1st Gen. Lunch Table - General Discussion

Did... did you just get me... wet?

 

I run a W12S4 in my tundra and my girlfriends Corolla. Don't know that I'd say they are fantastic but they do make bass.
Link

 

It could be interested. I'm shocked (and impressed) by how much bass my Beam manages to throw into a room. I tossed my solid-quality 5.1 surround setup w/dedicated sub for the beam, and honestly, the Beam makes damn near just as much bass as the dedicated, powered 8" sub. It's not 100% to the system I pulled, but it's close enough and I'm happier than a pig in mud getting rid of all the extra clutter and wires for a simple bar i can hide in the acoustically transparent drawer of my TV stand.

If they designed something similar that could be tossed under a seat in a vehicle, I'd be all over it.

 

Sonos beam? We are running TV speakers right now in the new house. Haven’t gotten off the ground on home TV audio.

 

I installed in wall and in ceiling speakers in a house we built 15 years ago. Polk audio 6.5" for all. Had a JBL Venue 500 watt 12" sub. Ran the system through an Onkyo receiver. Sounded great, rarely flexed the system to it's potential. Sold that house, left the in wall stuff, sub amp blew, receiver crapped out. Have a $300 LG soundbar with wireless sub that does the job now. Certainly not the system I had before, but light years ahead of the TV speakers. Gives a nice full sound.

 

Sonos Beam is absolutely stupid value for the money, but it does cost money. I ended up scoring mine for $375 on eBay, from a suspicious seller I suspect probably ganked them from a place they work, or bought with stolen credit card. Normal people don't just have 3-4 Beams sitting around, and when I browsed their stuff, it was all crap a big-box store like Beast Buy would carry/sell. And they always sold 3-4 items of some type at a time, at about 30% below MSRP, every couple of months. (Yes, I dig on sellers if I have concerns about something looking too cheap...)

Like @KNABORES I was also running Onkyo head but with Klipsch components, and a Boston Acoustics powered sub. Nothing really fancy, maybe $3k-4k of stuff I pieced together from good buys, but it had nice, full sound. The Beam was worth every penny, and the added Bluetooth functionality, and ease of casting stuff, being able to stream spotify to it over our wifi, it was just a no-brainer.

My friend and neighbor is a big audio (headphone) and TV/home theatre buff, possibly to the level of snob. He helped me tune our LG OLED I bought two years ago. He was shocked during a bass hit and asked if I swapped out subs, wanted to know where it was. He didn't believe it was a bar. YMMV, but that was enough affirmation for me to spend the $$.

 

I put it on the “to discuss” list. I’m adverse to sound bars but the easy button solution is hard to argue with.

 

I went all out(for my budget) and got Polk T50 floor standing speakers(3 6 1/2s, 1" tweet), T30 center channel(2 5 1/4s, 1" tweet) and T15 bookshelf rears(1 5 1/4, 3/4 tweet) and a Paradigm PS1000 sub( 1 10" in a bandpass. All ran off a yamaha 7.1 amp that I can't remember the model number. It'll shake every wall in the house. Granted, it's a trailer house, but it'll shake em. Movies are amazing on it.

 

But they don't give surrouns sound. I don't like em cause it's not enough. Too small for the discerning "audiophile".

 

Yeah, the boss imposes significant constraints on aesthetics so I’ve given up on best. The explanation I was given was “Nobody has speakers like that any more”

 

I like this channel, he has some good videos on acoustics.

https://youtu.be/EEh01PX-q9I

 

You get spatial sound, good left/right/center separation, but it lacks the backfill you'll get with at least a a 5.1 system. However, I'm pretty sure Sonos has rear satellites you can buy, I don't recall if they support delays or not. My previous rears sucked anyway, mostly due to where I had to install them in the room (parallel to the couch) so I wasn't getting great fill in back anyway.

FWIW, I was the same. best thing I can tell you is to find someone with one. That's what sold me on it. MIL had a friend with one, and she needed help setting it up after remodeling her house, so she leaned on me for it. I legitimately couldn't believe the sound it was cranking out, I went out and bought one that month. Just know, your TV ideally should have at least one HDMI ARC port for best results and integration.

 

Interesting. My 75" vizio is 12 years old so not sure it has audio return. But I can route through a receiver, just that sort of adds bulk without much value. I think my Marantz may have ARC, it's newer.

 

I'm rocking an old school monster home theater setup, other than the amp/receiver that's a newer Yamaha. I have two 5 way Kenwood towers that are 5 foot tall with 15 inch woofers. I can't find anything like it on the inter webs, will post a picture tonight of them. I mowed yards and did other jobs for a year to buy them from a pawn shop when I was 13. Wife has complained about them in the living room, but it's non negotiable. Center channel and sub is an old school Miller and Kreisel THX setup that they used in recording studios until recently. Then my rears are in ceiling, and they can't keep up. Everything is pre wired and I have a dedicated breaker for the amp.

 

If you're using the Marantz as your home theatre brains, it might make sense? But honestly, the appeal of the Beam is it's an all-in-one solution to handle the heavy lifting, so you don't need a receiver. If you intend to use a receiver, Beam is probably not for you.

I mentioned the ARC thing because not all TVs have it, and it'd be the one "AHA!" that could bite you in the ass later, and leave you cussing me.

 

Exactly. And my TV is super old so likely doesn't. I will peek at the back.

 

I took a class at GT with Dr Leech in audio engineering where they teach you how to model a speaker and it’s cabinet as an electrical circuit in order to deliver the optimal sound which matches the output impedance of your amp. He teaches about ported and non-ported speakers and creating better bass with an acoustical waveguide. Fun stuff and almost a guaranteed pass to get you a job at Bose or another big audio/speaker manufacturer.

 

Funny you mention that. I responded to a sale on NextDoor where a person was selling some project speakers - a center and front L/R - that were designed at GT. Heavy as hell, I got it all for $20 because the guy couldn't sell for $200, then $100, then $50, so he was giving away free, I kicked him a 20 for his time.

He mentioned they seemed "muddy" to him. It looks like whatever they tossed together for crossovers was the culprit. They put some really high quality drivers in them! I still have them in the basement, haven't had time to tinker yet.

 

Still have my Tundra (and 2000 4Runner 5sp and added a 2005 GX470 to the stable a few months ago) but moving across country this year has taken ALL my time. I miss this forum...that is all.

PS, the OEM brakes on my GX470 really make me hate the OEM brakes on my Tundra.

 

Nice you checked in though. And with an appropriate weigh in on 1st Gen brake suckage. No arguments. Come back when you have time. Most of us will be here.

 

Anyone know of a seller/store selling fake grass in bulk?

 

Homies, how much grass you lookin for?

 

What kinda fake grass?

 

Like oregano?

 

Hahaha I reread that, homies is short for Home Depot

 

Nawl, ASTRO turrrfs. It's for the tent of pain. 12×20

 

Smoking astroturf grass will most likely get you high if it doesn't kill you after first being rendered unconscious.

 

So, HOME DEPOT has rolls in that size range, also ranging in blade length, the longer the blade the more expensive it will be. I got the put put golf length grass and the roll was like 20$ for a 10x12ish patch