# Thoughts on Episode Speakers from SnapAV?



## 8specialk (Jan 5, 2011)

I'm looking for good in-wall/in-ceiling speakers for my HT. I've suddenly had the opportunity to get the Episode 900 series from SnapAV. Does anyone have experience or views on these speakers? I'm looking at doing a 7.2 setup and don't want to purchase something I may regret...

http://www.snapav.com/snapav/ListView1.aspx?type=PROD&VALUE=26

Thanks for your input.


----------



## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
I have never heard of Snap AV, but did check out your link. Have you had the chance to listen to them at a friends house or elsewhere?

Many companies are now producing In Wall Speakers so you will not be wanting for choice. There is a definite performance trade off when using In Wall's. I think Thiel has done the best job of working around the acoustic challenges of In Wall Speakers, but are fairly expensive.
Cheers,
JJ


----------



## 8specialk (Jan 5, 2011)

Found this:

Greetings all,

Few things....Montana1 is not working here....but if he sends me an email, I will send him a pair of the speakers as a "thank you" for the review and kind words.

Bottom line is the Episode speakers rock and if you haven't heard about the promotion we introduced this week, then you haven't seen anything yet.

Here's the deal - Snap AV was started by a frustrated installer. Almost everyone working here has been an installer at some point. The business model is fairly simple and we can't figure out why nobody else is trying to replicate what we are trying to do...but oh well....good for us.

We believe that we should focus on making fantastic products and selling them at lower dealer costs than our competition and keeping the MSRP's the same as similar competing products on the market. We aggressively protect our line's integrity and only sell directly to professional dealers that know how to design and install outstanding systems.

Specifically regarding our speakers - they are quickly becoming a complete line including 100, 300, 500, 700 and soon to introduce 900 series products. Each series from the 300 and up are timbre matched and provide multiple configurations to allow for flexible system designs and installations to match customer's application needs.

We build our products with significantly better components, all are "ground up" designs and we own the tooling, some IP on unique technologies and our development team is unmatched in the industry. The speaker design team consists of 7 engineers with a combined experience of designing speakers for over 135 years. The team is headed up by Rune Karsbaek who served as lead engineer/designer for companies like Jamo. Between these folks we have designed speakers for Jamo, Elan, SpeakerCraft, Proficient, Boston Acoustics, Leon, Russound, Totem, PSB, Velodyne and many more. Short story here is these guys know what they are doing in this space.

I have the joy of heading this group up as the manager and can't believe the level of energy and drive to "do the right thing" for the custom installation industry. These guys are on fire and have many more surprises coming out in the coming months.

I mentioned the promotion that is in place, but we also offer a $100 money back comparison challenge that you can read about on our web site.

If you have more questions, check out the site or contact either Rune or me direct via email.

Enjoy!

Steve Hayes
VP Product Development
Snap AV

..
..
..
..

Just let me interject that I've known Steve Hayes for twenty years, and he's a friend. He has credibility in this industry as a dealer, installer, consultant, and even president of CEDIA. So, basically, Steve's the real dealio...

Just FYI...
__________________
Paul Scarpelli
aka TRIAD DUDE
Triad Speakers Intergallactic


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

I have used many episode speakers in projects and have been pleasantly surprised with the speakers performance. I have not used the 900 series but the 150-500 series have all been good speakers with no failures so far. I can recall at least 2 in-ceiling theater jobs that more than satisfied the clients with quality.


----------



## 8specialk (Jan 5, 2011)

Here's what I'm thinking:

6x Model: ES-700-ICSURR-6 (2x Surrounds and 4x Rears)
** Will 4 rears be required for a 9.2 setup? **
2x Model: ES-HT950-IW-7 (Front Left and Right)
1x Model: ES-HT900-IWLCR-1 (Front Centre Channel)

http://www.episodespeakers.com/


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

If it were my house or a job I was selling I would do all front 3 with either the ES-HT950-IW-7 or ES-HT900-IWLCR-1, not mix and match. Such as below...

3x Model: ES-HT950-IW-7 (Front Left, Right and Center)
2x Model: ES-700-ICSURR-6 (Surrounds)
2x Model: ES-700-IC-6 (Rear Surrounds)

If you wished to go 9.1 then you would be looking for either front height or front width channels and that speaker selection would depend on your room.


----------



## 8specialk (Jan 5, 2011)

Oh ok, it's a rectangular 18 by 15 room with 8 foot vaulted ceilings with a box that drops down 1 foot around the room that's 7 feet high.

What speakers would you recommend from the episode series speakers for high left's and right's?

Ps thanks for leading me in the right direction regarding the 9.2 setup!! I can post pictures for a better perspective...

John


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

Look at the Point speakers as they can be placed in the ceiling but still provide a directed sound field.

ES-700-POINT-6 or ES-500-POINT-6


----------



## 8specialk (Jan 5, 2011)

After reading some info on Audyssey's website I have a question:

http://www.audyssey.com/images/technology/DSX111.gif

For the Front Heights I measured from the middle seating location to the front at 45 degrees to the front and will put the ES-700-POINT-6 in ceiling speakers approximately 5.5 feet from the seating area near the front wall in the vaulted part of the 8 foot ceilings.

For the Front Wides at 60 degrees out will hit the front side walls 4.5 feet out using the ES-700-IW-6 speakers.

The question is: Do these speakers need to be at a specific ELEVATION or can the heights be flush with the ceiling and the wides be flush with the wall? My concern is that the wides will cancel out my LCR's... 

Make sense?


----------



## nholmes1 (Oct 7, 2010)

The processing is built into the decoding to not cause a cancellation with the LCR, which I believe is achieved thru time delays, phase and such but I haven't done enough reading on the subject yet to be positive.

The heights should be 45° above the LCRs and width should be a the same height as the LCRs ideally.


----------

