Hey all. I know I'm late to the party but I am just getting into the whole DIY DML panel speaker scene. I am wondering about how viable they are for Atmos. I have a lot of questions and I am not seeing many people doing this and I'm not sure if it's because there is good reasoning behind it or if it's just not a "thing" yet. I'd rather not be the Guinea Pig if it's a flawed concept.
I am currently running a reflective 9.1 (5.1.4) system using a Marantz SR6011, 4 Pioneer Elite Andrew Jones SP-EBS73s, an SP-C22 with the Philharmonic driver/crossover upgrade, and a Monolith THX 10. It's a good system, especially for the cost but I like the idea of being able to get all the speaker stands off the floors in the room, make the speakers disappear more-or-less, plus having that big wall of sound in my space (~2600 ft^3, carpet and drywall, square-ish) would be nice as well. It would be an inexpensive endeavor and only relatively labor intensive (by my standards), plus it's just cool. People rave about the fidelity for such simple drivers as well. (I'm going to build a couple next week for grins and to see how I feel about the SQ).
I guess my main concern is the diffuse nature of DMLs. It has its benefits but when you're dealing with object based audio would the sound be too diffused to render the 3d landscape properly, especially for the height channels? Would it make more sense to just use DMLs for the FL/FR/LS/RS and use traditional ceiling or reflective speakers for LFH/RFH/LRH/RRH? Or would the 2 speaker types not blend well? (I would probably keep the center channel as-is since it lives on my console and isn't taking up space or harming the asthetic.)
Also since the exciters used in DMLs have such low power ratings (20-40 WRMS @4ohms) due to the efficiency of the panels would I have to worry about nuking them at ~220 WRMS? I can use the Audessey DSP to trim/boost individual channels so with proper setup I would probably be fine, right?
Thanks in advance!
I am currently running a reflective 9.1 (5.1.4) system using a Marantz SR6011, 4 Pioneer Elite Andrew Jones SP-EBS73s, an SP-C22 with the Philharmonic driver/crossover upgrade, and a Monolith THX 10. It's a good system, especially for the cost but I like the idea of being able to get all the speaker stands off the floors in the room, make the speakers disappear more-or-less, plus having that big wall of sound in my space (~2600 ft^3, carpet and drywall, square-ish) would be nice as well. It would be an inexpensive endeavor and only relatively labor intensive (by my standards), plus it's just cool. People rave about the fidelity for such simple drivers as well. (I'm going to build a couple next week for grins and to see how I feel about the SQ).
I guess my main concern is the diffuse nature of DMLs. It has its benefits but when you're dealing with object based audio would the sound be too diffused to render the 3d landscape properly, especially for the height channels? Would it make more sense to just use DMLs for the FL/FR/LS/RS and use traditional ceiling or reflective speakers for LFH/RFH/LRH/RRH? Or would the 2 speaker types not blend well? (I would probably keep the center channel as-is since it lives on my console and isn't taking up space or harming the asthetic.)
Also since the exciters used in DMLs have such low power ratings (20-40 WRMS @4ohms) due to the efficiency of the panels would I have to worry about nuking them at ~220 WRMS? I can use the Audessey DSP to trim/boost individual channels so with proper setup I would probably be fine, right?
Thanks in advance!
Did you ever get anywhere with this? I’m very interested in trying DML in my home theatre configuration, but you brought up some valid concerns. I am especially interested in using them for the height channels as I think it would be amazing to have “floating” panels above the listener that don’t even look like speakers and could also hide diffuse lighting.
Another concern I have is with room correction. I’m running a tone-matched 7.1 setup (not Atmos yet) of KEF Q100 bookshelves with a Q200C centre through an Anthem MRX500. The ARC system does an amazing job of room correction, but how would it (or other room correct systems) handle DMLs?
Another concern I have is with room correction. I’m running a tone-matched 7.1 setup (not Atmos yet) of KEF Q100 bookshelves with a Q200C centre through an Anthem MRX500. The ARC system does an amazing job of room correction, but how would it (or other room correct systems) handle DMLs?
Just do it
Hey, I've been thinking the same thing and haven't run across anybody who has done this. You can connect 4 of them in a series/parallel configuration that should be able to handle in excess of100w. There is a guy who made a pair with plexiglass and 4 exciters per panel and he has put out a few demo videos on YouTube.
My brain has been curious about how the calibration software will be able to process the ultra wide dispersion field that dml's have. But what's the worse end result? You will end up with a inexpensive pair of good sounding speakers you can set up or give away as a present.
Cheers
Hey, I've been thinking the same thing and haven't run across anybody who has done this. You can connect 4 of them in a series/parallel configuration that should be able to handle in excess of100w. There is a guy who made a pair with plexiglass and 4 exciters per panel and he has put out a few demo videos on YouTube.
My brain has been curious about how the calibration software will be able to process the ultra wide dispersion field that dml's have. But what's the worse end result? You will end up with a inexpensive pair of good sounding speakers you can set up or give away as a present.
Cheers