New guy in town.......Home Theater woes

[robo1234]

Hi all and a little help if you can. I am considering doing the ML thing for my new Home Theater. Room is small and very dead 14 x 12 x 8 ….

I am looking at a med budget

I am Considering the following:

1 pair of Source Floor standing Speakers

1 Motif Center Channel Speaker

1 Subwoofer which one?

1 pair Vignette On Wall Speakers

Driving the package with a VSX-94TXH

1 .Which sub should I consider…

2. Do not see much talk about the Source is it just :bowdown: a bargain basement version of a better model I should be looking at for a small step up?

Than Your for your time

 

[Rich]

The Source is a great speaker. You will be very happy with it, I'm sure. As for a sub for this setup, I would suggest either the ML Abyss or the Grotto i.

 

[tsmooth]

I currently have Vista/Motif/Dynamo/Vignette in the same sized room. That was after owning the ML Source for about 6 months. The Source was great but I received a great deal on the Vistas and had to move on them. The Dynamo can hold its own in a room of this size, but I agree with moving to a servo sub like the grotto (it can be had on audiogon for about $625 for the budget minded). Personally, going from an expensive pair of Polk speakers to the Source was night and day. You will be amazed at the level of imaging you can get out of just two speakers listening to music. The 5 channel is right on and I believe everything you talked about will mesh well together. But I would HIGHLY recommend spending a pretty good amount of money for, at least, a 2 channel amplifier. If you want the Sources to sing you need the current to allow them to make there magic. Take a look through the posts for recommendations, but once again looking at your range you can probably look into Sunfire, Rotel, or even Emotiva (I would recommend Sunfire). Have fun and don't be afraid to post questions!

 

[crusty]

Hi tsmooth,

I, too, am considering Martin Logan speakers. I listened to the Source and really liked the warmth, presence, and "completeness" of how they sounded with music. Since you have experience with both the Source and the Vista, can you shed some light on how the Vista compares to the Source? I listened to the Vista as well, and found it somewhat lacking in the midbass and (dare I say) kind of thin. The example that comes to mind is when the first bass note in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" hits (I believe it's a B-flat), it was almost non-existent. This was the same for the Vantage. The frequency for B-flat is (counting down from Middle-C on the piano) is 233.08 Hz, 116.54 Hz, and 58.270 Hz. I'm not sure if this is consistent with other people's experiences. Any feedback comparing these two speakers would be helpful.

Thanks,
crusty

 

[MickeyVee]

Nice plan and will be awesome for HT (and 2 CH depending on the source and amplification).. would go for the Grotto as the sub.. I'll probably upgrade my sub to the Grotto i later this year.
You will need good amplification. I have a Rotel receiver @ 7 x 100 watts but I think I can do much better.. will probably go Sunfire down the road.
Good luck & enjoy!

 

[robo1234]

Thank You all for quick responce......If I do the source thing I Have a old BGW 410 in show room shape could I use that or sell it and buy a new amp? Also for the center will the pani work well or should I obtain a sep amp for it also?

 

[JonFo]

no need for 2ch amp

Folks, no point in recommending a dedicated 2ch amp for a Source speaker.

The Source includes its own 200w amp that drives the entire speaker.

Swapping amps in front of a Source will have little to no effect. It sure won't make it play any louder


One of the really nice aspects of the Source is that it can indeed be used with receivers with no worries about ampliication.

 

[Rich]

The Source includes its own 200w amp that drives the entire speaker.

Actually, Jonathan is referring to the Purity, not the Source. The Purity is the same speaker as the Source except that it has the amp built in as Jonathan references. The Source does require you to have an amplifier to drive it.

So if you are concerned about having a proper amp to drive the Source, you could always purchase the Purity instead and have the amp built in.

 

[Joey_V]

Source is a good speaker, but if you can stretch just a wee-bit, you can find Vistas on audiogon (used) perhaps even in your area for a few hundred more (considering you wont have to pay tax on a used speaker).

As for the sub? I would suggest a Velodyne DD10 used from audiogon. $1K.

 

[tsmooth]

To comment on the vista, I also changed my receiver to a Denon 3808 to use the Denon link between the 2930 and 3808, so I cannot say apples to apples. The one thing that really stands out for me is the width of the soundstage and also the placement of the sound. The vocals are dead center and the rest of the instruments seem line up perfectly as they would live. I was also able to close my eyes and imagine the drums pretty much directly behind the vocals; these things keep amazing me (I finally have about 70-80 hours on the vistas). Right away when the Source was nicely broken in and the Vistas right out of the box, it was harder to say. In my opinion, the bass on the vista is cleaner and much more realistic. I am a huge Jack Johnson fan and pretty much memorized how each CD sounded on my Sources. It was very nice, but many tracks have a great deal of "mid" bass and I just prefer the sound of the vista to what I was getting. I believe I saw a few sets of vistas on audiogon for $2,200 to $2,500 and if you have the money that would be a no brainer. The market is flooded with speakers right now (probably the most listings for summits I have ever seen), as I believe people are re-thinking dropping a few grand on electronics when energy and day-to-day expenses are what they are.

Robo1234, with the size of your room I believe either speaker would fit the bill.

 

[JonFo]

OK, I'll blame lack of caffeine for the mess up. it's the Purity that's amplified, not the Source. My bad

 

[tsmooth]

Take a look at the New Martin Logan Preface on their website, might be a good match with the Source (at least they look the same) for surrounds.

 

[crusty]

Hi tsmooth,

I must apologize and retract my previous comments regarding the Vista's bass response. I gave it another listen, and the drop-out appeared to be a room interaction rather than the speaker itself. I thought that it was strange that Martin Logan would make such an egregious error, and thankfully they didn't. The Vistas are amazing, as I discovered with the limited exposure I've had to them.

robo1234,

I still stand by my comments on the Source, however.

crusty