file Am I insane (T1 vs T5)

  • imahawki's Avatar Offline school
  • Elite Member
  • Elite Member
    • Posts: 278
    • Thank you received: 578
    • Karma: 1
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
imahawki Posted 6 years 5 months ago
#24068
I've been a pretty happy T1 owner for a while now. I'd have to look up the original purchase date to be sure... but after I owned them for about a year I ended up adding a larger sub for the HT side. My listening definitely skews HT as I do more (not all, but more) music listing on my headphone rig. Since I added the sub I've gotten things dialed in relatively well but it has created a nagging sense that maybe I should swap the T1 out for the T5 and add a second sub.

In my current setup I run the T1 as large in my Anthem AVM60 and I run LFE to both the dedicated sub as well as the LFE input on each T1. While I get that the benefit of the T1-T3 is that Sandy has integrated the entire frequency range from 20-20kHz for us and all we have to do is tweak the bass volume via the gain knob, the trade off is you "subwoofer" is attached to your speaker and must be placed where your speaker sounds best which may not be where the subwoofer sounds best.

If I "downgraded" to the T5 I would cross them over at 60 or 80Hz and let the subwoofers do their jobs. I feel like I can't justify doing that with the T1. Frankly I've thought about going all the way down to the Aeon 3 given that the system is almost purely HT but I'm not sure they have enough oomph for my largish room (20x22x7).

Thoughts and feedback?
The following user(s) said Thank You: WayneWilmeth, rjohn79395, HTSME

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • rjohn79395's Avatar Offline
  • Platinum Member
  • Platinum Member
  • rjohn79395
    • Posts: 2410
    • Thank you received: 4322
    • Karma: 2
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
rjohn79395 Posted 6 years 5 months ago
#24069
Hi, imahawki, and welcome back!

Glad to hear from you. You'll probably get all sorts of opinions on this....

My take: powered Tritons with built in crossovers to integrate bass will usually do a better job than trying to integrate bass with free standing subs. But you are right, Triton placement for best imaging may or may not be best for maximizing bass/minimizing room modes.

I guess I'd find it hard to give up on those glorious T1's. If you want to add more bass in HT mode, I'd try setting the T1's as Small and using a really low crossover of say 40 HZ to let the sub have more of the bass load before I reverted to T5's at a higher crossover and 2 subs with the attendant integration issues. Both the 1's and 5's do have the latest balanced crossover technology, so mid range and above might be pretty close.

Just thinking. You'll probably get a range of opinions on this, but IMO it's darn hard to beat the bass integration the powered Tritons have, and you might find that crossing the T1's at 40 HZ gives your sub more to do to fill in really deep bass.

Rick
5.4.4 HT speakers: T Ref fronts/LFE 1, SuperCenter Ref, T1 surrounds/LFE 2 + SuperSub XXL, HTR 7000 top fronts, HTR 8000 top rears
Zone 2 speakers; 2 Invisa 525's
AVR: Marantz SR 8015
Amp: AT525NC 5 channel
Cable/TiVo, OPPO BDP 105D, Bluesound Node 2i, Apple tv 4K streamer
48" SONY 4K OLED TV
The following user(s) said Thank You: WayneWilmeth

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Timecop's Avatar Offline
  • Elite Member
  • Elite Member
    • Posts: 198
    • Thank you received: 270
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
Timecop Posted 6 years 5 months ago
Last edit: 6 years 5 months ago by Timecop. info_outline
#24072
At one point, I had t7’s in front with two subs (a 10” up front, and a 12” in the back) - and some SuperSats for surround duty. You’d think that’d be enough bass support and easy to balance room modes, etc. However, that wasn’t the case - and I was always asking the subs to do too much - which resulted in some movies/music sounding perfect, whilst others had way too much bass emphasis. What I wanted was a system that sounded great for everything, and ended my having to adjust bass levels for this movie, or that song.

Eventually I found a decent deal on some used t2’s, and that solved everything. Having front speakers that output great low-end made integrating an external sub quite effortless. With t2’s paired with two subs - there is an articulate layer of bass across the entire room, never being too much or too little. In film, when someone slams a car-door - it sounds correct, and you‘re not even aware if the sub was firing or not. You’ll go through long sequences where it’s nothing but crisp, clear mids & highs - then something in the film will explode, and the entire room will shake! (Clearly, I have recently watched ‘the hurt locker’ and ‘zero dark thirty :laugh: )

I love this kind of restrained performance - where you forget you have external sub(s) because most of the time they are blended so well as to be virtually unnoticeable. My advice: keep the T1’s. A combination of T5’s & external sub(s) will be good... but not triton 1 good!
Triton Two front L/R
SuperSat 50c center
Triton Seven surround L/R
SuperSat 50 surround rear L/R
AVR Arcam AVR-21
Amp Marantz mm7025
Velodyne optimum 10” sealed, back left corner
SuperSub X front-right corner
The following user(s) said Thank You: WayneWilmeth, rjohn79395, HTSME

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • WayneWilmeth's Avatar Offline
  • Platinum Member
  • Platinum Member
    • Posts: 4595
    • Thank you received: 7040
    • Karma: 15
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
WayneWilmeth Posted 6 years 5 months ago
#24074
Hey C J, and welcome back, have missed you around here!!!! AND of course you are insane, welcome to the club!!!!
I agree with TimeCop and Bro Rick above, I would definitely keep the TOnes.
I feel I know the struggle a bit, I am a bass head and I almost exclusively use my home theater for surround sound movies and music.
The VAST majority of my 2 channel listening is via ciems and headphones.
And so I have my LFE hooked to my TOnes front, T 2s surround, and my SVS SB 16 sub. And I crossover my speakers at 40 Hz.
Took just a bit (actually it took a LONG time as my previous sub was just too small and not powerful enough) of work to get my new sub dialed in with the other speakers but when I did it is almost seamless now and AWESOME!!!! The power and the glory!!!!!
But my bass is coming from all around me, as my sub is in the rear of the theater, I have a 7.5 setup.
You COULD downgrade from the TOnes, but I think you would lose a LOT of the richness in your system. You might want to upgrade your sub, or go to two subs. That makes more sense to me.
Let us know and pls keep in touch.
God Bless,
Wayne
God bless the child that's got his own.
The following user(s) said Thank You: rjohn79395, HTSME

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • imahawki's Avatar Offline school
  • Elite Member
  • Elite Member
    • Posts: 278
    • Thank you received: 578
    • Karma: 1
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
imahawki Posted 6 years 5 months ago
#24076
Good to see you Wayne! OK so I'm insane but its normal is what I'm hearing. I'll stick with what I've got and stop peering over the fence at the grass. To the extent money is burning a hole in my pocket (I know, right) maybe I'll invest in an integrated amp with HT bypass.
The following user(s) said Thank You: WayneWilmeth, rjohn79395

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • ArthurDaniels's Avatar Offline
  • Platinum Member
  • Platinum Member
    • Posts: 917
    • Thank you received: 1811
    • Karma: 1
  • arrow_drop_downMore arrow_drop_upLess
ArthurDaniels Posted 6 years 5 months ago
#24089
Hello imahawki,

Your questions are interesting. Perhaps my experience might help.

I have two entirely different systems - one for music and one for movies. My movie system is a 7.1 system, consisting of older electronic equipment. My music system is a 2.0 system (Triton Ones driven by a Cambridge 851A integrated amp) and pairs of Triton 7s and Supersat 3s operating as surrounds and rear surrounds and driven by a Cambridge CXR120 7.2 AV Receiver.

However, I also have two separate subs, one dedicated to the music system and one operating in the "0.1" mode in the movie system. The music system sub is driven from the "Record Out" of my Cambridge 851A, through a Chase Technologies line-level controller.

I am pleased to have two separate systems because I have discovered that, in my situation, I can not set up one system for both music and movies. My primary interest is music, so my best gear is in the music system.

Hope this info helps you.

Best,

Art
The following user(s) said Thank You: WayneWilmeth, rjohn79395, HTSME

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Moderators: Moderator
menu
close
Menu
person_outline
arrow_back
You are here: Home Forum Support Triton Series Am I insane (T1 vs T5)