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New to actives, building home theatre

dan1210, modified 9 Years ago.

New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
Hi guys, new to active speakers currently been using passive paradigms with rotel amplification. Looking to get some high quality active speakers for 5.1 audio. The system will be used for 90% movies. My room is 5x4 meters with 9ft ceilings. Room will be a dedicated home cinema with most likely an acoustically transparent screen. Im not looking for a sub just some nice lcrs x3 and possibly some surrounds. Is the m040 a good choice for lcr?
Regards Daniel.
dan1210, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
i should add i am currently using a svs sb12nsd subwoofer, i would expect to crossover from the sattelites speakers at around 80-100hz
dan1210, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
Anybody? Would m040 be suitable for home theatre?
ilkka-rissanen, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Yoda Posts: 2564 Join Date: 3/23/09 Recent Posts
Hi Daniel,

As the M series is still rather new, there might not be that many users with experience here. But there is no reason why M series speakers couldn't be used for home theatre systems as well, even though we market them for music creation segment. M040 as LCR and M030 as surrounds would make a really high quality home theatre system.
dan1210, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
thanks ilkka, i may try a pair in stereo at first, just to confirm 3x m040 with 2 or 4x m030 would create enough spl in my space?
sub will be used with an avr crossover at 100hz i would think, i would like to be able to reach reference without too much distortion, just one other thing, would the 8040 provide any extra performance boost over the m040 for my needs?
ilkka-rissanen, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Yoda Posts: 2564 Join Date: 3/23/09 Recent Posts
I haven't heard or tested that particular SVS subwoofer model but as it is a rather small sealed subwoofer with 12" driver, I would guess it will be the limiting factor in your system. Have you been able to play it distortion free at reference level on your present system?

8040 and M040 are reasonably similar, but of course not identical, when it comes to performance and sound. When looking at the maximum SPL only, M040 provides 2 dB more. Both models are well suited for HT use.
dan1210, modified 9 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
Great, thank you for your response ilkka.
digione, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 5 Join Date: 8/18/11 Recent Posts
I haven't heard or tested that particular SVS subwoofer model but as it is a rather small sealed subwoofer with 12" driver, I would guess it will be the limiting factor in your system. Have you been able to play it distortion free at reference level on your present system?

8040 and M040 are reasonably similar, but of course not identical, when it comes to performance and sound. When looking at the maximum SPL only, M040 provides 2 dB more. Both models are well suited for HT use.


My room is 1900 cuft and I am using five 1038's and two SVS PB12 NSD's. Reference level down to 20 Hz is not an issue, but running it at such levels is just not practical in such a small space if I value my ears. :)

My room is "flat" at 105dB down to 15Hz. I cross over at 60 Hz for all but the center that crosses over at 80Hz, integration, extension and "slam" are excellent. I also use four 8040s for surrounds and rear and two 8030's for height, these all crossover at 80Hz..

The five 1038s are for 5.1 music, the 8030/8040s are active just for movies together with the front three 1038s.
dan1210, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
hey digione, how do you feel the 8040 would perform as an lcr? the m040 has a slightly larger tweeter and a bit more spl which may benefit slightly, room is 4x5 mtrs sat at about 3mtrs from screen. thank you.
i do enjoy the svs sb12nsd will be picking up another for the cinema build.
digione, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 5 Join Date: 8/18/11 Recent Posts
hey digione, how do you feel the 8040 would perform as an lcr? the m040 has a slightly larger tweeter and a bit more spl which may benefit slightly, room is 4x5 mtrs sat at about 3mtrs from screen. thank you.
i do enjoy the svs sb12nsd will be picking up another for the cinema build.


Dan,

I too sit about 3 mtrs from the screen.

Some time ago I used the 8040's with the two NSD's and they sounded good. I believe that I crossed them over at 80Hz. The only issue with the 8040's is that they just can't create the explosive sound pressures that the 1038's can, but the NSD's handle the lower registers well and seemed to integrate well with the 8040's. The 8040's were also "kinder" to the mid range than the 1038's.

I am not familiar with the m040 so I cannot pass any opinion regarding what they sound like. But if they are basically 8040's with more SPL they they should work well especially as your room is larger than mine.
dan1210, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
Great thank you,
Man.... 5x1038's must be insane!
digione, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 5 Join Date: 8/18/11 Recent Posts
Great thank you,
Man.... 5x1038's must be insane!


I have to admit, they do sound excellent. The biggest issue I have is that if the (music) recording has an over prominent mid range mix they (1038s) become quite hard. So after I EQ them with Audyssey XT32 Pro I deliberately edit their mid range response in order to drop the upper mid output on all of them. The strange thing is that I never hear any mid range problems with music from Blu Rays!
dan1210, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
to update, managed to get a pair of m040 will give these a go before i jump for the full 7.2 set up!
ilkka, i dont have the luxury of being able to demo the 8040 would you consider it a step up in sound quality compared to the m040?

regards.
digipete, modified 8 Years ago.

Go 82XX

Padawan Posts: 99 Join Date: 6/18/11 Recent Posts
I recommend you have a look at the 82XX series now you are starting over.
The full coherence of the GLM DSP functionality is well worth the extra expense.

- Perfect timing
- Fully linear and room compensated
- Perfect sub(s) integration
- Fully active with multiple DAC's
- Distance compensation for easier placement
- Simple calibration

I went in the deep end with 3 x 8260 fronts and I will never regret that choice.
dan1210, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Youngling Posts: 19 Join Date: 3/6/14 Recent Posts
to expensive for me however i would be willing to pay more for the 8040 if there is a performance increase over the m040.
digipete, modified 8 Years ago.

Re: New to actives, building home theatre

Padawan Posts: 99 Join Date: 6/18/11 Recent Posts
Then the Genelec SE Digital Poxer Pack may be something for you:

http://vintageking.com/genelec-se-digital-power-pak