# AV123 x-MTM towers



## Irishsaab (Jan 26, 2011)

To those more knowledgeable than I... every member out there basically! 

I have a pair of x-mtm towers with a matching x-mtm center. My question is: are there any tricks out there to get the best performance out of these. Has anyone else been a little disappointed with their performance? It might be just my ears.... 
Has anyone tried the Skiing Ninja crossover upgrades? 

Thanks to all!


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## Dave Upton (Aug 4, 2009)

They really benefit from having a larger room and being placed well away from side and rear walls (2.5 feet at least). I've set up an MTM based system for my Dad and it sounds great - but it did take some work. What are you powering them with, and how are the positioned? Room size would also be helpful.


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## mojave (Dec 30, 2006)

Irishsaab said:


> To those more knowledgeable than I... every member out there basically!
> 
> I have a pair of x-mtm towers with a matching x-mtm center. My question is: are there any tricks out there to get the best performance out of these. Has anyone else been a little disappointed with their performance? It might be just my ears....
> Has anyone tried the Skiing Ninja crossover upgrades?
> ...


Do you have original X-MTMs or the the ones with the Encore tweeter? If you have the originals you can get the Encore tweeter from Danny at GR-Research. You will also need to upgrade the crossover for the new tweeter. I think he has upgraded crossovers or Skiing Ninja might still be able to upgrade yours.

I have a friend with two pairs of X-MTM Encores and the X-CS Encore. I've listened to it quite a bit with the stock crossover and with Ninja Elite upgraded crossovers. He sent the crossover in to Sean and had them upgraded rather than do it himself. The Ninja Elite has much more clarity. 

I have X-Omni's with Ninja Master crossovers, Sonicap Platinum bypass caps, and NoRez. These are additional improvements that can improve your speakers.


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## Irishsaab (Jan 26, 2011)

mojave said:


> Do you have original X-MTMs or the the ones with the Encore tweeter? If you have the originals you can get the Encore tweeter from Danny at GR-Research. You will also need to upgrade the crossover for the new tweeter. I think he has upgraded crossovers or Skiing Ninja might still be able to upgrade yours.
> 
> I have a friend with two pairs of X-MTM Encores and the X-CS Encore. I've listened to it quite a bit with the stock crossover and with Ninja Elite upgraded crossovers. He sent the crossover in to Sean and had them upgraded rather than do it himself. The Ninja Elite has much more clarity.
> 
> I have X-Omni's with Ninja Master crossovers, Sonicap Platinum bypass caps, and NoRez. These are additional improvements that can improve your speakers.


Thanks for the info. I had no idea there were two different tweeters out there for the x-MTM's. I'm going to have to look tonight. If they have the cheaper tweeter, my issue is that I picked all these speakers up for cheap either from AV123's clearance site or from Craigslist and don't really want to spend the $500+ to upgrade them. What would you recommend to increase the performance but keep the cost down?


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## Dave Upton (Aug 4, 2009)

As I said in my post - ensure they are setup up correctly before you waste any money on components. You can have 20,000 dollar super speakers and have them sound like junk if they aren't set up the right way.


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## Irishsaab (Jan 26, 2011)

Dave Upton said:


> They really benefit from having a larger room and being placed well away from side and rear walls (2.5 feet at least). I've set up an MTM based system for my Dad and it sounds great - but it did take some work. What are you powering them with, and how are the positioned? Room size would also be helpful.


Dave,
(Ha! I was just replying to your first post when I got your second.) 
Thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty sure mine are only about 8 inches from the front wall and about 1.5 from the side walls. I don't think I could move them closer to the center because of the room size and screen size... Room measurements are about: 14 W by 20 L. I sit about 15 feet back from the screen. 
Power is an old 5.1 Yamaha HTR5830: RMS 80 - 110W for all 5 channels

Yes, I know... I need a newer receiver but it is just not in the budget. I'm going to enter the contest for the Marantz receiver though. :bigsmile:


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## Dave Upton (Aug 4, 2009)

You're definitely hurting your sound with them that close to the wall. Have you got any room to play with? You could certainly benefit from some more power, but I'd see if you can move them off the wall about a foot just to see if you can hear a difference. Also experiment with toe in, I've found the MTM's do well with a good inch to two inches of toe in, since yours are approx. 11 feet apart I'd recommend 1.5-2" toe in and a foot out from the wall.


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## Irishsaab (Jan 26, 2011)

Dave Upton said:


> You're definitely hurting your sound with them that close to the wall. Have you got any room to play with? You could certainly benefit from some more power, but I'd see if you can move them off the wall about a foot just to see if you can hear a difference. Also experiment with toe in, I've found the MTM's do well with a good inch to two inches of toe in, since yours are approx. 11 feet apart I'd recommend 1.5-2" toe in and a foot out from the wall.


1.5 to 2" toe in! Are you kidding... mine are about 4 inches.... maybe I was a bit over zealous. When I get home tonight I hope to check the tweeters and re-aline the speakers; pulling them off the front wall some more and bringing them as close to 2 feet as I can from the sides.


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