The only time I would feel an upfiring Atmos setup is fine is on a soundbar that has Atmos wireless modules and whatever. But TBH I agree for Atmos you need physical speakers in the right locations.
Also I don’t know if he was even using the atmos modules or not, I just assumed he was talking about the rest of the speaker
To use the atmos modules I believe you need to bi-amp the speakers, one set of plugs for the speakers and one for the atmos module. OP, what set of binding posts are you connecting to? Do you have a recieve for the atmos system?
Yes, I think it should be the bottom binding posts, as I think the top is for the atmos
where you Located and How Much ? Being as they Sound Like Ass they Must be Cheap…
Forgive the remedial question but how far are they off the back and side walls?
They’re about 4 feet away left and right, and about 3 away from the back wall. Does the back wall matter much since they are front ported?
Yes that is correct. The bottom posts are for the towers, the top pair are for the atmos modules.
Not as much, but still yes. How large of a room total is it, as I don’t think you are having huge room acoustics problems unless your room is very small
It’s 13 x 15 feet, with LOTS of furniture. It’s the only place I have where the niece cant destroy them.
Yeah so I would say your room most likely isn’t the problem
Well I have some good news. I got a hit on my local Craigslist. I’m waiting on a response. NOBODY TELL HIM ABOUT THIS THREAD
Well I would still be honest if they ask. Just something like I didn’t like the sound signature or they just weren’t for me would suffice. I also would expect them to want to listen to them, so perhaps find some demo songs that you think sound the best on the jamos
Edit: or something like I just don’t have the space or I don’t use them often
Good advice. I had no intention of lying or being misleading! I told them exactly what you said, and that was at like 2:30 pm Central. Still haven’t heard back from them, so I’ll just have to wait.
Moving my vandersteens from 3ft off the back wall to 5.3ft off the back wall was a night and day difference personally.
Aren’t the vandersteen speakers pretty picky with placement, and since the port can play a pretty large role in the sound? I also thought that they try design for time alignment and other stuff like that, and that effects their placement more
I have that smsl amp and it is not very good when handling very large speakers or that require a lot of power. Since at low volume it sounds decent, not good, but decent; at high volume they listen extremely badly. my test speakers the elac b6 and uni-fi.
Update on this months old post! They needed LOTS of burn in and, more importantly, a sub! That was the missing link. Thanks all for the help!!!
lol nice glad they turned out well
Wow, I have a pair of S-809s on an Onkyo TX-SR393 and they sound awesome. I have a fairly small listening room, about 15x15’. I also have S-801, S-83, and 2x Klipsch R-12SW. I have been experimenting, buying, selling, trading speakers for several months now. I’m almost 50 and have been a huge music fan all my life and I have heard and owned hundreds if not over a thousand speakers and/or sets of them so I am positive that I know good sounding ones. I have really only been floored a few times but those were rare cases of systems that I could never afford in 10 of my lifetimes so I don’t really figure those into my comparisons. I’m a construction worker so I am very budget oriented. I’d like to think that even if I did have bottomless pockets that I would still keep my spending to modest levels though. There are some things that, although very nice, are simply ridiculously expensive and I believe exist for no other reason than simple “I have more money than brains, and way more than you do” bragging rights for guys that as my lady says, “have small dicks”.
Anyhow, I have the 5.1 only for TV which is really only on when I have company because when I’m home alone, I always have music playing. I’m not much of a TV person and only own one for other’s entertainment. With that said, I listen to music in stereo with just my front mains and the subwoofers when the old dude downstairs isn’t home, which really isn’t very often. I’ve tried the “all channel stereo” mode but I really don’t care for it all that much.
I found this thread, and I realize that it’s old, but I would not want people to get a bad impression of these speakers by finding this while shopping around as I have. These are quite good speakers in comparison to many that I know of. I know there are certainly better options out there, especially if paying full retail prices, which brings me to another point. I got these deeply discounted from Adorama. Had I paid full retail, I might have a different opinion, however I would never say that they didn’t sound very good. Mine sound great and even though they may not be worth what the full retail price is, they still sound nice. My reciever puts out 70 watts per channel in stereo mode on the front mains channel and I can bump these pretty well almost all the way up. I think I could go full volume if I played around with AccuEq settings but I just have it set to whatever the mic set it at for the 5.1 experience at my sitting place so I don’t know if or how that affects the stereo experience.
The reason I am shopping today is because I can get a pair of Klipsch R-610 speakers for $299 and I am trying to find comparison info between them and my S-809s. I know everyone will probably rave about the Klipsch, but I still don’t really see any reason to say the S-809s sound bad. At least mine don’t. I’ve had them almost 2 years and out of the 10 or so sets that I tried over the year or so leading up to getting these, they sounded good enough for me to decide to settle with them. That is until now. I like Klipsch but they are usually out of my price range but lately they have been coming on sale a lot, I imagine out of the necessity to compete with lesser brands in the economic turmoil of late. I also realize that quality may suffer with these conditions and that’s why I’m doing my homework on the Klipsch before I commit.