# Home theatre Frankenstein! Thoughts?



## elbradamontes (Jun 7, 2012)

Alright so here it is. I have a pair of m audio cx 5s and a pair of cx8s (powered studio monitors). An 18 inch sealed sub, eq, crossover, 1200w (bridged) Crown amp, one 250w/channel poweramp, an old carver poweramp (specs guestimated), a pair of EV 15" p.a. speakers (two-way 1" horned tweeter), 12" harbinger floor monitors, 12" powered pa speakers and a focusrite saffire interface with 8 outputs. 

I believe I can set up the outputs on the saffire interface via system preferences on my Mac to create the 5.1 or 7.1 setup. If not, the output doubles as a digital out which would get the sound into my interface via optical input. 

The sound from the cx5s is pretty good. The 8s are fantastic. The 15" EVs are nice but they are pa speakers so not the same standard...not the same range or clarity. The floor monitors and the powered 12 pa speakers sound like poo. The da converters on the saffire are quite crisp at all frequencies. Lower-mids especially clear compared to mac analog outs. Hi's are smooth. The monitors put out plenty of volume. The 8's push down to 50hz, the 5's down to 80. The pa's are way too much for the space so they'd be at about 20% if used. 

I'm thinking I could run the two cx8s paired as the center speaker, run the 15's as front surround and the cx5s as the rear. The crossover has multiple outputs so I could use the 18 for the kick paired with the powered 12's to fill out the upper end of the lows. I could also patch my 4-10 ampeg bass cab in there hehe.

I could also run a single 15 as the center and keep the monitors as surround. Thing is, the center speaker gets most of the action. So I think that needs to be run by the highest fidelity rig. 

Anyone care to weigh in on the setup? I also have a projector that I'll be using for this project. It's probably going to be a one-off run just for kicks. This system sees daily use so I'd have to put it all back when I'm done. Well, not the pa stuff but the recording gear.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the Shack!

The C8s and C5s you should keep for your front soundstage but I would only use one C5 for the centre, using two can cause more problems than solve. As for the EVs yes they are designed for filling a large space with sound and not really designed for theater or home use if you have a duel channel eq available you would probably be able to tame the sound of them so they would sound better.


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## Cyberfloatie (Jun 1, 2011)

tonyvdb said:


> The C8s and C5s you should keep for your front soundstage but I would only use one C5 for the centre, using two can cause more problems than solve.


Agreed. I have the older M-Audio BX-5 monitors and love them. Definitely use one of them for the center and the 8's for L/R.

If its a one-off, what's the occasion? I ask because it can be a lot of work to setup and tune a Frankenstein HT. Might not be worth the effort to get rear channels working and tuned. On the other hand, if you need to achieve reference levels, you'd be hard pressed to do that with only monitors.


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## elbradamontes (Jun 7, 2012)

I own a music lesson studio. We also do some recordings. I hold movie nights every few months for socializing opportunities. I was going to use one as an opportunity to muck about with my new gear. There's also the wow factor for the kids watching say... the last harry potter or Avengers when it eventually comes out. It also gives me the opportunity to practice routing signals with my new interface which allows a customized mix to every output. During "normal" use I'd be sending signals to headphone amps to artists during recording. I'm actually in the studio A/Bing the new Focusrite with the Duet and I think I've decided running the powered 12s with my dual eq will suffice. I am so in love with these 8s I really just want an excuse to play around with them. I'm curious. Why do you both suggest a 5 in the center and the 8s front L and R? 

Update: Just for kicks I went onto ebay. Turns out Music123 is blowing out the cx5s for 65 each free shipping. I could fill out my surround system with monitors for $200. 

Ok guys. Time to get serious. I need help formulating an argument. All I have so far is "Well...honey...I..."


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## elbradamontes (Jun 7, 2012)

scratch that. 119 a piece. 65 for parts or repair. Whew. That was a close one. I was going to have to start shipping stuff to my business to keep the wife from knowing what I was doing.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

elbradamontes said:


> I'm curious. Why do you both suggest a 5 in the center and the 8s front L and R?


Well, its always best to have speakers of the same brand and line for the front channels due to keeping the soundstage even and matched. Different tonal qualities of speakers will cause pans from left to right or vice verca to sound strange or unnatural. Even though the centre handles alot of information your mains will ultimately be used the most during movies during explosive action or dynamic music scores and need to be the best quality and largest of the speakers.


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## Cyberfloatie (Jun 1, 2011)

elbradamontes said:


> I'm curious. Why do you both suggest a 5 in the center and the 8s front L and R?


There are many people on this forum who could explain better than I can, but allow me to take a crack at it.

Generally speaking, the majority of the audio in any movie comes from the LCR channels. For the most part, the bulk of the dialogue will come from the center channel while most of the music will come from the LR channels. The surrounds handle mostly ambient sound and effects.

Ideally, the speakers for LCR channels would be identical, or at least sonically matched. Since you don't have three matching monitors I suggest the larger more capable ones for the LR and the smaller 5 for the center. Also, the monitors will match sonically with each much better than trying to match floor monitors or PA mains.

Does that help?


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## elbradamontes (Jun 7, 2012)

Yep. Makes perfect sense. I just tried to get my Mac to give me 2.1 today since I have the two monitors and a sub there anyway and no dice. "audio midi setup" doesn't want to let me run anything but stereo out the interface. Grr. The sub's an 18 I use for live sound. I just want to hear one explosion...just one. And a dinosaur roar. I can just run a signal through my crossover but that's not the same. Or at least I'm assuming it isn't.


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