CECAA850

That should put an end to all that Kobe is better than Michael talk, at least for this year.

"Avia" is a good one too.

As far as best bang for the buck? A large car like the Chevrolet Impala impresses me getting almost 30 MPG. I've had occasion to drive one a few times and they actually get the claimed mileage. Are they the best overall? That's subjective, but it is a very roomy vehicle that gets small car mileage.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm

If the spikes unscrew, I'd take them off.

Welcome to the forum! http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&CAT_ID=48&ObjectGroup_ID=139

Your sub amp would not be powering your mains in that configuration.

From what I recall, the XA2 has the best video processor.

Yes, I use pro amps, but that's just me. You can use whatever type amp you want naturally. Anthem is on the cutting edge as far as HDMI compatibility goes. Their firmware releases are mostly for correcting HDMI shortcomings that other manufacturers have with their products. The only thing that will not be upgradable with the D2 is HDMI 1.1 (to 1.3). That will require new hardware that would necessitate creating a new model. D3 perhaps? There's currently no plans to create such a beast however. There's a great thread over at the AVS forum titled "Why you don't need HDMI 1.3. It's a very good read. Anthem has been perfecting HDMI 1.1 and it'll do everything I need it to. As long as the decoding is done in your player, you're good to go. It also will not accept 7.1, just 5.1 but the job it does in converting 5.1 to 7.1 is incredible.

It was an awesome game. Largest comeback in NBA finals history. I believe Boston was actually down by 24 in the 2'nd quarter. They were down 20 halfway through the 3'rd. I don't have a horse in this race so I can just watch basketball and not stress about my team (out in the first round). It was quite a show. The only thing LA can do now to top Bostons performance last night is to win the next 3 in a row for the title. That's something that's never been done before. Otherwise the taste of last nights defeat will likely linger till next season.

I went from a top of the line (at that time) Harman Kardon AVR-7200 to the Anthem. Some differences? They are really 2 different animals. The HK was warm sounding, the Anthem is extremely accurate (in a good way). On the HK, you can set individual speaker levels and distances. On the D2 you can do that as well as setting individual crossovers for each channel. Each setting can be tweeked to .5 dB as opposed to the HK's 1 dB. As far as the video side goes, there's really no comparison. The D2 will take a 480i source and make it so close to 1080 quality it's scary. The D2 will convert virtually any audio/video source to HDMI. It's software is fully upgradable with firmware, the HK's was not. As far as what I use it with in my system? I'm not quite sure I understand the question. It's basically my HT hub. I have 1 HDMI cable running from the D2 to my display. EVERYTHING else goes to the D2, which includes a cable box, PS2, Blueray player, HDDVD player, CD changer and DVD player. I even use one of it's 12v triggers to turn on my Furman power conditioner. There's a lot more that it can do like cropping, stretching etc that I don't use. I hope that answered your question.

Got one, love it. Havn't gotten the ARC yet.

Only the word "Yes" was directed at your question. Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was ranting. It certainly was not directed at you. As a matter of fact it was not directed at any one person, just my observations from this thread along with others.

Yes. I am quite puzzled however how someone who's never had a set ISF'd can give an opinion about how it's only marginally better than using a calibration disc. I've yet to read a post that states "I've had my set done by a calibrator and It wasn't worth the extra money I paid over doing it myself. (That most may be out there somewhere, but I havn't seen it) That being said,I suppose it could fall into the law of diminishing return category. You also need to realize that the calibrator is going into the service menus that aren't accessed by the typical owner when using a disc. Will a disc do a good job? Yes. Is it as good as an ISF calibrator? No. Is it worth the extra money? Only you can decide that. Having seen a normal set, the same set set up with Avia and the same set ISF'd is what I'm basing my opinion on. To me it was worth the money, to others it isn't. Some like tubes, some like SS. It goes on and on.

Every sub will have different settings in different rooms. As a rule, for HT, you want to disable the subs crossover and use the crossover in your receiver. That leaves gain and phase. Those need to be adjusted with an SPL meter to be done correctly. The gain can be thought of as a loudness control. The phase is used basically to adjust the sound coming from the sub so that it doesn't cancel out the bass from the mains by playing out of time (phase) with them (simplistic explination).

I can't see where a short run with 12ga wire would hurt anything. It's possible you only have 14ga at the wall where the tv is now anyway. I agree that using one circuit is the best way to go and would help eliminate any potential ground loop issues. As far as ventilating the closet goes, I migh try convection cooling first and see what the temp runs in the closet. You'll just need a vent at the top and bottom of the door. If it gets too hot, you can always add a fan later. As long as you're not stacking a bunch of amps in there, you might be OK with just vents.

I've read several reports over at the AVS forum from people who used the Spider and the picture was worse than when they started. I personally have no firsthand knowledge however.

Color sensitivity and color accuracy are two different things. Personally I believe my eyes. Having before and after graphs of Gray Scale, Color Temperature, and Gamma only confirm what my eyes tell me. Even someone with no knowledge of calibration can look at a TriStimulus chart and see how much more accurate the colors are before and after calibration. Bottom line is that if you're happy with the way your set looks, then that's all that's important.

W. Jeff Meier jeff@accucalhd.com 832-659-1832 He's in different parts of the country at different times of the year. You'll have to see when he'll be near you.

br.

I'm not entirely sure if I'd let one of the big box stores near my set unless I had references from that particular calibrator. They don't give me a lot of confidance when I'm in the store and I know more about their gear than they do.

I had my Pioneer ISF calibrated after 100 hours or so. It looked great out of the box and even better after tweaking. When the ISF calibration was complete, it was taken to another level. Kind of like a good crossover upgrade on a speaker. It was definately noticeably better. The colors were spot on, especially yellows. Flesh tones were more real. There's not a device or disc made that can match the work of a calibrator with years of experience under his belt and 20 to 30 thousand dollars of equipment. The guy I used travels the country on "tours" and has done literally countless displays. He's never seen one spot on from the factory or one that was as completely accurate as his settings by using a calibration disc. He'll give you before and after graphs to prove it. Highly recomended if you are a critical viewer. It will most likely make your set last longer also as most sets have the contrast set too high.

I've actually been very fortunate. I didn't have to use reading glasses untill I hit 50 and can see far off better than my teenagers. I can also hear things in recordings that my family doesn't notice (or maybe it's just the voices in my head[*-)]).

General rule of thumb, bearing in mind there are always exceptions. Dollar for dollar, DIY generally has a higher cost per performance ratio. That's assuming that the box is properly built, tuned and powered.

http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/105282.aspx