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Post by davidl81 on Aug 13, 2014 23:42:14 GMT -5
Guys, I'm new here and just starting to put together a new media room in our house. This will be my first time buying separate amps and I was wondering on what people here think would be the best amp setup for a 7.1.4 design. I was thinking of an XPA5 for the front and two surrounds, then maybe an UPA 700 for the rears and the two sets of ceiling speakers. I just don't know if I should mix amps like this. I have not picked speakers yet so I am not tied to any wattage needs.
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Post by Gary Cook on Aug 13, 2014 23:55:23 GMT -5
Room dimensions?
Cheers Gary
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Post by davidl81 on Aug 13, 2014 23:59:06 GMT -5
Dedicated media room, 14x17. I will have a Sony SXRD projector and around a100" screen ( not that that part matters)
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Post by garbulky on Aug 14, 2014 0:04:10 GMT -5
youre good imo
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Post by Gary Cook on Aug 14, 2014 0:35:59 GMT -5
For that sized room a UPA-500 / UPA-700 combo would fill it, easily.
My personal experience has been that matching speakers is more important than matching amps. If stereo music is a personal like, then I can recommend an XPA-5 for its 275 WPC (2 channels driven). The good thing is you have plenty of time, my guess is Atmos won't be of much use for another 12 months or so, so there might be an XPA-7 by then.
Cheers Gary
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Erwin.BE
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Post by Erwin.BE on Aug 17, 2014 2:50:13 GMT -5
Choose your speakers first and then decide the amps. I presume you will go with the Marantz AV7702? Have you considered stealth powered speakers for LCR [stealth 8] and Surround [stealth 6]? These would be awesome for a room-size like yours. Then a UPA-500 would do for the ceiling speakers.
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Erwin.BE
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It's the room, stupid!
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Post by Erwin.BE on Aug 17, 2014 2:59:35 GMT -5
For that sized room a UPA-500 / UPA-700 combo would fill it, easily. My personal experience has been that matching speakers is more important than matching amps. If stereo music is a personal like, then I can recommend an XPA-5 for its 275 WPC (2 channels driven). The good thing is you have plenty of time, my guess is Atmos won't be of much use for another 12 months or so, so there might be an XPA-7 by then. Cheers Gary There should be Bluray with Atmos content by the year end. Also eagerly awaiting the XPA-7!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 3:39:02 GMT -5
I can't even begin to give you a reasonable guess on the amps until we know what speakers you will be using (specific models and their sensitivity ratings or measurements ..... this makes huge difference in how much power you need) and whether you will be setting all your speakers as small and crossing over your speakers to the subs at 80Hz or so (highly recommended). Crossing over to the subs keeps the lower bass ultra clean and puts much less power demands on the main amps.
That said I would estimate you either go for a minimum of the XPA-3 for the LCR and smaller amps (UPA-500) for the side and rear surrounds or go with the XPA-5 and smaller 2 ch amp (UPA-200) for the rear surrounds. Mixing Emo amps is no problem but choose your speakers first. I purposely left out the ceiling speakers because I recommend you forget the way overhyped Atmos system which IMO is fine for real theaters but very questionable for home theaters. Far more important is like Gary Cook posts to buy all voice/timbre matched speakers from the same exact brand and series. Large towers are not necessary for the LCR, small towers or large high quality/high power handling bookshelf speakers are fine, with excellent subs. Smaller speakers are fine for the side and rear, but bipole or dipole models are better if available in the brand you chose. Buy speakers with excellent off axis dispersion and you will have wonderful 360 degree surround sound, no unmatched ceiling speakers needed IMO. Also concentrate on buying at least 2 very high quality ported subs (or extra high quality sealed subs if you are space impaired), don't skimp on the subs to meet your budget for ceiling speakers. Less money on amps and more money on speakers and subs.
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Erwin.BE
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It's the room, stupid!
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Post by Erwin.BE on Aug 17, 2014 7:48:29 GMT -5
...I purposely left out the ceiling speakers because I recommend you forget the way overhyped Atmos system which IMO is fine for real theaters but very questionable for home theaters. Buy speakers with excellent off axis dispersion and you will have wonderful 360 degree surround sound, no unmatched ceiling speakers needed IMO. Is that a fact? You are talking about horizontal off axis dispersion, which is an important quality admittedly for dispersing the sound in equal way to all the listeners. But Atmos is about hemispherical surround, for which you need 4 ceiling speakers (or those Atmos enabled up-firing speakers with a flat ceiling for reflection). If you are worried about timbre matching, again, that's no problem. Take a look at KEF for example. They specifically point out that all their ceiling speakers are voiced to complement their other speakers. And they are known for having exemplary dispersion.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2014 8:03:34 GMT -5
Yes, many speakers also have slightly better vertical dispersion, good enough for me, I didn't make that clear. However , I think the ceiling speaker are way over promoted in the Atmos for home system hype. Whats next floor speakers, like in dual hemispherical? Emo and others make ceiling and in wall speakers that sort of match there regular speakers with at least the same tweeters, but how many folks will really get matching ceiling speakers? My point is basically I think the money and effort are much better spent perfecting ones 5 or 7 speaker systems. The photos I see of setups here and other places seem to confirm that opinion. You and few others are probably among the small majority who will do Atmos right. I don't plan to even bother.
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zerafa
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Post by zerafa on Aug 17, 2014 10:03:47 GMT -5
My set up plan, still work in progress, is going to try is a 5.2.4 Atmos set up.
Speakers 2 x ERT 8.3 Fronts 3 x ERM 6.3 Center and Surrounds 4 x ERD1 Ceiling 2 x XS30 stereo near fronts (will try multiple locations and mono configuration)
Power XPA-2 - Left side front and surround XPA-2 - Right side front and surround XPA-5 - center and 4 ceiling speakers This power arrangement should give the most power balance, with everything getting more than enough for the listing levels that i typically use.
For the processor, i am waiting for the Onkyo processor, set to be released in september.
I may add some rear speakers, but I would need to move the room around a bit. And i would need to think about another amp, or move the mini-x back into the picture for the rear heights (seems like the least demanding load, or use a pair of airmotiv 5 as the rears.
I am still sitting on the fence on the processor, and going with XMC w/Dirac or the atmos set up described above. WIth the XMC, i would stick with a 7.2 set up, and use the rear ceiling speakers as the rears, and just not use the front ceiling speakers (as i am currently), and find them another place in my home. and also try 5.2 to see if there is really that much difference. Looking at the content available, it seems like we are mostly (90%) in 5.1 for Uverse and iTunes. so that might be the better configuration ultimately. (Focus on getting a great set up / room correction, rather than the number of speakers in the room.... Ultimately these are my options.
Any other suggestions to try?
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Post by davidl81 on Aug 28, 2014 11:42:06 GMT -5
Speaker wise this is what I am doing Mirage OMD-15 fronts OMD-C1 center OMD-5 surround and surround rear omni can 5 in ceiling speakers
I am doing the Atmos set up now because I want to wire everything one time (project involves cutting drywall and re sheet rocking ) so I will just go ahead and install the whole set up now. Also since I can buy the omni can speakers now that match the other speakers it makes sense to do the install now. Pre-pro wise I am looking at the Marantz av7702.
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Post by Gary Cook on Aug 28, 2014 20:15:50 GMT -5
Yes, many speakers also have slightly better vertical dispersion, good enough for me, I didn't make that clear. However , I think the ceiling speaker are way over promoted in the Atmos for home system hype. Whats next floor speakers, like in dual hemispherical? Emo and others make ceiling and in wall speakers that sort of match there regular speakers with at least the same tweeters, but how many folks will really get matching ceiling speakers? My point is basically I think the money and effort are much better spent perfecting ones 5 or 7 speaker systems. The photos I see of setups here and other places seem to confirm that opinion. You and few others are probably among the small majority who will do Atmos right. I don't plan to even bother. I just have to agree! Having spend a lot of time (and some money) on matching the sonic signature of the 5 speakers and really noticing the improvement in sound quality and consistency. I went through a 3 step process to achieve the current speaker balance when moving from what was a previous 5 of exactly the same speaker (KEF Concerto). The first step of having 2 new (FL & FR) and 3 old was not quite painful but was certainly far from ideal. The second step of 4 new and 1 old (the centre) was almost as undesirable. So I just can't face the reality of 4 unmatched (to the rest) ceiling speakers, I'm afraid it's just not appealing. Cheers Gary
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Post by ausman on Sept 4, 2014 0:05:34 GMT -5
are you going to use secondary processors
sonic signature of 7 or 11 speakers plus 4 subs..
height of room min 20 foot or more..
decide on how many sides you want as that will dictate a secondary processor or not
wouldn't bother with front standing speaker unless implementing proper cinema type speakers, lcr's will likely be all you'll need..
given the roof speakers will likely be parallel speakers will likely need to support wattage settings..
it is pretty much a given you will likely surpass 11.4 in your speaker setup and I suspect, having said that you may require secondary audio processor or 3..
for 11 channels a combo of 1 xpa-1/2 xpa-5's or 1 xpa-1/5 xpa-2s or 11 mono blocks.. this is only the example..
having the space and the money skies the limits on what you can do...
if you are planning to run 2 speakers per surround channel best solution would likely be a 2channel amp though you will likely require a secondary audio preamp to goto 1x2 per channel, you may want to consider dedicated room for the av equipment
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