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Receiver Rotel? and Speakers Maggies? for HT?

Hi,

I need to buy sound gear and video switching for our HT (front projector). Already have a 2-channel separate music system which I love (tube amp with Soliloquy speakers).

Room is about 16x30 with angled ceiling (1.5 story house) on the sides, so speakers for rear surrounds must be small/flat and wall-mountable. Detailed sound processing and clear dialog are number one priorities, without sounding too bright.

Since there do not appear to be any reasonably priced pre/pros ( = 100MHz bandwidth, I've resigned myself to buying a receiver with pre-outs instead. I've got a couple of 2-channel amps with an honest 100W/channel rating floating around, and could always buy another used amp if necessary. The top contenders right now are Rotel RSX-1056 and RSX-1067, though I'm not sure the 1067 (100Wx7) is worth $900 more than the 1056 (75Wx5 with 2 preouts for the other 2 channels).

Thought of getting the new Magnepan MMG W and MMG C speakers, augmented with a Dayton Titanic 10" sub (or 2 if needed). They look nice and fit flat against the wall, perfect for our room. Imaging and clarity are supposed to be their strength, and the lack of bass is made up by the sub(s). Trouble is, they are 4ohm speakers and supposedly difficult to drive. Question is, how are they for HT, would they be "loud" enough for our room, and can the Rotel receivers handle them or will I likely require outboard amplification?

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy post, but I figure more info is better than not enough. You may not have all the answers, but any advise or experience with respect to the above choices are greatly appreciated!

Thx,
Frank
fvoelling
elevick
2,636 posts
 
Why not soliloquy speakers all around since you already like them. You should be able to find Sat-5's for $400/pr and a center for $400. These would sound great with the Rotel.
fvoelling OP
6 posts
 
Exertfluffer,

Thanks for your comments and recommendation. That's why I'm kind of leaning towards the smaller Rotel, in case I need more amplification and just end up using it as a pre/pro.
The Outlaw looks interesting and is kind of what I was looking for originally (separate pre/pro at a reasonable price), but lacks some key features (only 2 component inputs with a bandwidth of only 45MHz, no variable x-over but fixed at 80Hz, too low for the Maggies which stop at 100MHz).

I'm not stuck on the Maggies yet, they would just fit nicely in terms of size, placement, and decor, aside from their sound qualities. B&W's 600 series has some wall-mountable speakers as well and are supposed to match nicely with Rotel, so I may take a look at them also.

Thx,
Frank
panny
99 posts
 
You can find better speaker's than both Maggies or B&W's for their respected prices. I use to own Maggies and have auditioned B&W's. While I imagine they would both be speakers you can live with there are minor drawbacks to both in terms of musical reproduction.

The Maggies are problematic in a few area's such as bass and imaging as they do not have a wide area for off axis listening and the B&W's have a mid Bass suckout or hump which really bugs me.

I am due to get a set of AER speakers to audition and review shortly which have Kevlar drivers and it shall be intresting to see weather they addressed certain areas B&W has missed.

I will try to post alternatives to them in awhile.

Good luck!
fvoelling OP
6 posts
 
Panny,

Not sure what you mean by "mid Bass suckout or hump". B&W uses Kevlar drivers in their 600 series that I'm looking at, and they state the following:

"In the 600 Series 3 midrange and bass/midrange drivers, we have improved their response in the upper frequencies by better matching the stiffness of teh voice coil bobbin to the neck of the cone. A minor refinement perhaps, but it gives a smoother transition to the tweeter and improves the sense of openness."

Is that the weakness you referred to in your statement, and could they have corrected that with this improvement?

Thx,
Frank
tonyp54
130 posts
 
I also recently set up a second system for HT, seperate from my 2 channel rig and decided on the Rotel 1055 (good deal since the 1056 had recently come out) and Paradigm 60 v3s. The Paradigms work very well for HT and they pair up well with the Rotel. The system is in a large rec room (20x40) and has no problem filling the room. How much you want to spend is the deciding factor re: receiver vs seperates, but for HT I just don't find the price difference is justified by the small improvement. I'm not listening for nuances in the soundtrack of movies, just impact and clarity of speech that blends well and good surround effects. I'm not sure I'd go with Maggies for a HT application, especially if it's not used for serious music listening.
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