Well its been about 3 weeks now and I have at least 150 plus hours on my CLX's. I have tweaked and played with speaker positioning as well as acoustic panels. Below are some observations.
Its official, these things are awesome...
- You need to let these speakers break in. They sound exponentially better the more I play them. In particular the shallow bass concerns are a thing of the past. While I still prefer them paired with the Descent i's for the lower end, they certainly hold their own without the subs. I did not realize how much better they got until I turned off the subs for some measurements. I could tell immediately that they improved dramatically to my ears (the response curve shows this as well).
- The Descent i's with the CLX crossover create a nice seamless integration. I have tried the other sub crossover settings and the CLX setting definitely sounds the best.
- Having 2 subs is an advantage to smooth out the room but it takes a lot of patience and testing to get them sound their best. I tested these things everywhere and I ended up leaving them both in front between the TV and speakers. Having them behind me did not sound right to me as they seemed to localize and not appear to come from the speakers. The biggest improvements with the subs was playing with phases and the 25 and 50 Hz settings.
- When you have a less than ideal room, acoustic panels are essential to get even more out of these speakers. My bass was rolling and boomey and my highs were difficult to listen to for any period of time. I added 6 bass traps, 2 mini-traps and 2 High Frequency traps to the room and it made a really nice improvement. Listening at high volumes is doable for longer periods of time and bass is tight and there.
- Spiking both the subs and the CLX's was another nice improvement to tighten up the bass. I am on a concrete slab with no basement. Positioning the speakers was again critical. I toed them in using the flashlight method and these things can really image. A few family members swore I had my center channel and surrounds on.
- I am learning rather quickly that not all music is created equal and my system certainly reveals everything. I never considered myself a critical listener but I am quickly becoming one by default.
- I find myself adjusting the sub volumes between some CD/SACDs if they seem to be overwhelming or not have enough. Again, I think this goes back to the source material versus my system. I usually end up between 3 and 5 on the subs depending on material.
- I am sure I will continue to tweak but these things sounds really good right now. I have some experienced listeners coming over this evening for a session so I will find out quickly if they really sound as good as I think they do.
- Below I have posted some recent response curves showing the CLX's solo and then paired with my Descent's. I continue to have drop outs at 200 and 15 so any suggestions on how to address this would be helpful. I also have a peak between 30 and 40 on the low end. I have them both set at 3 (they go up to 11) and I have been able to help this problem some with the 25Hz filter. Suggestions are welcome.
- I will take some pics this week so you can get a sense of the room, speaker placement and treatments. I think I am close and I am certainly pleased with how they are coming together.
