I'm still building so they're not mounted yet. My LCR HTM-12s are mated up with mere 15" subs in 9 cuft boxes LLT style. The damn things just dig, and dig hard. Anything from cellos or the left hand on a piano on down are tactile. If you've ever played a cello or a string bass in particular you'll know it's not just a sound but something you can feel in your pelvis. It's not just a tone, it's something where you can feel the bow gritting against the string. That kind of tactile. I love it, I really do. If you can do 10s, then do 10s. Whatever's the biggest speakers within reason you can accommodate, get that. I'm not worried about overwhelming, you can dial back. People talk about mid-bass like it's the sole dominion of the subs, but those frequencies are being handed off from the mains and they still have work to do on the way down past the LFE x-over.
Last update I saw, I think he was just waiting on the port tubes which were backordered at PE. Pretty sure they are the 2" ones (forum won't let me link--part no 260-387), which still say backordered, expected in stock 3/5.
So just to clarify...are you saying the HT 10 are "better" than the HT 8, and better for long term use with adding in more subs?
I haven't actually heard either, but I have the HT 12s, and from what I gathered from Eric, bigger was better (that's basically what he told me via email). And yes, IMO, they'd be better for long term use with adding more subs. 4 subs is ideal, so that would be my long term goal in a dedicated room. And I agree with everything Paul said above, I don't think larger mains will overpower the subs, you just balance it all in eq. I'd choose any HT over any Volt for front speakers (I've heard the Volt 6s and Volt 8s, not the Volt 10s). And unless space or budget were limiting, I'd go for the bigger HTs (either 10s or 12s, depending on size of room, listening preferences, etc). And if budget was no issue and I wanted the best, I'd get the HTM 12s (unless looking at something different, like the 1099s). Of course if it wasn't a dedicated room and your speakers were on show, then smaller may be better from an aesthetics point of view, and I expect the HT8s are good.
I haven't heard any of these, so take this with salt, but I suspect 'better paired' is a function of efficiency and max SPL capacity. The larger HTs are going to be more efficient and have higher max SPL. If you're adding a ton of subwoofer capacity, your mains need to be more capable to keep up, and vice versa. Otherwise you're going to be dialing one or the other down and ending up with unused headroom. It's part of the reason you see the real loonies running 1099's or 1299's to keep up with their walls of subs, more efficiency and more driver area. If you look at the pics in the HTM speaker kit thread (not letting me link) you can get an idea of the size difference between the 8, 10, 12 - it's pretty dramatic - and IIRC the off axis plots aren't hugely different so at a given SPL they should be more similar than not.
I notice the HT-12 and HTM-12 were briefly in stock last week, but before I could pull the trigger on one of them, they were gone. I've not yet built any DIYSG speakers yet, but I'm very interested in trying to build just a center channel. I was hoping to buy a single HTM-12 to try my hands at building a speaker, but I noticed the minimum order is two. I submitted a Contact Us form on the website, but never heard back and then they were out of stock again. Will I need to order Left+Right as well as Center just to delve into DIYSG? It appears so. I'm currently leaning toward two HT-12 for LR and one HTM-12 for Center. Thoughts on this approach?
how long were they up? I've been checking the HT-8s regularly. I thought i would of saw the HT-12s in stock. They are fun to build and pretty easy. Also its best to have the same three speakers for your fronts. Maybe the two are close enough for timbre matching, idk. I'm not sure what the difference between the HT12s and the HTM-12 besides price.
I just submitted my first DIYSG order for three HT-8 as LCR. My existing setup is a 15-year-old Def Tech ProCenter 100 with ProCinema 80 surrounds and the ProSub 60. I've been reading about DIYSG for over 10 years and finally pulled the trigger. Thanks for the heads up, Joe! Now I need to see about hardware and maybe building a MartyCube or other new sub.
The Titan-818LX is now back on the diysg web page! Out of stock, but it appears that things are moving in the right direction.
I think the HTM-12's are about as hard to score as a Nvidia 3080 .... waiting for 3 Ill pre buy and wait.
Did you buy them all? they show out of stock for me at 6:27am central time. Don't worry guys, I'm not shopping for them, waiting for the HT-8s
The vortex 8's were in stock a few weeks ago (I know because I grabbed 4). I asked Matt about the 1099's and he is waiting on crossover parts. Sounds like it might be a while yet. I thought about just buying the titans instead, but my room is only 14x20, probably a little overkill, lol.