[Theronbo]

I had ordered two sets of Xon speakers & cabinets.

Built one set - use as designed for Dolby ATMOS front height speakers. Work fabulous.

But decided I needed side speakers… went another way with mid-height speakers.

Requested the crossover for the X-Bravo, since it has the same drivers & is intended as direct fire speaker.

GR Research kindly sold me the X-over kit.

Next problem, I have 30 degree slope ceiling from 7’ to 11.5’ (20x30’) so needed a mount blank/filler to get speakers mounted with correct orientation.













So far I’m simply testing as L&R replacement (for my X-Statiks)

These things sound really good!

Admittedly, do have them hooked up down line of Double Trouble subwoofer…

But, I’m kinda dumbfounded at how good they sound…

Note, I haven’t actually mounted them as side speakers yet.

I’ll post the finished mounted  product… later.

[Tyson]

Very clever solution!

[Theronbo]

Finished.

Well, except for grills.



Left



Right

They sounded so good as L&R mains….
It’s almost disappointing to use them as Dolby speakers.

I used a simple mount system : 45 degree cut.

Which works great on vertical wall & okay on 30 degree ceiling… but the speaker itself was mounting horizontal.
So not stable, ie speakers wanted to fall off.

So got a simple lock mechanism…

[Theronbo]

I now have completed my home entertainment system.

7.2.4 with all speakers being DIY or GR Research kits.

- X-Statik
- X-Voce
- Double trouble sub connected with X-Statiks for music
- Polk 12” sub woofer with after market 300watt plate amp - only enabled in surround.
(Because the Polk amp died & they don’t sell replacements)
- X-on - with X-Bravo Xover for direct fire L&R surrounds
- Eminence 10” radial with Eminence tweeter for rear surround s & middle height
- X-on front height

Denon X4700H AV
With
- Dayton Audio APA 150 for middle height speakers. (AV decodes 11 channels- but only amplifies 9)
- Krell KAV-2250 for L&R X-Statik’s
Xbox for 4K Blue Ray
Samsung 85” TV
Apple 4K TV for streaming.

[Tyson]

Very nice, time for some movies!  I suggest Dune, it will give everything a very nice workout.   

Also, X-Statics driven by the big Krell amps, that's gotta sound nice.

[Theronbo]

Dune.

Yes.

Completely different viewing experience vs streaming… both 4K but… they compress the heck out of the audio.

Squash the dynamic range…. & in Dune the sound/music is much more than an accompaniment… makes it more visceral.   I have a 1Gig fiber line directly into my house. So, it ain’t bandwidth.

[Theronbo]

Final note.

I had some Polk outdoor (Atrium45) speakers doing duty …

& I honestly thought the X-on’s wouldn’t make a significant difference…

Holy Cr@p! I was wrong.

Not certain about for Movie effects… but for listening to ‘Spatial’ music…

Huge difference… I mean it kinda pulls everything together…

The music industry is using surround speakers in a different way than Video… (ironically, music videos are always in stereo)

Movie sound effects you’re not supposed to notice the speakers are there… just the staging of sound they provide.

Some of the music  mixes done for Spatial audio are really interesting….

Almost anything by Billie Eilish, the group Maria’s song Hush has main vocals coming out of front height speakers at one point…

I still think well done stereo is the best. I mean as humans we’re stereo receivers.

Anyway, thanks to Danny & his people for helping me complete a pretty awesome home entertainment & music listening experience.

[Tyson]

I love those times when something catches you off guard re: the magnitude of the improvement from something seemingly small. 

I wonder what the cost would be for a comparable retail system at the level of overall quality you have right now.  A LOT more, I imagine.

[Theronbo]

I have no idea…  if I ‘saved’ anything….

I do have a system I seriously enjoy every day. That I’m proud of. Guests be like “ You built that?!” With both puzzlement & amazement… 

Not experienced enough to know if I saved money.

But, this was definitely about the journey….

If I’d bought a system at Big Box & had their Geeks install it… there’s so much I wouldn’t have learned…

[Vince in TX]

Congrats on bringing it all together.    I'm loving my X-Static/X-Voce/X-on/Double Trouble theater also. 

[allensound]

That's really interesting on the compressed sound coming over streaming.  I assume you purchased the 4K blu ray?  Was it really that obvious the difference?!  BTW - the setup you've done is very similar to what I'm considering doing here in the near future, minus the amps/AVR's - I'm totally undecided what I want to do in both those areas. 

Contemplating this system....

NX-Treme
4 pairs of the X-On Walls - not sure if this is right - I was thinking one pair for center surrounds, 1 pair for rear surrounds, 1 pair for front atmos, and 1 pair for rear atmos.
2x Rhythmik audio subs...

It's exciting to see that you're loving what you're hearing from the X-On's...there's really not much like it out there so it's hard NOT to be a little skeptical

[Vince in TX]

That's really interesting on the compressed sound coming over streaming.  I assume you purchased the 4K blu ray?  Was it really that obvious the difference?!  BTW - the setup you've done is very similar to what I'm considering doing here in the near future, minus the amps/AVR's - I'm totally undecided what I want to do in both those areas. 
...

In my experience, this is very true depending on the streaming content.   Although we did actually pay the $20 to rent Fast X over the weekend, and it sounded phenomenal.  So the streaming content can vary.   That said, all of my 4K Blu-rays blow away anything I've ever heard coming over the net.   Dune, Ready Player One, Bladerunner 2049 - all significantly better.   Of course, it also helps to have a sound controlled room with low ambient noise so you can hear all of the subtleties.  My next project is to build a hush box for my projector.

[Theronbo]

Yeah,

I have a true UPS, AC to DC to battery to DC to pure sine wave AC.

10% of my investment in audio gear… protects & provides clean power.

But has a fan 45db … which is pretty quiet… but quit noticeable in a quiet room. Hasn’t annoyed me enough to attempt to noise dampen it… gives me peace of mind though.

Physical media vs streaming… yeah, the difference is surprising.

Not so much in the visual… why’d they compress audio stream (especially dynamic range) seems insane… it’s so tiny amount of data compared to image stream.

Dune was a completely different viewing experience on physical media.