Speakers we have owned to get us to the speakers we currently own.

[NBPk402]

this is the right speaker + subs only...this was to show the dropoff from the vlevet masking panels:

Speakers we have owned to get us to the speakers we currently own.

Did you have the mic at the MLP or just in front of the speaker?

[jkasanic]

this is the right speaker + subs only...this was to show the dropoff from the vlevet masking panels:

Speakers we have owned to get us to the speakers we currently own.

Is that with or without Audyssey?

[bmoney]

Did you have the mic at the MLP or just in front of the speaker?

MLP

[bmoney]

with

[NBPk402]

MLP

Same as i do.. I was wondering because a lot of DIYers do it at the speaker, but to me it only matters from the MLP as that is where I am listening.

[jkasanic]

with

Are you running about 5-7 dB hot on subs then?  Did you ever take measurements with DL that would be comparable to this?

[bmoney]

Are you running about 5-7 dB hot on subs then?  Did you ever take measurements with DL that would be comparable to this?

yes...I like a hot sub house curve...yes I used DL and did the ski slope correction it was almost identical

[bmoney]

Same as i do.. I was wondering because a lot of DIYers do it at the speaker, but to me it only matters from the MLP as that is where I am listening.

you only run it at the speaker to see the true response of the speaker...close mic'd takes as much of the room out of the FR as possible (without taking the speaker outside)

[DavidHir]

Tough to remember, but here goes...

I got into home theater in 1999 when I bought a low end KLH 5.1 surround sattelites sound box from Best Buy.  I also bought my first DVD player from Montgomery Ward (Sony 300 something) to use with my 27"  RCA CRT 480i. On any rate, it was my first surround set-up.  I replaced it relatively quickly with something by Yamaha which was a big improvement - another 5.1 satelites in the box.  I later bought Yamaha towers (model name escapes me).  I also bought a 10" Velodyne sub.

In 2005, I to moved Infinity Betas - BIG upgrade from what I had.  They were towers with 8 inch woofers, C360 center channel and bookshelfs and I bought an SVS 20-30 PC+ sub. 

I used those up until 2014 when I went front projection.  Because my wall is only 10 feet wide, I wanted to keep my screen 9 feet wide which meant I had to move to bookshelf speakers for my fronts.  I started with Def Tech PM1000s for fronts, PM800s for rears and Hsu 15" VTH sub.  After a year, I upgraded to the SM55s for my fronts moving the PM1000s to the rears.

Just a couple of months ago, I upgraded again.  I bought the Martin Logan XT35s for my fronts, Motion 4s for rears, and dual Rhythmic L12s.  Looking to get everything calibrated with my receiver in a few weeks via Audyssey Pro, REW measuring, etc. by Chad B.  My subs will be underneath the screen as I prefer the bass from upfront where as I had the the Hsu in the back corner of the room because that is the only place it would fit (it was too big to put up front), but despite multiple calibrations and changes, the bass localization in the corner was just too strong for my taste and created door rattling back there.

 

[Paul Heroy]

I haven't had as many speakers as some audiophiles but a few nice ones, though no DIY. Interesting to go through the memories and list them. The first 2 are pretty hazy but after that I started actually keeping track of purchases.

1978? Sansui speakers, no idea of model and I doubt anyone cares. I was 14 "ish" and mainly cared that they had some bass impact, much to my mom's chagrin! They were kind of squat but had 10" woofers for some decent kick.

1983? 3D Acoustics, sat/sub, I think 3D610B? It got rave reviews in the early 80s as one of the first satellite/subwoofer designs to get that configuration "right". This was my first entry into a really quality speaker and it opened my eyes to imaging and soundstaging that

1990 - Mirage M3. This was my first really higher end speaker purchase. I had become a fairly regular visitor to the one really high end store in my town and became enamored of some Acoustat electrostats which blew my mind. Then I heard the Apogee ribbons (in New Orleans, playing a 48KHz DAT recording of a jazz quartet made the previous evening) and was similarly moved. But I didn't have the budget for them and also wanted something that would dig a little lower in the bass. Enter Mirage with their early bipole designs with the M1 and then the M3. The M3 was an amazing speaker at the time, with a lot of the dimensionality and soundstaging of the dipole electrostat/ribbon designs but the dynamics and bass of a dynamic speaker. This began my love affair with Mirage that lasted across 3 decades...

2000 - Mirage OM6. Bought these as part of setting up my first true home theater with a projection screen. While not quite as good as the M3s they had the significant advantage of having a much smaller width and fitting on the sides of the screen where the M3 just couldn't. The M3s got moved to another room and sadly sold in 2003.

2008 - VMPS RM30. VMPS was a brand I read about for years in ads and saw a small number of reviews where it seemed to always be mentioned as being one of the best values in audio. Brian Cheney the designer was an early practitioner of the direct to consumer business model before the advent of internet direct sales. (Obviously by 2008 VMPS had a website too.) The RM30 was part of the "ribbon monitor" line with the midrange and up handled exclusively by planar-ribbon and ribbon drivers, with side mounted dynamic woofers. These basically replaced the Mirage M3 as my 2nd, 2 channel setup. Unfortunately when I got married a couple of years later they got kicked out.

2012 - Mirage OMD-28. The OMD line was Mirage's last hoorah for a "real" speaker, after becoming more a "lifestyle" maker of mostly satellite and extremely slim low profile speakers. The OMD-28s feature the "omnipolar" evolution of the bipolar design that Mirage failed to trademark. Using a sort of pod like deflector arrangement the midrange and tweeter are dispersed in a 360 degree pattern, somewhat like the Ohm Walsh drivers (but of course a different technique). These are my current HT speakers, with and OMD-C2 center. For an Atmos upgrade a couple of years ago I replaced the matching OMD-R surrounds with in-wall and in-ceiling Revel models. I may replace the OMD-28s with Revel front channels in the next couple of years, which would be the end of a nearly 30 year run with Mirage speakers for me.

2014 - Martin Logan Summit X. After the VMPS RM30s got kicked out I really missed having a high quality 2 channel setup, but with a new house in 2013 gained a space to restore that. My budget finally had caught up to my old cravings for a dipole speaker and I found a great deal on a demo pair of the ML Summit Xs. The magic that a good electrostat can create is just breathtaking - the "3d-ness" of the image with breadth and width outside and behind the speakers is something some of the Mirages came close to but the pinpoint imaging ability is something they couldn't do. I love demoing them for friends who've never experienced anything like it and blowing their minds.

[Burnsze15]

So for me, I started when I was 12 with Realistic bookshelves from Radio Shack! I had the very first 'Surround Decoder' from them which was for Dolby Surround (added rear channel decode).  My friends father had a subwoofer before subwoofers were really a thing. I fell in love at age 12 (this was better than girls!). At age 16 I had a Technics component system with 12" woofers, 3-way.  That was the cat's meow.  Years later after college I had the Klipsch RS series, 5.1.  Sony HT Receiver.  Then I was introduced to JTR. I was doing some live sound and DJ work at the time, and my Triple 8s and Growlers were used in the house when not out on the road (which was hardly ever).  From there I had Triple 12s, another gen of Triple 8s, and then went DIY.  Today I have a pretty serious DIY LCR Tower build underway which I will share in the DIY forum, and have CAP 4000 subs on order! That's my story!! Don't tell the wife, but I think I'm back to drooling over subs again, like I was 12! haha.

[AVSMike]

So for me, I started when I was 12 with Realistic bookshelves from Radio Shack! I had the very first 'Surround Decoder' from them which was for Dolby Surround (added rear channel decode).  My friends father had a subwoofer before subwoofers were really a thing. I fell in love at age 12 (this was better than girls!). At age 16 I had a Technics component system with 12" woofers, 3-way.  That was the cat's meow.  Years later after college I had the Klipsch RS series, 5.1.  Sony HT Receiver.  Then I was introduced to JTR. I was doing some live sound and DJ work at the time, and my Triple 8s and Growlers were used in the house when not out on the road (which was hardly ever).  From there I had Triple 12s, another gen of Triple 8s, and then went DIY.  Today I have a pretty serious DIY LCR Tower build underway which I will share in the DIY forum, and have CAP 4000 subs on order! That's my story!! Don't tell the wife, but I think I'm back to drooling over subs again, like I was 12! haha.

Looking forward to your DIY speaker build. My LCR's are DIY. Each speaker has one Bema TPL-150H, two Acoustic Elegance TD12M's and one Acoustic Elegance TD18H. All three are baffle wall mounted, behind an AT screen and using active crossover.

[NBPk402]

I haven't had as many speakers as some audiophiles but a few nice ones, though no DIY. Interesting to go through the memories and list them. The first 2 are pretty hazy but after that I started actually keeping track of purchases.

1978? Sansui speakers, no idea of model and I doubt anyone cares. I was 14 "ish" and mainly cared that they had some bass impact, much to my mom's chagrin! They were kind of squat but had 10" woofers for some decent kick.

1983? 3D Acoustics, sat/sub, I think 3D610B? It got rave reviews in the early 80s as one of the first satellite/subwoofer designs to get that configuration "right". This was my first entry into a really quality speaker and it opened my eyes to imaging and soundstaging that

1990 - Mirage M3. This was my first really higher end speaker purchase. I had become a fairly regular visitor to the one really high end store in my town and became enamored of some Acoustat electrostats which blew my mind. Then I heard the Apogee ribbons (in New Orleans, playing a 48KHz DAT recording of a jazz quartet made the previous evening) and was similarly moved. But I didn't have the budget for them and also wanted something that would dig a little lower in the bass. Enter Mirage with their early bipole designs with the M1 and then the M3. The M3 was an amazing speaker at the time, with a lot of the dimensionality and soundstaging of the dipole electrostat/ribbon designs but the dynamics and bass of a dynamic speaker. This began my love affair with Mirage that lasted across 3 decades...

2000 - Mirage OM6. Bought these as part of setting up my first true home theater with a projection screen. While not quite as good as the M3s they had the significant advantage of having a much smaller width and fitting on the sides of the screen where the M3 just couldn't. The M3s got moved to another room and sadly sold in 2003.

2008 - VMPS RM30. VMPS was a brand I read about for years in ads and saw a small number of reviews where it seemed to always be mentioned as being one of the best values in audio. Brian Cheney the designer was an early practitioner of the direct to consumer business model before the advent of internet direct sales. (Obviously by 2008 VMPS had a website too.) The RM30 was part of the "ribbon monitor" line with the midrange and up handled exclusively by planar-ribbon and ribbon drivers, with side mounted dynamic woofers. These basically replaced the Mirage M3 as my 2nd, 2 channel setup. Unfortunately when I got married a couple of years later they got kicked out.

2012 - Mirage OMD-28. The OMD line was Mirage's last hoorah for a "real" speaker, after becoming more a "lifestyle" maker of mostly satellite and extremely slim low profile speakers. The OMD-28s feature the "omnipolar" evolution of the bipolar design that Mirage failed to trademark. Using a sort of pod like deflector arrangement the midrange and tweeter are dispersed in a 360 degree pattern, somewhat like the Ohm Walsh drivers (but of course a different technique). These are my current HT speakers, with and OMD-C2 center. For an Atmos upgrade a couple of years ago I replaced the matching OMD-R surrounds with in-wall and in-ceiling Revel models. I may replace the OMD-28s with Revel front channels in the next couple of years, which would be the end of a nearly 30 year run with Mirage speakers for me.

2014 - Martin Logan Summit X. After the VMPS RM30s got kicked out I really missed having a high quality 2 channel setup, but with a new house in 2013 gained a space to restore that. My budget finally had caught up to my old cravings for a dipole speaker and I found a great deal on a demo pair of the ML Summit Xs. The magic that a good electrostat can create is just breathtaking - the "3d-ness" of the image with breadth and width outside and behind the speakers is something some of the Mirages came close to but the pinpoint imaging ability is something they couldn't do. I love demoing them for friends who've never experienced anything like it and blowing their minds.

I remember years ago going to Brian's house to listen to the Super VMPS speakers...great sounding speakers!