I recently made the leap from a dated Paradigm Monitor Series 5.1 set up and have started with two Aon 3 speakers as my L/R channels and a SuperCenter XL as my center. The Aon 3s will ultimately end up as my surround speakers when I am able to save up enough to afford the Triton Ones (or overcome the WAF of spending $5k on a pair of speakers). Thanks to all of you in the forum for your posts. This resource has been extremely helpful!

The Aon 3s sounded great out of the box and have been amenable to most of my speaker placements experiments. I have settled on 32" from the back wall and approximately 38" in from the side walls. I have experimented a great deal with crossover settings as well and have zeroed in on 60hz although Audessey Multieq XT32 recommended 45hz. These speakers sound spectacular! While I'm still eagerly anticipating the T1s, I am enjoying my music and movies immensely.

The SuperCenter XL has been a bit trickier. Long story short, I need at least 32" from the back wall for the speaker to sound its best. Any less than that and I get a very noticeable "boxy" sound. At 32", the vocal reproduction is fantastic. I have settle on a 70hz crossover frequency as it provides the best balance and dynamics to my ear in my room. With good source material, this speaker sounds great! Of course, there is a lot of bad source material via streaming video and satellite TV...

In my brief experience with GE products, I have found what others have: these speakers are an excellent value! Their sound is mostly limited by the source material and other components in the signal path. Of course, speaker settings and room placement variations are also very noticeable. What this means to me is that I get to enjoy the journey of improving my sound! Most importantly, I am finding new joy in my music and movie collection!

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hey T Cobe,
That is one SWEET looking movie room!!!! Well Done!!!! I am jealous!!!!!
The Aon3s are seriously great speakers, no joke. But if you can move them to the rear/sides for surrounds and have the Ones up front, WOW, it should sound incredible!!!!!
Is this almost totally for movies, or do you listen to concerts, listen to music here as well?
I noticed it looks like your sweet spot, the center of the room, sitting-wise is given to remote controls. Or so it looks. IF you are to use this room for music a lot, and IF you listen alone most of the time (don't have to have both seats as near the sweet spot as possible) then what I did was to move heck and high water to get a center seat!!!!!
Just a thought, but why should the remotes get the best seat in the house?
Looks like you already have GREAT seating, I just moved a love seat in that place, so I could sit in the middle (alone more often than not) listening to music, and then the girl sits beside me and the wife in the recliner when watching movies, we are all happy campers.
How is that for a jealous guy telling you how to "FIX" your movie room????? Sorry, don't want it to sound that way. We just like to share ideas here on the forum. Lots of 2 cents gets thrown around here.
But I really like your attitude that you are building a system and enjoying it as you go, it is FUN!!!!
Have a great time and please keep us informed, I am IMPRESSED with what you have done so far!!!!!!
God Bless,
Wayne

Here is a pic of what I was talking about, and the universal remote gets rid of all those others.
Sorry about the fat guy sitting in my seat!!!!
God Bless,
Wayne

Thanks, Wayne! I would say that I am at about 85% movies and concerts in 5.1 with the other time in 2.1 for music. The center console on our love seat is only about a foot wide so I'm not too far off the sweet spot but I suspect my remotes would thank me if they could speak. With this setup, I have another excuse to get closer to the Wife. I'd like to upgrade to a good universal but that's money at this point that needs to go towards my future Triton One purchase.

Overall, I think the sound is great. I'm not missing much by sitting left or right of the sweet spot. If I turn the volume up to create about 75 to 85 db output, I can't help but smile. I am excited for future upgrades that will include separates.

Thanks for the feedback. No offense taken. I appreciate the time and positive, helpful feedback. You and Anthem do a great job keeping the forum a positive and helpful place for all. Many forums are plagued by trolls, this one is not. This forum and the rapid responses from the Moderator were no small part in my decision to go with GoldenEar!

Cheers,

T Cobe

Thank you so very much for the kind words T. Cobe.
YES, I agree, I cannot stand some forums, the haggling just drives me nuts, this is supposed to be, heck, it IS a FUN HOBBY!!!!
I appreciate your taking my comments in the right way. Lucky remotes!!! ha ha
Sitting with the wife is SWEET!!!!!
And I know what you mean about the smile on your face, me too!!!!!
I couldn't recommend a good universal remote anyway, mine pretty much sucks half the time.
But we agree on Speakers!!!! And 5.1 Concerts, man they are the BEST!!!! And movies!!!!!
Enjoy the fun and please stay with us here, always great to have another gentleman on board.
Anthem is the really nice guy.
God Bless,
Wayne

So, it's been several weeks since installing the Aon 3s and SuperCenter XL. Here are my results so far:

1. Stereo listening to music is great. The Aon 3s with a little subwoofer reinforcement are outstanding. The sound from my Integra 70.2 in stereo is flawless to my untrained ears. I've played with the crossover frequencies and with the proper subwoofer level setting, all settings are solid; full range, 50hz, 60hz, 70hz, 80hz... It really is difficult to make these speakers sound bad. In fact, I have been unabl to accomplish that feat. It sounds so good that I find myself spending more and more time listening to music in my dedicated theater.

2. Home theater has been more of a challenge. Despite my best efforts so far, I have not been able to seamlessly integrate my Paradigm DSP-3400 subwoofer. My Integra will not allow me to lower my sub crossover frequency below 80hz. I continue to get "chesty" or "boxy" colorations in my vocals and the sound is unnatural. I've attempted to offset this by manually adjusting the frequency cut-off on the rear of my sub with some success and have the gain about a third of the way up. I currently have my sub crossover set at about 50hz, my Aons on full range, and SuperCenter XL at 70hz. This is the closest I have come to the sound I want to achieve though my LFE is a little weak.

Other info:
Audessey is on and makes a slight improvement
Speakers are 32" away from all walls
14 AWG AudioQuest speaker wire

Any recommendations on how to better integrate my sub to get this system firing on all cylinders would be greatly appreciated. I'd prefer to hold off on spending any more money as I'm saving for a pair of T1s and don't want to delay that purchase any longer than necessary.

Cheers,

T Cobe