|
|
Post by wondamic on Nov 5, 2014 21:46:41 GMT -5
Hello,
My current set up is a 2.1 where I have 2 Airmotiv 6s as my mains and an x-ref 10 sub-woofer with a UMC-1 getting feed via optics from my PC. I've noticed that when I'm watching HD movies the vocals can seem a little lost or too soft and it gets ran over with the mids and sub.. I've adjusted the volumes on the rear of the speakers but the treble still seem to take the back stage. I've also played around with toeing them in and having the tweets at ear level, but I'm not quite satisfied with the set up.
My current situation leads me into this: I wanted to know if someone has tried to put two of these together and make a "center speaker" out them. How does it sound? Which direction would you face the speakers horizontally speaking (tweets on the inside or outside)?
In addition to making the Airmotiv 6s my center, I was considering purchasing the Stealth 8s as my mains and possibly getting two more Airmotiv 6s for some rears, which would put be at a 5.1-ish. Any suggestions or guidance is greatly appreciated--thanks in advance!
-Mike
|
|
|
|
Post by redog on Nov 5, 2014 21:59:45 GMT -5
With my 8s I would consider the treble forward but not bright. I definitely don't loose it.
I've heard you can purchase the 6s separately if you call.
|
|
|
|
Post by pdaddy on Nov 5, 2014 22:30:50 GMT -5
Hello, My current set up is a 2.1 where I have 2 Airmotiv 6s as my mains and an x-ref 10 sub-woofer with a UMC-1 getting feed via optics from my PC. I've noticed that when I'm watching HD movies the vocals can seem a little lost or too soft and it gets ran over with the mids and sub. Any chance your UMC-1 or your HD movie player are set to surround sound vs Stereo? |
|
|
|
Post by Gary Cook on Nov 5, 2014 22:32:37 GMT -5
I'm currently testing a pair of Airmotive 6's that are with me for service, no big deal just a blown fuse. I reckon they would make a great 5 in a 5.1 set up. More than enough power and impact. I believe a single one as a centre would make a big difference to your set up as I have found the dialogue on some (not all) movies can be a bit underdone when running a 2.1 set up.
Cheers
Gary
|
|
|
|
Post by wondamic on Nov 6, 2014 21:48:22 GMT -5
Hello, My current set up is a 2.1 where I have 2 Airmotiv 6s as my mains and an x-ref 10 sub-woofer with a UMC-1 getting feed via optics from my PC. I've noticed that when I'm watching HD movies the vocals can seem a little lost or too soft and it gets ran over with the mids and sub. Any chance your UMC-1 or your HD movie player are set to surround sound vs Stereo? Thanks for the quick note pdaddy--I have the Dolby off and Stereo in full effect. |
|
|
|
Post by wondamic on Nov 6, 2014 22:01:25 GMT -5
I'm currently testing a pair of Airmotive 6's that are with me for service, no big deal just a blown fuse. I reckon they would make a great 5 in a 5.1 set up. More than enough power and impact. I believe a single one as a centre would make a big difference to your set up as I have found the dialogue on some (not all) movies can be a bit underdone when running a 2.1 set up. Cheers Gary That sounds interesting, but don't you think the treble would be stronger on one side? I suppose I could have that 1 speaker in an upright setting. I would also have to construct something or move things around a bit to accommodate the taller speaker. Back to my situation, I played around with some more settings and decided to turn up the front L & R levels, adjusted the distance and changed some frequencies around...seems to help a bit for now. I'll tinker some more until I make a real move towards building the 5.1 system. On another note, has anyone gotten the "direct mode" working with the sub-woofer? I've adjusted my settings to where the stereo sounds better but was curious because in direct mode vocals and highs come through very cleanly. Thanks for the help so far gents--much appreciated! |
|
|
|
Post by ansat on Nov 6, 2014 23:41:03 GMT -5
I'm currently testing a pair of Airmotive 6's that are with me for service, no big deal just a blown fuse. I reckon they would make a great 5 in a 5.1 set up. More than enough power and impact. I believe a single one as a centre would make a big difference to your set up as I have found the dialogue on some (not all) movies can be a bit underdone when running a 2.1 set up. Cheers Gary That sounds interesting, but don't you think the treble would be stronger on one side? I suppose I could have that 1 speaker in an upright setting. I would also have to construct something or move things around a bit to accommodate the taller speaker. Back to my situation, I played around with some more settings and decided to turn up the front L & R levels, adjusted the distance and changed some frequencies around...seems to help a bit for now. I'll tinker some more until I make a real move towards building the 5.1 system. On another note, has anyone gotten the "direct mode" working with the sub-woofer? I've adjusted my settings to where the stereo sounds better but was curious because in direct mode vocals and highs come through very cleanly. Thanks for the help so far gents--much appreciated! couple of thoughts on the speech. The average man’s speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman’s speech range is about 165 Hz to 255 Hz, and a child’s voice typically ranges from 250 Hz to 300 Hz and higher. - See more at: www.axiomaudio.com/blog/audio-oddities-frequency-ranges-of-male-female-and-children%E2%80%99s-voices/#sthash.IbOaDuGT.dpufNow to some other issues you run into with 2 channel. time alignment needs to be spot on when using 2 channel. Speech is sent to both the left and right speakers at the same time to produce an image directly between the two. When done right, you can expect around a 6db boost to what is playing. When done wrong it will create a huge nulls (especially below 500hz) and reflections can also create this null effect or add even more gain. Adding a crossover point presents the same challenge, and the crossover spans a much larger span then just the frequency is crossed over at. If you have rew and a mic you can get this all almost perfect. If you just want to do this by ear it is possible, just pretty difficult. One way to do it by ear would be to run just the left and right at the same distance (no eq) play something that you can replay numerous times. And move your listening position to the left and the right. If it sounds better to the left of your listening position then alter the left distance until it has moved to your listening position. for your subwoofer, the easiest way is to use a tone generator. play the tone at the crossover point and adjust the sub distance until it is at the loudest point (use your ear or a spl meter (phone ok)). Now eq for what your lacking. Add boost to the 85 - 300 range to increase vocals. on both the left and right speakers. This method is crude and not nearly as accurate as a microphone, but it will get you close. Tony |
|
KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 9,990
|
Post by KeithL on Nov 7, 2014 1:55:03 GMT -5
Lots of people put their center speaker on its side, and it usually seems to work pretty well (you usually don't notice any loss of symmetry from left to right). The Aimrotivs and Stealths with the smaller (square) tweeter have a more or less equal vertical and horizintal dispersion, so they won't act much differently whether you position them vertically or horizontally. The Airmotivs and Stealths with the larger (longer) tweeter have a very wide horizontal dispersion and somewhat narrower vertical dispersion at higher frequencies (this helps cut down on floor and ceiling reflections). However, this means that their dispersion pattern is significantly different when you put them on their sides. (Putting them on their sides will give you a wide vertical pattern and a narrower horizontal pattern, which should actually make the listening sweet spot smaller, but "lock in" the center image better (at least theoretically). Generally, using two speakers side by side as a center creates more problems than it solves. Although you can get a symmetrical driver arrangement by putting two similar speakers on their sides, top to top or bottom to bottom, you will also get really unpleasant cancellation effects between the two speakers. This cancellation results in a horizontal comb filter effect, where the level at any given frequency goes up and down as you move from left to right. (Since the nulls and nodes are in different spots for each frequency, what you hear is a frequency response for that virtual center that varies wildly as you move even a few inches from left to right. What this sounds like is that, as you move your head to the left or right, instead of being locked in, the image jumps around and seems sort of fuzzy.) Usually, when you see purpose-made center speakers that look like they use symmetrical midrange units, the frequency ranges fed to the two drivers are not the same, and have been chosen to avoid this sort of interaction. I'm currently testing a pair of Airmotive 6's that are with me for service, no big deal just a blown fuse. I reckon they would make a great 5 in a 5.1 set up. More than enough power and impact. I believe a single one as a centre would make a big difference to your set up as I have found the dialogue on some (not all) movies can be a bit underdone when running a 2.1 set up. Cheers Gary That sounds interesting, but don't you think the treble would be stronger on one side? I suppose I could have that 1 speaker in an upright setting. I would also have to construct something or move things around a bit to accommodate the taller speaker. Back to my situation, I played around with some more settings and decided to turn up the front L & R levels, adjusted the distance and changed some frequencies around...seems to help a bit for now. I'll tinker some more until I make a real move towards building the 5.1 system. On another note, has anyone gotten the "direct mode" working with the sub-woofer? I've adjusted my settings to where the stereo sounds better but was curious because in direct mode vocals and highs come through very cleanly. Thanks for the help so far gents--much appreciated! |
|
|
|
Post by wondamic on Nov 8, 2014 15:12:32 GMT -5
Thanks Keith! It seems more like a problem to to put these guys on their sides...so....What are you thoughts on having 3 Stealth 8's as the center stage of a system (left, center and right)? I would move the motiv 6's as the rears for this setup.
On side a note, what frequencies are you guys setting up the motiv 6's at? 45? 60? 80? My sub is at 80 Hz right now...I'll have to play around with it, but was just curious what you all had them at.
Thanks,
Mike
|
|
