Fixing to buy a new amp

[gadgtfreek]

Really liking how cool the AV7702 stays. I have used two different AVR's as preamps and they ran much warmer.

I also notice I cannot be as liberal with the volume on the 7ii's as the previous towers. I mean both were run by XT32 and set to 75db's with test tons, but these horns are in your face.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I tried out some Pure/Direct multi channel tonight on HDTV stuff, vs the DD+XT32 mode. Audyssey smokes Pure for multichannel stuff, its not even close. I still like 2 channel pure for music.

 

[gadgtfreek]

RC64II is in the trunk and ready to go home!

 

[gadgtfreek]

 

[teachsac]

You need as bigger room

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

I may need smaller speakers

 

[teachsac]

I take it no-one needs to get into the little closet there I have the same problem in my bedroom getting into my walk-in. Just got a longer sub cable so I can move it to the other side of the dresser. Now I just have to move the dresser to get it plugged in.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thats actually the AC blower access

It opens fine, it just doesn't look like it in that image. It barely swings over the sub and the R7II is off to the side.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Another angle

 

[teachsac]

OK. See it at that angle.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

Poor design having the blower right there, but I have the speakers and power to drown it out

 

[gadgtfreek]

Well, I cranked it all up Wed night with Pacific Rim, and while it sounded good, at some times the sound seemed a little congested, or mashed. It had already been suggested to me to spread the 7ii's out, so I did that last night. Fronts are 10.5' apart and 10.3' from MLP.

Need to run Audyssey again and will crank it with American Sniper Sunday.

I am also going to order a certified Umik-1 from cross spectrum and download REW. Since I am having to level match the speakers after XT32 runs and bottoms the center adjustment out, Id rather have a very accurate mic. At $100, it's not a bad buy, and using REW will allow me to see how well XT32 is doing, and how any speaker placement affects XT32 results.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Welp, spreading them out fixed it! Got XT32 run, level matched everything and watched some DVR's.

Using CSI as an example for 5.1, the center sounds like it is coming from the screen. When the fronts are playing the same thing, they sound balanced, but when they aren't, you can tell where stuff is coming from. For example, at a police station, sirens were heard outside out of the front right while someone typing on a keyboard was clear as day out of the left.

When in stereo, if I stand at the MLP, it actually sounds like the sound is coming from the screen, not the left and right fronts. Perfectly balanced.

Another example, center sounds are also more segregated from right and left, doesn't sound like it they are tripping over each other. In a jail scene there was some loud discussion in the center, and some jail doors opening and shutting in the left. Could be easily distinguished, while nothing going on in front right.

 

[gadgtfreek]

After getting everything moved around, here are XT32 my measurements:



FR 10.3 feet

FL 10.4 feet (about 10.5 feet apart from each other)

Center 9.6 feet

Sub 1 12.2 feet

Sub 2 12.0 feet





FR -7.5db

Center -12db

FL -8db

Subs (after boost) -3.0db on both



New reference volume is -2.0db because of center bottoming out. I found it to be 77db with 0.0 reference volume and a test tone, so I adjusted the other speakers up +2db to match. Subs were originally set to -10.0db, which is what I wanted. After boosting them 2.0db for the center, and then another 5.0db because I think it sounds better, I end up at -3.0db.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Watched American Sniper last night, which contains a great audio track. The channel separation and clarity of these speakers is amazing. Now that everything is placed properly and calibrated, I could not be more happy with the SQ.

The larger compression drivers in the 7II and 64II make an obvious difference, and the 64II is one meaty center. It handles everything in loud action scense with clean sound.

 

[Hutch1814]

RC64II on order!

I just sold a RC64II...let it go for $125. I could've kept it but I'm running icons and it was given to me as payment for some side work. I was expecting store credit so I could pick up another SW112 but got shafted with the RC instead. Couldn't got a lot more but I didnt really care

 

[teachsac]

Dang. Whoever got it got a great deal.

S~

 

[teachsac]

Watched American Sniper last night, which contains a great audio track. The channel separation and clarity of these speakers is amazing. Now that everything is placed properly and calibrated, I could not be more happy with the SQ.

The larger compression drivers in the 7II and 64II make an obvious difference, and the 64II is one meaty center. It handles everything in loud action scense with clean sound.

Yep. when you get it set right, the staging is awesome. Love my Wharfedales, too, because of the staging/separation.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

It's just amazing what spreading them out more did. The 82ii's with the smaller horn couldnt do it well, but these things obviously needed the room.

And that is a steal for a 64II, I paid $850 for mine new, and that was a lucky deal from a dealer on a forum that helped me out.

 

[gadgtfreek]

New toy. I am starting to think the Outlaw 7500 is too much amp for my gear, considering it bottoms out the center and almost bottoms the fronts out when I run XT32. Level matching for a bottomed out level setting is a PITA and it changes my reference volume. I grabbed the 7125 new from Amazon (this is the amp I had for awhile) and can sell the 7500 for more than I spent on the 7125. The 7500 is about 240wpc all channels driven, and the 7125 is about 140wpc all channels driven. Since I do not use 7 channels, it will have even more headroom than that which will be more than enough power for my Klipsch speakers. I also gain my shelf back since it is not near as tall as the 7500. Single 1.6kva toroidal transformer and 20k uf capacitance per channel.

I enjoyed the 7500 but it was more upgrade than I needed, I just always wanted one...