Emo 8.3s or 6.3s as Mains for 9.1? Need help...

[titelies]

I would really appreciate some suggestions...
I currently have a pair of Emo ERD-1s as front height speakers and an Emo 6.3 Center which will connect to my new Onkyo TX-N3007 9.2ch receiver. The Front Height ERD-1s are as close to the ceiling as I could get them. I had originally budgeted to purchase the Emo 8.3s to use as Left & Right mains, but now after researching so much on this forum, it seems that many around here would believe that the 6.3s would be more than enough for my theatre setup. Dolby & Onkyo is suggesting 3.3' space between the mains & heights.

One of my concerns is that the 8.3s will be too close to the ERD-1s due to their tall stature. If I chose to use the 6.3s, I would obviously use a short bookshelf stand.

My dedicated home theatre measurements are 23' 2" long x 13' 6" wide x 7' 7" high. (70/30 Movies/Music)

Obviously, I would love to save the $400-500 price difference, however I do not want to make the 6.3 purchase and then wished I had gone with the larger more powerful 8.3s.

What are your thoughts? Please help!

[cgolf]

I have 6.3s FCL in a 13x23 media room with a SVS sub. I haven't heard the 8.3s but I can't imagine anything being any better than this setup. My ears always go out before the volume control goes out so this is plenty for my setup.

To me, the only thing you get with the 8s is more bass and if you have a good sub, you already have that. Plus, I think you lose some of the mids that you get with the 6s if you go with the 8s.

I am blown away by the crispness and clarity of the 6.3s every time I listen to something-both music and movies.

Just my opinion. ;D

[MSchoen]

Well currently I have 8.3s as my mains and 6.3 as center with ERD-1 rears. I didnt think I'd be listening to so much music but as it turns out I listen to more music than I do home theater use. I use a smaller martin logan dynamo sub, and I'm really happy. I cant wait to hear my system in a larger room, its currently in a fairly small room. I haven't heard a 6.3 setup yet, but I can tell you I absolutely love my 8.3s! If I could go back, I'd still buy the 8.3s! my $.02.

[bfisher]

I dont think you'll go wrong with either setup. Pick the option that fits your room best and I suspect you'll be pleased

[Nemesis.ie]

I am all for having fronts the same - 3 x 6.3 will give you that. If you mount them with the tweeter at ear level when seated (or a tad above), what would that give you (above the tweeter I would guess) to the heights? The specs you are looking at for the height may be assuming speakers with the tweeter at the top (just a guess here).

[ntrain42]

I would go all 6.3's and take the money saved for another sub or 2................

[bigred7078]

yeah definately go with the 6.3's and a awesome sub or two as ntrain said.

[titelies]

Another sub? This AV123 MFW-13 sub is enormous! It sounds amazing already! Can't imagine having another, not sure all my crown moulding can handle it...

Are you guys suggesting that if I'm not going to add a 2nd sub that I should purchase the 8.3s?

[Nemesis.ie]

I don't think anyone is saying that, just that if you have money spare a 2nd sub will smooth out the bass and make things sound even better.

[ntrain42]

Feb 18, 2010 13:08:45 GMT -5 titelies said:

Another sub? This AV123 MFW-13 sub is enormous! It sounds amazing already! Can't imagine having another, not sure all my crown moulding can handle it...

Are you guys suggesting that if I'm not going to add a 2nd sub that I should purchase the 8.3s?

I assume you mean an MFW-15? I sure as hell would add another instead of wasting money on a pair of 8.3's. Having 2 MFW-15's will allow you to run each with LOWER GAINS, which means in your case, less port noise and distortion, a more linear frequency response and better blend with your mains.

Adding more subs isn't all about just getting more "BOOM" or output. Its about reducing potential distortion and clipping(especially important with ported designs), and improving and extending frequency response. It also means your amp and driver will work less improving reliability and longevity. I am redoing my main HT room, and Im going to be running 4 15" drivers, possibly 6 if nexts months spending budget works out. And for those of interest my main HT room is 24x14 with standard 8 foot ceilings. Not a huge room by any means.

[shawmcbigdis]

I'm a huge fan of a matching front sound stage, so I say go with all 6.3's. I actually just returned my 8.3's and 6.3 because they didn't match well enough for me. I ended up with a set of B&W 804s and HTM3s, which isn't really a fair comparison, but sometimes you go crazy in this hobby.

Also, I know it was probably room dependent in my case, but I had very poor bass response from my 6.3. Audyssey would continually set it's crossover at 120-150Hz, no matter how I tweaked it. The HTM3s in the same position goes to 40Hz. So a 2nd sub might be a pretty good idea, or more specifically a "mid-bass unit" like this www.hsuresearch.com/products/mbm-12mk2.html

If I hadn't have decided to keep the B&W's I was thinking about getting 3 ERM 6.2's and 3 of these bass units as my fronts, so the subs would be wired in line with the speakers with a high pass filter (http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/high-pass-filter.html) that way in the proc you set the speaker as full range and you use the high pass filter to tweak the mix between the subs and speakers, not off the sub out on the proc. Oh, and I have an SVS dual 12" sub, so I have plenty of bass on the LFE, but I like my speakers to be as close to full range as possible, not offloading everything to the 1 sub.You may want to consider something like that, Even though it seems like overkill. I'm still tempted to try it, but I just love the B&W sound so much there's next to no way I'd give them up now.