# My 2.1 Setup (pics as I go)



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I'll keep this updated as I go. 

Here's my Bic H-100 sub, I got for $240 shipped from this place. Link

Just got the sub in a couple hours ago. Right now it's in the middle of the floor playing some pink noise tracks. Trying to get this "loose". Then I'll pull out the RTA gear and start trying different positions. 

Expect to see some RTA results, and my Aperions along with their FR charts hopefully by this weekend. 

So, on to the pictures...
















3 things to note:
1. The "scratches" at the top are just due to the film that I haven't taken off the top yet. 
2. The camera I used to take these pictures sucks. When I get more time I'll bring out the DSLR. 
3. My puppies don't like sub-bass. The one in the picture was whimpering when I had the sub playing sine waves.


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Looks good man. What you doing for the "2"?

Nice golden! I have 2. Best dogs I could ask for.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Arc said:


> Looks good man. What you doing for the "2"?


Aperion Intimus 532




Arc said:


> Nice golden! I have 2. Best dogs I could ask for.


Thanks. I have 2 as well. Love 'em.


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## Abaddon (Aug 28, 2007)

:O

Feeling up a sub on the first night?

I hope you at least paid for dinner...


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Nice dogs. Did you go with the natural or black on the speakers?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Arc said:


> Nice dogs. Did you go with the natural or black on the speakers?


Thanks.

Black. I don't like the cherry finish on any speaker. Plus, black matches my TV & stand.


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Black. I don't like the cherry finish on any speaker. Plus, black matches my TV & stand.


Nice.

I might go natural with my translams. But that is to only show off the fact that it is a translam.


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## skylar112 (Dec 8, 2005)

bikinpunk said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Black. I don't like the cherry finish on any speaker. Plus, black matches my TV & stand.


I did the same thing I got all black on my stuff, now I've just gotta get a better sub, and also in glossy black to match the rest.











Nice going on the sub let us know how it turns out. I'm in the market for a new sub.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Got my Aperions in and running. They come boxed up very well, and even in a freaking velour-like bag for each speaker. The gloss black is bad ass looking. 

God, they sound great. For little 5.25" drivers I'm seriously amazed. When I was reading reviews people would say that they have "big sound", and now I totally understand what they were saying.

I have a couple friends over and we've listened to some Dire Straits, Eagles, Michael Jackson, and watched Bad Boys 2 & Four Brothers. They're more impressed than I am.

I'm ****ing pumped.... I can't wait until things get broken in!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

RTA fun:


















Fronts only (no sub):











Going to have to wait until I get my 25' "subwoofer" cable until I can move it around, but in all honesty, there's not really anywhere I can move it without it being in the way. Hardwood floor kills me being able to put it behind us...

Edit: Keep in mind that the RTA reading is done in 1/24db increments.... if it were on 1/12db that response would look much flatter. This makes Erin happy.


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## Oliver (Jun 25, 2007)

That looks sweet !!


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## Arc (Aug 25, 2006)

Hey man what are you using as a signal? You running a sine or pink noise from Smaart?


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Arc said:


> Hey man what are you using as a signal? You running a sine or pink noise from Smaart?


Pink noise via the DVD player, feeding to the Receiver via optical. 

Laptop is only recording signal. Not providing. Makes everything eeeeeaaaaaaaaasy.


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## Steak (Mar 16, 2006)

That's a very cool dog!!

About those monitors, did you build them??


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Steak said:


> That's a very cool dog!!
> 
> About those monitors, did you build them??


Nah. I posted a link in the thread to them. They're aperion 532 LR bookshelf speakers.


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## seagrasser (Feb 6, 2007)

Nice look to it all.

Those aperions are a great value and use quality drivers.

Impressions on the sound?

Cheers,

Jason


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Thanks, Jason.

I've been listening to alot of music and watched a couple "shoot em up" scenes from some movies.

So far, I'm very, very, very pleased. 

Sound is clear, stage is wide, speakers have a very large sound and fill up the room with sound very comfortably. I've cranked it up and haven't had any harshness. My only issue is that some TV shows have sibilance, but I haven't noticed that with my music or DVDs.


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## seagrasser (Feb 6, 2007)

I would assume it is the signal source and not the speakers. Most TV shows are all about loud and not about fidelity, especially the commercials. They compress the dickens out of them and clip signal more often than not to make them "seem" louder than the segment you are watching.

Congrats again.

Jason


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## rekd0514 (Sep 24, 2006)

Everything looks great. Glad you are happy with it after you finally got it all decided.  Where did you pick up your speaker stands or did they come with them? Just wondering because I may need to pick some up sometime soon and I haven't really ever looked into them. I am sure they don't have to be anything special, but you also don't want some crappy quality ones either.


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## BlackLac (Aug 8, 2005)

How is the midbass on the bookshelves? Do they blend with the sub well? How high does the sub play?

I need to upgrade my computer bookshelves. The little 3.5's in the eD A3-5TC just aren't cutting it. I'm looking for something under $250, and those and the av123 x-ls are on my list. Both have 30 day risk free trials too!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Midbass integration is great.

I was going to go with avs x-sls and I contacted Mark (the owner) about a shipping issue. He responded 5 days later... but by then I had given up and bought the Aperions.

Oh well. I kinda wanted the Aperions more.


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## 3.5max6spd (Jun 29, 2005)

BlackLac said:


> How is the midbass on the bookshelves? Do they blend with the sub well? How high does the sub play?
> 
> I need to upgrade my computer bookshelves. The little 3.5's in the eD A3-5TC just aren't cutting it. I'm looking for something under $250, and those and the av123 x-ls are on my list. Both have 30 day risk free trials too!


In that budget, i recommend give these a listen/try..i use the Alphas in my HT.
http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Alpha-Series/Alpha-B1-Monitor
http://www.psbspeakers.com/reviews/TAS-B1-Review


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## demon2091tb (May 30, 2005)

seagrasser said:


> I would assume it is the signal source and not the speakers. Most TV shows are all about loud and not about fidelity, especially the commercials. They compress the dickens out of them and clip signal more often than not to make them "seem" louder than the segment you are watching.
> 
> Congrats again.
> 
> Jason


Oh man i hate that crap..........Talk about trying to make you hear the commercials in the other room, some are just over the top loud......

Looks good Bikinpunk, i envy your tv.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

Very nice man. I'm glad you are happy with them. I would have hated to steer you wrong, as I try not to.


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## havok20222 (Sep 5, 2007)

> Black. I don't like the cherry finish on any speaker.


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## Amish (Oct 2, 2006)

Bikinpunk - off topic here, but where did you get your couch? I'll be building up my home theater room over the winter/spring and it looks like a design I'd be interested in.

And since you've got the gear, why not download Room EQ Wizard and run a low frequency sweep? It's freeware, works awesome and has a great support forum over at hometheatershack.com It's not usable for high frequency stuff, but gives great info on the low end. When are you buying an EQ for that sub!?  Made a big difference in my setup......


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

Amish said:


> Bikinpunk - off topic here, but where did you get your couch? I'll be building up my home theater room over the winter/spring and it looks like a design I'd be interested in.
> 
> And since you've got the gear, why not download Room EQ Wizard and run a low frequency sweep? It's freeware, works awesome and has a great support forum over at hometheatershack.com It's not usable for high frequency stuff, but gives great info on the low end. When are you buying an EQ for that sub!?  Made a big difference in my setup......


My wife bought it from Pier 1 years ago when she worked there.


As for an external eq... suggestions?


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## Amish (Oct 2, 2006)

I'm using the Behringer DSP1124, but it's since been discontinued. You can find some pretty cheap on Ebay though. It's actually designed for Pro Audio use and killing microphone feedback, but it also has a parametric EQ option that's easy to use and effective. I'd recommend looking around the home theater shack though, they have some recommended replacements. I had a nasty spike in the 40-50Hz range that made everything "boom." Once I tamed that down my subwoofer (DIY using a 15" D2 Adire Tumult and a pair of passive radiators) blended in great and I was really pleased.


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## BlackLac (Aug 8, 2005)

3.5max6spd said:


> In that budget, i recommend give these a listen/try..i use the Alphas in my HT.
> http://www.psbspeakers.com/products/Alpha-Series/Alpha-B1-Monitor
> http://www.psbspeakers.com/reviews/TAS-B1-Review


Hmm, I've read great things about PSB's stuff. Any chance they do free 30 days trials? I have no dealer close. I'm going to demo the Paradigm Atom Monitors locally, and have the AV123 x-ls sent for a free trial. Possibly these that Bikinpunk have too.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

BlackLac said:


> Hmm, I've read great things about PSB's stuff. Any chance they do free 30 days trials? I have no dealer close. I'm going to demo the Paradigm Atom Monitors locally, and have the AV123 x-ls sent for a free trial. Possibly these that Bikinpunk have too.


remember that av123 doesn't include shipping in their prices.

Also, they don't cover shipping back if you don't keep them.

Just a little fyi.


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## BlackLac (Aug 8, 2005)

bikinpunk said:


> remember that av123 doesn't include shipping in their prices.
> 
> Also, they don't cover shipping back if you don't keep them.
> 
> Just a little fyi.


"RISK FREE TRIAL!
Worried you won’t love the speakers unless you have the chance to hear them first? No problem! Order a pair of x-ls speakers and spend a month with them in your own home. If after 30 days you don’t love them, we will pay the shipping charges back to us, credit your original form of payment for the speakers AND the outbound shipping! (UPS GROUND only) This means the demo is no risk to you!"

I did know their prices don't include shipping though, unfortunetly. Thanks.

I'm going to see if my local store will let me take a pair of Paradigm's home for a trial, and try to get the Aperion's and av123's all at the same time. Then invite my friend over for a little blind testing.  I don't want to have to upgrade these again!


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

BlackLac said:


> "RISK FREE TRIAL!
> Worried you won’t love the speakers unless you have the chance to hear them first? No problem! Order a pair of x-ls speakers and spend a month with them in your own home. If after 30 days you don’t love them, we will pay the shipping charges back to us, credit your original form of payment for the speakers AND the outbound shipping! (UPS GROUND only) This means the demo is no risk to you!"


Hmm. When I was shopping around a couple weeks ago they didnt cover return shipping.
Edit: Nvmnd. I think it was the x-sls (towers) that didn't cover return shipping.



Good luck with everything.


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## BlackLac (Aug 8, 2005)

Thanks, same to you, but it seems your pretty happy already!


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## Shaun K (Mar 14, 2008)

Hate to bring it back from the dead, but I've been meaning to post in this thread for months now about my Aperions. We had to redo our living room (babyproofing) so we got new cabinets, which meant my floorstanding speakers and ancient Kenwood receiver had to go.

Since there's no wall behind the couches, and speakers on stands is just asking for trouble with a toddler around, I was looking for cheap monitors. I just wanted a 2.1 setup, nothing special. I ran across this thread and spent some time on the Aperion site and avsforum.com, reading as much as I could since I don't know crap about home audio. It took at least a week before I realized that Aperion was local to me, so I went down there at lunch and ended up spending almost 2 hours in the listening room. I was pretty impressed (though that isn't hard), and I left with some loaner Intimus 532LR's until the new 5B's that I paid for came in.

I got home, connected them to my new Pioneer VSX-518-K, and was promptly disappointed. I assumed it was the receiver though, so I returned it and ordered an Onkyo TX-SR705. While I was waiting for it, Aperion had their annual warehouse sale, so I dragged my wife there. We ended up with some A-stock 632LR's, 533VAC center, and an S12 sub, all for a nice discount along with full warranty.

The 705 arrived and it sounded wonderful. I still wasn't happy with the video/HDMI performance though, so I returned it and got the newer (and cheaper) SR606 with more features and slightly less power.

It's been over 3 months now and I'm still very happy with the setup. I don't have an RTA system or any other way to tune it, but I've spent some time with my favorite CD's and I think I'm pretty close. The sub is probably too much for our 1200 sq ft home, but I can live with that for now.

The people at Aperion were very friendly and easy to deal with. I had a blown driver on my center channel (it was a returned item so not completely unexpected) and they replaced it while I waited. I'm looking forward to putting in a couple ceiling mounted drivers to complete the setup for movie watching.


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## ibanzil (Jun 29, 2008)

your setup looks nice. Bikin, have you got to hear a Jl home sub yet? a fathom or the insane gotham? the gotham is the most roided out thing I have ever seen. Local shop I get alot of stuff at has all of them. gotham and f110 to f113. I plan on getting the f10 soon. 

You wont believe how well these subs play music, its incredible. not like the loose nasty stuff most home theatres have. Thought you might wanna check them out since you run bookshelve speakers like I do. I got the Paradigm S1's and love them.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

I heard the jl home subs don't "disappear" into a room the way a good home sub should. Don't get me wrong I love JL. I think the best bang for the buck in a home sub is a Martin Logan Dynamo. Very punchy and tight. I have Martin Logan Montages, the entry level ones, which Im super happy with, A cambridge audio reciever, and just a basic polk sub. If i could go back I would buy a set of focal 908 bookshelves.


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## ibanzil (Jun 29, 2008)

The jl might be a tad harder to "mask" where the sub is but I think that's probably because it isn't just sending sound everywhere like a downfiring or porter sub would do. 
I don't like when they port the back b/c 90% of the time, ure gonna put the sub close to 
a wall. Lots of hardcore listeners buy a sub for each side or completely turn the sub off
for music.
Go out and give it a listen...you will be amazed. I heard the paradigm signature servo and the jl dominated it.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

Oh I know it'll be loud. I listened to home audio systems everyday for the past 3 years. The Jl home subs aren't practical. So yeah you are probably going to need 2 to get the imaging right, so its not just boomy to the right or left. but the cheapest jl sub is $2100 so $4200 for 2? thats insane. I mean if you have the money go for it. I met a guy who has been in home audio magazines, he had the fathom and he sold it and bought a martin logan descent. which he said was cheaper and sounded better for overall quality of sound. he said the fathom was louder tho.


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## TREETOP (Feb 11, 2009)

Shaun K said:


> ...I got home, connected them to my new Pioneer VSX-518-K, and was promptly disappointed. I assumed it was the receiver though, so I returned it and ordered an Onkyo TX-SR705....



Shaun K, what didn't you like about the Pioneer VSX-518?

I was running a Crown IC-150A preamp and Crown DC-300A amp to my mains for years and sold just the preamp for more than enough to get myself a VSX-518 (I wanted something with decent power, surround processing, adjustable sub output, and REMOTE CONTROL). I've been reasonably happy with it.

To keep the thread more on topic, here's my living room 2.1 setup (2.2?):

Pioneer VSX-518 surround receiver.
Pioneer DV-400V upconvert DVD player using coax digital to the receiver.
Sony CDP-CX355 300 cd changer running optical to the receiver.
(2) Crown DC-300As, each bridged to 1 sub.
Polk TSi-500 main speakers.
(2) MTX 15" subs, each in a 2.25 cube sealed enclosure.
Extra Crown DC-300A for decoration. LOL.
Plans include Polk CS20 center speaker and eventually some surround speakers as funds allow.


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## dovogod (Jan 21, 2009)

do you have any heat issues?


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## TREETOP (Feb 11, 2009)

dovogod said:


> do you have any heat issues?


I haven't had any issues yet. I do have some round vent holes in the rear of the cabinet where I planned on mounting some 4" fans, but I guess the holes were enough ventilation without the fans.
I keep the glass door ajar if it's playing for a while, like if we're watching a movie or something. My wife doesn't like it real loud though- the dishes start moving around in the kitchen at high volume so I keep it pretty mellow most of the time anyway.


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## DaleCarter (Jan 3, 2008)

If you do have heat issues, I don't think it will be with the Corwns. Those are some ol skool monsters. I come from a pro audio background focusing on night clubs and I have never seen a more bulletproof amp. Big and heavy, but strong.


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## TREETOP (Feb 11, 2009)

DaleCarter said:


> If you do have heat issues, I don't think it will be with the Corwns. Those are some ol skool monsters. I come from a pro audio background focusing on night clubs and I have never seen a more bulletproof amp. Big and heavy, but strong.


Yeah I've been using these Crowns for close to a couple decades in all types of setups, I've been happy with their reliability. They just keep on working!


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