robeel

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hey robeel, well there you go ! I run a pair of diva's myself along wiht the mf a5cr ! I have heard quite a few of the adams and sgrs now. but am smitten with my divas had them quite a few years now. just depends on kind of sound chasing I guess ... love the focal sound...cant look at anything else

yes just standard interconnects am what am using. agree with you the divas have a sensational bass response with twin bass drivers in ported isobaric config. positioning is a big factor and inroom is all that matters. and have aswell found them very capable on their own bass wise. have measured mine in room, and in room they are rolling off around 30hz and with quite a bit of bass going down to 20hz. And really for most music a sub would be completely unnecessary. just depends kind of music listen to and how much bass energy you crave! even though I had my dd15 with my previous mains for both music and ht. to be honest when I first got my diva's, I didnt even bother for a long time to hook up my dd15 for music. for ht though given the volumes of sub bass available for movies I would highly suggest getting a sub.

I happened across a second dd15 though. and I use one dd15 purely for ht/sub/lfe use and is hooked upto the av pre amp. I use another DD15 purely to extend the response of the divas. I have them blended in the divas and works a treat for a pretty smooth response back to listening position from 200hz-15hz ! for music and way they are hooked both therefore then do come in play for ht and fully eq'd to work a treat.

re the svs subs to be perfectly honest have alwyas found them to be capable of prodigous bass output and with ability to go low, but for music to lack finesse and speed. vs say the velodyne's with their clean tight output that goes pretty deep and with reasonable output making them excellent for both av and 2ch use. and in a more waf package. the svs's are just to damn huge as well and would make them hard to place reasonably in average rooms without drawing howls of protest. the dd15 though a few years old in design the newer dd12+ is its equivalent for instance just as capable and in an even more wife friendly format !

as far as integration goes from years back have found the velodyne sms units pretty much subs for dummies. easily can be used for both your mains to positioned for best bass and also for sub to get best positioned and fine tuned to integrate well into the system, room & mains for a pretty smooth response back at the listening position. not expensive either for my bedroom system I grabbed an sms1 for $350. or alternatively you could just buy a velo sub that comes with it built in and thrown in for free for av and movies the eq systems eg audyssey you get in av pre amps and Avrs are bloody excellent these days, don't think need anything else

Ps as far as other subs brands options. Suggest also check out the Osborne subs. Beautifully made would get in same finish as divas. And just like the velodynes are clean sounding with plenty of output using those awesome focal power flower bass drivers ! He does them in both sealed and ported designs. Awesome subs for the money

hey Al, it was your review (i think) of the mf amps that got me interested. i wasn't looking to spend so much but like all things in audio the budget blew out & wasn't easy finding the mf pwr amp. glad i got them though, awesome power & control but i haven't heard many others.

i love the focal sound too, very clean & detailed. the only other hifi brand i've heard are paradigm, they were some decent floorstanders but didn't really like the sound compared to focal. i had just listened to some 826v's? then auditioned the paradigm studio 60 or 100's? but they sounded muffled/veiled compared to the focals. i told the dealer so & he didn't seem to happy, said they were probably too close to the wall.

can you tell me how the SGR's & adams sound compared to the divas? & which models? did you hear the CX4F's?  

i very briefly heard the CX3B's at low volume when picking up a dac, couldn't really make out how good they were but they did look well built & very nice. if i do buy new speakers they will have to do everything the divas can plus more.

yes the divas put out great bass but could always use more, as long as it's fast, tight & detailed!

the velodyne DD+ sounds great but way too expensive for me unless i find one used for a good deal, i'll check out the osborne's & the sms1 unit.
are the DD series sealed subs?

btw, yesterday my sister was looking after my cousins 4yr old boy & he went for the diva's!!! luckily i was in the room & managed to grab his arm before his fingers went through the mid range driver.
one of the reasons i don't have them in the bigger lounge room, they would probably sound better in there but that's were the guests & their kids go.

Hi Rob,

If you are splitting the signal from a preamp then  you probalby want a normal interconnect, so that you are splitting on both sides. Effectively you are wiring up in parallel, which affects impedance, so you want to do both channels equally.



I've heard both SGR and Adam active speakers, various models. There are many differences, not only due to the use of active crossovers. I haven't heard your particular focals, but I have heard speakers using focal drivers. It's hard to make a comparison out of that! However, as a general rule I would say that an active speaker is expected to be more dynamic and have tighter bass control. One of the advantages is removing inductors from the crossover - those are probably the worst of all components. Adam speakers have a different top end with the AMT tweeters, but with the extra controls you have with each you can change the sound to a degree, where passive speakers are a bit more "take it or leave it."

I use the same setup for music and movies, I've done so for about 9 years. I've never really been satisfied with the bass you can get from integrated woofers. When you EQ out the peaks from room modes as I do, and also add a lot of acoustic damping (bass traps), I find that the bass sounds best running at a higher level. The increase in level for the bass that I use would surprise people. People would be really surprised at how much higher you can run the bass without it sounding like a boom boom over the top bloated car audio system.



Splitter on each preamp output - connect via cable into your power amp as you do now, but also connect to your sub input. In that way the same signal feeds your power amp and your sub. If you do have sub outputs (low level) then you can feed those into your power amp and not use a splitter. In that case you are applying a high pass. You can do it either way, there are good reasons for each, and there is no "one size fits all." Sometimes there are benefits to an overlap. Other times a high pass on the mains gains headroom and uses amp power better. Ideally though you want to be able to pick the high and low pass filters independently, I prefer to use an active crossover for that, like MiniDSP. This is a pretty big subject. I've written a three part guide to deal with it and I'm not covering it all even then. Part 3 coming out soon ..... "bass integration guide"

thanks a lot Paul, a lot of good info.

i'll have to check out some active speakers in the future, dynamic sound with tight bass sounds great & being able to tune the sound is what interests me the most.

thanks for the help guys, so i can just use normal ic's from power amp to sub?

Paul, thanks for the info. looks complicated but hopefully it will be worth it, be nice to have the extra low end for movies especially. i'll check out your link & do some reading.

the speakers are actually on the longer wall, i know it's a shocking set up but have to manage for now. one side of the room along the shorter wall is the door sized entry drops down with 2 stairs & the other side is a right angle turn to the smallish kitchen, which goes for about 3.5m & can be closed off by a sliding door. the speakers along with the tv are in the corner next to the entry, the right speaker is about 50cm from the side wall/stairs/entry. i'm always moving them & playing with placement when i have time.

Al, the focals are the divas. excellent speakers, are great for movies too even though just 2.0 but could always use some more low end.
would like to end up with 3.1, i like the idea of active speakers too as long as it's an improvement.

have you heard any actives, adams or SGR since your in Vic, how did they compare to the focals?

do you use the sub for only movies or music too?

seems like a ported sub might be better for me, maybe?  12" or 13" will probably be a good size, although the svs 13 ultra looks a lot bigger then the velodyne dd15.

any suggestions on specific brands models i should look out for in my budget that have speed, impact & clarity/detail? not in a huge rush so don't mind waiting for the right one to turn up.

also what if a sub only has low level inputs like the svs pb13ultra? can i just go straight from my amp to low level inputs? doubt i will get that though, it's a monster! don't mind if it's a bit big but not so much the depth, won't have many choices with placement on a sub that big.

cheers

$250 or $220-240 around that. the prices should be left up after the sale!