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What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80778]

Sun, 02 November 2014 18:10

j0nnyfive
Messages: 50
Registered: June 2012
Location: Arkansas

Baron

Hello all,

I am planning a 4.2 home theater using upgraded 4 Pi for mains, 2 Pi for surrounds, and possibly Mach5 UXL-18 (or something similar) for flanking subs.

I'm not certain the best route to take to process/power all this. Any suggestions? (I am not very experienced in this area)

Does Audyssey make any significant difference with Pi speakers?

I remember reading Geddes suggest not applying EQ to the mains, but only to the subs and powering his mains with an inexpensive Pioneer receiver.

What are you guys doing for your home theaters? Thanks!

More specifically, what are you using to power your 4 Pi mains and your 2 Pi surrounds? (Or 1 Pi, or cornerhorns...)

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80779 is a reply to message #80778]

Sun, 02 November 2014 22:29

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I agree about letting the mains run full-range, and even using the L/R signals to drive the low-pass and amps for the respective flanking subs.

There are lots of great choices out there for amps. I've run everything from flea-power SET amps to arc-welder prosound amps. I have settled on mid-power SET amps for the mains, and single-ended FET amps for the subs. Same thing for surrounds.

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80785 is a reply to message #80779]

Mon, 03 November 2014 20:27

j0nnyfive
Messages: 50
Registered: June 2012
Location: Arkansas

Baron

Cool! What are you using to process your movie sound? A receiver with pre-outs? A blu-ray player with pre-outs? A pre-pro? A PC? (I'm not even sure how all this works)

Also, are you running a 4.2 system?

The extent of my experience = (Blu-ray player -> AVR -> speaker)

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80794 is a reply to message #80785]

Sat, 08 November 2014 10:00

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

I personally run a Bluray player that has preamp outputs and a lot of configurability. I run the mains full-range and use flanking subs with them. Mains are on SET amps, subs are on single-ended FET amps. I've run distributed multisubs too, but right now do not. New home, still setting up. For surrounds, I come right out of the Bluray and into a stereo amp with its own volume, so I set mains and surrounds separately.

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80798 is a reply to message #80778]

Sat, 08 November 2014 15:05

j0nnyfive
Messages: 50
Registered: June 2012
Location: Arkansas

Baron

I've been researching a lot here lately, just learning. Here are my current plans so far:

Blu-ray player --> MiniDSP --> (Emotiva XPA 200 --> 4 Pi speakers) and (Behringer ??? --> 3 Pi subs)

This system will be stereo only (for now).

Later (and optional):

1. Buy 2226h to use as sensitivity-matched helper woofers and move the LAB12 subs nearfield for 20-80hz summed coverage.

2. Build a sealed "mega sub" for content below 20hz.

3. Sprinkle in some surround speakers, maybe, once all this Dolby Atmos stuff calms down a little. Smile

I am curious about 2 things right now. First of all, I'm wondering what the subjective difference I will hear by having 2226h as helper woofers versus the LAB12 subs. I'm wanting to have a high-output system for home theater, but the LAB12 subs seem to be smaller than your typical "theater-ish" subs. To get the 2226h to extend a little lower than they do in the 4 Pi, will the enclosures need to be "significantly" larger than either the enclosure of the 3 Pi sub or 4 Pi?

The thing I really like about the 2226h helper woofer idea is the "perfect" match between the helpers and the mains, but I have no real experience with this stuff. Sad

The second thing I'm curious about is how you are achieving the downmixing of 5 channels into 4 channels? (Or are you using a center channel now?) I've looked at a few Oppos and all I could gather was that you could either run 7.1, 5.1, or 2.0.

Have a good weekend, Wayne! And thanks again! All suggestions are welcome! (I need them too, my head is kinda raw from scratching lol)

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80802 is a reply to message #80798]

Sun, 09 November 2014 09:57

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

The 2226 helper woofer idea is excellent. That was my first idea when I contemplated the flanking sub configuration - essentially a 2.5-way with the second woofer detached instead of having it in the same cabinet. That way it could be put a few feet away in all three planes to smooth interference from nearest boundaries and higher-frequency modes.

The only thing is, the extension isn't all that deep, even in a larger box. You can expect a really solid 40Hz from a 2226, but no lower. That's fine, excellent even, but you need woofers tuned more as subs to get down another octave.

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80807 is a reply to message #80802]

Sun, 09 November 2014 13:25

j0nnyfive
Messages: 50
Registered: June 2012
Location: Arkansas

Baron

40hz? Excellent! Cool

I think I'll combine the helper woofer idea with the "right beneath you" idea you gave at the beginning of this thread.

So I'll have stereo 4 Pi with .5 helper woofers for 40-200hz smoothing.

Then one big high powered sealed sub next to the couch for super deep bass that needs to come with a cardiac warning. lol

Maybe this setup will work good enough. One last question for now: Are you running a 4.2 system, or do you have a center channel? And if so, is your blu-ray player down-mixing everything okay? Thanks as always!

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Re: What to use to power/EQ a 4.2 theater? [message #80810 is a reply to message #80807]

Mon, 10 November 2014 04:51

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18787
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Yes, I'm running four channels and subs in one of my home theater systems. Makes a great phantom center with the mains' forward axes crossed in front of the listening area.

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