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HT— upgrade speakers or add more channels??

Todd74

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I’ve hit a conundrum. I currently have an 11.2 setup and am trying to figure out how to proceed from here.

Setup: {12x14 room, for now}
Marantz 6014
L/R- Dynaudio Excite X18
C- Excite X28
S- Excite X14a [actices]
R- Excite X14
4 Atmos- KEF HTS eggs
Sub1- HSU ULS15 MK2 {sad that anyone would buy a similarly priced SVS over this beast}
Sub2- SVS PB12-NSD {right up against the back of my chair for tactile response}

Here’s my conundrum:
I also have a pair of Dyn Focus 20 XD on demo that I could sell for about $1200 profit [dealer owes me a favor]. I absolutely love the F20’s but I could apply that $1200 to upgrade the X18’s to Special 40’s at no out-of-pocket expense. I’d eventually need an amp for them however.

So, do I take the free Special 40 upgrade..... or do I use those funds to build my system toward future 15.2 capability like buying a 5-7 channel amp to power my front stage for the time being?

I guess I should probably ask— how much enjoyment improvement have you guys noticed going from 11.2 to 13.2 & 15.2? If the front wides are a big selling point, do they need to match my fronts?... as in would it be wise to keep the Excite X18’s and add another pair of X14’s to them, or would I be fine mixing Special 40 and X14?

Signed,
Totally Confused Mother******
 

sweetchaos

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I'll answer some of your questions...

#1. Just to be clear...
You actually have a 7.2.4 setup, where you have 7 surround speakers, 2 subs, and 4 atmos.
If you're writing 11.2, that means its 11 surround, 2 subs, and 0 atmos.

#2. I don't know enough about Dynaudio to differentiate which models are better performing than which, so I'll leave that decision to you.
But I will say this...the left-right-center are the most important speakers in any surround setup. So I would always try to get the best possible quality speakers there. After that, to get the sound character/profile right, I would buy/use the surround speakers that are from the same lineup as the front-center-right. In other words, these surrounds should be really good quality, preferably from the same lineup as left-center-right, but don't have to be the exact models, since less content will be playing on your surrounds than L-C-R.

#3. Human's ability to hear clearly from the back of our heads is greatly diminished. So purchasing the same speakers for your rear-speakers as your surround-speakers, in my opinion, a waste of money. Should you get the crappiest speakers for your rears? No, of course not. But just don't expect your brain to be able to identify sounds from your rear-speakers as clearly as you from your surround-speakers. In other words, you need any Dynaudio speaker for surrounds, since they don't have to match in sound character or be from the same line as the rest of the speakers.

#4. Should you upgrade from 7.2.4 (which is what you have now) to a 9.2.4?
Here's where you'll need to setup the speakers in 9.2.4 setup:
https://www.dolby.com/about/support/guide/speaker-setup-guides/9.1.4-overhead-speaker-setup-guide/
1611775295121.png
Well, that's up to you and your environment. Can you fit speakers labelled as "5" in those positions? If yes, and you have money to spend, then sure.
My thought is that until you try this setup, I really can't tell you for sure if you'll even notice this improvement of these 2 extra channels.

#5. I would personally make sure the rest of the system is on par with a good 7.2.4 system first. In other words, I would get a good receiver, like the Denon 6700H. Then put it into preamp mode, to disconnect the left-right channels, then purchase a stereo amplifier (purifi makes the best performing ones right now). Then use Denon's Audyssey XT32 for Digital Room Correction (DRC). Then, after everything is setup and working, I'll start to think about whether those 2 extra channels are worthwhile.
 
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Todd74

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Thanks, @sweetchaos. Guess you have to blame the industry for calling it 11.2 since they list these things by the total number of channels.

Seems like my best route then may be to go w/ the Special 40’s.

I’m actually using a single Excite X14 as my center until I pick up the dedicated X28, so I could probably sell off the X14 pair and pick up something less expensive for the rears.

The Special 40 is its own speaker so there is no “matching center”, but I would think the X28 would work. The other alternative would be to get a Dyn Focus 210c center which is a slight step up. Either that or skip the Special 40’s and get Focus 200XD or the older Focus 160XD that matches better w/ the Focus 210c (if it’s actually perceptible), but the fronts would then be a slight downgrade from the Special 40’s.

I can’t do a Denon 6700. That’s an extra grand+ for more of a lateral move over the Marantz 6014 since it’s still 7.2.4. The only way I’ll upgrade the 6014 is if doing so adds 2-5 more channels or if a true hi-fi 7.2.4 unit comes out and which doesn’t break the bank. I’d rather apply the $1200 to something that’ll be in my system for a long time instead of toward a Denon 6700 that’ll depreciate fairly quickly and be outdated in 2 yrs when I’ll be wanting to dump it for something like a 9.2.6 that should be more affordable by then.

Instead of paying a premium for the slight power upgrade to get a 6700, I could buy an external amp to plug into the 6014 and still have money to spare, right.
 

sweetchaos

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The good news is that the Marantz 6014 does have "Audyssey MultEQ XT32" DRC, so it's worth using for just that.
The bad news is that Marantz 6014's review shows it's not as good as Denon 6700.
Amir's final thoughts were..."Needless to say, I can't recommend the Marantz SR6014."
That's why I mentioned the Denon.
But I wouldn't lose sleep with your Marantz and it's awesome DRC.

I believe the Marantz 6014 has the full-channel preamp mode, meaning, can you disconnect all channels at once.
So yeah, you could offload everything to an external amp(s) and use the Marantz for processing/DRC only.
Choices, choices. Haha.

Focus on getting better speakers, since that's where it will make all the difference.
Then focus on amplification to drive those speakers as second priority.
But my final thought....is that a good 7.2.4 setup, with a good receiver (with good DRC) and decent amplification makes a big difference.
Going beyond 7.2.4, to 9.2.4 or 11.2.4 is a smaller improvement.
 
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Todd74

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The good news is that the Marantz 6014 does have "Audyssey MultEQ XT32" DRC, so it's worth using for just that.
The bad news is that Marantz 6014's review shows it's not as good as Denon 6700.
Amir's final thoughts were..."Needless to say, I can't recommend the Marantz SR6014."
That's why I mentioned the Denon.
But I wouldn't lose sleep with your Marantz and it's awesome DRC.

I believe the Marantz 6014 has the full-channel preamp mode, meaning, can you disconnect all channels at once.
So yeah, you could offload everything to an external amp(s) and use the Marantz for processing/DRC only.
Choices, choices. Haha.

Focus on getting better speakers, since that's where it will make all the difference.
Then focus on amplification to drive those speakers as second priority.
But my final thought....is that a good 7.2.4 setup, with a good receiver (with good DRC) and decent amplification makes a big difference.
Going beyond 7.2.4, to 9.2.4 or 11.2.4 is a smaller improvement.
Thanks man, I’ll take your advice and focus on my front stage + amp first and foremost.

I respect Amir’s hard work and testing, but his reviews don’t always have real world application IMO. Case in point, he gave the 6014 a thumbs down, but his review is based on reference level volume, and I will never come close to stressing the unit like that.

At my volume level, however, which is quite high for my 12x14 room, the DAC’s SINAD is a respectable 96 (Denon x6700 is 99); the amp’s SINAD is 84 (quite good for an AVR, same as x6700); good multichannel Dynamic Range, 107 (the x6700 is 108); 123 wpc, 249 watt peaks (x6700 is 120 wpc, 300 watt peaks). The 6014 is $900 refurbished; the x6700 is $2,200 refurb.

Then, of course, I’m not buying the 6014 for 2-channel stereo. It’s for home theater. So for me, I’m quite happy with near Denon 6700 performance, 7.2.4 processing, Audyssey 32, front channel disconnect, and a decent music streaming ap all for $900.
 
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