FXiA6 disappointment. Comments please ?

Mongo

Gents,

Yesterday I received my expensive FXiA6`s from USA, I`m in Canada and couldn`t find a dealer here.

But, to be honest, I`m disappointed, I could barely notice that the speakers were in the listening room when watching some DTS 5.1 rock concert DVD`s.

I may say that my listening room is big but it is NOT acoustically prepared, it`s a regular room - actually, my home basement.

I wonder: are the FXiA6`s suitable only for the ones that have specially designed acoustic rooms ?

I have tried the listening position in bipole mode where the speakers are on my side and somewhat behind me, not exactly beside me (then dipole should be used) and not directly behind me.

Please, what are your personal comments ? I only listen to music, and I'm afraid that these speakers may be suitable for movies only, not music. :frown:

I wonder how the (easier to find and cheaper) RTiA3`s should perform in their place..:cool:

Comments are welcome,

Thanks so much,

Mongo

Toolfan66

I love my FXiA6's and have no issues with my concert DVD's/BluRay's/SACD's.

Keep in mind with concert videos the sound will be more at the front stage with most of the crowd noise coming from the surround's. Now with SACD's (5.1's) they re mixed to give you the feel of being surrounded with the music..

cfrizz

Have you calibrated them with the rest of the system? You can also go into the menu and turn them up from where ever the calibration put them.

gfong

What AVR you running them with? As stated above have you calibrated them? Did you try them with a movie and music?

I have the model down from them (A4's) and with multi-channel music or movies they still kick out the sound.

I also have RTi A3's but I found them too directional for my taste.

Seriously, it has to be in the set-up, as even using them in a basement they should be able to put out a lot of sound.

Ensure that they are set as your surround speakers in your AVR settings.

Try them in place of the RTi A9's so at least you will know that they can put out music!
The A6's are damn near identical in specs to the RTi A3's so they should be doing something for ya! .
Let us know how it goes.

mantis

What are you driving them with? Are they properly placed? Did you calibrate correctly?

They are a match to your current system.

Gulfstrings

There is some work that goes in to setting up your surrounds, but don't expect them to produce output equal to your fronts or center. Placement, setting selection and knowing what a surround is supposed to do will eventually allow these excellent speakers to earn your appreciation.

Even today I'll turn to my wife and ask, "Did you hear that? What was that?"

Or my fav is from Transformers where you can hear a part of the machine fall off in front of you then roll around behind you from right to left. Too cool.

Take your time, It's worth it.

mdaudioguy

It's either the source or the setup. A lot of concert DVDs have more crowd noise and less music coming through the surrounds.

Surround speakers are more or less noticeable, depending on the signal that's going to them. Try this - make sure everything is setup properly in your receiver menus, and then run your calibration. Make sure that all speakers are set to the same size (small or large, depending on your preference of including a crossover). Play some stereo music in 5-channel stereo mode - the output should be relatively the same as you walk around the room from speaker to speaker. Remember - if you stand directly in front of an FXi speaker, the drivers are aimed to either side of you, so they may not sound quite as loud. This will at least let you know that they are functioning properly.

The FXis are very capable speakers, but their unique configuration is geared toward providing ambient sound for HT use. I used to play around with DSP modes for 2-channel music, but quickly grew weary of it. My rig is now setup for surround modes for movies and 2-channel stereo for music sources.

Mongo

Thanks to everybody that replied.

Well, I have a Yamaha receiver, 100W per channel. As stated in the FXiA6 manual, I have set the surrounds to SMALL in the receiver set up; but I must admit I don`t know well what you guys call as "calibrating". I've gone through the "speakers set up" menu in the Yamaha, where I can set the size of each speaker, and that's all I've done.

I have also tried with the Brothers in Arms 5.1 DVD Audio, and Mark Knopfler`s "Shangri-la" 5.1 SACD, I admit I expected more from the FXiA6`s. I'll take another test and will return here, in the meanwhile, please send your comments and ideas.

Thanks,
Mongo

newrival

you should test the channel levels of your surrounds. If you don't have an auto room-adjusting setup in your AVR there should at least be a speaker setup with a test tone to callibrate sound level at the listening position. Also, the problem could be the material, as stated earlier. Set your AVR to "all channel stereo" or whatever is similar and then you'll get an idea of the performance potential in relation to the rest of your system.

Mongo

newrival wrote: »

you should test the channel levels of your surrounds. If you don't have an auto room-adjusting setup in your AVR there should at least be a speaker setup with a test tone to callibrate sound level at the listening position. Also, the problem could be the material, as stated earlier. Set your AVR to "all channel stereo" or whatever is similar and then you'll get an idea of the performance potential in relation to the rest of your system.

Thanks, yes, there`s no room-adjusting function but there`s a calibration function.

I'll try with Pink Floyd`s Dark Side SACD and see how it goes....

Thanks,

Andre

Sherardp

cfrizz wrote: »

Have you calibrated them with the rest of the system? You can also go into the menu and turn them up from where ever the calibration put them.

+1 on this. Use an SPL meter and bump up the channel trim on them a tad. My fxi3s perform very well. Surely those A6's should be doing the trick, they are huge surrounds.