NHT ST-4 in 7.1 w/o sub (1 Viewer)

[kurtZoom]

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.

 

[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.

 

[Jon W.]

You could get a NHT sub amp off eBay. I have a SA-3 driving the 10's in my NHT VT-2.4 towers and they hit pretty hard. A SA-2 might do a decent job but I'd go for the SA-3 if you could. If you can get a perfect condition SA-3 for under $300 your doing ok, I wouldn't go any higher.

heres a few:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...752028976&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...751635530&rd=1

 

[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?

 

[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.

 

[Jon W.]

Yeah the amp will run both subs with no problem. You'll get better bass from your mains with a sub amp like this than you would with a 2 channel amp running the tower full range because you'll have a gain control for just the subs. On the other side of that the towers would probably sound fuller running full range with a 2 channel amp but with less bass. If you bought a 2 channel amp and just ran it to the subs it would be the same as the SA3 really but the 2 channel could still be used if you got a sub later. Of course a dedicated subwoofer would sound better but if your dead set against it then I reccomend you try the NHT amp unless you could find a beefy 2 channel amp cheaper. Its a give and take either way you go between biamping or running full range.

Kinda confused myself there but really what it boils down to is the SA3 is pretty cheap for the wattage compared to most 2 channel amps.

If you haven't bought the ST4's yet maybe you should look into a set of VT-2s used, they have the 10's that go down to 25hz. My 2.4's are rated to 24 hz but let me tell you they go down to 20 hz without much problem. I have my SA3 amp hooked to a BFD and have them pretty flat to 20hz and they put my crappy Klipsch subs to shame in terms of response.

Heres a set of VT-2.4s for sale but you'll have a hard time finding the matching VS-2.4 sattelites. I am still looking for one more to have 7.1 myself.