just looking for suggestions on setup

faulkton

This is what i have, perhaps poor choices but i bought spur of the moment.
Yamaha A2050 AVR 9.2 w/Atmos
Monitor 70 & C2 fcr
Monitor 40's currently behind me and i have never been satisfied. Thinking about moving them to sides.

I also have a BIC f12 which was my primary sub, which has been ok but I've never been too impressed musically. I come from a car audio SQL background. They're ok on movies.

To add to or replace the BIC i bought a Boston acoustics MSubwoofer.

Recently bought a set of Focal Bird's which will wall or ceiling mount, and a pair of focal Sib 5. which will also wall, table or ceiling mount. I intended for these to be my Atmos/ DSU speakers in a 5.2.4 set up or maybe 5.1.4.

I had focal car audio 3 ways in the past and was always impressed.

I always thought the monitor 70s were under powered with my old Yamaha RX-v867 95wpc and hoped the step up to 145w on the aventage might help. If not I was considering adding a emotiva xpa3 or replacing the monitor 70's.

Any advice on how i should set this up? Should i ceiling mount the focals or try them on top of the fronts as a reflective Atmos solution?

I'm just a newb who got caught in the cyber Monday sales trap who clicked buy before really giving it much thought.


any advice or input would be so much appreciated!!

tonyb

Welcome man, some of this will be hard to address since we can't see the room and what you have to work with.

I see no problems with the Focals as surround/atmos duty but as always the front 3 speakers should be timbre matched, which they are so far in your case.

I think, and my opinion of course, is to move away from the directional speakers in the surround and sides and hit up a speaker like the FX series which are bipole/dipole. They will give you a more wider surround field....if that's what your after.

The Yamaha Advantage line is nice, and should power what you have nicely. I wouldn't personally choose Emotiva as I find them a tad harsh on the highs for music but they do well for HT. look for a used Parasound or B&k amp if you still feel a need for more power as they gel well with Polk speakers.

Your used to car stereo.....home audio is a different animal with many more choices. People seem to prefer SVS/HSU/Velodyne subs....I like Revel or Rel myself but any of these are a cut above the Bic imho.

If something doesn't sound right with the gear you have, maybe take a look at the settings in the receiver. Every input needs to be set up and the various sound enhancements are endless. Check your crossover settings too, make sure it's not set too high/low and make sure your not using both the crossover in the receiver and the one on the sub. In your case, a crossover of around 80 should suffice but that's not written in stone. Play with it, don't go higher though, go lower. Speaker levels can also be adjusted. As always too, the room and placement will play a big part in the sound you'll get. Doesn't hurt to monkey around with that either.

Always use a good quality cabling too, everything matters in the chain to some degree, it's not always the speakers fault.

cnh

The Aventage should help. And you are right. It is VERY EASY to under-power a set of M-70s. Been there. For best sound a 200 watt per channel or better amp would really fill out the 70s, but short of that. A powerful AVR, I use an Onkyo TX-SR 805 (51 lbs worth)-setting the crossover to 80 Hz does a reasonable job of powering the 70s for HT. Still not as musical as they would be with an external power amp, but OK!

faulkton

thanks guys.. I am stuck replacog rcl or ampimg th monitors. I've actually been quite impressed will th them, as far as SW and imaging. But musically I have away thought they struggled at high volume.


The room is pretty normal 13' wide, 16" long, ecept it doe have a galley kitchen off the back which is 5 ' wide and 9 more feet deep. No treatment except couches and rugs.

I guess I at a cross road.. replace the monitor or amp them. I'd hate to amp them and have it be barely noticeable and I would also hate to spend $3K and fee it was a lateral move. It'd feel terrible if I spent $3k on fcl and felt like I I did not get a up substantive upgrade, feel like it only sounds a little better or even worse the same. I'm a value VS noticeable difference type guy.

IT seems like there are alot more stereo amps than 3 channel, Is it OK to amp only the L/R and run rub and kwr ,

I also never really liked the the f12, Sucked in nusic and was ok in HT duty, but for the price it was just my bet . . I think I got ripped on the Mub with its 10" and 8" passive drivers for $500 BNIB with 1 year warranty.

I was thinking about xing very th e BN=in like 40-50hx and then xover th Msubwoofer at the standard 80? goo idea =? terrible dea?

I went Internet direct for my lRPL-15"S from soundsplinter/

I am not a new when it comes to SQL for cars and in fact ran several high end 3 way Comps including focqwww in customer fiber glasses necousts.Now it's time to tackle the home audio.


Thanks a mnilion!!

rpf65

I would move the 40's to surround duty, sides. Then I would sell both those subs and get
http://www.svsound.com/collections/sealed-subwoofers/products/sb-1000

or
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-1mk2.html

Either of these 2 will be an upgrade over the 2 you currently have. Very good performance for the money.

faulkton

rpf65 wrote: »

I would move the 40's to surround duty, sides. Then I would sell both those subs and get
http://www.svsound.com/collections/sealed-subwoofers/products/sb-1000

or
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-1mk2.html

Either of these 2 will be an upgrade over the 2 you currently have. Very good performance for the money.

The area I live, really sucks for resale. I mean the closest Best Buy even is three and a half hours away, each way. So I wouldn't get **** for either one of them. I'm stuck with them. Whether that means I eventually replace the Boston Acoustic in another room or what.

I really fell for the salesman on the Boston Acoustic, I mean $1,000 sub for only 500 on Cyber Monday? Sounds like a winner, until you start to do some research and realize you were perhaps a tad manic when you bought all this stuff. You think adding another Boston eng sub would help or just be throwing good money after bad?

And are have moved the monitor 40 is two sites around, hoping that makes them more palatable. I know that was in reply to someone else, but why multi-quote or take up to post to answer such a simple question.

ken brydson

rpf65 wrote: »

I would move the 40's to surround duty, sides. Then I would sell both those subs and get
http://www.svsound.com/collections/sealed-subwoofers/products/sb-1000

or
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-1mk2.html

Either of these 2 will be an upgrade over the 2 you currently have. Very good performance for the money.

Agreed..

tonyb

faulkton wrote: »

thanks guys.. I am stuck replacog rcl or ampimg th monitors. I've actually been quite impressed will th them, as far as SW and imaging. But musically I have away thought they struggled at high volume.


The room is pretty normal 13' wide, 16" long, ecept it doe have a galley kitchen off the back which is 5 ' wide and 9 more feet deep. No treatment except couches and rugs.

I guess I at a cross road.. replace the monitor or amp them. I'd hate to amp them and have it be barely noticeable and I would also hate to spend $3K and fee it was a lateral move. It'd feel terrible if I spent $3k on fcl and felt like I I did not get a up substantive upgrade, feel like it only sounds a little better or even worse the same. I'm a value VS noticeable difference type guy.

IT seems like there are alot more stereo amps than 3 channel, Is it OK to amp only the L/R and run rub and kwr ,

I also never really liked the the f12, Sucked in nusic and was ok in HT duty, but for the price it was just my bet . . I think I got ripped on the Mub with its 10" and 8" passive drivers for $500 BNIB with 1 year warranty.

I was thinking about xing very th e BN=in like 40-50hx and then xover th Msubwoofer at the standard 80? goo idea =? terrible dea?

I went Internet direct for my lRPL-15"S from soundsplinter/

I am not a new when it comes to SQL for cars and in fact ran several high end 3 way Comps including focqwww in customer fiber glasses necousts.Now it's time to tackle the home audio.


Thanks a mnilion!!

You don't have to spend 3k. In our own FS section is a very sweet Parasound amp for 450 bucks if it hasn't sold yet. Yes, it's ok to run a 2 channel amp and let the receiver handle the center and surrounds.

One more thing to try, set the front speakers to large instead of small. It should have a fuller sound to them that way.

All the sub suggestions are good too, should be a significant improvement for you.