2. home-theater
  3. 1112399909

Monitors or floorstander to match Velodyne DD15?

I just ordered a DD-15 to be used in a setup that will be 60/40 music/HT and am looking for frontspeakers.

My room is 22' X 13' X 8'. I'm also shopping for electronics and will likely end up with an upgraded Anthem AVM-20 and perhaps an Arcam amp. I have diverse musical tastes: Jazz, clasasic rock, Classical and pop. I don't plan on spending more than $4,000 on fronts and would be happy to spend less.

With the bass response of the DD-15s I'm thinking my priority with fronts will be on everything but bass response. Is my assumprion justified? If it is, will I do better with monitors than floorstanders? And finally, what speakers, new or used, would you match with setup?
jonsher

Showing 3 responses by gunbei

gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Vladimir. Jonsher. This is an interesting theory, something I was not aware of. Thanks for pointing this out.

Many people seem to feel the Velodyne Digital Drive subs are top notch. All 4 models seem to use the same amp. The 10" and 12" models seemingly the same magnet while the 15" and 18" commonly use a bigger one.

So I am wondering is the only reason to have these different size units because of the way they each react with different room sizes based on their driver sizes and not for matching with main speakers? Also, since a larger driver will push more air volume wouldn't this also have the effect of possibly slowing it? Or is it because of the DD design, ie damping factor, etc. that this volume difference becomes negligible and therefore irrelevant?

Thanks for your input.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
You're set up is similar to one I'm contemplating but on a slightly larger scale.

I've been considering using a DD-12 that will be shared by a separate 2 channel and HT system in the same room. I'm currently using NHT monitors for HT and ProAc floorstanders for 2 channel.

As quick and snappy as the Velodyne DDs are, I'm wondering if they still wouldn't be a good match for monitors in a music application just because of the size of the woofer. A floorstander might be better in your case.

What kind of speakers are you considering? You might want to look into a speaker line like Aerial Acoustics. Maybe their 8B, and use the sub for dedicated LFE only?

That's probably where I'd look first, but hopefully others will have helpful suggestions.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I'd like to try stereo subs as well, but at this point it might not be practical. Because of my room size I'll probably one day go with one DD-12 which will service both a 2 channel and a HT system.

Jonsher, as far as monitors that will work for both a music and home theater system, you might want to also look into the Tyler Acoustic Linbrook Signature Monitor. While I've never heard them, they seem like great candidates because of their well reviewed musical character and power handling capability. I use NHTs for home theater and ProAcs for music, but if I were searching for a speaker to serve double duty, the Tylers would definitely be one place I'd look.
More to discover