NE1 use SR6500 and C400.4?

myork

If you have the sr6500s and a polk amp - are you using the active x-over in th amp?
Polk shows the x-over as being calibrated for the MMC series, but doesnt say anything about the SRs.

I want to swap out the factory bose speakers and considering a few options.

My easiest solution (other than not doing anything) would be to get a set of Infinity Kappa 60.7cs components to match the 2ohm ratings of the bose amp.

But I have also considered ditching the whole bose setup, in which case I was thinking either Polk or CDT audio.

Any opinions?

PolkThug

I would definitely use the x-overs that come with the SR's. It is very important to use the correct xover for the specific speaker set.

audiobliss

For starters, definitley don't go with Infinity speakers planning to use the Bose amps. I can't imagine that'd work out too well. Also, don't get Infinity speakers planning to use another amp. Choose Polk.

Ok, enough bias...I seriously wouldn't use the Bose amps; I'd ditch them and get a stand-alone unit. The SR6500 are great speakers, and the C400.4 would be a good match for them. However, I disagree with PT; I wouldnt' use the stock crossovers. I might use the ones on the amp, but only for precautionary measures (as in, looser settings on the amp, to protect the speakers just in case), but I would use the crossovers in my HU.

Now, that requires that you have a pretty decent HU with a fairly extensive crossover network. I personally wouldn't dream of using a separate amp to biamp components without having either a HU with an extensive crossover, or an external, aftermarket crossover.

PolkThug

audiobliss wrote:

However, I disagree with PT; I wouldnt' use the stock crossovers.

Blasphemy!!!! You're making Polk engineers cry. :mad:

MacLeod

P Thuggy is dead on.

The guys at Polk went thru a lot of time and effort to design them to get the best out of the SR's.

You can still use the crossovers on the 400.4 as it is an excellent crossover network however dont use the Pre-EQ switch. That is designed for the Momo speakers which crossover at 2.6K Hz I believe and the SR's are designed to be cut off at 3.1K Hz. So if you use the amps x-overs make sure youve got the tweeter high passed higher than 3000 Hz.

Still, I would use the SR crossovers. They are set right, plus they have a very cool protection fuse in them to keep you from overpowering those wonderful tweeters. Plus, those crossovers are look great and would be a shame to be sitting in your garage somewhere!

audiobliss

Bah-humbug.

I still would never use a passive crossover as long as my HU had an extensive crossover. And I would much rather have an active one than use the passive one, if I didn't have such a HU.

But, this is just like audio...all subjective. Sure, the engineers tweaked those passive crossovers to death;...but did they tweak them to suit your ear?

bknauss

The SR x-overs aren't the simple x-overs you'd find in a regular set of components or even the good x-overs on some amps... use the bi-amp inputs on the SR x-overs and all the channels on the C400.

audiobliss

And there it is, straight from the man.

myork

Yup - thanx for the input!

bknauss

Well, I'm not "the man" for speaker crossovers... I'm just "a man" I guess.

howie777

I have this setup and I use the active cross over on the mids, I high pass em at 50 Hz. I don't use the active cross over on the tweeters though. Both use the stock cross overs as well, and this seems to work ok.

I'm personally not thrilled with the SR's. I need to do some more work before I say anything bad about the speakers themselves. I have a lot of issues with my source and am using some really cheap RCAs right now that I'm very unimpressed with. I have some Tsunami Ultras that I just have not gotten around to throwing in (half off or more due to last years models). And for some reason my iPod sounds horrible on some albums and very good on others. Not sure if it is consistant or not but all my albums were burned using the same settings. This is played through an Alpine with the iPod box (2004 model not the new one) I also have to get rid of some vibrations and dampen the doors more. Then throw in the Altimas major road noise and its hard to judge the SRs badley considering the conditions they work under. There are some times when they do sound pretty sweet, but like I said, I have a lot of other issues to overcome before I can really hear them.

Howie

Greg Peters

howie777 wrote:

I have this setup and I use the active cross over on the mids, I high pass em at 50 Hz. I don't use the active cross over on the tweeters though. Both use the stock cross overs as well, and this seems to work ok.

I'm personally not thrilled with the SR's. I need to do some more work before I say anything bad about the speakers themselves. I have a lot of issues with my source and am using some really cheap RCAs right now that I'm very unimpressed with. I have some Tsunami Ultras that I just have not gotten around to throwing in (half off or more due to last years models). And for some reason my iPod sounds horrible on some albums and very good on others. Not sure if it is consistant or not but all my albums were burned using the same settings. This is played through an Alpine with the iPod box (2004 model not the new one) I also have to get rid of some vibrations and dampen the doors more. Then throw in the Altimas major road noise and its hard to judge the SRs badley considering the conditions they work under. There are some times when they do sound pretty sweet, but like I said, I have a lot of other issues to overcome before I can really hear them.

Howie

Try to use some proper source CDs for critical listening- the SRs will sound their best if you don't put highly compressed mp3 files through them.

If many of the files on your iPod are downloaded from places like Kazaa etc. the bitrate may or may not be as actually advertised.

I could take a crappy sounding 128kbps mp3 file, burn it to a CD as a .wav file and give it to a buddy. Buddy rips the same .wav file as a 320 kbps mp3 track on his computer, then shares it through a filesharing site. I download the resulting 320 kbps mp3 file and compare it to the original at 128 kbps. No better in the SQ department.

The point being...the sound quality of any mp3 file is only as good as the source it was ripped from, and there is truly a lot of poor quality mp3 files circulating on the internet.

MacLeod

That is the only tiny little gripe I have with the SR's. They dont seem to work their best right out of the box.

First off they need a decent amount of break in time. At first their midbass is pretty thin.

Second, it takes some tweaking to get the midbass response just right. A little too much and theyll bottom out. A little to little and youve got nothing.

HOWEVER, once they are broken in and you have them dialed in I have no doubt that youll love em! I have said many times and still stand by it, they are the best speakers on the market dollar for dollar and easily in the top 1% regardless of price.

audiobliss

Greg Peters wrote:

I could take a crappy sounding 128kbps mp3 file, burn it to a CD as a .wav file and give it to a buddy. Buddy rips the same .wav file as a 320 kbps mp3 track on his computer, then shares it through a filesharing site. I download the resulting 320 kbps mp3 file and compare it to the original at 128 kbps. No better in the SQ department.

Very good point. I had never thought of that scenario.

MacLeod

Ipods and MP3's are great for convenience but are worthless as reference material.

audiobliss

Don't be so sure. Red Wine Audio has some great mods for the 4th generation iPod (I believe) that, coupled with a good headphone amp or plugged into a nice HA system, makes for quite stiff competition for high end CDPs. According to what I've heard/read from a few folks.

MacLeod

Im sure.

audiobliss

MacLeod wrote:

Im sure.

:cool:


EDIT - Doh, and to think THAT's how I chose to spend my 7500th post! *sigh*

MacLeod

Well, that fits in with your usual "congrats" or other +1 posts!

Thom

bknauss wrote:

Well, I'm not "the man" for speaker crossovers... I'm just "a man" I guess.

That, too, is questionable.

When have you heard SR's? You finally get that install done?