Placement of Paradigm Atoms

On 21 Aug 2003 21:32:00 -0700, omsing @yahoo.com (om) wrote:



Hello,
Actually, placing the speaker cabinets flush with the front edges of
your equipment cabinet may not affect the sound significantly.
However, recessing them beyond that point will cause the sound to be
reflected from the internal surfaces of the equipment cabinet. This
reflected wave will intersect the direct wave from the drivers
themselves and, because of the reflection's longer distance traveled
will, when summed with the direct wave, cause phase cancellations and
reinforcements at various frequencies, which will result in frequency
response irregularities. It would be better if you could arrange to
leave the speaker cabinets sticking out a half inch or so from the
front of the equipment rack.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

I think when I get around to it, I'll get the PDR-10, since I live in
an apartment and don't want to shake up the neighbor's room as well :)

My atoms are in cabinets because I don't have much choice - I could
put them on top the cabinets but then they are too high up. I can see
why (and observed as well) laying the speakers down on the side can
destroy the soundstage. I don't see, though, why putting them in
cabinets flush with the front edges should spoil the sound quality.
Anyone care to explain?

I'll have placement restrictions with the subwoofer as well. It's
either in the cabinet, or about 3-4 feet away from the tv and
speakers. I'm hoping the distance wouldn't spoil the effect of the
subwoofer.

Thanks,
Om

I have the PDR-10 and it can certainly shake my room (which is 20 x 15).   I
have it properly calibrated for my system and the gain is turned up not even
to 1/2 way.  It could shake the room even more, if I wanted it to be more
than 8 db above my other speakers.

The beginning of Toy Story, where the "Toy Story" logo flies in, definitely
shakes my couch.  When Sauron dies in the beginning of Lord of the Rings,
and the shock wave goes out, I feel it in my chest.  In Attack of the
Clones, when the spaceship flies by in Chapter 3, the whole room shakes.

I think for the money, the PDR-10 sub is a great deal. Of course a pdr-12
might be better, but I would not say that a PDR-10 merely fills in "a little
bit of bass."  It certainly does more than that for my home theater.

On 15 Aug 2003 11:43:56 GMT, txarson @aol.com (bill) wrote:



I have a pair of speakers in a cabinet and built platforms with spikes
on the bottom for them.  I think this help to isolate them a bit from
the cabinet.

General rule:

If it's sound quality you're after, then placing them in cabinets is the
second to the last thing you should do. Laying them sideways is the very
last thing you want to do. Instead of having a proper '3d' soundstage,
you'll have no soundstage at all.

The PDR 10 is a great sub if you need just to fill in a little bit of bass.
If you want to shake the room a little, go with the PDR12 or the PS1000.

I have Atoms in bookcases.  In general that's not an ideal place to put them,
in our case (and yours sounds similar) it was the ONLY place we could put them.
 The shelves the Atoms are on are 2'W x 2'D x 1.5'H (approx.) and they do have
backs on them also.  When turning the system up to reference level for watching
movies I can get some buzzing/rattling of some of the crap I have on the other
shelves of the bookcases.  This is also partly due to the fact that the PDR 12
sub is in one bookcase (obviously NOT ideal).  I put felt "feet" on the bottoms
of the Atoms & PDR 12 and the bookcases also have padded feet on them so they
don't damage the wood floor.  The cabinet the sub is in has no back and I
usually open the door when watching movies.  The padded feet and open sub
cabinet attenuate the buzzing/rattling in all but the loudest SFX.

We have collectible type stuff in our bookcases, if we just had books or other
"soft" things there would be no buzzing/rattling.

BTW we have the PDR 12 because our house is open floorplan & the "great room"
itself is 20'W x 20'L x 20'H

bill
64.5: 260, 3 sp, a/c, SVO cam, Performer, Holley 390, Pertronix, Hi-Po exhaust,
1.5" front & 1" rear drop, Jacobs wires, Torq D's

66: '93 5.0, C4, a/c, ps, Performer RPM, Holley 600, Pertronix, bench seat

Colt SP1,Sig P220, Moss. 590A1, Marlin 70P

On 14 Aug 2003 21:25:29 -0700, omsing @yahoo.com (om) wrote:



Hello,
It won't do the speakers any harm to either place them in the cabinet
or on their sides, but it may, and probably will, change their sound
somewhat. Try it and see what you think, although I would recommend
not recessing them into the cabinet beyond the point where the
speakers' front panels are flush with the cabinet edges, to avoid
diffraction effects. As far as the PDR-10 is concerned, I've never
heard them, but by all accounts they are a fine choice.