need to replace the monolith now

andyholmes

Established Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
169
Reaction score
6
Points
44
Age
56
Location
Burscough
Hi there,

Its a sad day when you finally accept that its too big, and I think i've reached that point. Ive just moved house and my new living room is only 15' 2" x 9' 11" so quite a lot smaller than my last room. I've re-run ARC last night and where in my old house my sub was set to 0, its now on -5 with no setting on the sub changed...interestingly, ARC says it has EQ'd the sub down to 16hz, impressive!
In addition to listening to more music these days and less movies, I think i should invest in a smaller, sealed sub which i'd hope to be faster than the monolith for music and still bring a smile during movies although i realise ill never get the slam of a ported sub with a sealed when going very low.

Im not averse to buying new or 2nd hand for the right kit and id imagine a budget of £750 could be sensible. If I could get a sub that is approx 600mm wide across the front I could fit it neatly between my centre and front XTZ stand mounted fronts and allow a nicer layout of my living room furniture. The GXFX of my brothers would be a perfect size, but they are silly money new.

Anybody with opinions on where I should look to full-fill my needs please?
 
Is the XTZ 1 x 12 sub small enough for your needs? Even if it might be more than you need in that room it doesn't hurt to have extra headroom. Otherwise there are SVS models that are smaller than the Monolith, sealed or ported versions available. Of course there is always the BK option of the XLS400 which is a fair bit smaller than a Monolith and is sealed.
 
Interesting, I have the BK xxls400 and although it's a great sub I keep wondering if a monolith plus might be better for my 12x21 foot lounge/diner, I started out 50/50 music movies but I'm more movies now.
 
that room is a little larger than my last, get the monolith, its hilarious for movies :)
 
andy_scouser
panman40


"Interesting, I have the BK xxls400 and although it's a great sub I keep wondering if a monolith plus might be better for my 12x21 foot lounge/diner, I started out 50/50 music movies but I'm more movies now."


that room is a little larger than my last, get the monolith, its hilarious for movies :)


I'm definitely sure that both of you should do some sort of deal! and I think that you would highly benefit scouser from the bk xxls400 for music and the same goes for pannaman40 for his film moments with the monolith...........................I think both of you's would be happy imo;):)
 
where are you based?

mines not the plus, but still has a huge amount of power. If we are close enough maybe a swap could happen, although im really thinking of getting a gloss balck xtz..
 
where are you based?

mines not the plus, but still has a huge amount of power. If we are close enough maybe a swap could happen, although im really thinking of getting a gloss balck xtz..

I thought that the xtz 1x12 was a slot ported sub and although you can bung the slot up I believe imo the Bk xls400 is optimised to work as a sealed unit.
 
where are you based?

mines not the plus, but still has a huge amount of power. If we are close enough maybe a swap could happen, although im really thinking of getting a gloss balck xtz..

I'm down in the SW, Somerset. I think I would be looking at the plus if I changed, ideally I would need downward firing in light oak or plain black or black ash effect,

Out of interest have you had any issues with it as I came across a thread where a few owners bottomed out theirs which had to be repaired ?.
 
ok mate too far anyway, i've had no problems at all with mine, just giggles :)
ive found that the Anthem room correction makes a huge difference though so id suggest room correction is a must for it. Without ARC, the sub can be overpowering but once EQ'd it blends in perfectly.... the only real issue i have is that my room is now a lot smaller so id like a smaller sub that I can place between my L and C speakers. Its also ever so slightly too slow in the faster bassy tracks (ive not played with phase though, i may try it out over the weekend). For you though, get a monolith, you will not regret it, and ive never felt wanting for the plus model either. Mines a light oak DF non plus model that will be up for sale in a few weeks id imagine.

All the best
 
Yeah not many live down these parts mate!, I don't have an eq device but did consider one recently, the one that BK supply.

I probably don't need the plus if I'm honest, I just thought if I was upgrading I should do so with vigour lol. So yours would blend in with my colour scheme and it's a DF. I can recommend the xxls400, I like it a lot and since moving it out from right in the very front corner of our 21x12 foot room to nearer the centre speaker it's much better, the bass is very tight and fast, I had a quick look at fury road the other day and the scene with the Insane drums was pretty awsome!.

I'm still undecided 100% if I really need to upgrade at all.

I wonder what the courier fees are for these things ?, £30 ish I expect,

Have you had yours from new, condition and box etc ?.

Cheers.
 
I'm sorry, I don't understand...



What is this 'too big'?





:p
 
I think it's when you can't get into your listening room because the subs have taken all the room up. ;)
 
haha, yep, as my room is now on the small side, im limited to positioning. having a sub that would fit in between l-c or c-r would be perfect. I could then get a new hifi rack to fill the other gap, so nice and balanced aestetically.

I havent even thought about my rears speakers yet, whether to keep the rsfx's on the wall either side of my listening position.

Its funny, I wanted a new, cosy detached house so that I could enjoy my movies/music without upsetting the neighbours, its turned out to be an oportunity for upgraditis along with some compromise.

Im ebaying all of my remaining hifi apart from the xtz's, so a pot of cash is accruing in preperation for the next stage ;)
 
I think it's when you can't get into your listening room because the subs have taken all the room up. ;)
I'm working on it, give me a chance ;)
 
It doesn't matter how good you think your room is going to be (I too got all excited when we moved to a detached house 14 years ago), but there will always be some compromise. It's just a matter of working out what suits you...some people are happy with a black painted/velvet lined living room and/or a pie of AV equipment glistening in a rack in front of them, others want everything hidden (I'm in the latter camp myself now).

Then there is sub positioning; you think that you have a decent space and can enjoy it cranked up a bit, then realise that there is a big null where you sit due to where you have to put the sub(s). Been there myself (funnily enough with a Monolith, which I managed to blow up twice :eek:). Turned out that no matter where I put a single sub (and even if I bought a much more expensive one that I couldn't blow up) then I would still have that room null. I had to find a way to 'hide' the second rear sub (I built my own and put it inside an Oak 'table'). I've still got other compromises to overcome though, especially in my quest to add another pair of subs and 4 Atmos speakers without being obviously visible in the room.

I know of people with dedicated rooms who still have compromises to deal with too, mostly to do with sub positioning...I think you'd need a pile of money to be able to resolve all the compromises though.
 
It doesn't matter how good you think your room is going to be (I too got all excited when we moved to a detached house 14 years ago), but there will always be some compromise. It's just a matter of working out what suits you...some people are happy with a black painted/velvet lined living room and/or a pie of AV equipment glistening in a rack in front of them, others want everything hidden (I'm in the latter camp myself now).

Then there is sub positioning; you think that you have a decent space and can enjoy it cranked up a bit, then realise that there is a big null where you sit due to where you have to put the sub(s). Been there myself (funnily enough with a Monolith, which I managed to blow up twice :eek:). Turned out that no matter where I put a single sub (and even if I bought a much more expensive one that I couldn't blow up) then I would still have that room null. I had to find a way to 'hide' the second rear sub (I built my own and put it inside an Oak 'table'). I've still got other compromises to overcome though, especially in my quest to add another pair of subs and 4 Atmos speakers without being obviously visible in the room.

I know of people with dedicated rooms who still have compromises to deal with too, mostly to do with sub positioning...I think you'd need a pile of money to be able to resolve all the compromises though.


That's definitely put me off the Monolith now !!, I could accommodate another xxls400 at a push ( wife ) , I'm sure I have a null which I never used to have before upgrading to larger main speakers.
I hear great things about the anti mode device, do you know anything about it ?.
Sorry a bit off topic.

If I lived on my own I would have a huuuuge sub either side of a single recliner right in front my screen :D
 
To be fair, Kelvin was playing the Tom Cruise film 'War of the Worlds' quite loud, which is probably one of the harshest tests of a sub you can do... lol
 
Yes I used to have an antimode myself when I had the Monolith. It worked well and certainly tamed the peaks (no eq device can do anything about nulls) and gave a smoother bass response. Don't be put off a Monolith because of me blowing the driver...I listen loud and ran mine hot.
 
Fair enough then!, if it wasn't for possible wine spillage I would bring my sub out in the middle of the room in front our 2 sofas, I could diy the coffee table to sit over it.
 
Dooooo iiiiit ;) :devil:
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom