gettin rid of my rti setup , want new ht setup so recommend here

polkfarmboy

A side note .. Just to let people know I'm not trying to hit 25 posts to sell on here even though I'm getting alot of offers through pm's

BIZILL

good. then stick around. lots to be learned here. as well, lots to have taken away. lolololol.

Menasor

polkfarmboy wrote: »

def tech is on the cards but I love the size of that paradigm Studio CC-690 coming in at 70lbs

My heads going to spin with all the researching but thats a big part of fun

IMO one of the biggest strengths of every Paradigm line is their center channel design. Very well done. If transparency and detail is what you want, the Studio line will certainly give you that as well

mjg

www.salksound.com, check them out. Read the reviews. Listen to them in your home. I think you will be pleased.

Mjg

Huck344

BlueFox wrote: »

Bump it up to 10K (retail, cheaper online) and go with the PSB Synchrony One line for front, surround, and center.

I replaced my LSiC with the PSB Synchrony One Center, and it was a great improvement. Blends right in with my LSi15s, yet has a wider center sound stage, and sounds clearer.

I replaced my SDA-2 in my two channel system with PSB Synchrony One towers and they are great. A major improvement in sound quality.

Next is to replace my LSi15 fronts in the HT with PSB Synchrony One towers.

Can you really get the synchrony's that much cheaper online? That's awesome. Those speakers are fantastic!

Menasor

polkfarmboy wrote: »

This may sound dumb but I prefer to do my listening to movies at low volume without a sub so my ideal speakers would have to achive good transparency with this preference

If you prefer low volume... then you probably want a speaker that has higher treble or is more forward than usual. Humans have less sensitivity to highs and lows at lower volume, so things like Audyssey Dynamic EQ helps correct that by changing the EQ based on volume. If you don't have Audyssey Dynamic EQ or something similar, it's best to go with a brighter speaker at low levels (KEF XQ's might be a good choice then). Paradigms are on the bright side of things and so is Monitor Audio

hearingimpared

I can't help you with the speakers as I'm not familar with HT except for what I have and the LSi series but I would recommend looking at and NAD AVR as they have more than enough power and are very well made.

I'm a 2 channel guy and what I have as my HT is just fine for me.

RT2000Ps (fronts)
CS350LS (center)
Rt/Fx (surrounds)

NAD T765 (AVR)

Oppo (source)

Comcast DVR for cable.

nguyendot

polkfarmboy wrote: »

A side note .. Just to let people know I'm not trying to hit 25 posts to sell on here even though I'm getting alot of offers through pm's

That's fine,

isn't it 100 posts now anyways?

I go with the Paradigms like everyone else is saying....

hearingimpared

polkfarmboy wrote: »

A side note .. Just to let people know I'm not trying to hit 25 posts to sell on here even though I'm getting alot of offers through pm's

Good man. It looks like you are going to be a fine contributing member of this awesome club.

markmarc

With the budget you have and the fairly large room, I'd take a serious look at the Aperion 6T DB Hybrid HT system. Aperion sound is is a very even much like B&W but IMHO a tad more forward. You get 30 days, free shipping both ways, and outstanding customer service. All for $4200. You can add a second sub, extra pair of 6T towers and still be well under 7K. With the extra cash, if you haven't already add in some room treatments.

POLKHT

If it were me, I would go for the B&W 800 series. I don't like Def Techs, I get ear fatigue after listening for while at high volumes. If you are close to Best Buy with a Mag Hi/Fi, I would listen to the Vienna Acoustics and Def Techs.

cvpartridge

There have been a lot of good speakers mentioned in some of the posts, I just want to add another series that hasn't been mentioned. The Energy RC-70's can be had for a good price and I have heard many people raving about these things as excellent upgrades from the RTI series.

mantis

Menasor wrote: »

Haha not gonna beat them for ht no way no how? Those are some strong words I'd wager the Paradigm Studios would best these in both ht AND music. No way those skinny Mythos would compare to the Paradigms in dynamics and output


The center alone is as big as two Mythos towers put together:

http://paradigm.com/en/reference/centers-studio-studiocc690-model-3-13-1-50.paradigm


Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the Mythos are nice speakers, but they definitely look to be more lifestyle speakers than true high performance. They would be on par with the Paradigm Millenia series...

I'll take that bet as I have already done the comparison. The Mythos ST wins hands down for both music and theater. We have the brand new Studio 100's on our floor and the ST. Anytime you wanna come in and do a shoot out your welcome to come. We will go 2 channel and see who is the man.

We can go head to head with many Paradigm and Mythos speakers. Not a single Paradigm speaker outperforms any Mythos speaker of the same class. We also have a Trinity on the floor.

I'll go on record to say Definitive Technology Mythos series are the finest dollar to Dollar Home theater speakers made. They are also one of the very best sounding musical / theater speakers dollar to dollar made. As a double duty speaker they are one of the very best. There is a reason why the STS package won audio product of the year and so many awards. Definitive Technology probably has more awards then any other speaker company year to year. Yes they are that good at what they do.

Menasor

mantis wrote: »

I'll take that bet as I have already done the comparison. The Mythos ST wins hands down for both music and theater. We have the brand new Studio 100's on our floor and the ST. Anytime you wanna come in and do a shoot out your welcome to come. We will go 2 channel and see who is the man.

We can go head to head with many Paradigm and Mythos speakers. Not a single Paradigm speaker outperforms any Mythos speaker of the same class. We also have a Trinity on the floor.

I'll go on record to say Definitive Technology Mythos series are the finest dollar to Dollar Home theater speakers made. They are also one of the very best sounding musical / theater speakers dollar to dollar made. As a double duty speaker they are one of the very best. There is a reason why the STS package won audio product of the year and so many awards. Definitive Technology probably has more awards then any other speaker company year to year. Yes they are that good at what they do.

Maybe we'll agree to disagree, but look at these FR readings for the center channel of the Mythos line:


http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/607def/index2.html


That's a huge mid bass hump on the center, and it barely touches 80hz. Even more skewed are the readings for the surrounds.

Maybe your ears love the Def Tech sound, but based on those readings, that center will not even come close to the CC-690. I do agree that the readings for the towers are quite good though.

The most important speaker for HT is the center. The Mythos center is definitely worse than the CC-690

mantis

Menasor wrote: »

Maybe we'll agree to disagree, but look at these FR readings for the center channel of the Mythos line:


http://www.hometheatermag.com/floorloudspeakers/607def/index2.html


That's a huge mid bass hump on the center, and it barely touches 80hz. Even more skewed are the readings for the surrounds.

Maybe your ears love the Def Tech sound, but based on those readings, that center will not even come close to the CC-690. I do agree that the readings for the towers are quite good though.

The most important speaker for HT is the center. The Mythos center is definitely worse than the CC-690

You are referring to the older Mythos 8 , the matching ST center channel is the Mythos 10. With owning a good Room correction system , this isn't as big of deal as it looks on paper. The sheer dynamic range and clarity of the center channel Mythos 10 is quite impressive and not to mention you can hang it on the wall which you cannot do with the cc-690. The cc-690 is freaking huge and heavy. You need a dedicated center channel stand or a cabinet that can hold the big ****. As impressive as it looks it doesn't perform that well in real world rooms. I have Installed it many times and walked away with the feeling of "what happened????"

So really I encourage anyone to listen to the speakers they are considering other then get caught up in the hype. Paradigm Studio series speakers are some of the very nicest looking "speaker guys" speaker. All those drivers and the silver trim and chrome screws make for a nice package. Now they followed suit and went with a B&W design copy cabinet trying to better their speakers. They however did make improvement on the Studio 20's and they sound great. I don't understand how the 100's are super bright and have loose bottom end , thin sounding mid range while the Studio 20 sounds pretty balanced. They don't try to dig really low and reproduce bass notes they have no business trying.

Experiencing both systems properly calibrated and powered "by me of course" visually you would expect the Studio system to destroy the Mythos system untill the lights go down and the curtain opens.
I agree with CC-690 is an impressing looking center channel and the mid bass driver is located correctly for good coverage but in my opinion the Studio line has a lot to be desired. I checked them out for months before I purchased the Mythos ST and 3 10's for center and rears. I really liked the look of the Paradigm studio line not to mention their subs starting at the Ultracube and up are incredible. The Scesmic 10 and 12 are my personal favorite.

Menasor

mantis wrote: »

You are referring to the older Mythos 8 , the matching ST center channel is the Mythos 10. With owning a good Room correction system , this isn't as big of deal as it looks on paper. The sheer dynamic range and clarity of the center channel Mythos 10 is quite impressive and not to mention you can hang it on the wall which you cannot do with the cc-690. The cc-690 is freaking huge and heavy. You need a dedicated center channel stand or a cabinet that can hold the big ****. As impressive as it looks it doesn't perform that well in real world rooms. I have Installed it many times and walked away with the feeling of "what happened????"

So really I encourage anyone to listen to the speakers they are considering other then get caught up in the hype. Paradigm Studio series speakers are some of the very nicest looking "speaker guys" speaker. All those drivers and the silver trim and chrome screws make for a nice package. Now they followed suit and went with a B&W design copy cabinet trying to better their speakers. They however did make improvement on the Studio 20's and they sound great. I don't understand how the 100's are super bright and have loose bottom end , thin sounding mid range while the Studio 20 sounds pretty balanced. They don't try to dig really low and reproduce bass notes they have no business trying.

Experiencing both systems properly calibrated and powered "by me of course" visually you would expect the Studio system to destroy the Mythos system untill the lights go down and the curtain opens.
I agree with CC-690 is an impressing looking center channel and the mid bass driver is located correctly for good coverage but in my opinion the Studio line has a lot to be desired. I checked them out for months before I purchased the Mythos ST and 3 10's for center and rears. I really liked the look of the Paradigm studio line not to mention their subs starting at the Ultracube and up are incredible. The Scesmic 10 and 12 are my personal favorite.

Ok I guess I'll have to go listen to the Mythos speakers in person then heh. How do the Signatures stack up in your opinion?

mantis

Menasor wrote: »

Ok I guess I'll have to go listen to the Mythos speakers in person then heh. How do the Signatures stack up in your opinion?

They are in a totally different league but for the money they don't compare dollar for dollar. I have put in a few systems and I can't believe they want that much for those speakers. The S8's and S6's are awful for 6 and 8 grand. I can show you 10 other speakers in that price class that will outperform them in every single way.

I see you are in Ca , where about? I was out in Beverly Hills and LA a few years ago and didn't want to come home to Pa. It's so nice out there. I expected something different then what I experienced. The people where so nice and laid back. The air and sky I thought was not going to be as fresh as it was. I could pack my bags today and live out there. Love Ca.

98Badger

I've listened to the STS towers for music and I will say I was completely underwhelmed. Bloated bass and they sounded like they were playing inside cardboard boxes. To be fair, I don't think they were set up properly. Please remember, individual tastes and experiences will vary. I am not in any way saying they were bad speakers, but I definately prefer the sound of Paradigms.

cnh

Mythos towers are RARELY set up properly by the Best Buy guys. I was in one of their Magnolia stores where they were playing two of the flagship towers without having the bass module (powered bass in the bottoms) hooked up? How can one expect to hear those speakers if they're 'partially hooked up to an Elite AVR!

I have heard them in better circumstances....and I don't disagree with much of what Dan says above.

cnh

bopicasso

no one recommended dynaudio? excite could be had for 7k

cnh

bopicasso wrote: »

no one recommended dynaudio? excite could be had for 7k

Dynaudio...+1, good call bob! Just too many to remember. But this is one company that SHOULD be on anyone's SHORT LIST!

cnh

MANSKITO

mantis wrote: »

I'll take that bet as I have already done the comparison. The Mythos ST wins hands down for both music and theater. We have the brand new Studio 100's on our floor and the ST. Anytime you wanna come in and do a shoot out your welcome to come. We will go 2 channel and see who is the man.

We can go head to head with many Paradigm and Mythos speakers. Not a single Paradigm speaker outperforms any Mythos speaker of the same class. We also have a Trinity on the floor.

I'll go on record to say Definitive Technology Mythos series are the finest dollar to Dollar Home theater speakers made. They are also one of the very best sounding musical / theater speakers dollar to dollar made. As a double duty speaker they are one of the very best. There is a reason why the STS package won audio product of the year and so many awards. Definitive Technology probably has more awards then any other speaker company year to year. Yes they are that good at what they do.

+1 again

I have heard both the paradigm and Mythos super towers, def-tech has a winner with the super towers.

The only thing from paradigm that i m really impressed with is there book selfs, the Sudio 10s and 20s. As bookselfs go paradigm knows what there doing, but when it comes to full range speakers for HT (or music for that matter) IMO there are better options like def-tech.

mantis

bopicasso wrote: »

no one recommended dynaudio? excite could be had for 7k

If dude was building a music first system I would completely agree but Dynaudio speakers for theater are very very good sounding clear and super detailed but they lack the incredible explosive dynamic range of a good theater speaker. It's a trade off they are not efficient speakers. You have the power the living hell out of them to get them to sing.

I would get a full Klipsch Reference theater package over a Dynaudio Excite system if my goal was theater.

mantis

MANSKITO wrote: »

+1 again

I have heard both the paradigm and Mythos super towers, def-tech has a winner with the super towers.

The only thing from paradigm that i m really impressed with is there book selfs, the Sudio 10s and 20s. As bookselfs go paradigm knows what there doing, but when it comes to full range speakers for HT (or music for that matter) IMO there are better options like def-tech.

This is where Paradigm shines. They makes excellent in wall and in ceiling speakers as well. Their on wall speakers are very good as well. They fall on their face when they try to go full range in one box. Funny as if you have a pair of Studio 20's and a Seismic 10 or 12 , you have the makings of a very nice 2 channel speaker package. Go Studio 100's and you leave wondering.

98Badger

cnh wrote: »

Mythos towers are RARELY set up properly by the Best Buy guys. I was in one of their Magnolia stores where they were playing two of the flagship towers without having the bass module (powered bass in the bottoms) hooked up? How can one expect to hear those speakers if they're 'partially hooked up to an Elite AVR!

I have heard them in better circumstances....and I don't disagree with much of what Dan says above.

cnh

I actually listened to the STS towers in a high end store that carried brands like Macintosh, Vanderstein ect. They should know how to properly set up a set of speakers. Maybe I need to take another listen, but I don't see them replacing my Paradigm Signatures.

leroyjr1

98Badger wrote: »

I actually listened to the STS towers in a high end store that carried brands like Macintosh, Vanderstein ect. They should know how to properly set up a set of speakers. Maybe I need to take another listen, but I don't see them replacing my Paradigm Signatures.

The ST's are better than the STS's you heard.

To the OP if you go the Mytho ST route let me know I know a authorized dealer that has them for $2400 brand new with warranty.

polkfarmboy

Will do leroy

I have been reading good things about anthony gallo . Its the ones that orb audio copied . Theres a shop near me so may go have a listen to them this weekend

polkfarmboy

I went and had a good listen to some martin logan speakers yesterday evening

I listend to source with a motif centre with fresco i and my wife told the dealer that our polk speakers at home sounded better lol

mstang1988

Paradigm Sigs for all 7. It really depends if the dealer has v2's left at a discount of how big you can go. SVS PB13 Ultra sub.

Last time I went listening I spent a good chunk of time out with my own music. Rap, classic, blues, rock.

Listened to
B&W - 802D's, 800D's, 800 Signatures, 803D's, 803S, 804S
Magenpan - 1.6, and and on walls
ML Electrostats - (not sure of model)
Paradigm Signature Version 2's - S8, S6, S1's
Klipsch ???
Paradigm studio - 100's V??
And my RTi's (after the fact when I came up wanting more, haha)

With out a doubt I preferred the Paradigm Sigs. The B&W's felt overly bright, yet they were still smooth) and they lacked down low IMO. The studios were not bad but when compared to the Signatures the were nothing.

One of the great compare tracks I actually found was song 7 or 8 (can't remember) on Bone thugs creepin on a come up cd. Great fidelity and amazing 3D imaging.

Magnepans are great but then no lows again and electro stats have a similar problem that woofers will usually be behind the trebble/mids.

Ohh, don't forget the quality power to drive some of the monsters.

Menasor

mstang1988 wrote: »

Paradigm Sigs for all 7. It really depends if the dealer has v2's left at a discount of how big you can go. SVS PB13 Ultra sub.

Last time I went listening I spent a good chunk of time out with my own music. Rap, classic, blues, rock.

Listened to
B&W - 802D's, 800D's, 800 Signatures, 803D's, 803S, 804S
Magenpan - 1.6, and and on walls
ML Electrostats - (not sure of model)
Paradigm Signature Version 2's - S8, S6, S1's
Klipsch ???
Paradigm studio - 100's V??
And my RTi's (after the fact when I came up wanting more, haha)

With out a doubt I preferred the Paradigm Sigs. The B&W's felt overly bright, yet they were still smooth) and they lacked down low IMO. The studios were not bad but when compared to the Signatures the were nothing.

One of the great compare tracks I actually found was song 7 or 8 (can't remember) on Bone thugs creepin on a come up cd. Great fidelity and amazing 3D imaging.

Magnepans are great but then no lows again and electro stats have a similar problem that woofers will usually be behind the trebble/mids.

Ohh, don't forget the quality power to drive some of the monsters.

op ended up getting the Martin Logan Source...