Trip to Tweeter

MacLeod

This is probably no big thing to most of you guys but it sure impressed me.

Went to Tweeter today to snag some Dynamat and went in to do my usual drooling over the RTi12's and the salesman asked if Id ever heard their "theater room". I said no so he took me in there expecting maybe some high dollar gizmos but nothing really stellar. I mean how much better could they sound than the RTi12's?

It was JBL Performance Series with four $1700/each speakers as mains AND surrounds, a pair of $1800/each 14" subs at each front corner and a $1700 center all powered by a $5000 amp (I think it was JBL too). Man this thing SMOKED! It not only sounded clean and clear as a bell but it was hellaciously loud! The overall SQ was no better than the LSi's or even RTi's but the power and clarity at this volume was amazing. It was like being in a movie theater!

Man, if I ever won the lottery and lived way out in the sticks, a set of these speakers with a Pioneer Plasma and Id never leave the house! Im sure there are much more impressive speakers out there but, to date, these are the most awesome Ive heard.

drummer81

I have heard only one system in my life that ever compared to an actual theatre, and the reciever, both external amps, and the cd player were all made by NAC. The speakers were a pair of polks, this was back before i was into polk ausio, but these speakers were six feet tall, they had 4 10" subs each, 2 horn tweeters, and two 6 1/2 " mid ranges. we played some atari teenage riot on this thing, I kid you not, the aluminum mini blinds in the room were shaking in waves and the pictures and plaques on the walls all fell down. absolutly incredible.

Toxis

I actually sell those JBL's at my work. Unfortunately, the only thing Harman International will let us use them on is the HK 7300. I am completely NOT impressed.

F1nut

The sound quality at the movie theaters is mediocre at best and easily surpassed. The emphasis in the lower regions is completely unnatural, much like the sound in the typical Civic these days.

VR3

Tweeter completely unimpresses me...

I like specialty shops...

As for theater sound??? No comment...

There is SO much more to the quality of sound than clarity and detail... it is nice to have both those traits, but it still dosn't make a speaker that great...

Spawndn72

I went to a place in Nashville about 10 years ago (Audio/Visual Environments). They were a high end shop and had three different theater rooms set-up. The guy asked if I wanted to hear their top of the line room. I said there was no way I could afford even one of the products in there. He said who cares, come on.

We watched about 15 mins of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "True Lies" We got to watch the scene with Jets blowing up the bridge and the two chicks fighting in the limo. The one thing I will never forget was the sound of that champagne bottle hitting that chick in the face. Yes, the bass was outstanding with the jets blowing up the bridge, but the crack/ping sound that bottle made, made me cringe. Granted I have never been in another home theater like that, but I have never heard a movie sound that good since.

The only thing I really remember about the setup was that they had 2 15" velodyne subs, a sun? overhead projector with a pull down screen, the movie was a laserdisc(no dvd yet), and I think the rest of the speakers were Mirage. But I might be mistaken about that. If I remember the whole setup cost $150,000 at the time.

george daniel

Not to dilute this ,, but in georgia Tweeter,aka Hi Fi Buys,has closed some of its stores/locations,,word around the campfire is that they are going to pull the plug on many more, has anyone else heard the same? confirm?

amulford

F1nut wrote:

The sound quality at the movie theaters is mediocre at best and easily surpassed. The emphasis in the lower regions is completely unnatural, much like the sound in the typical Civic these days.

That was funny

McLoki

MacLeod wrote:

The overall SQ was no better than the LSi's or even RTi's but the power and clarity at this volume was amazing. It was like being in a movie theater!

I would attribute the power and clarity to the amp more than the speakers. (ok, some to the speakers) - For alot less, listen to the RTi or LSi line with a boatload of power behind them and you will be astounded.

I have decided bass performance is not as hard to get as many people think, all it takes is: Sub able to hit 20hz cleanly, Room Design, EQ, and abundant amounts of luck.(maybe some combo of 3 out of the 4 mentioned)

If you get in the neighboorhood stop by sometime. You will be shocked what some little LSi7's and a small SVS can do....

Michael

MacLeod

OK, so these speakers suck. They sure impressed the hell out of me.

The emphasis in the lower regions is completely unnatural, much like the sound in the typical Civic these days

{Sigh} Sadly this is true. Its a ashame that SQ now takes a back seat to chrome flames and multiple 18" subs.

There is a competition being held locally in Sept and when I checked into signing up, I was informed there wouldnt be a SQ class, only SPL. While a good DB drag is fun to watch, I dont consider it car audio at all. I mean most of these SPL rigs have ONLY subs!

He said he may hold a small class for SQ if he can get some more people interested.

mantis

The JBL system is powered by a Lexicon preamp and amp. I find this system to sound really good for theater. I however things it's ok for Music.
For a deadicated theater setup properly, this system can and will impress many. In the store isn't really the best place to get an idea how good this system is.

High End JBL like this system is very good. The question is do you like it? Most people in here couldn't afford this system as it's pretty damn Pricey(myself included) But for those who can , they get one hell of a theater system.

This system also isn't designed for the Harry Home owners to install.
Dan

exalted512

Dan, why would it be hard to install?

and my g/f's civic has polk sr6500s in it. theyre not all bad!
-Cody

PolkThug

MacLeod wrote:

He said he may hold a small class for SQ if he can get some more people interested.

sad....

MacLeod

Tell me about it.

Ill not give up hope tho. There are still a lot of SQ purists in the car audio community even though the numbers are growing smaller. The industry (mag's and manufacturers) are trying to revitalize the SQ scene. There is a lot of enthusiasts that are tired of the dumbasses with chrome flames and inverted subs representing car audio. The best way to support it is to attend SQ competitions. I plan on doing so very soon as my system is nearly complete. Hopefully the fads will fade away and SQ will once again be what car audio is about.

VR3

Sadly, the HA market is suffering similar problems - on a different scale...

The future of Home Audio in the near future are speaker systems (RM Series, etc), HTIB, and 5.1 in one speaker deals -- look out, its coming in at full force.

Oh forgive me... I forgot to mention ALARM CLOCKS...

Lets check it off!

Polk Audio Count Down -

1) Clock Radio - CHECK
2) Speaker Systems - CHECK
3) HTIB (Once) - Somewhat Check
4) 5.1 In One - Maybe??? Wouldnt surprise me at all!!

Toxis

MacLeod wrote:

There is a competition being held locally in Sept and when I checked into signing up, I was informed there wouldnt be a SQ class, only SPL. While a good DB drag is fun to watch, I dont consider it car audio at all. I mean most of these SPL rigs have ONLY subs!

depends on the car really. If it's properly built for REAL spl, then I respect it only because I know how difficult it is to work the physics side of it out. But if it's just Harry Hoopty with his 4 15's in his explorer... WEAK! They have no clue about what it takes to build a REAL spl car.

MacLeod

That is a good point but still, I dont consider even the elite SPL competitors with their Astro vans filled with24 subs and 50 amps and no seats no longer to be car audio. The same goes for these idiotic demo cars like Alpine where they completely rip out the inside and rebuild a fiberglass interior with only one seat right in the middle. Whooppee. This isnt a car anymore. Why not just build a soundroom and put wheels on it.

As far as HTiaB, I dont have much of a problem with it. Most people couldnt care less about high end performance. As long as it doesnt detract from the performance of the higher end speakers I think its fine. I think there is nothing wrong with Polk coming out with entry level stuff as long as they keep the RTi's and LSi's performing at the level they are.

LiquidSound

Gotta love the Tweeter web site. No JBL..nor Polk for that matter. But they do sport Tivoli!!!

mantis

exalted512
If the system isn't properly setup, it isn't going to perform all that well. Like any system for that matter.
The preamp has alot of setup.
The subs are very powerful.

Dan

MacLeod

Yeah, the Tweeter webiste is pretty much worthless. They still list MB Quart car speakers and they havent carried those in a while. No Focal, no Polk.......

ledhed

Well, sounds like the one in chattanooga is better than Knoxville's-last time I was there they were still building and had 1 ONE!!! person who knew at least something about audio. It's a Sad Sad world out there...

MacLeod

The ones in Chatty seem to be farily knowledgable. Except for the Car Audio dept of course. I went in there about a month ago to play with the Focal and asked what model a particular one was since it didnt have a label, only a price. The blank stare was priceless. "K2 Power" I asked. Another blank stare then an affirmation.

The Home Audio guys seem to know their stuff though. When I was in there the guy knew the difference between the LSi7 and LSi9 was dual 5.25's without having to take the grill off.