Strictly for HT use, is the RAAL overkill?

[MusicHead]

I have owned a pair of CMT-340SE as my mains for many years now and I could not be happier.

Now Dave has ruined everything with the release of the Rev. 2 🤣

Seriously, the CMT-340SE2 at their introductory price must be the most obvious no brainer in the history of speakers.

Considering you have an AVR (as I do) you are going to love their high sensitivity. As already mentioned, Ascend surely does not have a bright soud signature to their speakers, but they are not tame either. My CMT-340SE just sound "right", whether with music or movies. You can always EQ a bit if it suits your tastes better.

[slip023]

So, I ended up buying three Duo V2 in black matte for LCR. I went way over budget, but I am glad I did. I bought the speakers on a Thursday just before noon and they were shipped out the following Tuesday. UPS fudged my delivery, so I received my L & R speakers that Friday, and the center the next day. I spent that Friday listening to my favorite movie scenes and music in 2.1 configuration.

I remember debating if I should go with a phantom center but my tests with my old speakers (Andrew Jones’ Pioneer Elite EBS73) were underwhelming, so I decided I definitely needed to have a center. When I did the same test with my new Duo V2s I was in awe. It was so different, it sounded like I had a center channel, even when seating a little bit off center. I was thinking that maybe I should’ve just ordered two speakers!

Saturday came around and I put the center channel inside my cabinet, where my old Pioneer center lived. I redid Audyssey XT32 and put on some shows. It sounded worse than my phantom center. I was confused. I looked at the Audyssey results and the measurements looked weird. Like really bad. Something must’ve been wrong; these speakers can’t measure that bad even in my room. So, I re-did the calibration, and the before/after response graph looked much better.

Now we’re talking. Movies sounded great, awesome. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the center sounded so localized. Like I could tell the sound was coming from the speaker, not the TV, like my old Pioneer did.

So, I bought a speaker mount so I could mount the center speaker over the TV. That way it would be closer to the screen, and it would be “floating” in the air, not constrained inside a cabinet. I redid Audyssey, before/after measurements looked even better. I put on Dune (2021) and enjoyed the whole movie.

My 3.1 system sounds soooo good now. I have a Rythmik F12 and three Duo V2 powered by a Marantz SR6012. I always thought “I wish my home theater sounded as good as my earbuds (1MORE’s Quad Driver In-Ear Headphones)”. Yesterday I was listening to Rihanna’s Lift Me Up with my earbuds and just thought “wow, I miss my Duos, they sound better than these earbuds” and it just clicked! Wow, I had finally achieved what I’ve always wanted. These speakers just sound so good. I can’t really explain what it is. It’s like the sound has texture now, I don’t know if that makes sense. It’s just so clean and clear and open. It has something extra, and I don’t even know what this “something extra” is. It just sounds dazzling.

I (probably) found my end-game speakers. I don’t think I’ll ever get the speakers upgrade bug again (famous last words?). And to upgrade my system’s weakest link, the receiver, I just bought a Lexicon RV-6 and I’m waiting to receive it. Dirac Live should be the cherry on top.

I will post some pictures later.

[Robert]

So, I ended up buying three Duo V2 in black matte for LCR. I went way over budget, but I am glad I did. I bought the speakers on a Thursday just before noon and they were shipped out the following Tuesday. UPS fudged my delivery, so I received my L & R speakers that Friday, and the center the next day. I spent that Friday listening to my favorite movie scenes and music in 2.1 configuration.

Dang...you certainly did go over budget. Glad to read about your impressions. Personally, if it were me, I would've spent the money used for the Lexicon and splurged on the Horizon Center for the best of the best. I prefer spending more on the speakers rather than the amp/receiver (there's always that point of diminishing returns in my humble opinion).

I had the Duo (Dave modified it to close to the V2 version currently sold), and although I thought the improvements were very good, but after demoing the Horizon, I'd never want to go back to a Duo. I'd recommend it only if you have the room though as it is a beast in terms of size and if you are a major movie or multi-channel music buff that uses the center a lot. The advantage of the Duo is that it has far more flexibility with placement due to its smaller size.

Either way, glad to see you are happy with your setup!

[slip023]

Yeah, no space in a one bedroom apt for the Horizon lol. Perhaps when I buy a home and turn a room into a movie theater I'll buy one or three

[davef]

So, I ended up buying three Duo V2 in black matte for LCR. I went way over budget, but I am glad I did. I bought the speakers on a Thursday just before noon and they were shipped out the following Tuesday. UPS fudged my delivery, so I received my L & R speakers that Friday, and the center the next day. I spent that Friday listening to my favorite movie scenes and music in 2.1 configuration.

I remember debating if I should go with a phantom center but my tests with my old speakers (Andrew Jones’ Pioneer Elite EBS73) were underwhelming, so I decided I definitely needed to have a center. When I did the same test with my new Duo V2s I was in awe. It was so different, it sounded like I had a center channel, even when seating a little bit off center. I was thinking that maybe I should’ve just ordered two speakers!

Saturday came around and I put the center channel inside my cabinet, where my old Pioneer center lived. I redid Audyssey XT32 and put on some shows. It sounded worse than my phantom center. I was confused. I looked at the Audyssey results and the measurements looked weird. Like really bad. Something must’ve been wrong; these speakers can’t measure that bad even in my room. So, I re-did the calibration, and the before/after response graph looked much better.

Now we’re talking. Movies sounded great, awesome. But I couldn’t shake off the feeling that the center sounded so localized. Like I could tell the sound was coming from the speaker, not the TV, like my old Pioneer did.

So, I bought a speaker mount so I could mount the center speaker over the TV. That way it would be closer to the screen, and it would be “floating” in the air, not constrained inside a cabinet. I redid Audyssey, before/after measurements looked even better. I put on Dune (2021) and enjoyed the whole movie.

My 3.1 system sounds soooo good now. I have a Rythmik F12 and three Duo V2 powered by a Marantz SR6012. I always thought “I wish my home theater sounded as good as my earbuds (1MORE’s Quad Driver In-Ear Headphones)”. Yesterday I was listening to Rihanna’s Lift Me Up with my earbuds and just thought “wow, I miss my Duos, they sound better than these earbuds” and it just clicked! Wow, I had finally achieved what I’ve always wanted. These speakers just sound so good. I can’t really explain what it is. It’s like the sound has texture now, I don’t know if that makes sense. It’s just so clean and clear and open. It has something extra, and I don’t even know what this “something extra” is. It just sounds dazzling.

I (probably) found my end-game speakers. I don’t think I’ll ever get the speakers upgrade bug again (famous last words?). And to upgrade my system’s weakest link, the receiver, I just bought a Lexicon RV-6 and I’m waiting to receive it. Dirac Live should be the cherry on top.

I will post some pictures later.

Excellent - thanks so much for posting your feedback and I am very happy that you are enjoying the Duo V2. I use them in my own home

I look forward to your pics.