Sony SS-CS5.

Yes, Sony.
Wait, what? SONY?! DAFUQQQ!@#*()&!@$?!!!


Yes I said Sony. The SS-CS5 is a freaking hidden gem and actually beats the Q Accoustics 3020 (I have them both) in several areas. It's also, much cheaper. Only RM699 (that's like nearly half-off the 3020) at Sony KLCC, stocks are extremely limited btw.

The CS5 has a more dynamic punch, a wider soundstage and the peaks at the treble is also noticeably more energetic to me than the QA3020. The mids are sort of a stalemate between the 2 though, the CS5 is more neutral with better detail retrieval but at times can sound kind of mellow. The QA3020 has slight bit more forward presentation with a bit of fatigue and perhaps a better sense of grunt when transitioning from the mid-lows.
As for the bottom end, I love both really. They are so clean at the low end that you'd be hard pressed not to like either, the QA3020 is slightly tighter but the CS5 extends lower. That said, neither distorts at high volume which is the most important thing.

If there is a downside to the CS5 vs the QA3020 is that the CS5 is waaaay bigger in size (and also heavier), so placement CAN be a problem.

So yeah, the price being the main factor... RM700 vs RM1500 (or somewhere there). The Sony sounds like a no brainer to me especially when it actually beats the twice as expensive 3020 in several areas, or otherwise matching it in most.

Go take a listen, I guarantee you'll be surprised by the CS5. Sony is one of those companies who makes a lot of "looks first, everything else second" junk, but once in a while they come up with an absolute gem that they fail to market properly for whatever weird reasons.

P.S. Of which as another example; I'd go slightly off topic and say the Sony MA-900 is another sorely missed gem as I think Sony hasn't made a headphone as good as that yet.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Feb 3 2016, 05:46 PM

It actually depends on which version of YPAO.

The YPAO that comes with receivers after 67x are actually very comparable to Audyssey. The old YPAO from before that was decent at best.

Read this thread for more info - http://www.avsforum.com/forum/90-receivers...ny-dcac-vs.html

I've tested both the YPAO version from a rather old Yamaha v463 vs the latest one in the Yamaha v679. There's quite a noticeable difference between the both. AFAIK, most people has only ever heard of the YPAO from the early-to-mid 2000s, not the newer improved one from the last couple of years.

To be honest, now a days I've been dabbling more and more into manual calibration. A reason why I don't really care about YPAO, Audyssey, DCACC, MCACC whatever else much, if anymore. Manual calibration is definitely a hell lot more time consuming, tricky and sometimes a pain in the ass, but I find it fun and allows me to do things an auto calibrator will mostly not be able to ever do.

But yes, I think Audyssey is still generally the "best" auto calibrator, but the others has also mostly caught up.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Feb 18 2016, 08:18 PM

Yeah YPAO (new or old) always has the tendancy to set sub level way too low.

I'm using this now a days - https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in...sp-balanced-2x4

+ REW + UMIK 1 mic (bought second hand on ebay, so it was like $40 lol) + Radioshack SPL meter


Beats the living crap out of any auto-calibrators.

No offense but please, when you ask for speaker advise: LIST the model number instead of its design.

With the info you provided, you basically told everyone that no other center speaker will match because people can only guess what you currently have.

Are those the Pioneer AJs? Rev1 or Rev2?

The speakers are very decent.
Receiver on the other hand is pretty meh though, you either get a unit that doesn't break (and sounds decent) or a unit that breaks for zero reason what so ever out of the blue. So, yeah.

If a receiver doesn't have enough power at a specified volume output, worse come to worse it'll just to clip and trigger the OCP (over current protection). When that happens, then you know not to go to that volume ever again, it's simple.

Tweeters or coils in the speakers only start frying when you push a constant unacceptable load onto them over a significant period of time, of which IF you continue to do despite running into the AVR's auto OCP, then you deserve to have the speakers fried.

You want to match with your front LR speakers, not with your AVR.

From the 3, none of them matches with your Pioneer speakers in tonality.

Nope.
Whether it would sound weird or bad or heck, even good, that's up to your ears to decide.

If you're at a point where you have nothing to lose anyways, then go get either one of the listed centers and hope for the best. If it sounds bad, then plan to upgrade the front LR with matching (or at least as close as possible) sets.

Too long to explain how to choose a good center speaker.

Read this instead:
http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-des...channel-designs
http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-des...annel-designs-1
http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-des...speaker-designs

Yes, it's quite a lot of reading but worth it because the center channel is by far the most important channel in a multi-channel setup.

Ideally, the main LCR's tweeters should be ear height when sitted at the main listening position (MLP). But for the majority of users anchoring the center channel at the middle of the screen is usually not possible, unless you go with an acoustically transparent screen + projector setup.

So then in your conditions, what to do? Place the L/R satellites (I assume they are satellites since you said Bose HT system) at around ear height. You don't need to be EXACTLY ear height, so a few inches higher is fine and could give you a slightly more airy soundstage with minimal impact on imaging. This is for HT though, for music you want the tweeters to be near exact ear height.

As for the center channel, you can place it on the console but you'll want to tilt it up towards the ear height. However you want it to be as close to ear height as possible, otherwise dialogue clarity will suffer especially with the small satellites of the Bose which do not have a wide enough dispersion. If you want to mount the center channel, you can do it by mounting it above the display and have it tilt down towards your MLP.

The rear channels then, the optimal placement would be to flank the left and right side of the couch, about 1.5-2ft above ear height. If you cannot do side surround and have to result to using the back wall, then do the same thing; mount them 1.5 - 2ft above ear height. Do not toe-inwards but instead point them straight ahead.

1) 12 gauge cables at least, 10 gauge if you can.
2) Not sure, I usually buy my cables from monoprice. Try some hifi shops I guess? Just don't get snake oiled into those RM1k per meter cables lol.

The British name but Malaysian made right? Pasar road at Pudu sells this also.

YPAO, audyssey, mcacc, and pretty much all auto-EQ except DIRAC and ARC would set your mains to "Large" or set its xover to 40hz, 8/10 times.

80hz is recommended because that's the sweetspot between not being able to localize the sub and the AVR wouldn't be drained to its knees for power. Doesn't meant that speakers can go down to 30hz, the xover can be at 40hz. Need to look at the steep roll-off points too, which is usually 20-30hz above the tuning point.

AFAIK, most people also have their speakers close to the back or side walls, having too low of a xover would reinforce the mid-bass too much and could cause muddiness in the overall sound.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Jun 20 2016, 05:45 PM

It's room dependant, speaker placement dependant and speaker choice itself.

Crossing at 60hz with towers placed 2 inches from the rear or side wall is asking for muddy, boomy bass. Then there are speakers which just craps out anything below 80hz, have a very steep roll off even if their specs say otherwise.

A good linear sub will even blend with full range towers at 80hz as long as the sub is placed properly and is capable of LFE.


Don't know if I can agree with that fully. While it's true that amps can sound different to one another (which is also why they measure differently), I'm not going to agree that one has to absolutely match a certain amp to a certain set of speakers.

Pioneer has the so called "clinical" sound as what most people would like to describe, but does that mean that it absolutely has to be paired with warm sounding speakers from the likes of Wharfedale?

Picking a receiver has more to do than what it "sounds" like, because IMO that should be the least of concerns. The most important thing in an amp is reliability and power.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Jun 22 2016, 07:40 PM

^You mean sealed or ported.

That depends on how much room you have and how loud you want to go under 30hz.

Get dual PB2000s if budget allows, then make sure you belanja makan for your neighbors every month.

Otherwise a single PB12+ is also a great alternative.

Then buy 1 now and buy another la. Either way, the PB2000 will rip your pioneer sub to shreds.

HT items all going to rocket sky high (again) now that brexit happened. Don't expect good deals at KLIAV.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Jun 24 2016, 03:00 PM