1. Most listening is late night when the family is asleep - probably 90-93db. I know the 4W SET i plan to use will push seven pi's much louder than this, but will they still sound good at a fraction of a watt or do the drivers really need more power to "wake up"?

2. Is the quality difference between the jbl and eminence 15" perceptable at less than a watt or a few watts, or do they really sound the same until you are well over 100db? From what I gather the eminence goes lower but has more distortion and a less refined high end than the jbl - is the difference in quality - bass cutoff aside - really noticeable?

3. I love the magnepan's great imaging, depth and layering of the sounds - so will I hate corner horns? Listening to magnepans is like watching a movie - all the action is between the speakers and the wall behind them (or even much further - sometimes very spooky). This effect isn't always welcome though - I feel like I'm on the outside of a window looking in with magnepans (and pretty much any other decent box speaker setup I've ever heard) and never like I'm in the middle of the action. Placing speakers directly into corners seems a little funny to me but maybe I've been brainwashed with the concept that speakers need to be pulled out into the room - away from rear walls and side walls - to sound best wrt imaging, etc. I know the corner is required to form the bass horn, but is at the expense of imaging, depth, etc.?

There were a couple of reasons for me - First, as picky as horns can be regarding electronic matches, the MAggies were more so. I piddle with too many things and horns give me a bit more freedom. Second, they had such a small sweet spot in my set up (and really changed dramatically when I put my ear above the panel). Horns were much more room 'filling'.

That said - If I had a room that I tuned for one chair I might have to give my vote to the Maggies.

All is IMHO

I believe the JBL will be more truthful to the music than the Delta 15's. I'm not saying the Eminence drivers are bad, just that the JBL's are that much better.

I am running the 15" driver with 2 mh coil(should be 1.4mh). I am planning to make a multiple connector so I may use the 1st order for low-power and swap to the 3rd order on the horn for up to 300 watts. They both have their merits.

By the way, for those interested in the 1st order cap i am using, a 4 ufd "oil in can" vintage 1958, rated at 50VDC. Might not be textbook value, but works pretty good in my small room.

Added note: I am using the JBL 3677 cabinets for my 2226, but having the driver towards the top of the cabinet(upside down), not near the bottom where I had it before. The reason being is that I am currently using a Titanic 12" su, and getting the 2226 off the ground cleans up the midrange/midbass.

I am not normally a sub-woofer person, but the price was right from a friend, so will play with it awhile before removing it from the system. Really nice with pipe organ music, but I don't need for my regular listening.

Regards, Ron

That being said the cornerhorns will sound good without a lot of watts. I didn't really like the distortion in the Delta 15 speakers when I had them. (they're in a box in the basement now.)

I have a 3 way cornerhorn which uses a high efficiency mid in a non-horn setup. The imaging is good with this set up. The 4 Pi guys also claim good imaging with low watt systems.

Grant.

If you can spare a few mins. could you describe what you were hearing (and didn't like) about the deltas and what you replaced them with?

I came home and listened to my 2 way Pi 7's with the Delta 15's in them. Not a fair comparison at all. There was some good money in some of the systems I had been listening to, forget the sweat equity, but the ears don't know about a price tag, they just listen to the sound.

I replaced the 2 way with the 3 way Pi 7 option (my own version with Waynes advice). I kept the Emminence driver to handle 3500+, put in a cone midrange in a small sealed cabinet on top of the regular Pi 7 to handle 400-3500, and use a Klipsch K-43 in the bottom end. I have them bi-amped with an EL34 on the top/mid and an old Luxman on the bottom. L-pads help even out the mid/high efficiency difference. I'm getting to where I'm quite happy with my system but still have to do some veneer work, etc.

What I didn't like about the Deltas was that they just weren't clean sound. I haven't used the JBL's or the higher end Emminence (there are much nicer than the Delta's).

What I like about the Pi 7's is what I think most people refer to as dynamics. The music is a lot busier than a lot of speakers. Choose an instument to listen to and you can listen to it. You can HEAR the drums getting BEAT. It's not just a little sound lost in the music, somebody is pounding on those suckers. That's something the horns do without a lot of power. This isn't what you'd call late night listening. There is definite imaging with the corner horns in a 3 way set up.

One thing to be aware of is the size of the Pi 7's. There is a huge difference between the Theatre and other choices.

Once you start playing/tweaking the system is a hobby as much as listening to the music. You'll find the support on this forum is great. WARNING: This hobby is addictive !!!!

Best wishes.

Grant.