POLL: Raw HT3 or ACI Sapphire XL for a small square room

tigzstudio · « **on:** 9 Mar 2006, 07:49 pm »

Hey guys, im trying to make the final decision here!

RAW HT3 vs. Sapphire XL

for a bass emphasized small 12' x 12' square room!

help! cast your vote for me.!

kenk · « **Reply #1 on:** 9 Mar 2006, 07:59 pm »

Quote from: tigzstudio

Hey guys, im trying to make the final decision here!

RAW HT3 vs. Sapphire XL

for a bass emphasized small 12' x 12' square room!

help! cast your vote for me.!

I have a RAW HT3 in square 20x20 room and it sounds pretty good. I still need a sub as the room just kills the bass at around 50hz. I don't know about the freq dips or bumps in your room so it is hard to tell.

To be honest with you I think small speakers will work better as they interact (bass wise) less with a small 12x12 room.

Ken

avahifi · « **Reply #2 on:** 9 Mar 2006, 08:05 pm »

What is a "RAW HT3"? Are you talking about Jim Salk's Veracity HT-3 speakers or something else.

In a small room I would go for the Sapphires. They will have plenty of bass for that size and space and the HT-3s might be overpowering, as would any other good big full range speaker system.

Frank Van Alstine

zybar · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 Mar 2006, 08:26 pm »

Quote from: avahifi

What is a "RAW HT3"? Are you talking about Jim Salk's Veracity HT-3 speakers or something else.

In a small room I would go for the Sapphires. They will have plenty of bass for that size and space and the HT-3s might be overpowering, as would any other good big full range speaker system.

Frank Van Alstine

Frank,

RAW is a different speaker company (they have a Circle here on AC) who happens to have a model with the same name as Salk Sound.

George

BradJudy · « **Reply #4 on:** 9 Mar 2006, 11:56 pm »

Does RAW have a 30-day trial period? If so, I'd vote to get both and decide with your ears. Those are two excellent choices (I haven't heard the XL's myself, but feedback has been great) and while I don't expect you could go wrong with either, this is a time when I think it would be worth the cost of return shipping to make the best choice for you in your room.

But, like I said, I don't think you can go wrong with those options.

toobluvr · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 12:54 am »

Do not....I repeat...do not get a speaker that is too large!
Or you will be pummeled to death by the bass.
I have been down this road.

Your room is small, and a small speaker should load it nicely.
You are in a classic nearfield listening situation.
I would go with either a monitor or a small and simple floor standing two way. This gives you great flexibility in that if it works, fine, you are done. And if you buy used, there are many good options that would keep you well below your budget. If you find the bass lacking, you can always add a sub at a later date.

As I said in your other thread, I use Spendor S6 in a 10x11x8 room.
For sheer musicality, emotion and connection to the music, this is a good way to go. I started out teaming it with a REL Storm, but ulitmately found the bass fine without the sub, so I sold it.

The S6 has been replaced by the S6e so you can get it used for about $700-$750. A used REL Strata can be had for about the same, so you would be w/in your total budget. I'm sure there are many other candidates that would work just as well. I'm not pushing this setup specifically. Just providing an example of what might work well for your situation and your budget. In your situation, I think it is best to start small, see how it works, and then get big if you need to, by adding a sub.

I'm sure the monitor under consideration is fine.
Don't know if the RAW would be too big and overload the room.

Harry P · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 03:11 am »

It would be great if you could listen to both. But I looked at the RAW website and didn't see anything about a money back guarantee. In fact, it looked like the warranty was only a year? ACI rocks IMHO, and in your room I can't imagine what could possibly sound better

JAMn Joe · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 03:23 am »

I've had the new Sapphire XL's set up in a 10x11 room, a 16x14 room and a 23x12 room with an open end. The Sapphire excels in all these rooms. The largest room with the open obviously needs a subwoofer to get the most out of the bottom end.

In the 10x12 room the Sapphires put out enough bass that when you pair them with a sub the sub is at such low volume and the crossover is set around 40hz, it becomes very difficult to tell if the sub is hooked up or not. It's really not needed at all unless your wanting to play pieces with really low bass and if it's not turned down low on the sub it overloads the room. With the Sapphires you just don't realize the need for a sub in a room that size.

In the 16x14 room it's marginal. When I use the speakers for film a subwoofer is required for the bass effects to sound realistic. However there are times when I forget to turn on the sub with music and unless I'm playing a track with really low bass notes I can't exactly tell whether the sub is on or not.

These speakers are phenominal in that can adapt themselves to all these rooms and still fill the room with sound, provide and extremely large soundstage and still disapear into the background like they aren't there at all. This includes the really small room.

A very versatile speaker for a very modest price that should cost several times more than it does based on it's performance.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED even if you buy them directly from Mike instead of me as I am one of Mikes dealers, there just that good for a little monitor!

yo2tup · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 03:27 am »

Quote from: BradJudy

Does RAW have a 30-day trial period? If so, I'd vote to get both and decide with your ears. Those are two excellent choices (I haven't heard the XL's myself, but feedback has been great) and while I don't expect you could go wrong with either, this is a time when I think it would be worth the cost of return shipping to make the best choice for you in your room.

But, like I said, I don't think you can go wrong with those options.

yes i agree. order both, i'll come over and demo w/ u

warnerwh · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 04:18 am »

It's hard to improve on one's own opinion. If you can audition them in house that's what to do. There's alot of people that love one speaker or another but what sounds right to you in your room is best judged by yourself if at all possible. Fortunately there's a wide variety of excellent speakers in all price classes to choose from. Just the manufacturers on these forums account for an excellent selection of high value speakers.

I assume you've done research to consider other speakers in your price range. I'd seriously consider a Behringer DEQ 2496 with whatever speaker you end up with so you can tame the bass nodes that will be twice as bad as usual due to two room dimension being the same. Besides that the 2496 can do other things as well but your room will cause a serious boom on some notes and this interferes with midrange clarity. Best wishes on your purchase.

kfr01 · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 05:16 am »

Highly recommend the Creative Sound WR125S based Raw speakers.

If you haven't heard the detail, richness, and dynamics that particular xbl^2 enabled speaker can provide, you owe to to yourself to demo one....

balji · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 01:24 pm »

I have already raved so much about XLs based upon the following factors:

1: Excellent Bass---small(12X13), medium(15X17) and large room(22X32), although in a large room if the listening point is more than 12 feet away, you would need a sub. But we are talking about a 12X12 room here. XLs rock in a small to medium room as JamNJoe described.

2: Sound Stage----They Completely disappear.

3: WAF-----Wife Acceptancy Factor. The 2-horizontal-tier look of XLs puts them in a different class of speakers, very esthetic, like a show-piece in your family/listening room.

So, therefore, all these factors must be considered before you make a decision.

Thanx

DeanSheen · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 04:19 pm »

RAW HT3. I have had these in my house and they sound fantastic. Great pricepoint too. The extra driver gets you more bass. This is a good thing.

The HT3's are like a monitor+. That + equals more RELEVANT bass. They also dont seem to be super demanding of electronics.

Eric · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 05:35 pm »

I want to echo what Jam-n-Joe said. The sapphires are simply world beaters. I have listened to them with tubes and solid state, with expensive and inexpensive gear, and they continue to impress. You cannot believe that small speakers produce such a big sound. Plus you get the Mike Dzurko customer service. Join the ACI family

dwk · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 Mar 2006, 05:38 pm »

I suspect that there aren't a whole lot of folks that have deep experience with both models, and so what we're likely to see is that everyone likes what they have. This doesn't surprise me greatly, as both seem to be well conceived and executed speakers.
I was seriously looking at the HT3 or the 641 (leaning to the HT3) when I won the Sapphire XL's in the Katrina Raffle. Setting up the XL's nearfield in my small room (about the same area as the 12x12 here, but rectangular) has been amazingly successful. On the acoustic/vocal type of music that dominates my 'serious' listening, they are wonderful - right there with the best small speaker setups I can remember hearing.

So, for lack of any better criteria, it may come down to your material. If it's smaller scale acoustic style stuff, the XL's are everything you'll ever want. If you lean towards rock, orchestral or have any HT/video expectations, the HT3's might be better, although I suspect you'll be facing more room tuning/taming challenges.

FWIW, I *suspect* that the ACI's will hold resale better given the better brand recognition and longer history. Also, there are many success stories of blending Sapphires with appropriate subs, so there is an upgrade route if necessary.

Poll

RAW HT3 or Sapphire XL for 12'x12' square room?!