Planar Speaker Asylum

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Planar Speaker Asylum

RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's?

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In Reply to: RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? posted by macmagman on September 26, 2016 at 21:23:44

Thanks so much for everyone's comments. I'll work on some good pictures of the room for the 20.7 question but I'm very curious about bi amping. I have an extra pair of CJ Premier 8's (kt120's/ all teflon upgrades), and pair of Carver 305's. Both are about 300 watt tube amps with slightly different signatures. The CJ's have better bass and the Carvers have more detail and a gorgeous midrange. They are slightly more "alive" than the CJ's. Could I bi amp with these? Here's a picture of them sitting patiently on the floor in front of the painting of a 1951 Ford pick up truck.

Follow Ups:

RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - tedtag 05:35:00 09/27/16 (6)
Also, Yes I do have subs; a pair of REL G2's that I've located right behind each speaker and spent a ton of time moving and adjusting those to align well with the Maggies. Right now I believe they are perfectly placed for the room and that's one of the reasons that I can't move the footprint for the Maggies very much. There just isn't the floor space. I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about subs but in this setup, the bass is seamless through all the low frequencies and I just can't tell at all the subs are there except for the terrific impact they add. The bass in the system is gorgeous and I'd be nervous about changing that. Btw, the subs are crossed over at 37 hz and set at a very low relative volume level of 7 on the REL digital read out. I've attached another picture that shows most of the system and the room. Note; right now the CJ's and Carvers are not hooked up and I'm running both channels with the new CAT JL7's on the floor in front of the equipment rack.
- RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - tberd 11:13:21 10/17/16 (2)
  In this small room, you'd be better off with MMG's. Maggies need roooom to breathe.
  
  My audition to the original 20 series was in a very large room. More like two rooms with walls removed to make one large room. Easily 20-30 feet wide and about 50 long. The original 20 series looked "normal" in place inside that sized room. Powered by Audio Mirror SET mono blocks at 45 glorious class A watts per channel. Sound stage was massive and heavily layered. T'was the most accurate, real sounding sound...... That was the best 20 series demo I've ever heard. Not to mention the best system. It's all about the room size.
  
  tberd
  - RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - Davidmag 13:29:05 11/05/16 (1)
    I recommend 2 DWM Bass panels, They bring the 3.7i's close to the same level as the 20.7.
    - RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - gsb 13:48:40 11/05/16 (0)
      Sweet looking setup!!what size is your room and what associated equipment are you using with you 3.7s
- RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - Satie 08:38:09 09/27/16 (0)
  Since the subs are going to take up the energy requirement for deep bass, the power amps you have should do fine to drive the bass panels in biamp for either the 3.7 or 20.7, since they will be playing into the 1khz range then you would want the best match to the CAT JL7 in the mids rather than anything else. The power is obviously going to be more than you have with the CAT JL7 single amping.
  
  The 20.7 is going to be an upgrade in any case, whether you end up biamping or not. and the room is large enough to handle them. They are simply better speakers with less compression and more resolution. Try an get a listen to see whether those are a sufficient improvement to justify the upgrade for you. The 20.7 will also allow you to push the subwoofer XO lower than it is with the 3.7, so more planar bass would be available.
  
  With either speaker we just need to work out the best parallel crossover to implement at line level to get the same driver integration that the OEM XO provides. .
- RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - Norman M 08:37:45 09/27/16 (0)
  Very nice pictures! You say: "This is pretty much near field listening and in that room I believe I have found the perfect speaker location for the 3.7is ..." and also asked if we thought the 20.7's would over power the room and sound worse". IMO this latter possibility is likely and speaking only for myself, I'd leave well enough alone. Actually it looks much more than simply "well enough", I'd say it looks *stupendous* and like a dream come true.
- RE: Replace 3.7i's with 20.7's? - DrChaos 08:27:12 09/27/16 (0)
  If you already have subwoofers, then I wonder if the update to the 20.7 might not add as much?
  
  One thing I could recommend is a high quality DSP/room correction which does the subwoofer & bass frequency part well, like Anthem ARC or Dirac or DSPeaker. I use Anthem now and used DSPeaker.
  
  Specifically not the mass market receivers: the algorithm matters an immense amount, and they are not all the same!
  
  For my 3.6's there was a very good increase in the dynamic clarity in the bass---which is a bit of a weakness in the 3.6's (3.7's could improve here, but the basic physics is the same between them).
  
  Anthem's software recommended a crossover frequency of 80Hz which sounded very high to me, but with the DSP and measurement correction it turns out to work very well---I think I tweaked mine to 70Hz nonetheless. There is still significant energy going to mains below the x-over point.
  
  Like you, when I was running subs with mains full range and before the Anthem/DSPeaker, I used a much lower xoverpoint, the same as yours---there is a big panel resonance around 42 Hz in 3.6's and 3.7's are the same dimensions. 70Hz would have sounded awful, but it's totally different with the DSP xover and correction.
  
  The 20's improve mostly in the bass vs the 3's (though improving the spectral balance overall can have great perceptual effects), the highs shouldn't be all that different. Your room is smallish and listening position close.
  
  Another consideration: what about a couple of DWM's instead? Much cheaper, and they are made out of 20.x series di-planar bass panels.

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