Finally pulled the trigger.

[Qman]

After months of indecision, and reading all sorts of reviews and info, I finally went for broke and ordered the S2EX pair and Duo center in Espresso! And to think all i was originally looking for was a bargain on a low-to-mid level LCR set. I hope the invoice is not packed with the speakers so nobody else will see the cost! Now I will start searching for a deal on a Atmos AVR...more $$$!

[racrawford65]

Congrats!

[whitey019]

Enjoy!

[davef]

After months of indecision, and reading all sorts of reviews and info, I finally went for broke and ordered the S2EX pair and Duo center in Espresso! And to think all i was originally looking for was a bargain on a low-to-mid level LCR set. I hope the invoice is not packed with the speakers so nobody else will see the cost! Now I will start searching for a deal on a Atmos AVR...more $$$!

Thanks so much for getting your order in!

[Qman]

So I received my Duo and 2EX pair last night. Impressive protective packaging!
First was to connect the duo for center duties for the wife watching TV. My initial reaction was "what is with that bloat in the upper bass/lower mid?" Male voices honked and were boxy. Unexpected for sure. Next I connected the 2EXs quickly on the same receiver since music listening while my wife was watching TV was going to be impossible. I used some generic 16ga (5 ft) speaker wire, and placed some sorbothane pads under them (I did not want to stick on the supplied pads in case i decide to return them). I placed them on the edges of the HT cabinet, which puts them about 24 inches off the floor, and about 6 ft apart, and about 2 ft from the back wall to the rear of the speaker. This is about where I plan to put them, due to room limitations. Definitely not ideal, but that's the hand I'm dealt. Listening position is about 11 ft away and nearly against the wall. Again, not ideal.
I put on some music DVDs in 2 ch mode. Again, what is with the lower mid bloat? Somewhere around 150-250 Hz, I'm guessing. I moved one speaker out about 2 ft, on the Ascend shipping box, to try for a few minutes and it seemed to help just a little. Muddy is a word i would use here. Way too much energy in that range, making voices unintelligible. I bypassed all the digital stuff and ran the player directly into a stereo input to see how that would work. More dynamic, but still very muddy. Not sure what to make of these so far.
I have no way to EQ at the moment, other than whatever the old Pioneer receiver can provide (VSX712). Next, I will move the S2ex's to 2 channel in a different room using my Bryston B60 Integrated, and a decent CD player, with more proper room spacing. Hopefully I will notice some improvement. I WILL be updating my AVR at some point to include bass management /EQ. Question: Does the typical AVR adjust the center channel EQ as well as the mains/sub? And how far up the freq range does the typical AVR room correction adjust?

On the positive side, the upper mids are smooth! Upper piano can be so piercing on some speakers, not these. Treble is smooth, as smooth as these old ears can tell. Turning it up a couple dB with Dave Mathews at Central Park DVD and turning on the Legacy Pacemaker sub really showed the dynamics of these little ex's. Very impressive. Snare drum impacts are tangible. Tom drums have notes, not just thuds. They handle power without compressing. Integration with the sub seemed immediately nice without any adjustments. (Running EXs full range with sub set at ~45Hz). Next my wife went to bed and I turned the volume down. As mentioned in other threads, the quality/frequency fullness at low levels did not diminish at all. Something I've not experienced before. Also to note was the receiver remained very cool running after pushing it a little.

[Pogre]

You have an old Pio receiver? Subs? Crossover settings? Did you run MCACC? Lots of things to consider. Maybe a pic of your setup too.

[Qman]

My receiver is old enough to not have a feedback mic. Sub is a Legacy Pacemaker, crossed at 45Hz, EXs running full range. although most of my listening last night was no sub. I'll connect the Bryston in next couple days and see how that works out. It will be in a different room so that should be telling. The center channel is what really makes me scratch my head. You'd think it would be pretty clear/not boomy out of the box.

[curtis]

That said, alot of people (myself included) focus on the lower frequencies (say no more than 250 or 300 HZ).

FWIW, I am one these people, but my eq is set at 400hz and below(I think as it has been set for a while).

My receiver is old enough to not have a feedback mic. Sub is a Legacy Pacemaker, crossed at 45Hz, EXs running full range. although most of my listening last night was no sub.

Not the main issue since most of your listening was done without the sub, but the speakers fullrange plus sub crossed at 45hz is going to give you extra bass above and below the crossover.

[Pogre]

My receiver is old enough to not have a feedback mic. Sub is a Legacy Pacemaker, crossed at 45Hz, EXs running full range. although most of my listening last night was no sub. I'll connect the Bryston in next couple days and see how that works out. It will be in a different room so that should be telling. The center channel is what really makes me scratch my head. You'd think it would be pretty clear/not boomy out of the box.

When I run speakers full range plus subs my experience is pretty much spot on with what you describe. I don't think swapping in an amp is gonna make any difference at all.

Try with subs and 80 hz crossover instead of running them full range once. My personal experience with a higher crossover has been that my speakers seem to have just a little more clarity and headroom. My theory is that taking some of the load off your amp and speakers frees them up to focus on the mids and highs with less distortion where they shine. Subwoofers live in the bass region and can handle 80 hz and down much better than most speakers will.

But don't just listen to me. Check it out for yourself. You might just prefer it!

[racrawford65]

Are they away from the side walls, as well? I don't like to corner load my speakers.
Also, any way to move your listening position away from the back wall? Generally, should be 1/3rd of room length from either the back wall or front wall.

The typical AVR will EQ all channels that can be connected. My MRX720 will do 11 channels of EQ. They recommend no more than 5 kHZ as upper EQ range. Primarily as the mic isn't accurate much beyond that. I believe Audessey and Dirac have the same limitations. That said, alot of people (myself included) focus on the lower frequencies (say no more than 250 or 300 HZ). I'm still dialing in my system (since picking up second sub about two weeks ago) but have pretty much decided not to use any EQ in the AVR, just cross-overs, speaker trim, and speaker boost. I've added a miniDSP 2x4 HD to EQ the subs (and may play around with cross-overs in the minidsp for the sub, as well). Great device - if your current receiver has preouts and you are doing 3.1, you can even run the fronts, center and sub into it and do your EQing and cut-offs in it.