kurtZoom

NHT ST-4 in 7.1 w/o sub

We are planning our new HT in the basement. My wife hates having the sub sitting out on the floor. I am considering new fronts anyway...so I was checking out the NHT ST-4s. They are tower speakers with bi-amp capability and 8" subs in each tower.

Can I run the .1 out to a two channel amp then bi-amp the speakers and go without the sub? If so, what type of amp? Does it need some sort of control or can I just get a two channel amp?

I'm considering the Denon 3805 for the main amp and will split use about 60/40 movies/music. Thanks for any thoughts or recommendations.

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Jon_Welker

You most certainly can do that, Kurt. It will sound pretty good as well. I have the ST4s bigger brother, T5s, and I kind of like "all of the sound" coming from the same location(s). I think it's definitely worth a shot seeing as you should be able to pick up a 2 ch amp for considerably less than a $500+ good sub.

DJ_JonnyV

Jon W.

kurtZoom

Thanks
Jon
Are those Amps Mono? Do you run both sub speakers off of one amp or do you need two? Or can they run both without hurting the amps?

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ScottHH

The SA-2 and SA-3 are monaural amps.
The ST-4's crossover is 135Hz, at some point bass does become directional, so there's a chance you'll lose some of the stereo imaging by sending all the info below 135Hz to the dual mono sub channel.
The response of the ST-4's is 31Hz-22kHz +/- 3dB. I have VT 1.4 front speakers driven by 200WPC amps, according to NHT's website, the response of my speakers is 32Hz - 21KHz, +/- 3dB. I also have an SW-2 sub which responds down to 25Hz. When I turn off the sub at the processor and direct all the .1 bass to my front speakers, I get much less bass then when I set my front speakers to small (40Hz or 60Hz crossover) and allow the sub to handle the lowest freqnencies in the 5 channels and the LFE channel. I would suspect you will get only marginally better bass from your speakers, and only marginally more if they are bi-amped. In comparision, Jon's VT 2.4 respond down to 25Hz.
In my opinion, if you are going to spend $400 or $500 on amps to bi-amp your speakers, you would get much more bass if you spent that money on a sub. I'd bet that your system will sound great bi-amped or not. But if you want real HT bass there are subs for under $500 that go down to 20Hz and below where you can really feel the bass. Please see the plethora of threads on that topic.
I put my sub in back the corner of my room behind an end table. It's really not visably noticable.

John Garcia

I agree with Scott, with a -3dB at 31Hz I would use a sub for sure.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

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Jon W.