New Lounge, New 5.1 Setup

Dougiebabe2003

Dougiebabe2003

Dougiebabe2003

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Afternoon all,

So the lounge is being completely gutted and re-done and in the process I'm hiding all cables under the floor and in the wall and having wall plates installed.

In the process of this I am laying the cables for a 5.1 setup and would like some input into this. All speakers have to be wall mounted due to space.

I've narrowed it down to the following:

MA MR1 AV Pack
MA BX1 AV Pack - Only in Walnut (was after black oak really)
QA 3000 AV Pack - Not so keen on the sub

So far the SWMBO has said the QAs are winning for her and reading through reviews I'm quite keen on them as well. I've seen the MA's for a few years and always liked the look of them but I think the QAs might fit better with the lounge and be less intruding.

My main issue with the QA 3000 series is the sub, I'm a big bass junkie and love loud, deep bass. My main music listening is electronic/DnB/Dance and missuses music tastes are Dub/Reggae so a big sub would be enjoyed by both I think. The QA Sub (3070s) is 2 7" drivers with a low freq of around 50hz, I think this will be punchy but not 'bassy' enough for us. I'm looking at the possibility of being able to swap the sub out of the package and replace it with the MA BXW-10 sub, anyone had any experience with this?

Basically think we are set on the QA range but looking for a sub to go with them but will have to choose from retailer site (not sure if I can link?) and the best one I can find for the price the BXW-10, although not sure on how good these are?

Any input would be welcome!

Cheers!
 
Have you heard the sub? I read a few reviews which said it was the weak link.

To be honest I've been really happy with the whole system but predominantly use it for movies and only a bit of music listening

VincentHanna_HomeCinema01.jpg
 
Thanks for the reply

I've not heard either sub (whole to do with RS about that) but agree that I can't find amazing reviews in regards to the BXW-10 sub but am worried that the QA sub won't have the room filling, vibrating everything feeling that I'm after.

How do you find the lows with the sub? I imagine having the floor standing versions of the QA helps some, whats your crossover set to on the amp? Blurb says the 3050s go down to 44hz where as the 3010 go to 68hz and the 3020 rated for 64hz.

In my head I have it set that one large(r) sub will have more rumble and be able to produce lower hz, I could be well wrong and if someone can correct me then I am more than happy to learn!

Love the look of the 3050s btw, if only I had the room...
 
Hadn't heard of them before, they look pretty cool for movies but the issue I see with the QA sub is with music. Think that the bass shakers would be a good addition once everything else is done though.

We both like our bassy music and am worried the QA won't live up to our expectations.

I could be totally wrong and would be happy to be wrong.

The other thing that is making me sway towards the BXW-10 is it is reduced to around the £200 mark atm so the savings I am making on the sub are going towards the wall mounts and/or possible front upgrades to 3020s.

My thinking is also that when the BXW-10 was first on sale it was £450~ (if my searching skills are any good) and it was at this time the sub wasn't reviewed well for the money, I'm guessing that half the price would bring it more in line with what it is worth?
 
The only way to be totally sure that you are going to be happy with your choice of sub is to try it in your room - see if there is a dealer that will let you borrow the sub you are interested in so you can try before you buy.
 
Unfortunately living in Cornwall there aren't many shops around here to demo and/or borrow kit. I'm having a hard time to even get any demoed.

Thank you for the offer, I've listed some tracks below and most of them I think have loud bass. I'm used to my car sub vibrating everything in sight (when I still had it) so think I'm just looking for room filling bass.
I normally stick on some YouTube mixes. Some songs I can think of now:

Chase and status - flashing lights
Claire maguire - ain't nobody
Pendulum - blood sugar - tarantula
Example - see the sea (first 8 seconds my sub used to hate)

Laid black - red
Fat Freddie drop - roady

This is my first amp/speaker setup so my understanding of the crossover is anything below 80hz the speakers won't play and anything above 120hz the sub won't.play?

My last speaker systems have left me a little underwhelmed, one was a cheap Samsung thing and the other was a 2.1 logitech system that was OK for normal TV watching but not amazing for films or loud music,.still better than TV speakers tho.
 
The BXW10 is a definite step up from the QA sub, but then it should be; it was originally £500. While price doesn't automatically guarantee performance I can say that to better that sub you'd either have to spend more on a recognised speaker brand sub (B&W, KEF, Focal, REL etc) or cutout the middlemen and go for a direct seller such at BK with their £350~£500 (inc del) subs (XLS-200/-400, Monolith, P12-300SB). The conclusion then is that for £200 on clearance the BXW10 is pretty much a no-brainer. The only way you'd beat that performance is with something second-hand and very under-priced.

The only remaining question is the comparison between your car subs and anything in the home cinema product ranges. Here's where I think you'll struggle to match the experience. That's not because the home subs aren't as good; they're better, but they're doing a different job and in a very different environment.

Cars are noisy environments and the volume of space being energised is very small. The consequences of those two things is that with car audio it's easy to make a big noise in a small space and get away with loads more distortion because of road- and engine noise. As a result it's cheaper and easier to get the sort of bass that rattles your rib cage in a car than it is in a living room.

The other thing is sound quality. Domestic subs from companies with a reputation for making good speakers for music focus on producing tight and accurate bass so the subs have to be agile and able to start and stop notes cleanly. The same sort of thing is possible in car audio of course, and compared to the "loud and Low" type products you'll see that the priices for such gear are significantly higher.

The conclusion to all this is that the domestic subs at this level won't produce the "rattle your teeth" bass until you have a living room the size of your car, but at that point then pound for pound they'd blow the car audio gear out of the water. You'll feel the bass from a BXW10, and depending on how loud you turn it up then it will rattle the windows, but it will remain far tighter and more controlled compared to car audio products unless you spent daft money for your vehicle fit.
 
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Lucid, you have basically put into words what I have been trying to figure out in my head for about a fortnight. My thanks to you. Username relevant, Illuminati confirmed.

I've heard back from the store and they have said I can get:

Denon 2200w
QA 3000 cinema pack
BXW-10 sub
Replaced front 3010s with 3020s
5x 3000WB

All for £890 which I don't think is a bad price at all. I had budgeted around £1000 for everything including cables, with this I'm probably at around £1200 because I went with HDMI plates, should have just stuck with brush plates but oh well.

I would get a BK Elec sub if the store I was buying from refunded the entire amount of the sub but as they will only swap will have to choose from what they stock, one of them that seems to offer the best price/performance is the BXW-10 :)

Many thanks guys, I'll try and get some photos uploaded to somewhere to show the WIP.
 
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