mwiener

I also use Better Cables Svideo cables. I usually make my own, but I have to tell you that I was quite impressed with the build quality. Also, they work really well. On Svideo cables, it really is not worth you time to make them. Too difficult to make all those tiny soldier connections. I also had quick delivery. Overall, very positive. I would buy from them again. Of course, I would still make them first, if I could. Mike.

I currently own both. I really like both speakers, and would have a hard time choosing between them. The Cornwalls have low end that is lacking in the LaScalas. The LaScalas have something in the mid to upper mid sound that is warmer, and less harsh than the Cornwalls. I just may be the way the cross over between the mid and high horn is handled, I just can not put my finger on it. As was stated before, they are both great speakers, just slightly different personalities. Oh, and the wife agrees that the LaScalas are ugly, really really ugly. That is why I had to find Cornwalls for the Home Theater. She absolutely refused to allow my LaScalas anywhere but the basement. So I have a nice quiet 2 channel listening room in the basement. Thats ok with me. Mike.

FYI - I am posting this because I have been following this player closely for better than 3 months now. I am really exited that it is finally shipping. If you are shopping for a progressive scan player, you definitely need to check this out. The Denon DVD-2800 is about to hit the store shelves. This unit contains the DVDO (SiI503) which is the same chip that powers the Iscan Pro line doubler. It is supposed to have one of the best pictures available, even comparable to boutique players like the Camelot that sells for 3K. Will the unit live up to the unbelievable hype? I really hope so. Even if it only 75% of the hype is true, it will still be a great value at a street price of $650. For you audiophiles, it provides 96khz digital outputs to your receiver from Chesky and some of the other high end record labels. It discusses it in the owners manual. I am not going to buy one until some reviews hit the street. I suggest you do the same. You can view the owners manual, spec sheet, and a couple of pictures at the Denon site: http://del.denon.com/catalog/products.asp?l=1&c=4 Below is a cut and past of the players capabilities from the Denon site: Progressive Scan DVD Player Powered by Silicon Image/DVDO PureProgressive (SiI503) Decoding Engine - highest quality progressive decoding engine available PureProgressive decoding features high speed ultra-resolution DSP at 6 Billion Operations Per Second (6 GOPS)with 64Mb external SDRAM 4 fields (2 frames) digital video processing for optimum motion detection and compensation Accurate 2:3 pulldown detection and reconstruction, even with inaccurately flagged content Optimum processing for film content, video content, graphics content and mixed-mode content Highest resolution Analog Devices 54 MHz, 4:4:4, 12 bit Video D/A Conversion system Progressive & Interlace output (switchable) Wideband relay switched component video output Variable Black Level (Setup): 0 and 7.5 IRE Passes below-black (PLUGE) on progressive and interlace outputs 5 Picture Memories, with adjustable tint, brightness, contrast, sharpness and gamma SuperSub Alias Filter Composite and "S" output (interlace mode) 2X DVD read speed; 4X CD/CD-R/CD-RW read speed; with 4MB drive buffer memory Top audio performance, featuring Analog Devices multi-bit Sigma Delta 24 bit, 96 kHz D/A conversion HDCD decoding MP3 Playback Plays Audio CDs; HDCDs; DVD-Video; Video CDs; Audio CD-R; Audio CD-RW; MP3 CD-R; MP3 CD-RW 24/96 digital output; optical and coaxial Virtual Surround Sound SRP $799 Also, according to the forum thread below at the end, a Denon employee confirms that the unit started shipping. You should see them in the stores in 8-12 weeks. Apparently, they pre sold a very large quantity of these units which accounts for the long delivery time. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/002212.html Mike.

Here are a few other things to consider. Are your lines run in series, or are they star wired from a central point? If they are in series, then each additional run from one room to the next degrades the signal. When I ran my cable, I come in from the street directly to an amp, then to an 8 way splitter. I have the same signal strength in each room as they have at the pole outside, with no noticeable signal degradation. Make sure your splitter/amp will support 1hz to 1Mhz. Passive splitters will degrade a signal as well. Not that an amp and a splitter will not, but on long runs an amp with a splitter is preferred. Cheap surge protection equipment will do all sorts of ugly things to your cable signal in the analog space. Remove all of them on a nice sunny day and see if your signal improves. Minimize the number of mechanical interconnects if possible. In my house, I run from the pole to my amp inside the house directly with a single cable. Actually it hits a central surge suppressor, then it hits the amp. Point being, if you can eliminate a connection of two separate coax cables, do it. Make sure that you are using the same cable type for all of your connections. I make my own, so I know they are all the same with good connectors. Impedance mismatching can cause problems when you mix different kinds of cable/manufacturers. Also 90 degree bends or greater have been known to reflect the signal back down the cable in data communications, the same probably applies here. Use Caig pro gold on all of your connections to get the best contact. The amp I use is by Augat. It is the same mfg that Time Warner uses locally. I bribed mine out of the cable guy with a couple of beers. I am not sure if it is available in retail, it may be commercial only. Mike.

Guys, I found my Academy by placing a wanted add on www.audioreview.com. To make it really sweet, it was in excellent condition and I paid $230 including freight. There are numerous boards where you can place wanted adds. Also check out www.deja.com to check out usenet groups for Academy speakers. Also do not assume that an add placed 6 months ago was sold. Check it out, send an email and if it is sold, ask them if they know of any other Academy speakers are available. I have some other links that I checked, but I am not on my normal computer right now. Send me a private email, and I will send you some additional resources. All these resources apply to locating Cornwall, Academy, whatever you are looking for. You just need to have some patients, and be persistent. Mike.

I also have the 4800. I think what you are trying to do is just add a second set of surrounds, so this would not be 9.1. It would still be 6.1 with arrayed surrounds, similar to what a theater uses. I do not see any problem in doing this. Add a second POA-5200 and use the surround pre outs to that amp, then connect the amp to the second set of surrounds. Both the sourrounds of the the receiver and the surround pre outs should have signal simultaneously, but I have not tried it. As to how it would work, my guess would be poorly. This is due to the delay control. You have only 1 set of delay controls for the surrounds. So what ever you set for the one pair of surrounds will be set for the second pair of surrounds. This also goes for channel level, so you would have to have the same amp and the same speakers for the 2nd set of surrounds to match the volume. If you had two separate delay functions, it might be an interesting experiment. If you are hell bent with money to burn, I could test to see if the pre outs and the internal amp will play the same signal at the same time. I am almost positive it would. Maybe BobG can break in and discuss how arrayed surrounds are handled in a theater to check my assumptions. Mike.

Never mind the video shielding. It looks like you are using an RPTV, so it should not be a problem. You will also probably want to tilt the center down to the listening position for the best results. Mike.

Once upon a time as an experiment, I took a pair of Heresy IIs and placed them inverted on top of my LaScalas running 2 channel stereo. The Lascalas on a 70 watt amp and the Heresys on a separate 105 Watt amp. It actually worked pretty well, with a slight loss of sound stage but a much more pleasing overall sound. Well, I got busy. My experiment lasted about 6 months as my setup until I had some time to rearrange it. No harm was done to the Heresys. I think your idea to invert to get the tweeters closer to the same height is valid and should produce good results. Inverting should not be a problem. But you do need to be careful about magnetic shielding. Mike.

If the wife complains, do what I did. I found a pair in raw birch unfinished. Drove to Florida from Cincinnati to pick them up. Then I finished them the same color as my hardwood floors and the furniture. No way she was gonna pull that one. She still says our great room looks like a bachelor pad, but she can't say they don't match the furniture. ;-) Mike.

Earle, I used to have that speaker. I positioned it like a regular center. Keeping the tweeters from the mains and center at the same height is ideal. The normal center placement is a little closer to keeping all tweeters aligned in most setups. Mike.

A Velodyne techie told me to put the sub in the corner shooting down the long wall. It is supposed to give you about 3 to 9 db additional bass. It did not work for me, because in the integration of the bass for the Cornwalls and my Velodyne sub it dramatically overstated the 40db range. But it was definitely higher output in that position. Worst case, you make the sub not work so hard for the same output. Mike.

I originally told you about Channels Plus. I looked at this solution a while back when I was building my house. I spent too much on the home theater to entertain buying this stuff right now. But I did wire the house so it could be added in the future. It is interesting equipment with a lot of applications. You can have the caller ID of the phone show up on your TV when you recieve a phone call. You can set it up so that when someone is at the front door and you hear the door bell, you switch to a user selected channel on your TV to see who it is. Mike.

The only other way that I am aware is taking the video and audio and modulating over the cable system in your house. You purchase a black box ( channels plus is the one I am thinking of ) and feed composite video, R and Left analog audio into the black box along with the coax cable to the house. This box converts and adds it to the house coax cable system. Then on the other end, you buy another black box, plug the cable coax in, then split out the audio and video from the black box to another amp. I am just not sure the quality of the audio is what you will be looking for. They have these products at parts express, you can check them out at www.partsexpress.com. Search for "Channels Plus". Mike.

Malcolm, Walnut will never be white, it is a darker wood to begin with. Does it look like a chemical reaction with the existing finish, or does it look like it went through the stain to the wood? If it went through to the wood and the wood is white, then you went through the layers of oil, and through the stain that was used on the speakers. You had to be rubbing pretty hard. You did not need to get the electric car buffer out. ;-) Either way, no need to panic. One of the benefits of oiled wood finish is that it is extremely easy to fix scratches or blemishes. To fix it, you need to mix some linseed oil, some turpentine, and maybe some oil based stain until you get the right color. Once you have the right color, and then apply a coat or two. Then you just continue to recoat with oil annually. Note, I have never mixed the oil based stain into the linseed oil mixture, but I cannot see why it could not be done that way. If it is a reaction with the finish, then they may not have an oil based finish or possibly they were sealed with some type of shellac or varnish or possibly wax. Try this test. If you place linseed oil over the white area, does the wood soak up the oil or repel it. Also try it on the finished area. If it repels it, they are somehow sealed with something. It may be a little more difficult to fix. Check the following URL. At the bottom of the page they have a step by step method of how to figure out what the furniture ( speaker in this case ) is finished with: http://doityourself.com/wood/lacquer.htm Also, another quick way to fix most darker colored woods with oil-based finish is with Old English 800 scratch remover. BE VERY CAREFULL. Test it on a piece of unsealed wood that is similar to what you will be working with first. To match the color, place a drop, AND I MEAN A DROP, on a soft cotton cloth allowing the cloth to completely absorb the drop. Rub it in very very lightly when you start onto the bare wood, being careful not to rub too much in the areas where the finish is not damaged. Gently increase the pressure as the stain is transferred to the wood. Continue apply more pressure until you reach the right color, or the wood no longer is getting darker. If you need a darker color, put a second drop on the cloth. Start lightly again, and increase pressure as before. Note, once it gets too dark, it will be impossible to lighten, so go slow and take your time. Try it on your spare piece of unfinished wood first. Also, one possible problem that you can run into while working with the finish on speakers is the veneer may peal off due to the use of the turpentine solvent. If this happens, it is really easy to fix. Place a heavy piece of cardboard, a little heavier than construction paper over the area then iron it. The heat liquefies the glue and when it dries it sticks. I had to do that with my Cornwalls. I learned most of this wood finishing stuff from http://forum.doityourself.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=34 They have a great forum for asking questions on wood finishes and how to fix problems like this. They primarily answer questions related to furniture, but Khorns are furniture in my book. ;-) Mike.

Once upon a time I tried to get a replacement tweeter for my LaScalas because I was not happy with the high frequencies of the speakers. I worked with a local stereo shop and went through about a dozen drivers and a lot of time. None could come close to matching the output of the original LaScala tweeter. I suspect you may run into the same thing. By the way, it turned out to be the room acoustics that caused the problems with the highs. I learned a valuable lesson. Mike.

You may be able to remove some of the buildup with turpentine, if you are talking about that gummy residue that builds up. But I am not exactly sure if it would work or not. It would be worth buying a quart and see if it works. Try it someplace where it would not be a disaster first. Be carefull with turnpentine mixed with lindseed oil. It would ruin your day if the rag you used caught your house on fire from spontaneous combustion. Soak the rags in water. Mike.

Rob, The 2800 is the first try for Denon in the progressive scan arena. The data sheet and owners manual are now on the Denon web site. The player you have is an interlaced player. First a quick explanation. Video is displayed in 30 frames per second (fps). Interlaced video creates each of the 30 frames by painting 1/2 the image on the screen at a point in time, then painting the other 1/2 of the image on the screen immediately after. So in effect, interlaced is doing 60 fps, it is just that every one of the 60 frames is only 1/2 of the 30 frames per second of a video. Progressive scan takes the material on the DVD and de interlaces it, and puts the 2 1/2s of the 60 frames back together creating a true 30 frames per second. The end result is supposed to be a more solid image with less flicker. Another thing progressive does is 3:2 pulldown. This gets extremely involved, but it has to do with taking the 24 frames per second of films and creating 30 frames per second of video. Almost all of the movies made today are 24 frames per second, so you can see the issues. In an interlaced environment, there are imperfect 1/2 frames created to mask 24 fps to 30 fps conversion. Progressive scan creates correct full frames in the 24fps to 30fps conversion creating a more solid image with less flicker. This is another reason for progressive scan. Now the down side. Unless you have a DTV that accepts a 480p signal, you can not use progressive scan. By the way, the Denon uses the same DVDO IScan Pro chip that is used in the external line doubler if you are familiar with that technology. I can not speak to the other Denon players. I am not familiar with them. I am anxiously waiting for the reviews of the 2800 though. Mike.

Tom, A good place to start would be with pink noise and one of the PC programs that will show where your system is currently relative to flat. You can use the same program to make slight changes to the room to see if it makes things better or worse. I did the same with my system. I rearranged some furniture moved the rug a little and I now have plus or minus 7db from flat between 25hz and 17khz. I posted the URL to the software that I used some time back while I was working to integrate my Velodyne sub with my Cornwalls. You should be able to search this bbs and find it. The software has a 30 day free trial. A laptop with a microphone will work, but admittedly you are at the mercy of the frequency response of the laptop mic. Mike.

Tom, What do you find lacking, bass, treble? Are you trying to timbre match a center channel to your mains. Maybe timbre matching surrounds to mains? If we had a little more information we might be able to help with speaker placement to achieve the boost or cut of the offending frequencies. I would much rather move the speakers and come a little closer to perfect than to introduce a eq. What kind of speakers would help as well and which ones do not sound right. Lastly, do they always sound off or only during certain recordings? I have found that some recordings just sound bad, no matter what you do. Mike.

Lou, I have the 4800 in a 18.5' x 24' room. I think your room size will be ok. I have my rear surrounds as in walls, they are not Klipsch. I can't help you there. I am very happy with the whole setup, but not necessarily for how the EX channel sounds today. I am extremely happy with the Dolby Digital sound. Let me explain. With the right source material the rear surrounds do add significantly to the sound. However, most of the material today does not make very good use of the EX channel. I have 2 source CDs that I think are good. First is the TEX trailer on the Dolby Digital THX EX demo CD. The second is the Little Monsters trailer on Toy Story 2. All other CDs that I have listen to leave a little to be desired on the EX channel use. So, if you do buy it now be aware that you are buying it for the future, and not the present. By the way, the 4800 is an awesome receiver. Only other one I would consider is the 5800. The cost of the 4800 and the Denon POA5200 for the extra 2 channels of amplification are about the same price as the 5800 with all 7 channels. Also, if you do not have a DVD player yet check out the soon to be released Denon DVD-2800 progressive scan model. My experience with Denon has been excellent, and I will not hesitate to purchase this Denon CD player. Well maybe I will wait for a review or 2, but I am very happy with Denon. Mike.

One thing I forgot to mention when sharing a restricted network pipe between multiple sources, your performance may be worse than expected. The reason has to do with serialization delay. It depends on what protocol you use to communicate between the modem and the ISP and how your device handles it and whether your devices support QOS and what methods of QOS. What can happen is computer A sends a large packet, computer B sends a small packet just after computer A. Computer B has to wait until the entire Computer A packet is transmitted down the slow pipe before Computer B packet is sent. From Computer B's standpoint, the link seems slow. In reality this scenario can play out over and over again making the whole link seem slower. As I said before, you are better off using a DSL or Cable Modem to share a connection but it can be done. The faster the link speed, the less time it takes to transmit large packets, hence a smaller serialization delay between packets. Mike.

There is a package called GnatBox. It is available at www.gnatbox.com. It is a free firewall for up to 5 simultaneous users. It requires a seperate 486 computer with 16MB, but no keyboard or monitor is required. There is no limit to the number of actual computers you can use, just 5 at the same time. You can configure it with 1 ethernet card and 1 serial connection to the internet. Although I would highly recommend it use with DSL or Cable modem with a second ethernet card. I use it with my home system with DSL. The Gnatbox is a linux core software with all the bells and whistles removed. You can use your browser to connect to it remotely. Now for what you get in addition to multiple computers. It is a state based firewall. So for example, if you originate a request from your computer, it is allowed to pass to the outside world with no filtering. When a response comes back to your computer from the internet, the firewall also allows that to pass through because the firewall expected the response. The firewall maintains a state table, allowing responses that originated from the inside to pass back through the firewall. However, if someone tries to hack into your computer via the internet, that is not in the state table because it did not originate from the inside. The firewall is not expecting items that are not in its state table. It simply drops the packet ( stops it from entering the inside network ) and logs the action. Simply put, it is a must have security feature for all businesses, and I put one in my home for the same reason. I want to know if someone is hacking into my system. Don't let anyone tell you that you will not find a use for your old computers. I have at least 15 CPUs in very pieces and parts. I always find a use. Mike.

All, Thanks for the info. Sorry I did not reply before now, I have been out of town. I think the way to go to start will be replacing the diaphrams. Next I will try the new crossover. I think I may put this on the back burner for a couple of months. I just put together my other HT system, and I need to dedicate a little attention there to tweak it. Besides, I have to let my bank account accumulate a little more. Mike.

I will entertain the idea of the new cross over. I have read the rave reviews. Now I just have to convince my wife to let me spend some more money. This month I am buying AVR-4800, POA-5200, and A Velodyne CT-150. My commission check just came in. ;-) I think I need to wait a little while before I approach the wife on spending more. I would still like to hear any other ideas on replacement tweeters. Mike.

Anyone out there have a replacement tweeter horn for the LaScala? I would like to put one in that increases higher frequency output. Currently I am running a very small piezo to do this, obviously not a good thing. I want to run the amp flat (no path signal modification). But to get the percussion high end I am used to, I have to run the piezo. I used to play the drums, and I have been told I probably rounded off the upper frequencies of my hearing. So I may be compensating for poor hearing in the 12-20k range. Without the piezo, the high end just doesnt sound right to me without a little treble boost (signal path modification). Interesting that this does not seem to be an issue with either my Cornwalls or my Heresy IIs in my home theater. But I am not doing critical listening when I watching T2. ;-) Amp is Adcom 545, LaScalas are late 70s the serial number being 20Txxx for dating purposes. I am the one and only owner, and they are completely virgin. Exactly the way they came out of the box, except for some spikes I added. I have tried the Heresy IIs on the Adcom amp, and it sounded fine to me. So I really think the mod needs to be done on the LaScala. BTW, anyone do the the external C Clamp bracing modification to keep the cabinet from resonating as was discussed in an earlier post?