 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
Hi,
I have purshased a new HDTV and surround sound receiver (Onkyo TX-DS676) and would appreciate advice on several considerations in the set up of this system, with my existing audio system. I have the Maggie 3.6 planar speakers driven by a Rotel 200X200 watt amp, with the Velodyne V-1800 sub driven by a line-level output from my preamp. The sound is spectacular for the music I listen to. I am not sure whether it would be preferable to try to use this system for part of the surround sound system, or whether I should just get another set of speakers for surround sound. The Onkyo receivier has outputs for both speakers or an external amplifier, so I thought that one approach would be to try the system with the Maggies run by my Rotel amp, and the rear speakers driven by the Onkyo amps.-I am not sure that I want to invest in Maggie center and rear speakers for the surround system, since it would be fairly expensive, and I have never heard such a system. - Some writers seem to think that the Maggies aren't as dynamic as one would want for a surround sound system. Another issue is whether the Velodyne woofer should be driven by the woofer output from the Onkyo receiver (which has adjustments for woofer/speaker crossovers) or by the line level out from my present audio preamp, which would be carrying the front- left right signals, without a front center channel for the time being.
I can experiment by trial and error and see how various combinations work out, but it is possible that someone in the group has already gone through all this and can give me some helpful advice based on his/her experience. - Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim Cate
Hi Jim,
I have a Maggie Ht set-up w/ 1.6's lf/rt mains for music, (with Ed Hsu amazing XO tweak), a pair of MMG's as ctr ch, (had the MGCC1 ctr ch and was not pleased with the performance), and 1.4's as surrounds.
Would like to add another pair of MMG's as side channels. Have the Lexicon MC1 as a processor, using the Lex Logic 7 decoding for all DVD's, Videos, and TV viewing, which is a 7.1 format. Powering these Maggies is an EAD Powermaster 2000. That is powering the 2 ohm load of the pair of MMG's for ctr ch. This amp is an elephant killer and very very musical.
Anyway my point being, I am extremely happy with my maggies all the way around. With the speed and power of the EAD amp my system has great dynamics, transparencey, detail and a sense of spacetionous that in IMHO could only be achieved with the Maggies.I just recieved my MMg's about a month ago, used off the web for $430 shipped. I am really impressed with thier performance so far, and feel they would make great surrounds. I would hook the Vel sub to the Onkyo out, just for movies. The phantom setting for ctr ch with the 3.6's and Rotel amp would work fine, until you decide what to do for ctr ch. That's just IMHO, I could be wrong.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. For the time being, I may live with the 3.6's for left and right speakers, Infinities for the rears, and the TV speakers for a center.With the Maggies positioned 5-feet out from the rear wall and a 64-inch Zenith HDTV sitting between them, my listening room is pretty crowded. - It certainly doesn't look like the decorator-designed home theater setups I see in the magazines, and unless I want to compromise the sound of the Maggies by moving them back toward the rear wall, I don't think I will ever solve that problem.
Jim
I've heard several people using the phantom center. The issue that I see with it is that if you are in the 'sweet spot', it's perfect. If you are off center just a bit, the center stage will no longer be front and center.Just out of mu curiousity, you said you run two MMGs as a center. Where are they located, and do you have a projector to make this work? My plan is to pick up a nice projector so we can get the space for the Maggies to breathe.
Brian
Jim,I have the Maggie center with my 3.6 and its a pretty good match. There's not a whole lot of bass but the dialogue is clear and concise. Its one of the better centers out there IMO. the rears are not as important to me since they are there for effects, not sure why people spend so much money for the rears. I have a Sound Dynamic dipole that works great and only cost $200/ pair. Spend your money on the center and get a good pair of dipoles for the rears. Check with your dealer where you bought the 3.6 to borrow the center for a weekend. They do take time to break in.
Hi Jim,Do you plan on having music and video in the same room or separate rooms ? How big is your HT room ?
I run 1.6's in my music system and have also tried running them in my (separate) video system. With older Maggie 1b's on the rear, driven by a Sony TA-E9000ES/ Rotel RB-985 combo.
As you have found with your 3.6, the Maggies do sound fantastic with music. IMS I found them quite good in HT but not ideal. Bottom line is in my larger HT room the Maggies just didn't move enough air, they couldn't match the sock of my old Energy References.
Part of this was due to the amps (the Maggies really deserve better and the majority of HT amps are crap).
Moving my Krell and Jadis amps to the HT room improved things but made operating the system user unfriendly, I'm not the primary user.In my case I couldn't live with the compromises needed to run a single system so I split the music/movie duties to dedicated systems and rooms.
cheerz
michael w
Thanks for the suggestions.In answer to the previous notes, my listening room is about 20 X 16 feet, and I will want to be able to listen to and watch both live TV, DVD discs (opera performances are one of my favorites) and 5.1 movies.
For the time being, I plan to go with two systems. - Using my 3.6s driven by my Rotel amp, and a Velodyne woofer for watching music DVD's (opera, etc) and using a pair of Advents and a pair of Infinity speakers, with Infinity mid speaker, driven by an Onkyo TX-DS676 reciever, with the woofer, for 5.1 surround sound. I find that the Maggies are great for music, but maybe not the greatest for 5.1 surround sound movies, etc.
I'm still experimenting, and there are several possibilities.
Jim
Should work... try setting the reciever to phantom center and drive the Rotel with that and see if you really need a center. I've got my Yammie 995 driving a set of rear speakers and the L&R pre-outs feeding the Rotel that drives my 1.6's and I couldn't find a center channel (that I could afford) that could match the phantom center... If I was going to spend the dough, I'd rather get a set of MG-12's for rears, though the 1.6's sound good enough that I often don't even bother to turn surround mode on (hey, they've fooled me into trying to answer the phone in 2ch mode!), though an occasional disc has some good surround stuff (the rivet popping scene in Das Boot comes to mind). I don't really bother with a sub anymore since I upgraded from MG-12 to 1.6's, but you might need to drive the sub off the reciver for DTS disks.
I am waiting for my 3.6's to come in, I plan on putting them in the front. For the time being, I have a set of 1.5's that I picked up used that are going to be used for the rears, and the MGCC for the center. I've heard people using a MMG on the side for the center, but also heard that due to the dispersion pattern, that this setup tended to beam the voices to a narrow location. I'm pretty happy with the Maggie center channel, although some people will tell you otherwise. Listen to it to make your decision. The one thing I can say for sure is that some sort of Maggie is almost required for a HT system with Maggie mains, there's nothing else that can keep up with it and timbre match properly. I've also heard of some people not using a center channel, instead mixing it into the mains. Haven't played with this...I also have a Velodyne, the HGS-18. I don't plan on using this sub at all for music, as I plan on getting a pair of Vandersteen 2Qw subs to run up front, this will match much nicer (as they are quicker, with three 8" subs in each box). Very nice sub for movies. Very powerful, and goes extremely low (there's a scene in The Haunting that the only thing that can be heard is the room shaking, and your chest being pounded) with plenty of power at 15-25hz (more and more movies are starting to take advantage of this).
I'm pretty happy with the results so far, as the soundstage is phenominal, and the bass is extremely powerful. Let us know what you decide on.
Brian
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
