[Lkdog]

Was fortunate to obtain a pair of mint LFM SE's from a very nice fellow Audiocircle member to pair with my ACI Jaguar LE's.
Has been kind of my dream speaker setup for a couple years and was very lucky this all worked out.

A few initial comments and a couple questions for Mike or Eric or anyone else who has the LFM's.

-The LFM's are heavy. Really heavy. All of 120+ lbs each. These are total beasts.
-Build quality is immaculate.
-Out of box the sound is very very clean, but slightly leaner than the pair of Titans I had previously.
-Has improved overall soundstage clarity and depth.
-They look pretty nice with the Jaguars on top even though the wood finishes are different and the LFM's are silver and the Jaguars are black.
-The two lowpass filters on the amp are an excellent design.

Questions.
I have to break in by playing at low to moderate volume. Will this slow down the break in process?
I have only had them setup since this morning. Is the amp INPUT gain scheme calibrated a lot different than the original Titans?
I could never set that over 1/4th. I have the LFM's at 1/2 for starters. They do not stick out and the bass is not localized so I am in the ballpark for starters I think.
I know I need to play around with Input gain and lowpass cutoff, and phase to dial them in better, but was curious about that.

Does placement effect bass output since they are front firing? I have them 5' into the room and 3.5'-4' from sides with the Jaguars on top.
I used to have the Titans near the Jaguars, but as I moved the Titans toward the corners bass output increased of course.
Just never have had front firing subs.

I do have significant bass trapping in corners which really cleaned up and extended the Titans before.

Sorry for all the questions-just wanted a little input if possible about what to expect and any tips on setup or settings.
Thanks for any feedback from members.

Will post picture later tonight.

[Mike Dzurko]

Was fortunate to obtain a pair of mint LFM SE's from a very nice fellow Audiocircle member to pair with my ACI Jaguar LE's.
Has been kind of my dream speaker setup for a couple years and was very lucky this all worked out.

A few initial comments and a couple questions for Mike or Eric or anyone else who has the LFM's.

-The LFM's are heavy. Really heavy. All of 120+ lbs each. These are total beasts.
-Build quality is immaculate.
-Out of box the sound is very very clean, but slightly leaner than the pair of Titans I had previously.
-Has improved overall soundstage clarity and depth.
-They look pretty nice with the Jaguars on top even though the wood finishes are different and the LFM's are silver and the Jaguars are black.
-The two lowpass filters on the amp are an excellent design.

Questions.
I have to break in by playing at low to moderate volume. Will this slow down the break in process?
I have only had them setup since this morning. Is the amp INPUT gain scheme calibrated a lot different than the original Titans?
I could never set that over 1/4th. I have the LFM's at 1/2 for starters. They do not stick out and the bass is not localized so I am in the ballpark for starters I think.
I know I need to play around with Input gain and lowpass cutoff, and phase to dial them in better, but was curious about that.

Does placement effect bass output since they are front firing? I have them 5' into the room and 3.5'-4' from sides with the Jaguars on top.
I used to have the Titans near the Jaguars, but as I moved the Titans toward the corners bass output increased of course.
Just never have had front firing subs.

I do have significant bass trapping in corners which really cleaned up and extended the Titans before.

Sorry for all the questions-just wanted a little input if possible about what to expect and any tips on setup or settings.
Thanks for any feedback from members.

Will post picture later tonight.

Congratulations! I'll throw out some quick answers to your questions, hopefully other Jag/LFM owners will chime in with their experience . . .

Yes, the input gain is different from your Titans, sounds like you're already in the ballpark as far as level. And yes, placement effects front-firing subs just as much as down firing subs.  Looking forward to the pictures!

[Eric]

Congratulations!!!!

[Lkdog]

Here are links to a couple pictures

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1175&pos=0

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1175&pos=1

I now have a confession to make. 
For some reason I only had the left LFM cable plugged into back of preamp
in my excitement to hook things up. The right LFM was disconnected.

Never mind about the sound being a bit leaner than the pair of Titans right now.

Will restart the break in process. LOL! 

[Joe_K]

Lkdog,
That looks like the hot setup, congratulations!
I've been looking around at various treatments / bass traps etc. Can you elaborate on yours?
Did elevating them help?
Thanks,
Joe

[Lkdog]

Lkdog,
That looks like the hot setup, congratulations!
I've been looking around at various treatments / bass traps etc. Can you elaborate on yours?
Did elevating them help?
Thanks,
Joe

My bass traps are DIY.
They actually are cellulose blocks commonly found in large hardware stores (Lowes, Home Depot). 5$ each.
They are about 2' high and a 13"-14"" square. Weigh probably 20-25 lbs.
I then placed them in thin ply cardboard boxes which are then covered in burlap.
I asked Ethan Winer about the design and materials and he thought it should work decently.
I stacked them on a milk crate three high in the corners in order to get them near as possible to the top corners.
Really did make a nice improvement in my room. Room is 15'x 25' and expands to 18' wide near back.
8' ceilings. Carpeted floor.
I do use premade ATS fiberglass panels for rear and side absorption.

I am thinking of trying the Risch fiberglass quick and dirty bass traps for comparison sometime as that is the DIY standard.

[MaxCast]

Congrats dog!  I was looking at those subs myself. 

[Lkdog]

Had some time and an empty house this afternoon so I could work on fine tuning the subs with the Jags today.
Have had them playing at mostly low volume for a few days. Did give them a workout for about four hours today with the Input gain all the way up and lowpass filters up to 110hz and music playing moderately loud when I was gone for awhile.

I have an RS meter and used the ACI test/setup disk.
Registered +/- 3db down to 20 hz in room as advertised.

I have the lowpass cutoffs set at around 45hz as the Jags go below that in my room with their ports unplugged.
Tried out the variable Phase and found that from 90 to 180 degrees I was getting more output by 3db versus having it set at 0 degrees. Set that at 90 degrees.
Input gain is a bit over half-maybe closer to 65-70%.

Was encouraged that I got readings pretty consistent in a +/- 3 db range for most all HZ levels I measured from 20-150.
A couple +4 to +6 db spikes, but not too bad and no real nulls of significance. I know from past measurements the real goofy or oddball spikes and nulls in my room are at higher frequencies.

Will probably re-tune in a couple weeks when fully broke in.

Overall sound is very open with good depth. These aspects especially have improved over the dual original Titans I had. Bass transition with the Jags is excellent. Smoother blending than before.
Bass is slightly more defined and quicker. Seems to keep up with the 7" Jaguar midrange well.

The Titans were wonderful, but were definitely a hair slower than the LFM's.
I will say still that the Titans seemed "weightier" maybe, but that may have been due to the transition between them and the Jags was not as smooth and they were a hair slower. Having the ability to use two lowpass cutoffs for a steep 24db slope I am sure helps in the blending of the subs with the mains.
Still assessing the weight issue. I maybe had the gain too high before on the Titans.
Who knows. It is a different sound and I like it better overall.
The clarity and openness of the soundstage is really a nice improvement.
At times before things could get a bit muddy and I never knew quite why.
May have been the blending of the subs/mains was not ideal before or simply the LFM's match up with the Jags very well.

Pretty pleased at this point.

My only question with this type of LFM/Monitor setup with the monitors on top of the LFM's one cannot really move the subs around much. They are 5'4" into the room and approx 3.5' from sidewalls.

I do like having the monitors this far into the room as it improves soundstage depth a lot.

Any comments on my setup attempt so far are welcome.

[MaxCast]

My only question with this type of LFM/Monitor setup with the monitors on top of the LFM's one cannot really move the subs around much.

this was a concern I had as well when I was running dual subs under monitors.
I guess if you are getting a good response no worries.  You still have a few options left to try if you have the desire.  Plugging ports, internal high pass on the subs, external active xo, separating the subs...takes a lot of work 

Get a copy of Real Traps test tones which goes in 1 Hz increments.  You'll see some real crazy stuff going on and you'll be heading to the how to buy page on Eathan's site 

[Lkdog]

My only question with this type of LFM/Monitor setup with the monitors on top of the LFM's one cannot really move the subs around much.

this was a concern I had as well when I was running dual subs under monitors.
I guess if you are getting a good response no worries.  You still have a few options left to try if you have the desire.  Plugging ports, internal high pass on the subs, external active xo, separating the subs...takes a lot of work 

Get a copy of Real Traps test tones which goes in 1 Hz increments.  You'll see some real crazy stuff going on and you'll be heading to the how to buy page on Eathan's site 

LOL! Yes, the oddball readings I mentioned that I have gotten before when measuring was with the Rives Test CD across the spectrum which was more extended and detailed in it's mapping.
I ended up being happy with getting rid of some bad nulls/cancellations and cleaning up the midrange with the Bass trapping and basic Room TX.
I kind of realized that all rooms don't look so great on paper.
It was funny, but when I added bass trapping, the bass increased which made a believer out of me that cancellations were real. 

Right now I am getting decent readings and it sounds pretty good.
Like all of us, we never leave well enough alone so will keep pluggiing away.




 

[jkscherk]

I too have this setup, although one minor difference:  I had Mike install the fixed 100Hz cross-over in my LFMs to use in conjunction with the Jags.  Net result is the LFMs handle everything from 100Hz and down and the Jags go from that point up.  Don't be afraid to raise the transition point a bit.  You might find that the sound opens up even more.  Also, experiment with plugging the ports on the Jags.  You can sometimes get some cancellation effect of the ported Jag with the bass from the LFM.   

I agree that this setup is quite the behemoth, but everyone that hears them is impressed.     I'll post pictures when I have a chance, but I have matching silver cabinets and I devised a way to switch between black oak and maple side panels for both the Jags and the LFMs.  All depends on if they're doing duty in my HT or in my living room.    aa

[jkscherk]

I forgot to mention....I run 4 Emerald On-walls for surrounds and an Essence center.  I'm contemplating replacing the Essence with a SapphireXLC for potentially better matching across the front.

[Lkdog]

I see you are using a Maestro also.
Is that for 2 channel or HT, or both?
Do you use that in addition to the LFM's?

Yes, will keep experimenting a bit. That is part of the fun!

[jkscherk]

I see you are using a Maestro also.
Is that for 2 channel or HT, or both?
Do you use that in addition to the LFM's?

Yes, will keep experimenting a bit. That is part of the fun!

I only use the Maestro for HT.  Jag/LFM combination runs full range for 2-channel;  I run the J/L combo down to 40Hz for HT and let the Maestro take over from there.

[Lkdog]

Something happened in last 36 hours with the subs.
They seemed to gain some increased weight and the soundstage opened  up even a bit more.
I think they finally broke in for the most part.
Since I was not able to play them at normal listening levels very much at all maybe it took
six days or so rather than the usual 60-70 hours or three days.

Very nice.
Great job Mike!