Soundlabs and magnepan mix on front stage?????

I set up an all Apogee surround system a few years back. SACD surround was just hitting the market.

It sounded very good, although there were not enough good recordings, at that time.

I still have a few Apogees (4)....I'd need to buy one more, to give it another go.

If you are going to use it for movies also (with a projector)...you need something that is not to tall (unless you can hide it behind the screen?). I used an Apogee Centaur Minor. Of course, for music only....it doesn't matter how tall the center channel is.

Something like this would be good also:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrplan&1212531235

You will need subwoofers for home theater.
Good luck,

Dave

Dave,

The three 3.6 Maggies on the link I put in my above response had the center 3.6 laying down sideways which would give a great soundstage that is 2 ft. tall and six feet wide. MYE makes the stands for the center 3.6 to lay down sideways. I thought it would make a great center channel, was hoping someone out there had the setup and could remark on it.

My real concern wasn't the viability of going 100% planar for the listening/theater room as much as using the soundlabs for the right and left and using the Maggies (different manufacture and technology) as a blend.

My first concern was that the titan wasn't strong enough to push the soundlabs with 200W at 8 ohms.

Second concern was that the blend of soundlab and maggie wouldn't work well.

Third concern was that the maggies are 4 ohms and the soundlabs are 8. I thought the "gain" of the speaker through it's volume range would be different enough to throw off the balance of the left and right vs. center channel. Also, being different manufactures, the efficiency will be different potentially further throwing off the balance but I may be wrong on how the amp/speaker relationship works.

Oh, BTW, I will be running an IB setup for the sub so that is taken care of.

If I decided to can the 3.6 for the center channel, Magnepan does make a nice center channel. That is always a fall-back!

Thanks again,

Lance

Lance,

Your proposed system makes more sense if you are running the Maggie 3.6 center sideways.

But your concern about amplification is valid. Yes, of course 200 watts will drive the Soundlabs but if their efficiency is in the mid 80's you might run out of gas on the power peaks, especially if they present an odd resistive/capacitive load like some ESL's do.

I don't know how large your room is or how loud you like to listen, but I would think you'd be limited to moderate volume levels if your room is large. If you have the opportunity to audition the Sim amp with the Sound Labs that should tell you quite a bit. Sometimes it's difficult to guess which amps will work well with a particular speaker.

It seems like an uphill battle to me and that is the reason for my earlier off-the-cuff comments. But good luck; I hope it works out for you.

Lance,

Interesting idea. Let me correct a misconception. The nominal impedance of the SLs may be 8 ohms, but it's VERY far from a flat impedance curve. You're looking at 40-50 ohms in the mids, dropping to about 2 ohms at 20 kHz. It is not a nice load, but I would expect the Sim to be able to handle it. 200 solid state watts is marginal. Also, unless these particular A-3s have the PX panels, they will not be as efficient and you'll be asking a comparatively small panel to do the midbass(?) and up in a home theater. Honestly, I'm not trying p!ss on your parade, and I LOVE my A-1PXs, but I'm not at all sure I'd want them in a theater setup.

As for the differences in efficiency and impedance between the SLs and a Maggie, I'm not real sure that I follow. Your processor is capable of setting relative volume for each individual channel, isn't it? Properly balanced that way, even the nasty impedance slope of the A-3s shouldn't be a problem unless you're getting frequency effects from amp/speaker interaction.

One question, since the center channel is largely for voice, could you get away with something much smaller - like an MMG maybe? I'm far from an HT expert, so maybe I'm just speaking from ignorance.

Hey guys, thanks for the response.

Plato,

No worries, I should have done a better job at explaining that the center 3.6 would be on it's side. My reasoning was that their center channel, the CC3 was selling used for close to a grand. I can buy a pair of 3.6's for around 2,500.00 so the individual speaker wouldn't cost significantly more than a dedicated center channel from maggie. Though i haven't listened to them individually, I am assuming the 3.6 will blow the center channel away in terms of quality and soundstage. I would have to offload the second 3.6 or try and find a "single" out there somewhere, but I am convinced I can find one.

The Sim is rated at "only" 200W but it doubles down as you drop so it will run 400W at 4 and so on. It's strong and has been used with the maggies by more than a few AVS members who claim it's praises.....but your right...listening to the package would be ideal. The nearest maggie dealer from me here in Michigan is 3 hours away and doesn't carry sim. The nearest soundlab dealer is also 3 hours away (in the other direction) and doesn't carry sim either (or maggie). Listening to this proposed system may be tough so I was going off the knowledge of a few fellow members that had experienced the system.

Thank you for the load explanation on the SL's. I understand it now so the matching of the components shouldn't be an issue. The amp should push the SL's pretty well. Maybe not Wolcott, CAT or parasound halo well, but well. I don't need it to break the sound barrier.

For the processor I am planning on purchasing an Proceed AVP2 + 6 with the blueray player that has analog outs. This would allow me to run separate analog outs for all the channels to the AVP then balance to the amp.

Curriemt11,

You might be right on the center channel. I am not a theater expert either. The only reason I was leaning towards the larger 3.6's was because the maggies tend to be more directional specific with a relatively small sweet spot. For theater listening, I wanted a large soundstage and sweet spot so that everyone in their respective listening positions could be in the zone instead of being biased to the left or right. That is also the reason that I was leaning toward the SL's. With the curved framework, their dispersion is significantly wider than the maggies.

When I was in Tampa on vacation a few weeks ago, I stopped into Audio Visions South and had an opportunity to listen to their maggies 3.6 setup in a theater. They were using the small dedicated center channel the CC3 and the MGM surrounds and it was amazing. I also had an opportunity to listen to the new Wilsons at a weakening $150,000.00 a pair.....unbelievable, just a bit out of my price range :-) but alot of fun to demo. I believe the maggies or SL's can handle the midbass, at least it seemed to in their setup but I am not sure what power they were running. My sub system, two 18's in an infinite baffle, can run up to 80 htz if I need them to which will help the low end.

The soundlabs are actually more than I wanted to spend originally as is the sim. My next option is to build the system with a pair of SL's and a solid 2-channel amp (parasound JC-1's for example) and just enjoy it with the theater setup in 2 channel mode for a while. That will give me time to get the bugs worked out and get the setup and room treatments right. After that, I can save up and trial a second amp and surround speakers to go with the SL's. If i didn't like the components, I could return them and keep trying till I find the right combination. (sigh). Since I currently don't own any equipment that is worth putting into a system I am starting from scratch. There are so many options out there it isn't easy to start to make a decision. I know I want to go planar (soundlab or maggie).....so far, that is the only confirmed decision I have made. And I will be 60% theater and 40% listening (approx)

Thanks again for all the input.