New Home setup

[drrafe]

I have been lurking for about a week now and have read most all the post here!!!. I am completing a new house and need a new setup in a "family multiuse room" The room is 24'long and open on one side to the kitchen and 18' across. Walls are 12' up and then vault up to about 16'. Speakers and equipment in the middle of the long wall with listening area on other side about 12-13' away.

My previous "system" is a Pioneer A/V receiver I think 120wpc with Klipsch Chorus IIs, some KG something bookshelfs for surrounds and a large Klipsch sub. It will go in another room.

I auditioned some ML Vantages about 1 1/2 weeks ago and Must Have A Pair (or else the Summits once I get to listen to them) I was blown away: total enthralled by the sound these wonderful speakers reproduced. I could go on and on but I won't because those of you on this site already know.

So, for mains it will be Vantage or Summit. I guess for center, the Stage but I want to listen to one first. I could go with a used Theater. What do you think?

I have wavered on the surrounds. I would like to go with a floor standing like a Vista or even a Clarity but that won't work on one side of the seating area due to traffic flow concerns. Then I thought about the inwalls like the Voyage or Passage, but that will limit the location and I would not be able to move it as easily if I don't like the sound or if the seating area changes. So I think I will go with the Fresco and mount it just above the top of the wall where the vault of the ceiling begins and that will angle the speaker down right toward the listener. Will this speaker "keep up" with the mains enough to be used as surrounds?

For an amp I am thinking about going with a Butler. This system will be used for 2 channel music and HT on about an equal basis. I could get the 5 channel Butler and use it for both. Then I would need a preamp (I was considering the Vacuum State SVP-1) but I am not sure how the connections would work trying to also incorporate a HT processor for movies. Does anyone ever use separate electonics for their music and HT? If you did, would you use some type of switching device to determine which signal from which amp went to the speakers depending on the current use, or would one just switch out which cables were connected to the speaker depending on desired use. Some how that doesn't sound like the way to go, but could be an option?

BTW, I had a local AV guy run spreaker wire throughout the house for multiple inwall speakers and he also ran wire for my HT system for mains, center, and surrounds. Somehow, I don't think I am going to be satisfied with using what he ran in the wall for my 2 channel listening. How to best solve this problem?

Is it possible to have one set of electronic including source for the HT(my local dealer is trying to sell me Rotel equipment) and a second "better"( for music ) setup for two channel listening (including better cabling) with a switching device? If I did that I could go with the 2 channel Butler.

Plenty of questions here so feel free to comment on any part including making recs on electronics I have mentioned or others in the realm of preamp, amp, HT processing and cabeling choices. There are obviously many knowlegable on this site so please help if you feel so led.
Thanks, Rafe Armstrong, Mississippi

 

[edwinr]

Hi.

Now as a former Klipsch man myself (well, not really former) I empathise with your dilemma. Now I tried the Vantages at home but as finances freed up a little for me (I sent my wife out to work night shifts!) I bought the Summits. There's not too much difference in sound quality between both speakers unless you have a larger room. This is where the Summits are (much) superior.

You DO NOT need a centre channel with the Summits. Not to start off anyway. So save your dollars. I run my Summits via the phantom centre channel option for home theatre. For my rears I run a pair of Klipsch Heresys II's. These are absolutly fanatastic as rears. The reason for this is simple. They are super sensitive (easy to drive) and for a box speaker, are able to keep up with the Summits dynamically. So the Heresys mesh in far better than I ever imagined they would.

Ultimately, of course, an all ML system is superior. But spend your hard earned dollars on the best main speakers you can afford. You will be thankful you did this.

Regarding amplification, freeing up your money by focussing on your 2 channel, will enable you to hopefully buy a better quality amplifier. The Summits are surprisingly easy to drive with some lower powered amplifiers, but you have to try the amps inndividually. Some lower powered amps just die, yet others will work really well.

Also I don't like spending too much of fancy calbles, but the Summits are a bit sensitive to what you use. Your current cable may be perfect. Try them before you spend more money.

Good luck.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

drrafe,
I would look at my setup and all the posts pertaining to that. This is what I actually did. I built a good 2 channel system and then built around it a HT setup.

It is too long to put all that together here in one post . Take a look at it and then you can ask away.

Jeff

 

[edwinr]

I like what you're saying, Jeff. If you can get the 2 channel part right first, then everything else just drops into place.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

edwinr,
That was my initial goal. My preferences were always 2 channel and the built around that. The issue is you have more equipment but then it was worth it for me.

Jeff

 

[drrafe]

Well I finally made the first purchase toward the new home system that I was talking about in the first post of this thread.

I am the owner of new Summits. I have not even had the opportunity to listen to them in my own home yet, but I can't wait. I am still contemplating pre and power. As mentioned above I am strongly considering the Butler amp. But have recently been looking closely at Musical Fidelity equip. on Audiogon after reading very positive reviews on the preamp and power amps they offer. Anyone here with first hand experience? And then Joey's review of his new Plinius has me checking prices also.

Also, please forgive my stupidity, but if I have a nice preamp and power amp, what is the proper way to set up a HT processor into the mix. I will be about 60/40 music/HT. Also need recs on good processor for a system of the quality I will be attempting to acheive.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Joey_V]

Musical Fidelity KW500 is a good match for the Summits as the guy who had my Summits before me was using that to power them. Heard them and I thought it was a good match.

Plinius with a tube amp is also a great match, especially when you bias it to Class A.

Never heard a Butler amp, sorry.

Congrats on the new Summits... welcome to the secret Summit club... no one else can read what I just wrote except for us Summit owners. *Shhhh*...

Joey

 

[drrafe]

Thanks Joey V.
I have really been enjoying the site.

 

[sleepysurf]

I strongly suggest getting a Pre Amp with a Home Theater Bypass Loop. I just got the Modwright, and am now going to pair it with a Butler 2250 to drive my Summits. I also have a Yamaha RX-V1000 (older) for Home Theater use. I feed the Yamaha FRONT pre-outs thru the Modwright HT bypass straight to my 2-channel amp and Summits, and use the Yamaha to power my center and rear surrounds directly (not ML's). The Home Theater Bypass allows me to use the Yamaha for ALL surround processing and volume control, and also feed a separate NHT Sub dedicated to Home Theater.

One caveat however, is to check if the DEFAULT setting on the HTB loop is open/closed when the pre-amp is powered OFF. It turns out the Modwright default is CLOSED, so the Pre-Amp must be powered on to allow the Yamaha signal to pass. It's not a hassle for me, but more complicated for my wife/kids to play a DVD. I believe some of the Cary Pre's offer a HTB which is OPEN by default.

 

[DTB300]

I strongly suggest getting a Pre Amp with a Home Theater Bypass Loop.

I do the same thing with my setup and it works great - I use an ARC for my Pre. Makes for unified volume control which is a must.

The only thing I do different is I do not allow my main stream HT receiver to power any of the other channels, as I pre-out to the center and surrounds. Hopefully in the future I can afford a better HT Processor for better music reproduction. For movies it works fine for our family.

Dan

 

[Rich]

I'll add my 2 cents to the chorus. You have purchased a fantastic speaker (congrats) but it will be very revealing of the upstream components. I highly recommend a quality preamp with a home theater bypass loop for an external processor. Many on this forum prefer a tube preamp with a solid state amp to power MLs. This gives a nice combination of warmth and power.

There are many quality preamps that have an external processor bypass loop. This allows you to pass a pure signal to your two channel rig for listening to music, and also easily integrate multi-channel home theater.

If you have the bucks, my suggestion would be a quality tube preamp (Conrad Johnson, ARC, BAT, etc., etc.) matched with a quality solid state two-channel amp (Musical Fidelity, Classe, Plinius, Butler, etc., etc.) and incorporate a high quality surround processor (Lexicon, Sunfire, etc., etc.) using the bypass loop of the preamp. This is spendy, but it gives you the most flexibility and highest quality all the way around, IMHO.

Good luck and have fun putting together a great system. You are already way out in front of the pack just by your choice of speakers.

 

[drrafe]

Thanks guys. So my DVD player goes to the HT processor (or reviever that has pre outs) then into the preamp HT bypass and on to the amp? That very well may be the way I go with a HT reciever to run the other channels, but is it also possible to have just a processor and run the signal through the preamp and then to a multichannel amp or a group of monoblocks for all five channels? How would that setup work? Wouln't it have to be a multichannel preamp to keep the signals separate and to send separate signals to the amps? Sorry for the novice questions, but thanks for the help.

 

[karma]

I'll add my 2 cents to the chorus. You have purchased a fantastic speaker (congrats) but it will be very revealing of the upstream components. I highly recommend a quality preamp with a home theater bypass loop for an external processor. Many on this forum prefer a tube preamp with a solid state amp to power MLs. This gives a nice combination of warmth and power.

There are many quality preamps that have an external processor bypass loop. This allows you to pass a pure signal to your two channel rig for listening to music, and also easily integrate multi-channel home theater.

If you have the bucks, my suggestion would be a quality tube preamp (Conrad Johnson, ARC, BAT, etc., etc.) matched with a quality solid state two-channel amp (Musical Fidelity, Classe, Plinius, Butler, etc., etc.) and incorporate a high quality surround processor (Lexicon, Sunfire, etc., etc.) using the bypass loop of the preamp. This is spendy, but it gives you the most flexibility and highest quality all the way around, IMHO.

Good luck and have fun putting together a great system. You are already way out in front of the pack just by your choice of speakers.

HI,
Another .02. I drive my CLSIIA's with ARC tubes. In the past I have had tubed and solid state amp and preamps (ARC, Levinson, Krell, and Rowland) in any and all combinations on my CLS's.

I have found that tubes, specifically, ARC tubes, offer the most. At the extremely high level of performance of which these speakers are capable, ARC tubes simply feed more information to the speakers. Furthermore, I don't favor mixing brands, much less technologies, beween amp and preamps.

I feel that when you reach the ML level, you are buying into the amp designers vision. Find the designer whose sound you like and buy the best he has to offer. Your speakers will sing.

Sparky