It's upgrade time. (1 Viewer)

[Ken Lopata]

It's upgrade time.

I now have Def Tech 2002 fronts, CLR2000 center and BP2X for surrounds. My sub is a 300 pound Stryke Dual HE15, 6 p.r. monster. It is powered by Crown K2 and equalized by a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro. I have a ATI 1505 amp, Sony TA-E9000ES pre/pro and use Better Cables Silver Serpents for interconnects, component video and digital coax between pre/pro, DVD player and Monarchy Audio DIP 24/96 for jitter control. I use supplied power cables and Audiquest 6+ for speaker wire.

VMPS speakers - are they as good as everyone says. Would VMPS speakers be a waste for H.T. I've read a lot about the pinpoint accuracy of these speakers not being good for H.T. I was going to look at the RM2 neo's for fronts (I would go with RM 40's but I think they'd be to big for my 22x18x8 H.T-family room) 626r's for center and rears. Is VMPS coming out with a true center channel speaker soon? I like the big bi-pole sound of the Def Techs for H.T. How would this package compare? Would the VMPS dipoles be better in the rears then the 626r's? Is VMPS coming out with a true center channel speaker soon?

I will be upgrading my amp to a Earthquake CineNova Grande, Cinepro 3k6 III, or Odyssey Dual Mono's. I like the extra power 300-400 for the Cinenova & Cinepro vs the 180 for the Odyssey. I realize this is a thread all unto itself.

I have no idea what I'll be upgrading my Sony pre/pro too.

I'm real concerned about all the talk of these speakers not being good for H.T. because of their limited small horizontal sweet spot and horizontal dispersion problem.

In the 7-10,000 range for a 5 speaker setup, what other speakers would you recommend I listen to? Paradigm, Von Schweikert, B&W, Monitor Audio, Maggies, JM Labs. There are a lot of great deals on Audiogon. What's a guy to do.

Thanks

 

[Frank Zimkas]

Polk Audio Lsi series!

 

[Brandon Blair]

I'd give some strong support to checking out JM Lab speakers. I've got the Electra 906's and 901 CC. I used to have the B&W 805's and HTM-1 and the JM Lab speakers to me sound MUCH better.
You could get a pair of 926's (floorstanding Class A speakers) for $3995.00 retail. A pair 906's (bookself) for $1995.00 retail. A 901 CC (center channel) for $1795.00 retail. I promise you'll be impressed if you can find a place to listen to these!
Link Removed
Good Luck,
Brandon

 

[Tyson]

On the 2 models of VMPS I've heard (a friend has the 626R's, and I have the RM40s), the horizontal dispersion is not bad at all, off axis they sound as good as most other speakers sound off axis. The place where dispersion is a "problem" is in the vertical plane, not the horizontal plane. Having the midrange panels pointing to ear level is optimal. For the 626R's as long as your ears are lined up anywhere between the middle of the woofer and the middle of the tweeter, you are fine. If you stand up so that your ears are well above the tweeters, then the sound changes quite noticably. All speakers have this characteristic to some degree, but the 626R's have it more than most.

With the 40's the vertical sweetspot starts at around 23 inches from the floor and extends to about 47 inches from the floor. This is actually a very large vertical sweet spot, especially compared to most 2 or 3 way speakers (of course true "line source" speakers have an even larger vertical sweetspot, but those are also generally more expensive).

Here's the thing about the "sweet spot" w/the 2 models I've heard. Outside of the sweetspot, the sound more or less like other high quality speakers in their size/price category. But when you are in the sweet spot, that is where they distance themselves from their competition by a substantial margin. When sitting in that sweet spot area you get some of the best sound to be had (that I've heard, anyway). What is interesting is that I noticed this very same characteristic w/my other favorite line of speakers, Dunlavy. They are also "focused field array" speakers, slightly different in design for the bass woofers, but otherwise very similar, using a 1st order crossover as well. When sitting outside the sweet spot, the SC-V's aren't all that much better sounding than, say, the B&W Nautilus 802's (which are a better speaker than the 801's, IMO). But, when sitting optimally, the SC-V's are substantially better sounding than the 802's are in their "sweet spot". Same w/the 40's, exactly the same. They sound good off axis, but sound amazing when seated equidistant from both speakers.