[bhobba]

I have a Storm crossed over at 17Hz with Salk HT3's - it can be crossed even lower.
I can hear the Salks, or maybe feel, down to about 23 and then have to use a SPL or feel
Anyway it works for me.

The mini can go low - but not quite that low.  Even with room gain I would suggest when using the mini the crossover would be best in the 30-40hz region.  No probelmo - for all practical purposes frequencies that low don't carry stereo information.  To me this makes the mini the perfect choice for using the infra-wave 'destroyer'.  But don't make a decision to get one lightly - I suspect Bob is only half joking when he advices people to be sure their building is up to scratch.

Thanks
Bill

[bhobba]

Actually, it'd be nice to experiment with multi-channel, too.  If I found I didn't like it, I'm relatively confident I could find a use for the extra speakers. 

For guys into home theatre 4 mini's and a infrawave would be very difficult to beat at any price.  Why only 4? - good speakers simply do not need a centre channel unless you have people sitting really close to the speakers - then it anchors the dialogue.  But people that close would be getting a rather distorted audio experience anyway.

Thanks
Bill

[ted_b]

Actually, it'd be nice to experiment with multi-channel, too.  If I found I didn't like it, I'm relatively confident I could find a use for the extra speakers. 

For guys into home theatre 4 mini's and a infrawave would be very difficult to beat at any price.  Why only 4? - good speakers simply do not need a centre channel unless you have people sitting really close to the speakers - then it anchors the dialogue.  But people that close would be getting a rather distorted audio experience anyway.

Thanks
Bill

How about a pair of Revelation Mark III's (Ultimate Mundorf Xovers) as main l/r speakers, a Continuum A.D (Ultimate Mundorf) as center, and a pair of Continuum A.D's (Intermediate Mundorf) as music surrounds?   

[Double Ugly]

Actually, it'd be nice to experiment with multi-channel, too.  If I found I didn't like it, I'm relatively confident I could find a use for the extra speakers. 

For guys into home theatre 4 mini's and a infrawave would be very difficult to beat at any price.  Why only 4? - good speakers simply do not need a centre channel unless you have people sitting really close to the speakers - then it anchors the dialogue.  But people that close would be getting a rather distorted audio experience anyway.

Thanks
Bill

How about a pair of Revelation Mark III's (Ultimate Mundorf Xovers) as main l/r speakers, a Continuum A.D (Ultimate Mundorf) as center, and a pair of Continuum A.D's (Intermediate Mundorf) as music surrounds?   

Now you're just braggin'!   

I'm happy for you, Ted, and look forward to your thoughts once everything has settled and you've found just how you want everything set-up. 

[bhobba]

I'm happy for you, Ted, and look forward to your thoughts once everything has settled and you've found just how you want everything set-up. 

As am I Ted.  Very happy indeed.  Please do keep us updated on your progress and thoughts.

Thanks
Bill

[phoenix_rising]

For guys into home theatre 4 mini's and a infrawave would be very difficult to beat at any price.  Why only 4? - good speakers simply do not need a centre channel unless you have people sitting really close to the speakers - then it anchors the dialogue.  But people that close would be getting a rather distorted audio experience anyway.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Bill,

I am a home theater guy who is purchasing the mini's and IMO you DO need a center channel for the people that are sitting off center, this is what anchors the dialog for them, I have tried both with and without and with is preferable. If it is just one or two people watching then there is no real need for a center channel as you are normally always within the sweetspot and as such will have a phantom center.

I have 5 mini's on order.

Phoenix

[bhobba]

I am a home theater guy who is purchasing the mini's and IMO you DO need a center channel for the people that are sitting off center, this is what anchors the dialog for them, I have tried both with and without and with is preferable. If it is just one or two people watching then there is no real need for a center channel as you are normally always within the sweetspot and as such will have a phantom center. I have 5 mini's on order.

Yes indeed - arguments for and against abound.  And outside that sweetspot a case can certainly be made for it.  My suggestion is -'suck it and see'.  You can always get another speaker if it does not work out.  Glad to see people the mini's potentail for that application.  With an infrawave, as I think Bob said, WOW.  Right now I am tossing up whether to have my initial setup home theatre capeable one or not.  My preferred amp is a Soraya - I don't know whether to get it and work my way up or start, with a cheaper home theatre amp.  Initially I was going to get a Panny - now I am thinking it will be the Soraya - decisions; decisions.

Thanks
Bill

[phoenix_rising]

Yes indeed - arguments for and against abound.  And outside that sweetspot a case can certainly be made for it.  My suggestion is -'suck it and see'.  You can always get another speaker if it does not work out.  Glad to see people the mini's potentail for that application.  With an infrawave, as I think Bob said, WOW.  Right now I am tossing up whether to have my initial setup home theatre capeable one or not.  My preferred amp is a Soraya - I don't know whether to get it and work my way up or start, with a cheaper home theatre amp.  Initially I was going to get a Panny - now I am thinking it will be the Soraya - decisions; decisions.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Bill,

I am marrying the minis with 2 15" Rythmik subs, I am on a budget and could not afford the Infrawave but will likely buy a couple when my finances are better. I am in the process of getting a new Processor, I have been looking at the NAD. The other one I am considering is not released until early next year and is a new processor from Newcastle that uses the Trinnov room correction system. Both are separates, the NAD has a better version of Audessy than other PrePro's and the trinnov is the best room correction system I am aware of as it can adjust for speaker position unlike all the other correction systems. I am building my own Amp from SKA. 5 x 300W which will be adequate to drive the mini's I hope.

Check out the offerings from NAD as IMO they are very good value for money from a sound quality perspective. When the Newcastle comes out with Trinnov that also is worthwhile looking into. They would both be good long term sound investments IMHO.

Phoenix

[bhobba]

I am marrying the minis with 2 15" Rythmik subs,

Awesome

I am on a budget and could not afford the Infrawave but will likely buy a couple when my finances are better.

You are a glutton for punishment.   I suspect one would be enough - from what Bob says it will rumble in the jungle with the best of em. 

I am in the process of getting a new Processor, I have been looking at the NAD.

Same here.  But the Emotiva looks quite interesting as well - and cheaper to boot
http://www.emotiva.com/preamps.html

All the Best
Bill

[phoenix_rising]

Hi Bill,

You are a glutton for punishment.   I suspect one would be enough - from what Bob says it will rumble in the jungle with the best of em. 

I am getting 2 for two reasons. I like stereo subs for 2 channel audio. when it comes to Home Theater more than one sub is highly desirable, allows me to get rid of room problems more easily and even out the bass properly across the room and allows lower distortion bass. I will decouple them from the room by sitting them on a base of acoustic foam.

Same here.  But the Emotiva looks quite interesting as well - and cheaper to boot
http://www.emotiva.com/preamps.html

Nice looking piece, especially for two channel. It does not support a room correction system which is desirable for home theater. It also does not support the latest HD-DVD/BLU Ray codecs, mandatory requirement for me. The NAD will support them with an add on board and out of the lower end processors has the best implementation of Audessy with support for 2 subwoofers. I will not purchase though until I can see some reviews on the Trinnov based PrePro from NewCastle which is the more likely one I will purchase. The reason is that both the center and the surrounds are normally not able to be optimally placed and the Trinnov system can adjust the placement of the speakers so that the position of the speakers sounds as if they are coming from the right place e.g. If the center is below or above the screen it will adjust its relative space and time to make it sound like it is coming from out of the screen itself. Until I can afford a dedicated room again with a sound transparent screen this is the best solution I have seen to compensate for the placement compromise. Trinnov is now used in many production houses so unlike Audessy it has a Pro heritage.

cheers
Phoenix

[phoenix_rising]

Hi Bill,

I got an email back from Emotiva. They will be releasing two new versions of their prepro. Both will support room correction and both will support all the HD audio formats.

cheers
Phoenix

[bhobba]

I got an email back from Emotiva. They will be releasing two new versions of their prepro. Both will support room correction and both will support all the HD audio formats.

Great to hear.  I am tending towards 2 channel initially, and upgrading to home theatre a bit later.  As an aside I was intially going to use a Squeezebox as my source.  Now I am tending towards a separate CDP - I like the look of the 740C with that Anagram technology in it.

Thanks
Bill

[phoenix_rising]

Great to hear.  I am tending towards 2 channel initially, and upgrading to home theatre a bit later.  As an aside I was intially going to use a Squeezebox as my source.  Now I am tending towards a separate CDP - I like the look of the 740C with that Anagram technology in it.

Hi Bill,

I tend to use one of the lossless codecs these days and store all my music digitally. Then I send it to the processor digitally via optical and let the processors DAC's do their magic. If you have a Mac you can used apples lossless codec with itunes or on a PC you can use FLAC. I was not able to tell the difference between lossless and a high end CD Player. Give it a try before you invest in the CD player I think you will be surprised.

cheers
phoenix

[bhobba]

I tend to use one of the lossless codecs these days and store all my music digitally. Then I send it to the processor digitally via optical and let the processors DAC's do their magic. If you have a Mac you can used apples lossless codec with itunes or on a PC you can use FLAC. I was not able to tell the difference between lossless and a high end CD Player. Give it a try before you invest in the CD player I think you will be surprised.

The more I think about it the more it appeals, at least initially.  I can always upgrade to better DAC's etc later for two channel reproduction.  Thanks for the tip.

Thanks
Bill

[phoenix_rising]

The more I think about it the more it appeals, at least initially.  I can always upgrade to better DAC's etc later for two channel reproduction.  Thanks for the tip.

Thanks
Bill

Hi Bill,

Yep its the way of the future. In the near future I am going to buy a 3 terabyte NAS system so I can upload 400 DVD's and all my music to it. I then run everything through front row to play the music and the movies. It can also then use it to record any cable and TV I want as well and it is all available in the same place. The only thing it won't be able to do in the short term is HD-DVD & Bluray.

Phoenix

[phoenix_rising]

Actually, it'd be nice to experiment with multi-channel, too.  If I found I didn't like it, I'm relatively confident I could find a use for the extra speakers. 

Hi Double,

Missed your post earlier.

It sounds like you are a it of a purist like me. I did a lot of experimenting with home theater setup and I found that the only thing that worked for me was to have identical speakers all the way around. IMO This gave a completely seamless unified field, anything else and I could pick the difference between the speakers. That is why I ordered 5 minis, I would have bought 7 if I could have afforded to, but I have to ship mine to Australia which is a costly business. Many of the movie sound tracks are simply awesome as well. WARNING once you start down this path you will become a videophile as well.

The waveguides are absolutely perfect for home theater and multi-channel, once you go through the physics of waveguides you can understand why they should be a must on all speakers, what is most surprising is that they are so uncommon, which is probably due to how hard it is to execute a decent waveguide in a small form factor.

phoenix

[RandyH]

Could someone please post pictures of the back of the Mini.  I could not find anything on the website that showed the rear panel or speaker binding posts.  Just curious...

Randy

[Double Ugly]

Hi phoenix,

I did a lot of experimenting with home theater setup and I found that the only thing that worked for me was to have identical speakers all the way around. IMO This gave a completely seamless unified field, anything else and I could pick the difference between the speakers. That is why I ordered 5 minis, I would have bought 7 if I could have afforded to, but I have to ship mine to Australia which is a costly business.

If/when I have the room, I'll have 5 (or more) SP Tech speakers, but I doubt they'll all be the same model.  It it were to happen tomorrow, I'd have -

• Revelation (Grand Master?) mains
• Continuum center
• Timepiece surrounds

The Revelations and Continuum center would have the full-Monty crossover upgrade, and I'd have my Timepiece 2.1 surrounds upgraded to 3.0 status.  If the room is large enough, I'd probably add an Infra-Wave sub (or two) to the mix, too.

Though the speakers aren't identical, I think the above would work quite well. 

[phoenix_rising]

If/when I have the room, I'll have 5 (or more) SP Tech speakers, but I doubt they'll all be the same model.  It it were to happen tomorrow, I'd have -

• Revelation (Grand Master?) mains
• Continuum center
• Timepiece surrounds

The Revelations and Continuum center would have the full-Monty crossover upgrade, and I'd have my Timepiece 2.1 surrounds upgraded to 3.0 status.  If the room is large enough, I'd probably add an Infra-Wave sub (or two) to the mix, too.

Though the speakers aren't identical, I think the above would work quite well. 

Hi Double,

What I found happened when using non identical speakers was that the bass weight between the various speakers is what made the biggest difference in the presentation in movies. It meant that the whole thing was not seamless and thus made it difficult to get immersed in the sound as I could pick when it was not quite right. A way around this situation is to use subs and raise the cross-over until all speakers merge seamlessly. This would be a good compromise.

Would love to hear those Revelations.

Phoenix

[Double Ugly]

What I found happened when using non identical speakers was that the bass weight between the various speakers is what made the biggest difference in the presentation in movies. It meant that the whole thing was not seamless and thus made it difficult to get immersed in the sound as I could pick when it was not quite right.

Since there's very little difference in the speed and weight of SP Tech speakers, I wonder if the same phenomenon will be present in my proposed configuration. 

Maybe ted_b can shed some light on the subject before too much longer.

A way around this situation is to use subs and raise the cross-over until all speakers merge seamlessly. This would be a good compromise.

Yep. 

Would love to hear those Revelations.