Hello everyone. I'm currently in the parts picking process of my first build. This will be used for home theater, but I love listening to music and really want something that does that really well. I'd much rather have a good music listening experience than good home theater experience.
For the speaker layout, I plan on having a LR tower, a center, and a LR surround. It's a fairly small room so don't want to use a sub if I can get away with it and want to pass on that duty to the towers.
Tower speakers:
-1x SUb/woofer: 10″ SB29NRX75-8 10″ SB29NRX75-8 / Norex – Sbacoustics (don't want to go bigger than 10" due to size constraints). Was also considering the Dayton Audio RS225P-8A 8", but not sure if it can take on sub duties. I don't mind paying more than double for the SB if they are definitely better.
-1x Mid: 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic – Sbacoustics
- 1x Tweeter: Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter Black
- Planning on XO to be at ~800 and 3k
Center:
- 2x 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic
- 1x Morel CAT 308 1-1/8" Soft Dome Tweeter https://www.parts- express.com/morel-cat-308-1-1-8-soft-dome-tweeter--277-082
- Want to have centers start at ~80Hz and have XO at 3k
Sur LR:
- 1x Tang Band W6-1721 6-1/2" Underhung Midbass Driver Tang Band W6-1721 6-1/2" Underhung Midbass Driver
- 1x Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter
- Chose Tang Bang because it can go low which will be nice in a home theater setting. Or should I stick with the 4" CACs? Does it matter if it's midbass, can it still be used as a midrange for a 2 way or should I look into something else?
I just want as good clarity as possible. I chose 4" because I want to XO before beaming and my logic is that they weigh less and have a smaller SA so they will be more precise when compared to a bigger speaker. Plus I don't play loud and it's a small living room so don't want something that might be overpowered.
I've been reading and learning everything I can, but lack experience so if anyone can guide me it will be amazing. Thank you for all who took the time to read this.
For the speaker layout, I plan on having a LR tower, a center, and a LR surround. It's a fairly small room so don't want to use a sub if I can get away with it and want to pass on that duty to the towers.
Tower speakers:
-1x SUb/woofer: 10″ SB29NRX75-8 10″ SB29NRX75-8 / Norex – Sbacoustics (don't want to go bigger than 10" due to size constraints). Was also considering the Dayton Audio RS225P-8A 8", but not sure if it can take on sub duties. I don't mind paying more than double for the SB if they are definitely better.
-1x Mid: 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic – Sbacoustics
- 1x Tweeter: Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter Black
- Planning on XO to be at ~800 and 3k
Center:
- 2x 4” SB12CACS25-8 / Ceramic
- 1x Morel CAT 308 1-1/8" Soft Dome Tweeter https://www.parts- express.com/morel-cat-308-1-1-8-soft-dome-tweeter--277-082
- Want to have centers start at ~80Hz and have XO at 3k
Sur LR:
- 1x Tang Band W6-1721 6-1/2" Underhung Midbass Driver Tang Band W6-1721 6-1/2" Underhung Midbass Driver
- 1x Fountek Neo X 2.0 Ribbon Tweeter
- Chose Tang Bang because it can go low which will be nice in a home theater setting. Or should I stick with the 4" CACs? Does it matter if it's midbass, can it still be used as a midrange for a 2 way or should I look into something else?
I just want as good clarity as possible. I chose 4" because I want to XO before beaming and my logic is that they weigh less and have a smaller SA so they will be more precise when compared to a bigger speaker. Plus I don't play loud and it's a small living room so don't want something that might be overpowered.
I've been reading and learning everything I can, but lack experience so if anyone can guide me it will be amazing. Thank you for all who took the time to read this.
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I would suggest sticking to one driver family for the mids and tweeters to increase coherence. So, use Neo 2.0 for all tweeters, SB 12/15/17CAC for the mids/woofer and the 29 NRX for woofer/sub, look at the 29BRX75-6 this seems to be the best version and can be used with the passive radiator if needs be. Alternatively, go with the SB26CDC for the tweeter, this is getting lots of great reviews and is a steal at the price.
If this is a first build I would look for something already designed, try searching the Statement series on Speaker Design Works, the Mini tower for mains, monitor for rears and the centre would be a great setup.
Speaker Design Works
If this is a first build I would look for something already designed, try searching the Statement series on Speaker Design Works, the Mini tower for mains, monitor for rears and the centre would be a great setup.
Speaker Design Works
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That does make sense regarding the tweeters. Only reason I chose a different one was because I know that ribbon tweeters don't have the best dispersion and I wanted something with a wide field for the center. I will look into the tweeter you suggested, thank you.
I just read that ribbon tweeters are softer and have better clarity which is why I chose them. I have never heard them, but have heard a lot of hard dome tweeters and they sound harsh to me. I'll trust the community though. Have you listened to ribbon tweeter's before?
I actually did look at the statement I & II and it was the inspiration for this project. I read on a different post that Jim (I think that's his name who came up with the design) now prefers the CAC which is why I went with them and I only chose the 29NRX since it looks like it can handle the low end better than the RS25s but I could be wrong. I will replace the Tang Bangs with more CACs. I was worrying about the same thing and only went with the Tangs because they go low which is nice for a home theater setting (explosions, cars, etc,.)
Also, will having speakers with different ohms rating be an issue? Should I go with the 4ohm version of the CACs as well?
That does make sense. Would a BMR be used only for the low end woofer or for others as well? I imagine clarity would decrease with a BMR, that's based of zero knowledge hahaha. I don't mind sacrificing home theater acoustics for musical acoustics. I don't care too much if it's meh for home theater use, as long as it makes music sound amazing.
The biggest effect on “making music sound amazing” will be the preamp section in your AVR. These are not designed to do music and often take the analogue signal, digitise it, apply filters and the turn it back into analogue before amplifying. Not ideal. One solution is to add a stereo amp with ht bypass function, assuming your AVR has front L/R preouts. You then connect stereo sources to the stereo amp (cd, lp, tuner, streamer) and surround sources to the AVR (dvd, blueray, htpc, sat/cable, PS4 etc.). In AVR mode the ht bypass Input is chosen effectively turning the amp into a poweramp so volume is controlled by the AVR.
I woukd make sure this is budgeted for unless you have a top of the range Arcam or Marantz avr.
I woukd make sure this is budgeted for unless you have a top of the range Arcam or Marantz avr.
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