XRT1K room placement

[-E-]

Pwetty, even with the piano in the way.

[jonny reddish]

nice! looking good.

[j3brow]

ankkor, beautiful room! Look Ma, No cables!! Very clean look and beautiful landscape to look at while the XRT1K sings its song. Bravo.

[kubla36]

Got a pair a few weeks ago. Had to hire help to get those in the house— taped trash bags on the boxes so no one driving by would know what was sitting in the driveway and going in the house till the help showed up. Talk about waiting for the ketchup to pour.

1) On thread topic, I’m curious what room treatment options y'all have used if any, and where in the room you found effective? REW measurements show better further from the wall in my room (25" from the back wall, 33" from the side wall). They'd probably like more, but my room is not big enough (13’x33' and I'm in the first part of the room about 10-11 feet back -- yes, pushing it for these beasts). The closer together they get the happier they are, but are up against my console now so can't move closer. Got a peak ~50Hz and null ~70Hz. Shoving them to the walls aggravates these (even up to the wall). I’ll certainly work with room treatment. I may play with digital EQ, but really don't want to introduce that in the chain (preferred sound without the MEN220 when the room was finally treated, perhaps a minidsp sdh studio for kicks). I might try moving out of the console to get them closer, but that would be a lot of work, take new stands, and help. If anyone is in a similar width room, what distance from the wall did you land on?

2) Curious if anyone could opine on the differences they heard in XRT1Ks being driven by MC452 vs MC601 vs MC1.2K. I'm on an MC452, but not going past 4.5 watts (usually ~.45). Maybe when the holidays roll around I’ll find time to move the MC275 in for a bit to play on the mid/highs (I’ve got a cheap 223XL, and maybe if I use it to crossover below the mids it won’t corrupt the signal too much and the single MC275 could handle just the mid/highs).

3) How do the XRT1Ks compare to the XR100s I had before? BASS, yow. The XRT1Ks have better soundstage-- deeper and wider (instruments move further apart), as expected. You really hear this in more complex music. The width can be adjusted by toe-in, but will impact focus (I'm crossing ~3 feet behind my head right now). And I thought the XR100s were wider than a lot of speakers I’ve heard. The XRT1Ks have better resolution, which I wasn't expecting given similar drivers to the XR100 for mid/high (not like B&Ws or horns-- its different). Guess what they say about more drivers doing less work mattered. And that column of sound goes a long way-- when I crank them while in the back third of the room (kitchen) I do not loose soundstage like the XR100s (it takes time to make good waffles from scratch). More seating positions. I read a posting where someone from AC said you had to learn to listen to arrays, and I'd agree, I could feel my brain getting re-wired. Some of my music sounds different -- those lower frequencies I didn't have contained information. You don’t miss what you don’t know is in your music, I didn’t know. Sometimes the bass seems slower -- I'm not sure just yet. When I use tone control to turn bass down 3db, it tames a little more of the null I'm seeing and things may seem a bit faster -- not sure that more power would change this and its hard to experiment (but it seems shallower with tone control so I turn it off). Other times I don’t hear it slower, so maybe it more information in the bass? It took me a while to dial-in the XR100s, so expect these will take work also. I do want to reduce the peak/null. I’m listening to some music I really never liked as Roon Radio roles it around (so much better as artist intended).

[Ankkor]

Originally Posted by kubla36

Got a pair a few weeks ago. Had to hire help to get those in the house— taped trash bags on the boxes so no one driving by would know what was sitting in the driveway and going in the house till the help showed up. Talk about waiting for the ketchup to pour.

1) On thread topic, I’m curious what room treatment options y'all have used if any, and where in the room you found effective? REW measurements show better further from the wall in my room (25" from the back wall, 33" from the side wall). They'd probably like more, but my room is not big enough (13’x33' and I'm in the first part of the room about 10-11 feet back -- yes, pushing it for these beasts). The closer together they get the happier they are, but are up against my console now so can't move closer. Got a peak ~50Hz and null ~70Hz. Shoving them to the walls aggravates these (even up to the wall). I’ll certainly work with room treatment. I may play with digital EQ, but really don't want to introduce that in the chain (preferred sound without the MEN220 when the room was finally treated, perhaps a minidsp sdh studio for kicks). I might try moving out of the console to get them closer, but that would be a lot of work, take new stands, and help. If anyone is in a similar width room, what distance from the wall did you land on?

2) Curious if anyone could opine on the differences they heard in XRT1Ks being driven by MC452 vs MC601 vs MC1.2K. I'm on an MC452, but not going past 4.5 watts (usually ~.45). Maybe when the holidays roll around I’ll find time to move the MC275 in for a bit to play on the mid/highs (I’ve got a cheap 223XL, and maybe if I use it to crossover below the mids it won’t corrupt the signal too much and the single MC275 could handle just the mid/highs).

3) How do the XRT1Ks compare to the XR100s I had before? BASS, yow. The XRT1Ks have better soundstage-- deeper and wider (instruments move further apart), as expected. You really hear this in more complex music. The width can be adjusted by toe-in, but will impact focus (I'm crossing ~3 feet behind my head right now). And I thought the XR100s were wider than a lot of speakers I’ve heard. The XRT1Ks have better resolution, which I wasn't expecting given similar drivers to the XR100 for mid/high (not like B&Ws or horns-- its different). Guess what they say about more drivers doing less work mattered. And that column of sound goes a long way-- when I crank them while in the back third of the room (kitchen) I do not loose soundstage like the XR100s (it takes time to make good waffles from scratch). More seating positions. I read a posting where someone from AC said you had to learn to listen to arrays, and I'd agree, I could feel my brain getting re-wired. Some of my music sounds different -- those lower frequencies I didn't have contained information. You don’t miss what you don’t know is in your music, I didn’t know. Sometimes the bass seems slower -- I'm not sure just yet. When I use tone control to turn bass down 3db, it tames a little more of the null I'm seeing and things may seem a bit faster -- not sure that more power would change this and its hard to experiment (but it seems shallower with tone control so I turn it off). Other times I don’t hear it slower, so maybe it more information in the bass? It took me a while to dial-in the XR100s, so expect these will take work also. I do want to reduce the peak/null. I’m listening to some music I really never liked as Roon Radio roles it around (so much better as artist intended).

I’ve had my XRT1k’s in the same position for 5 years and have never felt the need to adjust them. I’m using the 1.2’s and have a DB1 sub on the side wall.
I have GIK panels hanging on the wall behind the speakers. There are paintings on the sidewalls and the room is long - the listening position is 20 feet back and the room continues another 20 feet behind that. The listening spot is magical but almost every other area in the room sounds good. It’s a system that stops people in their tracks and they hear their songs for the first time.
Toe-in is very small and they are 18 inches from the side wall and back wall. Thanks to Ivan they are on Stillpoints.
They are very nice at all sound levels. At very low volume you still get base and separation. There is an amazing sweet spot at 35-40 on my C2500. The whole room opens up and the music is all enveloping. That sound level is a paralyzing escape.
This could be my forever system. It is not disappointing in any way. That being said I put it together 6-8 years ago so I’m getting the itch. My next move will be a higher end preamp and DAC. I have no real urge to change the XRT1k’s.

[TWInsall]

The !K puts out an extreme amount of HF energy trying to get get equal power through out the full spectrum. I noticed the output at 60 degrees or more off axis the tweeters over powers the mids, so I would keep them away from hard side walls to get a better over all balance. Every where I had auditioned the 1k and 2k the top octave was just to strong, so I have to back down the 10 K control on pre-amps with graphic tone controls. The XRT 28 and 30 are a little peaky about 14 Khz, but nothing in comparison to the 1K and 2 K. Give me an old pair of XR 290 right out of the box. Much better spectral balance. But even todays modern B&W 800 series and the Heritage Klipsch with the new tweeters have over powering high frequencies . I guess they are trying to cater to old deaf men like me, but I still can hear to 17.5 Khz.

[kubla36]

Originally Posted by Ankkor

Toe-in is very small and they are 18 inches from the side wall and back wall. Thanks to Ivan they are on Stillpoints.

I was re-reading your post and noticing you used stillpoints with your 1Ks. What kind? And was it a dramatic effect?

I had some UltraSS on my old XR100s (made a difference, you could feel it on the wall of the speaker comparing one with and one without, in addition to hearing), but I never thought of placing them on the 1Ks due to their heavier weight and aluminum casing. Also it would it raise them up (my couch is a lower listening position and I feared I wouldn’t be in the optimal listening column). Then there is the problem that it would be a bear to get them installed on my own.

[Ankkor]

I really don’t know if they make a difference. Gasp.
I think I would like those funds back to use elsewhere in the system.