BEST SURROUND SOUND.........................what do you guys suggest?

[rumble_lion]

I was referring to tower speakers vs satellites? I have a velodyne 15" sub and you are correct there is no substitute for big woofers and cabinets.

Yep, I'd recommend and infinite baffle subwoofer. When you need to realistically reproduce pipe organ music you have to go big....

From the owner of the video listed below:

My 8 x 15" IB subwoofer playing Bassotronics "I love you". 600 cu ft IB enclosure. Eight Acoustic Elegance AEIB15 low distortion drivers. Easy 130dB on 40Hz+ test tones. Right off the top scale on RS SPL meter! Video recorded right inside the enclosure. You'll need a good subwoofer to enjoy this properly. No silly, over-driven distortion on the camera microphone! Just clean, deep bass right down to 8Hz. This subwoofer was built for enjoying realistic, classical, pipe organ music at home. Plus films and other kinds of music of course.​

 

[Mudge1026]

Whoa

Yep, I'd recommend and infinite baffle subwoofer. When you need to realistically reproduce pipe organ music you have to go big....

From the owner of the video listed below:

My 8 x 15" IB subwoofer playing Bassotronics "I love you". 600 cu ft IB enclosure. Eight Acoustic Elegance AEIB15 low distortion drivers. Easy 130dB on 40Hz+ test tones. Right off the top scale on RS SPL meter! Video recorded right inside the enclosure. You'll need a good subwoofer to enjoy this properly. No silly, over-driven distortion on the camera microphone! Just clean, deep bass right down to 8Hz. This subwoofer was built for enjoying realistic, classical, pipe organ music at home. Plus films and other kinds of music of course.​

View embedded media

Yep, I'd recommend and infinite baffle subwoofer. When you need to realistically reproduce pipe organ music you have to go big....

From the owner of the video listed below:

My 8 x 15" IB subwoofer playing Bassotronics "I love you". 600 cu ft IB enclosure. Eight Acoustic Elegance AEIB15 low distortion drivers. Easy 130dB on 40Hz+ test tones. Right off the top scale on RS SPL meter! Video recorded right inside the enclosure. You'll need a good subwoofer to enjoy this properly. No silly, over-driven distortion on the camera microphone! Just clean, deep bass right down to 8Hz. This subwoofer was built for enjoying realistic, classical, pipe organ music at home. Plus films and other kinds of music of course.​

View embedded media

Whoa, that's pretty amazing! Though for my 18x15 room I'm pretty smitten with my Velodyne DD-15. It's got EQ-Optimization software (no boomy bass), pretty good stuff !!

 

[rumble_lion]

Whoa


Whoa, that's pretty amazing! Though for my 18x15 room I'm pretty smitten with my Velodyne DD-15. It's got EQ-Optimization software (no boomy bass), pretty good stuff !!

Here is another one, at 6:50 he shows a sliding glass door, the glass is bowing/moving about an inch.

 

[PSULBU]

What

are you talking about??!!?
Denon, Marantz and Onkyo chose Audyssey room correction since this software became available in the early 2000s. Yamaha uses their proprietary room correction software called YPAO and Pioneer uses their own system called MMAC. All three of these systems have been in existence for almost 15 years now. Atmos has nothing to do with it.

Yes they have until recently sport. Do yourself a favor and Google "Onkyo ditched Audyssey." Onkyo ditched Audyssey and went to their own calibration system. Right now only Denon and Marantz (same company as I said before) have it with Atmos. Get with the program.

 

[PSULBU]

A sub would play every thing down below 80 hz so satellite speakers have to play everything above 80hz. If you dont have aot of cabinet volume you cant play loud enough effectively. I tried satellites in fromt and they just dont play music loud enough to be satisfying. Now if you are just doing movies satelittes in front would be fine. Rotel is pretty knew but only 60 per channel in 6 channel mode. The B&K's are much older but have been sitting in a box unused for 5 years. I have this really cool Meridien surround sound controller as a replacement.

Not true at all... Tell that to the two M&K setups I have... those sat/subs rock

 

[PSULBU]

You have no clue. Have you even heard it set up in a commercial theater or properly executed home system?

I have and don't care for it. I felt this way before I read this... http://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/5-reasons-dolby-atmos-is-doa

 

[Mudge1026]

Not true at all... Tell that to the two M&K setups I have... those sat/subs rock

I dont doubt your claim, I'm just going by my own experience with satellite speakers. I own a pair of Canton tower speakers that are just amazing, the loudest speakers that I've ever worked with. What is the science behind cabinet volume and loudness? I know there's no substitute for cabinet size with subwoofer design at least that is what I've read in reviews? That has been my experience with the subs I've owned. What about speakers in general?

 

[Brazillm10]

Yes they have until recently sport. Do yourself a favor and Google "Onkyo ditched Audyssey." Onkyo ditched Audyssey and went to their own calibration system. Right now only Denon and Marantz (same company as I said before) have it with Atmos. Get with the program.

Realize that Audyssey charges a premium to manufacturers to use their room correction software. As they say, "there is more than one way to skin a cat" and there's no doubt that manufacturers are doing their own R&D into room correction. Audyssey is still very good, but others are catching up and even surpassing it. An example is www.dirac.com, which most enthusiasts feel sounds better than Audyssey, but is cost prohibitive to put in mainstream receivers.

 

[Brazillm10]

I have and don't care for it. I felt this way before I read this... http://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/5-reasons-dolby-atmos-is-doa

I guess we'll agree to disagree on this topic. Let me give you my perspective. Back when Dolby Digital first came out in the mid 90's, sound engineers found there to be a learning curve as to how to mix movies and concerts with five discrete speakers plus a bass channel. It took a couple years and some hits and misses before film mixers became comfortable using the technology.

The same is true with Atmos. Movies like Gravity, Mad Max: Fury Road and Interstellar really take advantage of the height channels while others sound more tame and less immersive. The reality is many of these movies were not natively mixed in Atmos, but upconverted from 7.1 and even old 5.1 soundtracks, so their hands are a bit tied. Once the industry fully embraces the technology, I think he are going to experience much more impressive soundtracks that take full advantage of the height speakers.

 

[pmjoe]

If you've got a small budget, you can get good surround sound out of a set of Klipsch Quintets and a quality subwoofer. Going up from there, a lot of it is going to come down to budget and personal preferences.

 

[Brazillm10]

If you've got a small budget, you can get good surround sound out of a set of Klipsch Quintets and a quality subwoofer. Going up from there, a lot of it is going to come down to budget and personal preferences.

Quintets have always been a nice value for a tiny, budget speaker. The only caution I would make is that when using such tiny speakers, you'll need to crossover your subwoofer in the 100-120 hz range because those speakers can't play bass below 100 hz. Male vocals reach down into the 90z range so becomes important to locate your sub up front by the TV to best blend with the main three speakers.

 

[Michael.Felli]

Just wanted to say thank you for all the responses.

This thread reveals just how clueless I am about quality sound. And, worse, the technology keeps changing. This is one of my New Years Resolution is to update my surround sound and antiquated TV. So, thanks. Much appreciated.