ALIII's for home theater?

Has anyone used ALII's for front main speakers in a home theater setup?

I am currently running a 7.1 setup. I'm going to audition some ALIII's on Wed. that I will most likely buy.

Right now all my speakers are Boston Acoustics. What would be a good center channel to match the ALIII's?

Thanks

I think your main issue with using them with any other speaker (other than electrostatics) is going to be matching them for volume as they are very inefficient. You'll probably need to run them off a separate power amp to turn the gain up to match the others...

i think that the difference in sensitivity of the speakers could cause level matching problems, like rabbit suggested. having amps that have adjustable gain controls on them would really help. in all likelihood, the gain will have to be set to 0 dB on the amp driving the AL, and the other amps will have to be dialed back, maybe to about -10 dB or thereabouts. but i'm just guessing on the numbers.

for my home theater setup i'm using M-1.5t and PM-1.5 amps. the PM-1.5 amps have adjustable gain pots on their input, so that you can dial down their input sensitivity to match the levels.

if you don't have amps that have adjustable input sensitivities, then you're going to need a 7.1 preamp that allows you to independently adjust the output levels for the different channels, or you're going to have to run the outputs through some sort of mixer to establish control on the levels.

i think that no matter what, you'll need independent volume controls somewhere in the system for level matching.

My preamp has adjustable settings for each of the speakers.

I'm going to biamp the ALIII's horizontally using the TFM-45 and the M-500t . The TFM-45 on the bottom end and the M-500t on top.

My preamp has adjustable settings for each of the speakers.

I'm going to biamp the ALIII's horizontally using the TFM-45 and the M-500t . The TFM-45 on the bottom end and the M-500t on top.

That should sound VERY sweet and juicy like these nutz., and give you the THUMP you need in the bass, that the M-500t can sometimes be a little short on.

As far as your center channel, I'd concur with the other post, that the only way you're going to get a good tonal and response match is to use an electrostatic or ribbon speaker as your center. If you can find an old Martin Logan Logos, they make GREAT center speakers, and would probably be a good match to your AL-III's. The Magnepan center speaker would probably sound good, and should be a decent match for efficiency and response as well, and can probably be found used for about half the price of a used ML Logos...

Good luck--this is going to be a tricky setup to get right I think.

--Richard

I know this would be way overkill, and very costly, and not practical at all, but would be cool. How about building an ALIII around your TV, 48" ribbon on each side and a cabinet underneath for the woofer. As I said "way overkill" but a trio of Carvers up front would be cool.

I've thought about doing something like that with my Infinity Reference Standards, which stand a bit taller than my big screen TV. I'm almost there.

I have one IRS located on each side of the TV. I need to mount mount the TV on a stand that straddles another 2x12 subwoofer, which would make it a bit taller than the speakers and give a more balanced overall look. Then I'd use another IRS speaker with ribbon mids and tweeters on top of the TV as the center channel. I've been keeping my eyes open on eBay for a single speaker instead of a pair, and/or the right drivers. Haven't found them yet.

I'm using two pair of 1980s L-series JBLs that I have on hand for the surround channels. I've mounted a pair of them back to back on each side of the room so that the surround drivers act as dipole sources firing forward and backward. The surround dipoles are mounted along the walls, about 40 degrees behind the listener from the sideways position. Front/Rear firing dipoles make outstanding surround speakers because its hard to identify where the sound is coming from.

i think it would be hard to mount a 48-inch ALS-III ribbon on top of a big screen TV as the center channel. you'd need a REALLY tall ceiling!

i think it would be hard to mount a 48-inch ALS-III ribbon on top of a big screen TV as the center channel. you'd need a REALLY tall ceiling!

remove the batwing segment from the bass enclosure and mount horizontal.

I have read some where that Carver ribbons radiate sound left and right but not top and bottom, to cut down on deflection from the floor and ceiling. If this is so, then laying it horizontal will destroy the sound field. The only good seat would be directly in front of it.
Maybe if you could locate a pair of 30" ribbons from an Original Amazing, and place one on each side of the TV.
I bet David S could build us one a hell of a center channel!

yes the ALIII(48'") ribbons project horizontal along the length of the ribbon. the batwing design of the ribbon tower enhances this effect.
if placed at a height of 5' in an average room would the sound not reach the listening area properly?

Please forgive me , I am trying to think this through. If the normal position of the ribbon is vertical, and the sound projects from the face rolling left and right, but not top and bottom. Then I would think laying it horizontally would narrow the sound field to only the length of the ribbon, and the deflections would be intensified. So the only good seat would be directly in front of the ribbon. Setting to the left or right would loose the effect of the center channel, you would still hear it but it would be mostly deflection and at least 3db to loud. So if I'm understanding this correctly (and it's very possible that I'm not) the balance of the front stage would differ greatly from center to left or right.
I have done basically the same thing with a donor Polk SDA CRS to match my SDA SRS front mains, I have no experience with ribbons. I would love to have a pair but I have never had a room big enough for proper placement of Carver speakers.

But if I had Carver speakers, I would be talking to David S about building me a center channel.

I am so pissed!

I show up to audition the ALIII's with the intention to buy. As long as they are as advertised. When I show up, there is another person allready there. Fortunetly he is also a Carver fan. I tell him since he got there first he can have them if he wants. I knew he would take them, cost./...$600.00

I think this is worse than epray. At least you know what your getting into.

You think you have 1st right of refusal (mental note: make sure next time!)

Anyway, I think I did the right thing! I wasen't going to let the seller try to drive the price up thru devious means.

Enough ranting

Sorry to hear that the speakers got pulled out from under you. Some sellers just aren't ethical about following through on a deal.

I ran into this with mkuhnle at Audiogon over the sale of an AR VT-100 Mk II tube amp. I was the first person to contact him and I had made a firm commitment to buy the amp. Because he could not ship it for 2-3 days because he was waiting for delivery on some replacement screws for the topcover, he refused to take my payment until the parts came in. He asked me to hold on consummating the deal for 2 days until he had the parts in hand. During this time he offered to send me photos. He send the photos the next day, and I confirmed that I was going to buy the amp and he told me to wait another day for the parts to come in. The next day the asshole wouldn't take my calls because he had decided to sell the amp to someone that came along after me, for the same price that I had offered him.

This guy wasn't willing to follow through on his promise. Once he had the parts in hand, he sold to the first person to call him, even though he promised the amp to me and I was ready to pay on the date specified. Beware of mkuhnle at Audiogon.

This thread reminds me... Whatever happened to ferrari?
http://www.carveraudio.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5946&highlight=#5946