Floorstanding speakers or Bookshelves w/ sub?

[l1il]

Except the obvious thumping from a 12 or 15 inch, do you feel like there is deep bass you are missing out on dual 8" ? Or are they going down close to 25-30Hz?

[GabrielT]

Except the obvious thumping from a 12 or 15 inch, do you feel like there is deep bass you are missing out on dual 8" ? Or are they going down close to 25-30Hz?

Most woofers even big ones aren't meant to produce much sub-bass. 

[dr_bowtie]

Except the obvious thumping from a 12 or 15 inch, do you feel like there is deep bass you are missing out on dual 8" ? Or are they going down close to 25-30Hz?

 

 two 8's will hit hard than 1-10" so basically 2-8's will hit like a 12" with the design of the cabinets and the speakers used they are pretty tuned for xmax and they are not a muddy bass but more punchy, pretty crisp for non high dollar speaker.

 

I'm amazed to the sound they produce under lower levels and wattage with the size of the cabinets.

[Waco]

There's no replacement for displacement!

[capthowdy575]

I might have missed this but whats going to be powering all this? what receiver

[l1il]

Hi Capt,

 

Your post belongs more in a different thread. Don't be shy to start another one.

 

We are talking about speakers, and we never talked about SPL yet. SPL is function of sensitivity, which is usually measured in dB SPL at 1m for 1 watt, the latter being fed by the amplifier.

 

Some speakers (monitors or computer gear) have amplifiers in their cabinet, which have advantages and inconvenients.

Receivers are mostly for home theater setups while integrated amplifiers (look at NAD, Crest Audio, Crown, Cambridge and so on) are brute amplifiers with a gain button only that can feed stereo speakers.

 

There is different hardware for different purposes.

[ohldboy]

Generally it is easier to get a good price on a pair of floor standing speakers with quality drivers, relatively easy to drive.

"Matching" satellites and subwoofer can be challenging or rewarding, satellite placement (often stands required ) is important.

"Serious" subs can take serious power.

It is a shop for matching bits or purchase "all together."

There is no inherent magic involved.

[l1il]

What I like about speakers, is that contrary to upgrading a computer, you discover new things even in old stuff.

How many songs you listened to, on the same media, and just by upgrading your speakers you notice instruments

that previously just seemed to "blend in" ?

 

This is one reason that always give me the upgrading bug in front of speakers. I always hope to discover / feel new things.

That guitar plucking, that harmonic in the voice that makes it sound natural, hearing the hammer hitting the string in a piano song,

hearing the synthetic strings in a techno sound. I feel spoiled and I couldn't go back to a lower grade system.

 

The main disadvantage is that non-remastered CDs (thinking of my old Deep Purple one) sounds like poop. It's muddy, guitar is washed
away, but only for the first half of the CD. Then I can hear that they have taken better originals.

 

My bias toward stereo against 5.1 speakers is that my left ear is weak. I can hardly position sound, but my right ear is good enough to
pick on any subtle sound difference. So to me, stereo speakers are fulfilling enough, and in general their frequency response is closer

to a flat one than most 5.1 systems. Having a sub accompanied by small speakers does not feel natural to me, and there is always a band of frequency

that tends to be misrepresented. I also might be biased because I haven't hear a single high end HT setup, it could convince me otherwise.

[GabrielT]

A high end HT set up might not impress you like you think it would. I have decent enough hearing for someone who likes guns and loud music and loud things in general, but I almost always feel like 5.1 or 7.1 feels unnatural. I prefer stereo and 2.1, almost all music is recorded this way too. The people on the HT forums all say I just have to get used to it but I just don't like it.

 

My HT sub is actually IN the cabinet I built for it. It has two matching series satellites wired in series. It's nearly identical to having a 3.1 setup but to be honest it is still 2.1 channel. The sub woofer plays through the center of the room. The sub has a wonderful crossover, and it blend in so nice. E

 

The cabinet was an old Montgomery Ward counsol HiFi that I picked up non-working at a second hand store for $20. I have about $350 total in the project but I really love the way it turned out. Not shown are the 4 pounds of fiber fill I stuffed in there. 

 

 

[l1il]

Just noticed after careful examination, how is that receiver standing there? The legs seems to be in the air, the unit looks like it is leaning a bit forward.

 

You live dangerously!

 

Also you seem to like bass with this pair of 8" speakers (to my eye) and two subs.

 

Are those two speakers cabinets home-made from MDF sheets??

 

Have you managed your crossover so that the voice are not going thru the sub? I mean except Gangalf's voice , hahahaha!

[GabrielT]

Answers are in red, This is like floor standing super center with satellites. 

 

Just noticed after careful examination, how is that receiver standing there? The legs seems to be in the air, the unit looks like it is leaning a bit forward.

Magic. It deceives the eye actually, there are little silver feet on my receiver. 

 

You live dangerously! 

Yes I do  I have ADD/ADHD depending on which shrink you ask, impulse control and thinking things through is not one of my strengths. 

 

Also you seem to like bass with this pair of 8" speakers (to my eye) and two subs.

The are 3 way Sony SS3000 speakers with 8 inch woofers. They share the same passive cross over as my sony ss1000 bookshelves. Ony one sub, the sub in the first picture sits at the center of the the cabinet.

 

Are those two speakers cabinets home-made from MDF sheets??

Yep, the stock ones were too tall and too wide to fit. I remade them to fit with the exact same airspace as the orginals

 

Have you managed your crossover so that the voice are not going thru the sub? I mean except Gangalf's voice , hahahaha!

Yes, the sub has two crossovers.

It is not wired completely in the 2nd picture. The speakers are actually crossed over by a the subwoofers internal circuitry at 75hz. It is a 12db per octave x-over. The sub itself has an active X-over also at 12db per octave and I have it set at about 70HZ. 

 

The subwoofer is powered but you plug the speaker wires for the left and right channel into the back then run them to the speakers than the ground back to the receiver. The subwoofer plays the signal off of the speakers via some extremely complicated magic that I don't know how to explain. 

 

The is no voice over the sub except for added Low Frequency Effects such as Smaugs voice. Too be honest it functions as one GIANT speaker most of the time. It was built for fun but I really like the way it turned out. To be honest I am going to build another if I ever manage to find an identical HiFi console and run them in stereo. 

 

I have speakers wired to 16ohms impedance and it sounds very good though they are power hungry at this level of impedance. Let me tell you, wiring this one made my head hurt. 

Edited August 6, 2014 by GabrielTessin

[l1il]

Just bought / modded speaker stands that are two feet tall for my computer room. I don't feel that there is a dip in the mid-range like I previously had with them sitting on the floor. They are more ear-level now. I hear more the direct wave instead of the reflections all around.

 

I kept them near the back wall to keep the same bass presence. A 6 inch speaker doesn't have a lot of bass so the wall helps a bit. Plus, I hear more the direct wave than the reflected one like I was previously. Guitar sounds very, very nice now.

 

Where I went to buy the stands (Son X plus in Qu