[Tyson]

Thanks Tyson for your input and appreciate mlundy57 putting up with me chiming in with my questions regarding these speakers

I do have the room to run a small open baffle set up, but my room is a bit of acoustical basket case which is a whole other discussion. I love speakers that create a great 3D soundstage, that would be my #1 priority, close second would be the rich and punchy low mid bass. I do love that tight clean fast bass and can't wait to try the OB subs. Concerned OB would not have that punch and heft I like in the low mid bass (say around the 100 hz range). That was another reason why I was considering the X-Statik or the monitors because they do have a blend of sealed mids and low mid but also have that high end OB magic. Trade offs...The small X-Oticas and the wedgies get rave reviews as well. It's difficult to tell in the sound clips how well the OB GR speakers sound compared to a live demo.

If you know the Klipsch Forte III, you know it has a rep for big, strong, powerful bass.  I own those speakers and use them in my 2nd system.  And it's true, they have tremendous bass.  But the bass in my Super 7s (with servo OB subs) crushes them in every respect.  Stronger, tighter, punchier, cleaner, clearer, more detailed and just MEAN sounding, lol. 

Re: the room being an acoustic basket case - this is actually a really strong reason to go full OB.  The weirder your room is, the more a box speaker will fail.  Ask me how I know that....  

Seriously, if you have the space, the MTM Otica with servo subs have no tradeoffs.  And in an acoustically difficult room, that's even MORE true.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

How do the MTM Oticas with subs compare to the standard Oticas?
I'm curious how the lack of quad-woofers affects the lower mids & upper bass?

[Tyson]

How do the MTM Oticas with subs compare to the standard Oticas?
I'm curious how the lack of quad-woofers affects the lower mids & upper bass?

Per Danny, if fills in the lower mids/upper bass a bit more, and gives you a bit more dynamics because the bass is shared across those 4 midwoofers. 

I'd imagine, if you built the MTM-Otica and decided it was bass shy, you could build out the full tower NX-Otica.  Not that I could ever imagine anyone ever describing a quad of servo OB subs as "bass shy"

[VinceT]

What would be room size considerations when choosing between MTM Oticas vs standard Oticas IYO's? I think I would want to add the extra mid-bass dynamics from the larger Oticas.

Btw Tyson - I really enjoy reading your reviews and knowledge that you have shared on the forum. Between your reviews and Danny's tech talks it has really sparked my interest in GR research products.

[VinceT]

If you know the Klipsch Forte III, you know it has a rep for big, strong, powerful bass.  I own those speakers and use them in my 2nd system.  And it's true, they have tremendous bass.  But the bass in my Super 7s (with servo OB subs) crushes them in every respect.  Stronger, tighter, punchier, cleaner, clearer, more detailed and just MEAN sounding, lol. 

Re: the room being an acoustic basket case - this is actually a really strong reason to go full OB.  The weirder your room is, the more a box speaker will fail.  Ask me how I know that....  

Seriously, if you have the space, the MTM Otica with servo subs have no tradeoffs.  And in an acoustically difficult room, that's even MORE true.

I do have a lot of experience with vintage box speakers. Right now my old EPI 150s do not sound all that great in my 20x20x20 cubed room. Archtetectually beautiful, accoustal basketcase ...lol. This reference was very helpful.

[Captainhemo]

I have made posts in  a few of the NX threads with regards to the difference between the NX-Oticas, the MTM-Otica's and the Super 7's   a number of times.  We had both the  full NX-Otica's as well as the  Otica-MTM's   here for a number of years ,  both paired with  servo sub towers of varying  quantitities of woofers.  Whole the MTm's  were good,  they do not compete withthe full NX-Otica/sub combo.  Yes, you have to  high  pass the NQ with a large bundle of caps in the full Otica but by doing so, you also reduce the  work load on them and pass it off to the 4 M165's  ( or M165X's in  my case).  The bass output from those  4 M165's  is  fast, clean and tight ....  they are  loaded a bit more  than the  2 NQ's so they also  reach down deeper.  I suspect if you own the MTM's, you don't even  know what you're missing as they do sound very good.  But, when you swap them out with the  NX-Otica , there is quite a difference.   

'm not 100% sure on this but,  I think we are the only ones  who have ever done direct,  side by side comparisons with these speakers
If you have the space,  go with the  full Otica/sub combo

jay

[VinceT]

I have made posts in  a few of the NX threads with regards to the difference between the NX-Oticas, the MTM-Otica's and the Super 7's   a number of times.  We had both the  full NX-Otica's as well as the  Otica-MTM's   here for a number of years ,  both paired with  servo sub towers of varying  quantitities of woofers.  Whole the MTm's  were good,  they do not compete withthe full NX-Otica/sub combo.  Yes, you have to  high  pass the NQ with a large bundle of caps in the full Otica but by doing so, you also reduce the  work load on them and pass it off to the 4 M165's  ( or M165X's in  my case).  The bass output from those  4 M165's  is  fast, clean and tight ....  they are  loaded a bit more  than the  2 NQ's so they also  reach down deeper.  I suspect if you own the MTM's, you don't even  know what you're missing as they do sound very good.  But, when you swap them out with the  NX-Otica , there is quite a difference.   

'm not 100% sure on this but,  I think we are the only ones  who have ever done direct,  side by side comparisons with these speakers
If you have the space,  go with the  full Otica/sub combo

jay

Thanks Jay! Appreciate your insight

What would minimum room size considerations be for the full size NX Oticas based on your experience?

[Captainhemo]

Thanks Jay! Appreciate your insight

What would minimum room size considerations be for the full size NX Oticas based on your experience?

Well, my roomm is on the small side...  18x12.  When I had the  Otica's  & subs , the subs  were almost up against the side walls with the Otica's slightly  inside  of them.   When we  sold the subs, I used the Otica's stand alone   and in that sized room, they were pretty darn good ontheir own.  Reachded down   to about 40hz and with a little dsp at the bottom, I was able to get  basically flat to 30... there is   thread of  mine that    was recently  revisited showing  some responses in room of the Otica's on their own... will  see if I can find a link

jay

[Tyson]

Jay's right - if you can fit the full tower plus subs for the NX-Otica, that's obviously the way to go.  3 feet from the back wall for both the subs and the towers.  For side walls, you can actually get the speakers pretty close, especially if you throw up some absorption at the front and rear first reflection points.  I have one of my Super 7's within 4 inches of the side wall and it's fine.  I'm still shocked at how little sidewall matters with well designed OB speakers. 

[Captainhemo]

Here's that link with the  stand alone Otica responses  in  my room

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=158550.0

Other's posted some stand alone   responses as well,  you can see as the rooms  get larger,  they  (the Otica's) start to roll off a bit earlier.  What really got me was  that even withthe room gain , the bass of the NX-Otica's  never got mushy   or  "soft",  always stayed  defined and articulate... actually  reminded me of the  bass   from the  N3TL's  but a bit deeper  in my room
jay

jay

[VinceT]

Jay and Tyson:

I really appreciate all your insight. Now that I can use the search feature I have been reading volumes of information and you two guys really are great contributors.

I have been leaning toward the NX-treme's after much conducting research and reading a lot of threads. Not sure if my 24x24x24 room would be big enough. I do have a hallway that runs the perimeter of this room so room is open on two sides another 4.5 feet so I could use OB speakers.

Some say the NX-tremes have a bigger sweet spot and just sound massive. Imaging and sound stage is very important to me, so what would be the best imager? The Wedgies get a lot of praise for the imaging, but per the website like the Neo10s, those 3 inch drivers are not available. Not sure if I want to miss out on those low mids eithier with a smaller monitor type speaker. There are always trade offs. The Studio Monitors also get a lot of love, but I feel OB speakers would be best for my cubed room based on what you guys have said.

Just curious what your thoughts would be on those subjects?

 

[Captainhemo]

Your room is easily big enough for the NX-Treme's.  Add  a set of  triple 12   subs and you'll  be  set. As I'm sure you  know, the cubed ruoom is not ideal but I'm sure  you  can make it work.... OB speakers   are pretty forgiving so long as you can keep them out from the front wall (min 3", more   if possible).
The  NX - Treme's and NX-Otica's sound similar  but the  NX-Tremes   do lift the soundstage  and and produce   an overall  "larger"  sound if that makes sense....  both image extremely well and  will give you  a deep layer soundstage.  I want to hear a pair with the full copper crossover as I know what those   copper  caps did for my S7's.

jay

[Tyson]

Supermini’s are gonna do better in a small room.  For your room, go with the NX-treme.  And you are right to go for an OB solution.  It’s just about the only elegant solution for acoustically difficult rooms.

IME, I liked the imaging and soundstage of the NX-treme much better than the Supermini.  The Supermini was fine with jazz or female vocals or solo piano, etc.  but it didn’t scale up to larger presentations like the NX-treme did. Same with rock.  For some bands the Supermini was fine but for anyone at arena rock levels, the  NX-tremes clearly pulled away.

[VinceT]

 

Thanks again for all the input!