Polaris times 3.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by 1KW

Sounds like your thinking of combining your 2 channel and home theater rooms together. What if you did a fabulous 2 channel system with the Wilson speakers and moderatly fabulous home theater room ie good projector and Cremona or B&W speakers for the surround sound. As you said before when your concentrating on the screen your not critically listening to the audio. Just a suggestion.

Nope, 2 channel is still in the works but it is a more compact room at 13.5x21x9 so I can't go with overly large speakers in there like Maxx 3. Again, other than going with in-wall speakers and totally ignoring the sound quality in the HT, I don't see too many speakers being very happy going tight to the sidewalls to open up some more room for the screen. The SF speakers are no different, actually harder to place closer to walls than Wilson. The Elipsa is more forgiving with that but again, it is over 20" wide which would force me to drop back down on the screen size.

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Polaris is 94dB efficient and not quite as "dippy" in the impedance so I can loosen up the requirements and run say 3 Ayre MX-Rs for amplification...

Serge, although I have not dwell into HT, I could understand your predicament. Having weaning (and continuing) off my "upgradetitis", I do now research deeply into what I am buying before plonking down my hard earned cash.

3 Polaris does seem to be "seamless" for an HT combo, in terms of looks as well as functional, even though Wilson did the Polaris for a match in an HT setup for the Alexandria and Maxx 3 in the first place. Powering them with 3 Ayre MX-R would be optimum as one cant do much better than that except for marginal returns.

For stereo, I am fixed on either the Sasha's or Maxx3, but for a HT setup, I would go for the Polaris. The issue here is what would your back speakers be .... cause to me, it had to be Wilsons too. So perhaps another 2 more MX-R for the rear? A case of overkill? To me, if I were you, would go all the way, simply because they matches well as ONE.

Thats my $0.02 worth of opinion (would not even dare say advise). In the end, the aesthetics will have to be decided by your goodself and if its more important over an overall seamless performance as well as looks to match.

Tough decision, but nonetheless, a good one to ponder thru.

Cheers!

[hkval]

Perhaps custom made risers/platform on the left and right to bring the Polaris closer to the screen height. Visually it might be more pleasing to have the heights different from the center speaker. Just something to think about.

[Face]

Tannoy makes some very nice in walls.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by JSCC

Serge, although I have not dwell into HT, I could understand your predicament. Having weaning (and continuing) off my "upgradetitis", I do now research deeply into what I am buying before plonking down my hard earned cash.

3 Polaris does seem to be "seamless" for an HT combo, in terms of looks as well as functional, even though Wilson did the Polaris for a match in an HT setup for the Alexandria and Maxx 3 in the first place. Powering them with 3 Ayre MX-R would be optimum as one cant do much better than that except for marginal returns.

For stereo, I am fixed on either the Sasha's or Maxx3, but for a HT setup, I would go for the Polaris. The issue here is what would your back speakers be .... cause to me, it had to be Wilsons too. So perhaps another 2 more MX-R for the rear? A case of overkill? To me, if I were you, would go all the way, simply because they matches well as ONE.

Thats my $0.02 worth of opinion (would not even dare say advise). In the end, the aesthetics will have to be decided by your goodself and if its more important over an overall seamless performance as well as looks to match.

Tough decision, but nonetheless, a good one to ponder thru.

Cheers!

Jerry, it is a tough decision since I am trying to balance things out. After all, why am I investing money into an "HT" room and have to settle for a smaller screen sort of defeating the whole purpose of a movie experience? On the other hand, why am I investing so much money into the audio side in that room if I can't optimize it with proper placement of speakers without them limiting the size of the screen.... It is tough to do both at the same time and I should have built a much bigger room for that purpose.

On the other hand, I can just make it work in the HT room and still have a dedicated 2 channel room which is much easier to do. With 2 channel, one can go from mild to pretty wild and still have a very pleasant outcome. It could be a simple Shindo/high efficiency speaker room with analog playback or I can step it up a notch and do Sasha's in there too.

I think the Polaris opens up a bit of leeway for me to get the screen size that would be most appropriate for viewing distance and HT room size and still have a very impressive music concert/2 channel/multichannel music experience at the same time.

In terms of surround speakers, I can use the Wilson Watch on the back and keep it 5.1 or add two more (they would probably be in the way a bit for people walking on the side of the theater for side channels). I'd probably just get lesser Ayre amps for the surrounds though, I doubt it would make that much difference in tonal balance.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by hkval

Perhaps custom made risers/platform on the left and right to bring the Polaris closer to the screen height. Visually it might be more pleasing to have the heights different from the center speaker. Just something to think about.

The Polaris is 30" off the ground with spikes and if I elevate it, it would bring me back to square one with them getting in the way of the screen. Another concern would be the 20Hz capability and them sitting on platforms which would inevitably muddy up their response.

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Face

Tannoy makes some very nice in walls.

Yep, so does Totem and a few others but I am still trying to hold on to the idea of having better audio performance in the room...

[Lildebs888]

Very interesting idea, Serge. What does your dealer think about it. Have you talked to the Wilson Customer Service guys about it and gotten their .02 cents? What you are talking about doing here is one of the purposes for the Polaris.. shorter so that it does not block any views.

Deb

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Lildebs888

Very interesting idea, Serge. What does your dealer think about it. Have you talked to the Wilson Customer Service guys about it and gotten their .02 cents? What you are talking about doing here is one of the purposes for the Polaris.. shorter so that it does not block any views.

Deb

Nope, not yet. I only came up with the idea this afternoon in frustration of thinking I am going to have to jam the Maxx 3s a bit too close to the side walls and compromise the screen size as well. I was pretty happy with the solution I came up with but I will also consult with my dealer and your guys.

[chessman]

How about keeping the Max 3s and one Polaris and using a motorized drop down acoustically transparent screen placed in front of your speakers? With the screen in front you can go bigger. You optimize for 2 channel, but still have kick ass HT.

I use my Sophias as the L-R mains in my HT and a modded Rocket RSC-200 as a center and it integrates beautifully. Center channels are made for mid-range clarity. I doubt that you would like them for 2 channel listening.