helped many decisions over the years! Now with that out of the way, let's get to my situation.

I am setting up a dedicated 7.1 media room in a new home. I currently have the following audio pieces that I intend to incorporate:
- Marantz SR6015 AVR
- SVS SB3000 Sub
- B&W Cl700 3way in-wall x4
- center channel undecided. Considering the paradigm premier 600c...
- Snell Type A1 front channels.
FYI - My reasoning for the Snells is mixed between sentimental and curiosity, as my father bought these new back in 1978, I believe, and he has passed them on to me recently. They've always sounded great (90% benefit) and have ALWAYS been an instant topic of conversations, mostly about new vs. old tech (10% benefit). The downfiring 10" sub was rebuilt as the voice coil spider would sag out over time from the downward facing orientation somewhere around 2010.

So, what I'm trying to figure out, is how to best integrate the Snells i.e. sub placement in rear to balance the room's low end, and choosing a center channel that will play nice with the old dogs. I intend to use the Audyssey room correction, but from what I've read, that has its own set of pitfalls and shortcomings...

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Eppie]

Regardless of which main speakers you use up front, you want a centre that is fairly neutral to preserve the dialogue and the 600C is a good option. There are other options from JBL, KEF, or SVS and some other companies that others might mention. Timber matching across the front is nice if you can manage it, but with speakers that old I would just try and get something with good midrange for accurate dialogue.

A found conflicting info on the Snell model A so not sure which one you have without linking to some pics. Hard to find frequency response graphs any way. The model with the 18" woofers went very deep (below 20Hz) but I'm not sure about the 10" drivers. For the age of the speaker, I would lean towards using a high pass filter on the mains (set the speakers to "small" on the AVR) and crossing the SVS sub accordingly. The sub does not have to go in the back but placement may take some trial and error. (Have you heard of the "sub crawl" for sub placement?) You can try it up front or use the corner or side wall at 1/2 or 1/4 positions and walk around and listen for any standing waves. Beyond that it takes a measurement microphone and software like Room EQ Wizard (REW) to measure what's happening in room and flatten that lower curve.

Multiple subwoofers is the best method for smoothing bass response and there are articles and videos on that on Audioholics. It's harder to do with different brands as you can't predict how they will interact, so two SVS subs would be easier to set up than say using your Snells full range and integrating the SVS. Doesn't mean you can't try but have measurements would really help in that instance. The SB3000 may be a little heavy to move around but placement is a major factor.

 

[SQishard]

Please see the Drive link below for the speaker manual.

Emailing snell_type_a_manual.pdf

drive.google.com

 

[SQishard]

Edit to OP: Surrounds are B&W 663s. The 7's are not a 3 way, but rather a slightly smaller mid with an added port below...couldn't justify the sound difference vs double the cost.

I did end up getting the 600C and I am extremely satisfied! I've spent all day playing with placement for fronts and the sub. Seems to sound best with the sub in the left rear, toe'd in about 30 degrees from the outer wall, with the fronts crossed at 60Hz. The Snells' woofers seemed to struggle at higher volume, so it's either their age/design, or I need a bi-amp setup...I'm leaning towards either two Monolith 2 ch, with one amp for mids/highs on both channels and the other amp for both woofers, or a 5 channel.
Can anyone tell me which direction would be more beneficial?

 

[Eppie]

Video from Gene on bi-amping:

Other articles on bi-amping as well.

Not generally much to be gained from bi-amping. Might be the Snell's age but I would try increasing the crossover to 80 or maybe 100 Hz. If the AVR lacks headroom maybe a separate amp for the Snell's with double the power of the Marantz. Hoping @lovinthehd or one of the other members jumps in here.

 

[lovinthehd]

Do you have the Snell electronic crossover mentioned as needed for best results for the bi-amping as well as some separate amps? At least it appears to be closer to real bi-amping than the usual passive bi-amping with just an avr or just using the typical pair of terminals on the speaker. Whether that will improve the low end significantly as opposed to perhaps getting a second sub, hard to think the speakers' woofers will compete very well with good subs. Possible with low impedance speakers and low sensitivity (not sure about that since the manual doesn't say what the sensitivity rating is), that at higher spl levels the amp of the avr might not be sufficient . As was mentioned, some measurements might be in order as to what's going on in the room particularly.

Curious as to the condition of the woofers, have you inspected the condition of the surrounds? They're pretty old....