The Def-Tech CLR 2500 Center... Thoughts?

[zachd73]

Originally Posted by prerich

They will mesh very well Aramis109, I even have BP1's and BP2's in my system - I thought about going to Snell, but for my generation of Snell speakers - the BP's are actually a better match- they use some of the same Vifa drivers as my current Snell speakers do. My son and I watched the Director's cut of Fearless last night and my son couldn't stop talking about how the system just blends together (birds actually sound like they where coming from beyond the walls - actually outside ect) He enjoyed himself alot!!!

Since you guys are familiar with the BP1.2x surround speakers... could you please help me decide how to place them??!

I know it has been asked before and I have read some threads, but I can't find any answers... which... I know the answer will probably be "Try it different ways until it sounds the best". I will try and do that, but it would be helpful to know which ways is in theory, the best...

Here is my back wall

http://backspinrecords.net/ht/backwall.jpg

As you can see I have the classic constraint of 'couch against wall'
I've never really though about it, but I could probably move it out about 6" from the wall .. maybe a foot.. it would be kind of weird but probably not a big deal.

Anyways.. I could put these bpx's on the back wall or on the side wall where my current rears reside...

It seems to me it makes more sense to put them on the backwall although as you can see they would be 1 foot to 1.5 feet away from the sidewall and they would be maybe 6 inches behind the listening position which is also a tight squeeze.

Some invisible voice is telling me to move the couch out 9 inches, and then put them behind the couch as close to the window/curtain as I can get them.

Are the voices in my head right??!

I'm doing official movie night Sunday. I have to work sat. but I'll probably get this all set up and calibrated Sunday. Those BPx's are pretty easy to mount.. just put in a screw and hang them.. so maybe I will try both positions and see which is better.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by zachd73

Since you guys are familiar with the BP1.2x surround speakers... could you please help me decide how to place them??!

I know it has been asked before and I have read some threads, but I can't find any answers... which... I know the answer will probably be "Try it different ways until it sounds the best". I will try and do that, but it would be helpful to know which ways is in theory, the best...

Here is my back wall

http://backspinrecords.net/ht/backwall.jpg

As you can see I have the classic constraint of 'couch against wall'
I've never really though about it, but I could probably move it out about 6" from the wall .. maybe a foot.. it would be kind of weird but probably not a big deal.

Anyways.. I could put these bpx's on the back wall or on the side wall where my current rears reside...

It seems to me it makes more sense to put them on the backwall although as you can see they would be 1 foot to 1.5 feet away from the sidewall and they would be maybe 6 inches behind the listening position which is also a tight squeeze.

Some invisible voice is telling me to move the couch out 9 inches, and then put them behind the couch as close to the window/curtain as I can get them.

Are the voices in my head right??!

I'm doing official movie night Sunday. I have to work sat. but I'll probably get this all set up and calibrated Sunday. Those BPx's are pretty easy to mount.. just put in a screw and hang them.. so maybe I will try both positions and see which is better.

Preferably...the back wall, but the side wall would give a pleasing sound also. Here's a trick I've learned from HT Magazine many moons ago... If you place them on the side wall and if you feel comfortable about it - you can transform your Bipoles to Dipoles by wiring one set of the Bipoles out of phase (rear firing drivers out of phase with the front firing ones). I've had good results with this before, but if you are afraid to mess with the crossover/speaker connections - just try them on the sides and see how you like it.

[aramis109]

I'd do back wall if at all possible. That's essentially how bipoles are meant to be. They're going to be kind of near the curtain and side walls though, so maybe rig up some kind of test just to get an idea of the soundfield.

Prerich- thanks for the words about the BP's. I know I'm either going to go 1.2x or 2x. Just depends on what I can get a deal on at this point. I've listened to the 1.2x but was concerned if it could output enough to make me happy.

[zachd73]

Thanks all!

I did put them on the back, and put them about 1.5 from the side wall and .5 from the curtain... which I felt would less signficantly impact the sound compared to the wall.

They sound really good! Definitely better than the tired old JBL bookshelves I had there before. It sounds a lot more natural than before. I have not really found a great test for them though, I briefly watched a scene from LOTR but I would really like to test it with a blu-ray disc... if anyone had a favorite with a good scene for surrounds that would be nice. I had rented Bullitt but it only has 3 channel sound! Too bad I like old movies more than new

I wonder if there is a test disc out that has natural sounds? I think a recording of a pond with crickets chirping and frogs croaking would be a nice way to test surround rather than just trying to calibrate with white noise.

So far I used the auto calibration on my amp but I will probably do some manual calibration also.

[aramis109]

I really like Master and Commander. There are a lot of movies with decent surround mixes these days though. We just rented "The Air I Breathe" on BD and I thought it had pretty good surround- there's a storm during the movie that sounds pretty realistic.

[Fors*]

3:10 to Yuma is pretty good with all of the bullets being shot around you. Not to mention 7.1, if that matters......

[zachd73]

Thanks for the recommends! I can get either of those down the street at the rental place. I saw 3:10, pretty good, good enough to see again.

I did the auto-calibrate on my amp but think I need to do manual.. it seems that it turned the surrounds down too low.

Thanks for all the help.. overall my HT sounds incredible now with Def Tec all around and a fully HD audio capable amp. Only thing I might do is try and tighten up the bass on my sony sub like I did with my old one.. you know I have a def tec sub is my other room.. it doesn't seem to get very loud but maybe that is because it's not hooked up via LFE. I might as well try it out.

Thanks again for all the help.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by zachd73

Thanks for the recommends! I can get either of those down the street at the rental place. I saw 3:10, pretty good, good enough to see again.

I did the auto-calibrate on my amp but think I need to do manual.. it seems that it turned the surrounds down too low.

Thanks for all the help.. overall my HT sounds incredible now with Def Tec all around and a fully HD audio capable amp. Only thing I might do is try and tighten up the bass on my sony sub like I did with my old one.. you know I have a def tec sub is my other room.. it doesn't seem to get very loud but maybe that is because it's not hooked up via LFE. I might as well try it out.

Thanks again for all the help.

Move that DT sub in with it's family where it belongs!

Outside of my sub (which I don't intend to upgrade- I'm very happy with it) I've got DT's all around me now. Listening to a little Gnarls Barkley streaming through the PS3 via "All Ch Stereo" and it's just so pleasing. I really am happy with my setup and have tamed the vicious upgrade bug for now.