Monitor 70 Questions about drivers...

alettiere

I recently sold off my TSi400 towers and CS10 center channel and made a mild upgrade to a CS2 and a pair of Monitor 70s. I initially wanted the Tsi500s, but since its matching center channel (CS20) is too big for my center channel cabinet, I had to settle for the older Monitor series. In addition, I have two Polk MC80s in the ceiling for my rears, a PSW505 sub, and a new Yamaha 1050 Aventage receiver. I have a pretty small living room, so I think I'll be more than satisfied with my setup.

I only have one tower (the second will be here next week). I was a little concerned, as my box looked to take a pretty hard beating via UPS and wanted to test to make sure that everything was working properly. Forgive me, as my audio knowledge is limited, but I noticed that at conservative volume of regular music or movies, the majority of the sound was coming out of the top two drivers and tweeter, with not much coming out of the bottom two. Initially, I feared that maybe the bottom two drivers were not working. I guess I assumed they would all "vibrate" equally when I placed my hands on them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but after doing more research, it seems that while Polk refers to the speakers as having four mid/low range drivers, the top two drivers are technically for mid-range frequencies, while the bottom two are for low-range frequencies (woofers) that are really only going to come alive whenever heavy bass comes into play (especially if the sub is off). I have everything crossed at 80hz and I guess since the lower notes are all going to the sub, those bottom drivers really don't get much of a work out, which is why I didn't feel much coming out of them - just a tad. It wasn't until I switched my AVR to Pure Audio and ran some bass tests did I notice them really starting to come to life. So, the top two are for mid-level, and the bottom two are for the bass. Do I have this right?

One last question. I'm curious: When I switch to Pure Audio on my AVR for music, does it matter if I have my speakers set to Large or Small (they are set to Small) in my AVR settings, or does this become irrelevant during Pure Audio mode?

tonyb

Depends on if you want to use the subwoofer when in 2 channel. Different receivers process the signal differently so read the manual to make sure the subwoofer can be incorporated in the Pure Audio mode.

If not....then yes, set them to large. Personally, I like floor standing speakers set to large anyway, they sound fuller to my ears. If you do set them to large, the receiver may not let you use it's crossover because it's sending a full signal to them. If that's the case, use the crossover on the sub and lower it some so that it only handles those booms in your movie playback. If your room is that small, you really only want that sub to kick in during movies anyway, the speakers should do well for music on their own. Too much lower bass in a small room will overload the room and the bass will sound bloated or muddy.

cnh

As Tony says it depends on the receiver. On my Onkyo PURE AUDIO turns off the sub so the full range is sent to the Monitor 70s. That can be a problem if you do NOT have enough power to run those towers full range. I use an Onkyo TX-SR 805 which can hit a legitimate 130 watts x 2 and probably hit peaks at 165 x 2. This is the minimum power for getting acceptable two channel sound from these. And even with this, the addition of a 200 watt x 2 power amp fills out the M70s bottom end even more!

Not sure what PURE AUDIO on the Aventage defaults to, maybe someone who runs one can chime in? But I would assume setting the fronts to Large will probably due something similar to the Onkyo?

Nightfall

"Pure Direct" bypasses tone controls, sound processing features, and shuts off some things like the front panel. I believe channel separation and distortion are both improved. All settings become irrelevant in "Pure Direct". Use it for 2 channel listening.

alettiere

Yes, the sub deactivates automatically on Pure Direct listening. So, I guess with music, I will use that instead of the 2 channel stereo field.

Also, is what I asked about the drivers accurate? Top two for mid-level and bottom two for low?

My Yamaha Aventage 1050 is listed as 110 watts per channel with two channels. So, you're saying that this isn't enough? I was told not to over-obsess with the statistics of that information. I was torn between the Aventage and a Pioneer with 120 watts and the Onkyo 838, which I believe is listed at 130. Both are cheaper than the 1K Yamaha by 200-300 dollars. I was told that as long as I'm at 100 watts or over, unless I'm trying to aggravate the entire neighborhood, I should be fine.

Nightfall

If you aren't trying to break the windows, you'll be fine. You will find improvements with a separate amp, though. I have the older version of your AVR and my speakers dip much lower in impedance than yours and I haven't had any issues.

cnh

alettiere wrote: »

Yes, the sub deactivates automatically on Pure Direct listening. So, I guess with music, I will use that instead of the 2 channel stereo field.

Also, is what I asked about the drivers accurate? Top two for mid-level and bottom two for low?

My Yamaha Aventage 1050 is listed as 110 watts per channel with two channels. So, you're saying that this isn't enough? I was told not to over-obsess with the statistics of that information. I was torn between the Aventage and a Pioneer with 120 watts and the Onkyo 838, which I believe is listed at 130. Both are cheaper than the 1K Yamaha by 200-300 dollars. I was told that as long as I'm at 100 watts or over, unless I'm trying to aggravate the entire neighborhood, I should be fine.

Polk describes the crossover for those as a 2.5 way cascade crossover. So yes, the bottom drivers kick in fully at whatever that point is, whereas the upper drivers fall off more gradually working with the tweeter to highlight the mids a bit more. But since I've never actually seen that crossover I am not sure if just the TOP mid-bass driver above the tweeter is so wired and the bottom three play together, or if the two top drivers above and below the tweeter as so crossed over! Perhaps someone who knows, or Polk could clarify that?

alettiere

Nightfall wrote: »

If you aren't trying to break the windows, you'll be fine. You will find improvements with a separate amp, though. I have the older version of your AVR and my speakers dip much lower in impedance than yours and I haven't had any issues.

Well, now I'm a little curious, but also a little confused - as I've always just done the basic AVR setup of letting it power everything. If I did this, I would be separately amplifying JUST the two towers, correct? Not my additional speakers and sub.

So, let's say that I obtained an Emotiva Audio XPA-200 to power the Monitor 70s exclusively, utilizing the pre-outs on the Yamaha, but keeping the remaining speakers (center, rears, sub) running off the receiver directly. I'm assuming this would benefit two channel stereo listening when they're the only two speakers being used, but does it also help with 5.1 listening? I'm just imagining the towers running so much power from the separate amp, that they'd be overpowering everything else - although I guess after I re-run my calibration (I assume you can still do this), that it would balance everything out correctly, yes?

F1nut

although I guess after I re-run my calibration (I assume you can still do this), that it would balance everything out correctly, yes?

That is correct.

afterburnt

alettiere wrote: »

Nightfall wrote: »

If you aren't trying to break the windows, you'll be fine. You will find improvements with a separate amp, though. I have the older version of your AVR and my speakers dip much lower in impedance than yours and I haven't had any issues.

Well, now I'm a little curious, but also a little confused - as I've always just done the basic AVR setup of letting it power everything. If I did this, I would be separately amplifying JUST the two towers, correct? Not my additional speakers and sub.

So, let's say that I obtained an Emotiva Audio XPA-200 to power the Monitor 70s exclusively, utilizing the pre-outs on the Yamaha, but keeping the remaining speakers (center, rears, sub) running off the receiver directly. I'm assuming this would benefit two channel stereo listening when they're the only two speakers being used, but does it also help with 5.1 listening? I'm just imagining the towers running so much power from the separate amp, that they'd be overpowering everything else - although I guess after I re-run my calibration (I assume you can still do this), that it would balance everything out correctly, yes?

I read that the 1040 bench tested at somewhere around130 watts 2 channels driven.maybe that is true for the 1050. I also added a n xpa2 and did experience an in improvements in my 7.2 system however I experience d a much more substatial improvement ba adding an xpa3

afterburnt

that should have read xpa200 not an xpa2

alettiere

afterburnt wrote: »

alettiere wrote: »

Nightfall wrote: »

If you aren't trying to break the windows, you'll be fine. You will find improvements with a separate amp, though. I have the older version of your AVR and my speakers dip much lower in impedance than yours and I haven't had any issues.

Well, now I'm a little curious, but also a little confused - as I've always just done the basic AVR setup of letting it power everything. If I did this, I would be separately amplifying JUST the two towers, correct? Not my additional speakers and sub.

So, let's say that I obtained an Emotiva Audio XPA-200 to power the Monitor 70s exclusively, utilizing the pre-outs on the Yamaha, but keeping the remaining speakers (center, rears, sub) running off the receiver directly. I'm assuming this would benefit two channel stereo listening when they're the only two speakers being used, but does it also help with 5.1 listening? I'm just imagining the towers running so much power from the separate amp, that they'd be overpowering everything else - although I guess after I re-run my calibration (I assume you can still do this), that it would balance everything out correctly, yes?

I read that the 1040 bench tested at somewhere around130 watts 2 channels driven.maybe that is true for the 1050. I also added a n xpa2 and did experience an in improvements in my 7.2 system however I experience d a much more substatial improvement ba adding an xpa3

Unfortunately, the Emo's are just simply too big for my setup. My entertainment stand is split up by rectangular "cubes" and an XPA-5 will fit, but would only have about 1/4 inch of space. Not good.

Other options that I'm currently considering would be the Outlaw 500 (5 channels x 120 watts). This amp isn't quite as tall and will have better ventilation. But the real question is: would letting a 120x5 power amp actually be a worthy improvement from using just my Yamaha?

The second option would be to just get one of those 200 watt x 2 stereo amps for the towers and just let my receiver do the center and rears.

What do you think would be best?

alettiere

Correction: That's the Outlaw 5000 I mentioned.

tonyb

alettiere wrote: »

[
The second option would be to just get one of those 200 watt x 2 stereo amps for the towers and just let my receiver do the center and rears.

What do you think would be best?

This ^^^^......imho anyway.

afterburnt

alettiere wrote: »

afterburnt wrote: »

alettiere wrote: »

Nightfall wrote: »

If you aren't trying to break the windows, you'll be fine. You will find improvements with a separate amp, though. I have the older version of your AVR and my speakers dip much lower in impedance than yours and I haven't had any issues.

Well, now I'm a little curious, but also a little confused - as I've always just done the basic AVR setup of letting it power everything. If I did this, I would be separately amplifying JUST the two towers, correct? Not my additional speakers and sub.

So, let's say that I obtained an Emotiva Audio XPA-200 to power the Monitor 70s exclusively, utilizing the pre-outs on the Yamaha, but keeping the remaining speakers (center, rears, sub) running off the receiver directly. I'm assuming this would benefit two channel stereo listening when they're the only two speakers being used, but does it also help with 5.1 listening? I'm just imagining the towers running so much power from the separate amp, that they'd be overpowering everything else - although I guess after I re-run my calibration (I assume you can still do this), that it would balance everything out correctly, yes?

I read that the 1040 bench tested at somewhere around130 watts 2 channels driven.maybe that is true for the 1050. I also added a n xpa2 and did experience an in improvements in my 7.2 system however I experience d a much more substatial improvement ba adding an xpa3

Unfortunately, the Emo's are just simply too big for my setup. My entertainment stand is split up by rectangular "cubes" and an XPA-5 will fit, but would only have about 1/4 inch of space. Not good.

Other options that I'm currently considering would be the Outlaw 500 (5 channels x 120 watts). This amp isn't quite as tall and will have better ventilation. But the real question is: would letting a 120x5 power amp actually be a worthy improvement from using just my Yamaha?

The second option would be to just get one of those 200 watt x 2 stereo amps for the towers and just let my receiver do the center and rears.

What do you think would be best?

I tried to correct the "xpa-2" typo, I meant to say an xpa-200 which is much smaller in power and dimensions.