SVS vs Emotiva vs Def Tech

[repeetavx]

I have my 3 mains set to large too. I tune for stereo, which so far, makes my movies sound great.

[Bonzo]

What I have done thus far with my old Denon is:

- Turn off any room processing in the pre-amp (do not like any of the results at all).

- Hook up the speakers using both speaker wire (bi-wired) and sub wires (RCA).

- Using a 2 channel only source (like CD), pre-amp set to "pure direct" MAIN+LFE, speakers set to Large, do critical listening with music to dial in the sub levels where I think it sounds best. Listen to tunes and adjust the sub volume on the back of the speakers, by ear. My setting is about 10:00 - 10:15.

- Then, using a 7.1 channel test disc on the Bluray player, pre-amp set to EXT In (I use 7.1 RCA analog from my Blur-ray player) MAIN+LFE subwoofer on, front 3 speakers set to Large, surrounds to small, run white noise using test disc to set the subwoofer level to accurate. Then usuall turn it up 1 or 2 clicks from there. The thing is, with these speakers, sending Main+LFE via the speaker wires allows the speaker crossover to work where it works best. Since it's also getting a sub level input, the speaker wire input doesn't play anything below where it's naturally crossed over. But this way for movies and TV, I can set the sub a little louder than what's perfect for music inside the pre-amp. So when I switch back and forth between 2 channel and movies/TV, the sub volume changes automatically. For music I get exactly what was intended, and for movies I get a bit of a preferred boost to really give the LFE some oomph.

- Then lastly, I dial in the center channel bass knob by ear. I start by trying to make the white noise from the center sound as close to the front left rights. That's my starting point. Then I watch a bunch of movies and TV and adjust it in slight increments from there (usually down slightly) until voices sound completely natural and blend right in. My setting is about 9:30 - 9:45.

All of this is done by ear and an analog Radio Shack level meter.

[srpawski]

May 27, 2016 11:07:50 GMT -5 vneal said:

I would buy JL Audio first. But given your choice of 3 mine would be the SVS hands down

I looked at JL.  I had their stuff back in the day when I had aftermarket car audio.  They make fantastic stuff, just too large for my taste.

[srpawski]

Yesterday was a bear. I had a chance to check in a couple of times when I got post alerts, but no play time. I was a dull boy yesterday, but my name ain't Jack.

Bonzo - good observations. I had the fronts placed roughly 5.5 feet apart. My goal at that placement was to keep them, along with the toe in, more pointed at the listening area on the couch. You are right about that. I had also read a lot where the toe in was good and it seemed that more was better from what I read on the AVS forums. Now, with the new XPA amp, its a whole different ball game. I took some time to revisit placement and toe in, per your suggestion. It was well worth doing. I now have a much wider disbursed sounding field from the front. I moved them out wider and reduced the toe, almost to the point that they face directly forward. I also pulled them out another 4 inches from the wall so they are a full foot out. Distance apart has been increased to a little over 7 feet.

Before as I posted Thursday:





After as of this morning:







I also looked again at my menu settings for my speakers.  I have the bass set up for LFE + Main which allows the fronts to be set as full range.  There isn't a double bass setting. The center is also set as large.  The rear surrounds are set to small and I have the crossover set at the default 80 Hz.  The subwoofer crossover I have set at the default 120 Hz.

[Bonzo]

Love the room! Will get back with you on this more later. Going to be busy for a bit so won't be posting more this weekend. Oh crap, where did I put my beer? ?