Good day everyone! I hope all are safe and healthy these days.
After enjoying my Alpair 7 MS bass reflex speakers for some time, it’s time to upgrade to surround sound.
Due to room/wife approval constraints, it’s gonna have to be a 4.1 system with Sonos Amps, a far cry from the large 7.1.4 Atmos 5000 watt systems I am used to dealing with…
Anyway with regards to what enclosures to set up, I’d appreciate any opinions and advice you all have about the matter. I know Chrisb has had a 7.1 system, but otherwise I’m not too sure how to go about it.
The following will be necessary regarding the speaker enclosures:
1.- Wall mounted.
2.- Shallow (ideally 4 to 5 inches deep out from the wall)
Some questions for you regarding speaker choice:
1.- Timbre matching: Is it required in your opinions to use the same 7 MSes I have for the front stage, for the rears? I know the importance of timbre matching in normal theater applications, but when it comes to full-rage single driver speakers, I don’t know (first of all) how significant the tonal balance changes off-axis compared to straight on versus multi-way designs, or (second of all) if it even matters so much to match the speakers since they will only be used for surround effects anyway in this application.
2.- Box size vs driver: Using Alpair 7 MSes I could get the box down to say, 9 liters sealed, but that’s still a bit large IMO for what I’m looking for, but if there was another driver that would match timbre suitably but function well in a smaller box, I’m curious what you all would recommend.
3.- Dave/Chris/Scott: Do you all have much experience with this type of setup? Wall mounted rear surrounds and Mark Audio drivers?
As always, I appreciate your knowledge and time. You all have a great day.
After enjoying my Alpair 7 MS bass reflex speakers for some time, it’s time to upgrade to surround sound.
Due to room/wife approval constraints, it’s gonna have to be a 4.1 system with Sonos Amps, a far cry from the large 7.1.4 Atmos 5000 watt systems I am used to dealing with…
Anyway with regards to what enclosures to set up, I’d appreciate any opinions and advice you all have about the matter. I know Chrisb has had a 7.1 system, but otherwise I’m not too sure how to go about it.
The following will be necessary regarding the speaker enclosures:
1.- Wall mounted.
2.- Shallow (ideally 4 to 5 inches deep out from the wall)
Some questions for you regarding speaker choice:
1.- Timbre matching: Is it required in your opinions to use the same 7 MSes I have for the front stage, for the rears? I know the importance of timbre matching in normal theater applications, but when it comes to full-rage single driver speakers, I don’t know (first of all) how significant the tonal balance changes off-axis compared to straight on versus multi-way designs, or (second of all) if it even matters so much to match the speakers since they will only be used for surround effects anyway in this application.
2.- Box size vs driver: Using Alpair 7 MSes I could get the box down to say, 9 liters sealed, but that’s still a bit large IMO for what I’m looking for, but if there was another driver that would match timbre suitably but function well in a smaller box, I’m curious what you all would recommend.
3.- Dave/Chris/Scott: Do you all have much experience with this type of setup? Wall mounted rear surrounds and Mark Audio drivers?
As always, I appreciate your knowledge and time. You all have a great day.
Fotunately the metal cone Mark Audio have the same voicing.
You could do A7ms surrounds, but if they are serving fine as mains, you could likely get away with Alpair 5.2/3, even CHN-50. They fit in about a 2.5 litre vented box.
dave
You could do A7ms surrounds, but if they are serving fine as mains, you could likely get away with Alpair 5.2/3, even CHN-50. They fit in about a 2.5 litre vented box.
dave
Yes, I’d strongly recommend using the same driver complement and enclosure design across at least the main front row 3, but unless you’re implementing a projection system and acoustically transparent screen, space be limited for the Center channel, so that may require a compromise.* I tend to prefer floorstanders over ”monitor” sized enclosures, if for no other reason than that the cost of a pair of really decent stands can be greater than the difference in materials between the two. As I think there is generally far less wide band content in the numerous effect/surround channels, using smaller drivers there is another area that can probably work well - at least it has for me for the past 5-6 years.
As Dave notes, there’s sufficiently common voicing to the MA metal drivers that using smaller models like the Pluvias, A5, or even newer CHNs etc that I’ve not yet heard, wouldn‘t likely call undue attention to themselves. In my case, the surrounds are Pluvia 7 (front height) and Alpair5 (rear) in Planet10 milli/micro MarKen enclosures mounted with swivel brackets at wall/ceiling corners; the lack of dedicated rooms with walls/windows/doorways/staircases in exactly the right locations to allow for ideal set-up has forever been a problem for me - and most likely many others.
Could an on, or in wall location work in the right room? Quite possibly - I’ve just never had the resources spaces to allow for one of those.
*compromise; Keep in mind that when scrolling through the speaker configuration settings on most surround receivers you’ll find the frequency of 80Hz defined as the THX default for crossover to mono blended LFE channel. You can almost always go higher than that if needed, on all channels. Indeed there is at least one major manufacturer with a THX certified design that is rated to that frequency, with the implicit requirement for sub(s) - Magnat Cinema LCR Ultra.
As Dave notes, there’s sufficiently common voicing to the MA metal drivers that using smaller models like the Pluvias, A5, or even newer CHNs etc that I’ve not yet heard, wouldn‘t likely call undue attention to themselves. In my case, the surrounds are Pluvia 7 (front height) and Alpair5 (rear) in Planet10 milli/micro MarKen enclosures mounted with swivel brackets at wall/ceiling corners; the lack of dedicated rooms with walls/windows/doorways/staircases in exactly the right locations to allow for ideal set-up has forever been a problem for me - and most likely many others.
Could an on, or in wall location work in the right room? Quite possibly - I’ve just never had the resources spaces to allow for one of those.
*compromise; Keep in mind that when scrolling through the speaker configuration settings on most surround receivers you’ll find the frequency of 80Hz defined as the THX default for crossover to mono blended LFE channel. You can almost always go higher than that if needed, on all channels. Indeed there is at least one major manufacturer with a THX certified design that is rated to that frequency, with the implicit requirement for sub(s) - Magnat Cinema LCR Ultra.
Thank you and Dave both for your advice. Yeah crossover point to the LFE channel will likely be in the 110hz range, and I will be using 2 subwoofers for bass balance across my seating locations.
I’ll most likely do an Alpair 5.3 pair for the rear surrounds then.
