My Audio System is almost complete... Yes? (1 Viewer)

[MikeAF]

Hello all you HT addicts,

About 3 years ago I moved from Dolby ProLogic to a full Dolby Digital system. Of course, along the way upgrade fever hits and so the past 9 months I have slowly been upgrading to the point where the audio part of my HT/Music system is almost complete. Let me know if I'm forgetting anything.... besides a new pre/pro and back surround speakers.....

Speakers: Diva 6.1's, C3, R3 for side surrounds, and some old Bose for rear surrounds for the time being. Yes I know, Bose??, but .........

Dual SV 20-39CS subs with Samson S700 amp with the new drivers.

Pioneer Elite 27TX receiver - soon to be replaced by the 950 or Anthem or Aragon Stage One or Integra Research RDC7.

Sony CDP-555ES SACD player.

Cinepro amps - 12KSE for mains, 2K6III for center and surrounds.

Monster HTS 2500 Power Center

IXOS and Audioquest Diamondback interconnects.

Pioneer Elite DV05 DVD player - will upgrade this when I decide it's time to purchase a HDTV.

So am I missing anything? I bought all my equipment with the help and recommendation of those here and on avsforum, so thank you all.

Mike

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Mike- I think that if you're willing to drop the amount of money it would take get an Anthem or Aragon Stage One or Integra Research RDC7, then my opinion is that the Monster 2500 ain't going to cut it.
Check out the following for what typical "filters" like Monster, Adcom, Panamax, etc, can do your the quality of your AC:
http://www.psaudio.com/articles/power_conditioners.asp
And check out what really works at:
Link Removed
I think that either balanced power, or the PS Audio power plants are the way to go if you're truly serious about your system...

 

[Doug_B]

Mike,

Nice to hear that your audio is shaping up pretty good. Lots of very nice equipment. Since I've more of less finished my audio portion as well and use my system for audio well over 50%, I know where you're at on this. Have you done any optimizations with respect to room acoustics? Would you benefit from a sub eq?

Doug

 

[Greg Br]

Mike,

Looks pretty damn complete to me but thats from a inexpercienced point of view, but it sounded excellent and that was before the new amp. I think a sub eq would also help getting you the flattest response. I think overall sound quality is the most important thing for you versus shear volume output.

I think room acoustics are the thing thats going to help you the most, but seeing your room you are limited as I am. Unfortunatley the backyard door is in the way of lowering your rear speakers, I think that would help things. Audiowise I think you are really set barring a jump to mew level in equiptment, I would upgrade the video with either a new tv or a projector, which would work well in your room IMO.

By the way, were are you purchasing your amps?

Greg

 

[MikeAF]

Thanks for the responses guys. I will proabaly look into new power conditioners later. I have all my amps plugged into dedicated 20-amp circutis and not run thru the Monster. Yes room acoustics may be next but I have to contend with my wife and since she puts up with the 2 SVS's in the corner I won't cry too much if my room isn't totally perfect, we all do with what we have..

Greg,

I bought one amp directly from Cinepro and the other off of audiogon.com. Was able to use a Y-connector so I now have all 4 surrounds working at it really adds to the back surround field. Hope you're not getting too impatient waiting for those Diva's???

 

[Mike Matheson]

Mike,

Great system there. Pretty balanced, IMHO.

I agree with the suggestions above, and would recommend:

- exploring something like BPT balanced power devices for your sources and processor (good bang-for-the-buck)

- a Behringer Feedback Destroyer Pro to help tame the subs (assuming that your curve might need it)

- placement and/or room tweaks

- borrowing an aftermarket powercord and just trying it on your amps (made a distinct difference on my system; may not on all systems)

- everything has been balanced out with a sound meter?

Have fun,

Mike

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I'll add to Mike's vote:
After AC, I would also suggest taking a look at sub bass eq'ing. Behringer, Rane, Symmetrix all make good units.
Plus, have you made sure to adjust phase correctly between your mains and sub? The best way I've found, is to use a discrete tone test CD, plot the sound level of the mains by themselves, the sub by itself, and then both together (crossover engaged for all tests). When the phase is correct, the level of the mains+sub should be louder than either the mains alone or the sub alone. Slightly below, at and slightly above the crossover freq.
I tried to use the test on Avia, and was completely off. The above way guarentees that the phase is correct (constructive interference).
And, are all your speakers at least 3 ft from any wall? That's a hard one to follow sometimes.

 

[Greg Br]

Mike,

Yea I am waiting patiently, I just ordered new speaker wire and Banana clips so that will be a little upgrade to hold me over. I also have a new SVS Black Box coming tomorrow. One thing I noticed at your house was how much having the subs positioned closer to the seating raised the level and feel of bass in movies. I moved mine and what a difference it made.

On your Divas did you notice much of a change after the break in period, there is alot of talk about that.

Greg

 

[MikeAF]

Greg,

Yes I did notice a break in period of about two weeks, depending on how often you use the speakers. So don't make a judgment until you have given them time to open up.

Mike