[Edward4]

Hi folks. I'm new to audio stuff & new to making things with my hands.

I'm really enjoying my new XLS-Encore speakers, and I'm wondering what the NX-Otica would sound like in my home. I have a slightly large, carpeted living room, one that is fully open to an adjoining dining area and kitchen, and then right in the middle of this space I have a kind of "media island" with TV & sound system, facing toward a sofa. So the speakers can be seen from front and back. I've played with having two pairs of very small speakers in parallel, one set pointing forward and the other backward. But now I'm wondering what an open-baffle situation, with several woofers, would sound like.

Has anyone tried to make the NX-Otica look good from the back?

I suppose one would want to hide the wires, perhaps in a channel in the MDF, or perhaps spray-painting the wire insulation black. Can the back of the woofer drivers be painted black? Maybe spray-paint some wool so it's black, and lay it on top of the crossover? I think as long as things are all black, they don't stand out visually the way something stands out when it has a lot of strongly contrasting colors to it. Otherwise the red-and-white wires look a bit like a candy cane or a barber shop pole!

Would the NX-Otica sound good in the center of a slightly-large room?

[S Clark]

Black spray paint. 
Or black window screen stapled in

[Tyson]

That's the beauty of DIY, you can do it however you like.  No reason not to paint the wires black if you don't like how they look.  Just make sure to mark the positive and negative during hookup so you don't get them mixed up. 

As for sound, they are going to be a heck of a lot better than the Encores, especially way out in to the room like that.  Far away from the walls is where OB speakers really shine. 

[g3rain1]

Maybe try acoustically transparent cloth on the back?

[Edward4]

Thanks folks. All great ideas. Before I pull the trigger on a big purchase that I have never tried out, I guess I just like voicing my questions a bit.

I'm stressed out about a number of things and I've got several other projects I'm working on at the same time so it's harder for me to think clearly about simple speaker alterations, as a newbie, I suppose.

Yes, it's my understanding that the tweeter on the NZ-Otica can reach down to lower frequencies than some tweeters, and can voice those frequencies faster than a woofer... and then having an array of multiple woofers means they don't have to work as hard, or make those big "excursions", which means they can be more accurate than a single, lone, overworked woofer, according to some theories. Sounds good to me!

[Tyson]

Will you be building out the OB subs as well?

[Edward4]

Earlier this year I acquired a low-end REL sub, which is sitting next to the wall, and can be heard pretty well (to my novice ears anyway) from everywhere in the space. It sounds a lot better than no sub. lol. This was before I discovered Danny on youtube.

I haven't looked at the GR Research subwoofer offerings. I am planning to research Danny's "high pass filter" ideas / plans, which would meaning changing how I send the signal to the sub. Currently I'm using the "speaker" output on my amp to go to the sub, which is what REL recommends. I assume that a high-pass filter would take a load off the speaker woofers, even for an NX-Otica, and help maintain clarity and detail in certain frequency ranges.

It's funny, each time I make one purchase, or even a single tweak, I say to myself, okay, surely this is the end, right? hahahaha

[g3rain1]

I say to myself, okay, surely this is the end, right?

Never is.

[mlundy57]

Thanks folks. All great ideas. Before I pull the trigger on a big purchase that I have never tried out, I guess I just like voicing my questions a bit.

I'm stressed out about a number of things and I've got several other projects I'm working on at the same time so it's harder for me to think clearly about simple speaker alterations, as a newbie, I suppose.

Yes, it's my understanding that the tweeter on the NZ-Otica can reach down to lower frequencies than some tweeters, and can voice those frequencies faster than a woofer... and then having an array of multiple woofers means they don't have to work as hard, or make those big "excursions", which means they can be more accurate than a single, lone, overworked woofer, according to some theories. Sounds good to me!

If you can make it to Dallas the first weekend of June, come by my room at the Lone Star Audio Fest and you can get an idea of what the NX-Otica can do. I'll have my NX-Otica MTM/dual servo sub combo speakers playing. No amount of description can compare to hearing what they can do.