Phase 1 My lovely bride said yes - to converting 1/2 the bonus room into a listening space that a couple of now grown kids called home as high schoolers. The carpet still bears the scars where a queen size bed sat for 26 years. The BMRs finally enjoying a bit of breathing room after 4 years stuffed into a couple of corners serving HT duty while waiting…
for the M4s to arrive. Thanks for the suggestion @Baldy! Working from home all I have to do now is spin the chair and I’m pretty much in the zone. The baffle centers are about 8’ center to center, 3-1/2’ from the front wall and 3’ from the side walls. They only have about 15 hours on them but it doesn’t take long for them to start revealing what’s to come.
Imaging is pretty good but the stage is lacking depth. I don’t know if this lack of depth is speaker break in, the Ragnarok, the room, the source or all the above. I suspect speaker break in has a little something to do with it as the BMR were showing off a bit of depth I’ve not heard before in the piss poor place they usually reside.
Next step I think is treatments then amplification after break in. I’m a freakin’ lucky guy.
Hi Allan,
I just looked at my setup for the X5’s and I had them 40" from the front wall, 40" from the right side wall (my room is open to the left), 68" apart center to center and the listening spot was 96" from the baffle.Toe in was about so each speaker was aimed at my shoulders. I think that once the surrounds break in you will notice a nice relaxation to the sound. It will take a month or so of a few hours a day listening.
If you can sneak a pair of subs into the room it will also help. Even something small like the SVS Micros would do the trick. I have a pair of the Micros in another system and they put out a lot of bass.
The room is a little bare too so once you get a few things on the walls it should help.
@Paul 's setup book and CD will help if you get a copy and follow the directions. Also Ron at New Record Day has a good setup procedure. I didn’t have a lot of options here as it is also the living room and placement was limited but I did get good results.
One thing I really liked about the X5’s is they had a very wide usable volume range. They will fill the room at almost any volume level. They should also sound good while you are facing the other way but it may be hard to concentrate on work.
Thanks much. I actually picked up 2 copies of Paul’s book and CD a couple of weeks ago. I plan on spending some time with them tomorrow. The second set went to my oldest.
Maybe I should turn them around. My wife’s biggest complaint is she thinks they look weird. Every time she walks past the open door she’s staring at the back.
I fell in love with the Spatial Audio speakers I heard at the 2019 RMAF. I believe they were their top of the line model. I later had a chance to hear a local pair of X5’s, which also impressed me. Came close to pulling the trigger on the X5’s, but came across a deal on a demo pair of Altra Alec speakers, which I’m absolutely thrilled with.
