The Apex Club

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greedy

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Ricky> are on the way to your dealer? :) i mean http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=HomeTheatre&SubId=AVReceivers&ProductId=AVR4520 at first sight- i never seen 4 ports network on the back of any receiver 8)192kHz/32 dac- nice
 

paulbroke

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Thanks RickyDeg,

BTW; You said that "The blue LED ontop should always be on, regardless if it is in stand-by mode or in full operation"

but when i turn off the AV receiver or pause the movie, blue light is turning off after a few minutes. Is this a fault?
 

paulbroke

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I have sent e-mail about this issue to MA.

After 10 minutes silent scene, the flashing lasts 10 seconds...then it goes to light up.

I've seen a few times before another movies but generally blue light is stable during the movies.

BTW, power mode is "auto" on the sub.
 

RickyDeg

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greedy said:
Ricky> are on the way to your dealer? :) i mean http://www.denon.co.uk/uk/Product/Pages/Product-Detail.aspx?Catid=HomeTheatre&SubId=AVReceivers&ProductId=AVR4520 at first sight- i never seen 4 ports network on the back of any receiver 8)192kHz/32 dac- nice

Released in my area mid-october. It's a damn nice looking unit! Read some early releasenotes from Denon Japan... they sounded a bit cocky, hehe. Not interested in ethernet ports myself but the new Denon HD-link for jitter-free audio does interest me a great deal. Will only work with the appropriate Denon player, of course. Honestly, I'm not sure what's up for me to test next so we'll see.
 

ric71

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Hi gunny,

I used to run various Radius HD configurations and I also ran the R90HD's with the Apex for a while. They did a great job. I would suggest if you can convince SWMBO I would use the 90's over the 45's. They are more than just for effects. As good as the 45's are they will be a weak link. Just my opinion though.
 

RickyDeg

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gunny said:
Hi everyone. Been going through this forum as I'm also one of the happy Apex owners,

although my setup is currently not as "expanded" as most people on here (2x A10 in combination with a very skilled BK XXLS400 DF, all in gloss white).

Reason why I wanted to jump in is because I have 2 questions:

I going to purchase the A40 center soon, followed by 2x R45HD as the rear surrounds have to be rather small (WAF if you know what I mean :) ). As the R45HD will only be used for rear effects I believe it should be ok, but wanted to know if anyone else on here has some idea's on it.

Second question concerns the receiver. I'm currently using a Marantz SR-4001 which was the first AV amp I bought. Although I'm currently happy with the performance, I hear that the APEX speakers shine when being paired with a more potent amp, so was looking at the next step in the chain.

I know the concensus is that the pioneers or Yamaha RX series are proper choices, I was reading rave reviews about the NAD T757 receiver. I'm going to have a listen within the next couple of weeks (purchase of a new amp isn't for the near future anyway), but was wondering if there were any people on this forum that have already heard the NAD or have some experience with it?

Hello gunny :wave:

Congrats to your pair of A10's! Awesome that you want to expand your system! All I can say is that Apex come into their full bloom when they all get to play together (complete 5.1 being minimum). In my opinion it's not until then they really shine and give you that awesome performance they possess. But having that said, if you need to partner them with another model of rears naturally on the whole it will still work. It just won't be absolutely ideal. But sometimes we have to make compromises, nothing wrong with that. And the WAF-thing is fully understandable, hehe.

To partner them, yes they do deserve quality kit. Quality speakes always do. But this also means that if you upgrade in the future you'll have a speaker system ready for the task and something that can grow with you. Apex is rather 'transparent' so they can expose both shortcomings and strengths rather easily. I've been to demos with kit connected to Apex costing considerable amounts and results were staggering. I wouldn't say they are unforgiving of lesser kit though, they just won't reach their potential is all. I have somewhat of a "mid/high-end" Denon receiver which offer great capabilities but I can still tell Apex have more to give than what this model ultimately offers.

Can't comment on Yamaha or NAD since I've never tried them, and as always this kind of thing is highly subjective. For example: I've never managed to get Pioneer to sing with my Apex (sounds rather lackluster to my ears) while others have more luck with that pairing. Best is to test a few models out and see for yourself what suits your tastes and your particular set-up. All I can say is I get wonderful results from Apex with an Audyssey-equipped receiver (Denon/Onkyo). This is due to my personal preference and the room which highly benifits from that calibration and EQ-system.
 

gosalh

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It's here :)
2mxgaqf.jpg
 

gunny

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Thanks RickyDeg and ric71 for the comments.

I'm certainly going to audition a number of AC receivers once the money is available to buy one,

as I'm not one to upgrade frequently. I'm indeed more of a step by step kind of guy, with in the end a setup that will last me +10y easily.

With regards to the R45HD's:

I'm aware of the fact that this will mean that the circle with the Apex's will be broken,

but as I don't have a dedicated HC room, I need to make sure the wife remains happy as well (do need her from time to time 8) ).

The R90's might be a better choice, but after looking at the size of the thing, I could as well go for the A-10's as they are "only" 6cm higher, so wouldn't make all that difference.

No, the idea would be that the rear speakers are as low profile as possible, but still integrate nicely with the front Apex setup. As the R45's have the tweeter at the back I thought that this would be helpfull to spread the sound and create some sort of rear ambiance.

We'll see, still too early to say for sure as I still need to go and have a listen, together with the wife.

If was actually her input that resulted in the purchase of the A-10, as she was present during a demo with the new B&W M-1's vs the MA Apex A-10's.

Her words: "Man, such a big difference in sound. You should get those bigger ones" :clap:

Of course me very happy as it meant that I could raise the budget (had 2x B&W DM603 S3 - now have 2x A-10 with a BK XXLS400 and an A-40 on the way once the new living room is finished).

I'll let you guys know on the outcome once the choices are made.
 

atkins4725

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Afternoon all,

After hearing/reading nothing but positively awesome stuff about the apex system and seeing the apex gang literally taking over the home cinema forum, i've taken the plunge this morning and placed an order for the three front channels, two A10s and the A40, although, the sub will be the RXW-12, all in shiny black gloss. The two surrounds will be added at a later date due to funds. All was bought from the clearance section at SSAV which saved me a small fortune :-D

Cant' wait to take delivery tomorrow. First blu ray to test the system will be avengers. I'll upload some photos once it's all setup :-D

Now to tell the wife, lol.
 

RickyDeg

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Awesome to hear that atkins4725 :)

We, the Apex gang, are kinda taking over the forum, aren't we? With a rewarding speakersystem such as this and cool owners willing to share their experiences it's no wonder. Thanks to gosahl for starting this thread. Soon 1000 posts.

Keep us informed about your set-up and definitely share your photos!

And if your wife gives you trouble just let us talk to her! :rofl:
 
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Anonymous

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I know this may have already been covered, but I was wondering what peoples opinions would be on having 5 A10's (I've not got room for a A40) with my RXW12 sub. I was also thinking of mounting then all quite high near the ceiling. The centre would just be above the TV. Would this cause any problems with the speakers angled down towards the listening position? I listen to music as well as watching films.
 

RickyDeg

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Hey there Jase Brown :wave: (cool Bladerunner avatar!)

First off; great choice going with Apex, and I'm sure partnering it with the RXW12 will work just fine, even if I personally would always recommend the Apex dedicated AW-12 sub, both for reasons of aesthetics and performance. They blend beautifully since they were, in essence, constructed to play together seamlessly as a team. That model you have is still very capable, so no worries. Lots of people use other models/brands to great success, so to each his own.

Going for identical A10's all round is possibly one of the more ideal solutions as you are, in theory, guaranteed a fully coherent soundstage. As good as the A40 is (and it sure is!) there can be a slight difference in soundcharacter compared to the smaller A10 (even if I myself have a hard time picking up on that). Either way, I can't see you failing in that respect. On the contrary.

However, I would strongly advice against ever placing speakers that high up towards the ceiling (dedicated 'height' effect channels excluded, of course). But this would greatly depend on what you expect to get from such an installation and how the acoustics of your room will deal with this. Ideal is always at ear height when seated. I myself however, can't have all of them at ear height, only the rear surround pair. The front trio of speakers are slightly lower as they are placed ontop the a/v cabinet. In my room this works surprisingly well but I would never place them towards the ceiling.

9jobyx.jpg


Perhaps your tv is placed high aswell? Maybe you can make sure the front trio of speakers aren't too far off from the tv as to avoid the soundstage feeling detached from the on-screen action. Apex is a fine system and deserve careful placement within the room so they can give you real bang for your buck. I'll say this though; skilfully placed they make the most of both big and small/tricky rooms. Even though Apex can be wallmounted I think they perform best a bit away from the wall; they exhibit more 'air' and 'threedimensionality' that way. But most installations have to compromise.

Keep us posted!
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Ricky, thanks for the reply. Nice picture
smiley-laughing.gif
.

I know what you mean about placing the speakers to high. I am trying to make the best of one of those compromises you mentioned. The problem is, the dedicated stands for the Apex would leave them to high for my wife. One of the speakers would be above the windowsill in my room. I could look for other stands, but I feel this is also a compromise. I'd like the top of the speaker to be no higher than say 90cm. Any suggestion?
 

paulbroke

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Hi Guys,

For your information;

AW12 blue led lights going off while the sub is in stand by mode. Check the reply of MA as below;

"The LED on the top will go off when in standby mode and illuminate when operating. This is the case on all AW12’s except for early models. We had to modify them to make them comply with a European directive (ErP) which states that electrical products must only consume 0.5 watts in standby mode. If the people you have been speaking to have the LED illuminated when it is in standby mode, then their units are earlier models than yours and draw more than 0.5 Watts in standby mode.

Your sub (in respect of the LED being off in standby and on when operating) is working correctly. "

But as you know, MA did not write any information to manual about this new future :wall:
 

greedy

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Jase Brown, if you asking, i dont recommend anyway position speakers near the ceiling.Speaker must be at your ear level while you seated.(speakers tweeter).It will be interesting to look at your room, because you say no place for A40.maybe you have photos?I recommend to use A40 as a center channel, not a10.I think always is possibility to use a40...:)
 

RickyDeg

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Jase Brown said:
Hi Ricky, thanks for the reply. Nice picture
smiley-laughing.gif
.

I know what you mean about placing the speakers to high. I am trying to make the best of one of those compromises you mentioned. The problem is, the dedicated stands for the Apex would leave them to high for my wife. One of the speakers would be above the windowsill in my room. I could look for other stands, but I feel this is also a compromise. I'd like the top of the speaker to be no higher than say 90cm. Any suggestion?

Thank you Jase :grin:

So, if I understood you correctly (it's still early morning for me here, hehe) you have the choice of either placing them high up close to the ceiling or reach no higher than 90cm from the floor? In case I missed something could you not consider placing the front trio of speakers ontop an a/v cabinet, similar to what I have done? (photo in my previous post) Since you can't have them at ear height the Apex stands have to be ignored in your case. My front trio of speakers are placed about 50cm from the floor, and the top of the standing pair of A10's then ends about 75cm off the floor. Naturally this would depend on the height of your a/v cabinet. But perhaps you can't have a cabinet?

Other than that I would suggest possibly looking at something like Atacama stands as an alternative? They have a few models that they produce in several different versions/heights. The Apex have rounded edges, as you know, and the A10's may be tricky to place ontop of alternative stands (unless you flip them over horizontally) but I guess you could use the supplied table-top feet that come with the A10's and place them ontop the stands? Just a suggestion.

How that suggestion would work aesthetically I'm not so sure... :shifty:

http://www.atacama-audio.co.uk/
 

RickyDeg

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Thanks for the update on the situation paulbroke!

Glad your subwoofer doesn't have any issues then! You know, it's funny but in the back of my mind I wondered when I read your posts if MA had possibly changed the top blue LED-function in newer production versions. Thanks to you we now know they have. Lame they didn't update the manual?! Both of my AW-12's are earlier versions than yours, in other words...

...and draws more power in standby mode :O
 

greedy

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Ricky> on the stand and speaker on feet seems a little bit unstable, what do you think?i wall mounted my back pair of a10m - no problem:)Maybe i'm crazy, but Jose can modify standart Apex stands to be lower...Or better modify wife opinion :)just joke
 

paulbroke

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Yes RickyDeg, this is not an issue but MA support has replied about flashing issue as below. I think the blue led light flashing is an issue of this new future...

"I have never heard of the LED flash. It is not something that it would do normally.

I am not sure why the LED would flash, as I said, I haven’t heard of that happening before."
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Ricky,

the Aracama Nexus stands look an interesting option.

It would also be interesting to see if the MA stands can be cut down as Greedy says?

As anyone seen or heard of this being done?
 

RickyDeg

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Jase, I sincerely hope greedy was joking! :? To shorten the MA Apex stand would likely not be possible, which you would understand once you see how it's constructed. Also, it has internal cable wiring inside of it. So you'd do best in forgetting that idea altogether.

How about the a/v cabinet suggestion? Is that not an option for you?
 

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