JJkizak

The older Fisher receivers used to have the center channel power derived output built into the amp with a stepped volume control. I fed this to my center channel Corwall in 1965. Then I got a drawing from Crown amps essentially the same as above post to power derive off the Denon amp. JJK

On the old Klipsch networks all of the caps had the measured value written on them in crayon. I suppose they combined them up to get the values they wanted. But that doesn't answer your question. JJK

The company that had a handle on tubes lasting for 20+ years was the old Western Electric Co. They used them in their sub cables and carrier equipment and they would have to have a 20+ year life rating 24hrs a day. Since American technology is going right down the tubes you will never see the likes of that again. We are in the "Taiwan" era now so buy a bushel basket of the tubes at "K-Mart" for the long haul. JJK

Using the tube tester of course assumes that all of the components in the amplifier are totally the same value, which they are not, that's why they adjust the bias in the amplifier. Then again how close is close on the tube checker? Might be better to adjust for minimum distortion. Then again if you junked the tubes and got a good solid state amp you would never have to worry about balancing or for that matter replacing a final. OK tube guy's, you can commence the attack now. JJK

First law of wiring: Install as many wires as you can afford, all types even if you do not need them at the time. This will make you very happy in the future. (12 gauge speaker wires, HDMI cables, analog cables, etc. A typical three way spliter has a 3 db loss at 900mghz. Thats why you want to go electronic if possible. It's better to have way too much signal then pad it down as this will eliminate all VSWR problems. This is standard industry practice for the big boy's that are serious. JJK

OOOOOOOHHHHHH man! Youve' been playing too many playstation games. JJK

Use the BeSweet freeware which changes the AC-3 to wav so you can burn it to CD. JJK

Which sound codec did you select on your DVD player from the crossroads disc, PCM, 5.1, or DTS? Which one on the CD player? Was the CD player/DVD set for PCM, 5.1 or DTS? These are real dumb questions that I have no answers for. Not trying to be a smart alec but you did not elaborate. JJK

The sweet spot will probably be at the opposite wall in the center. With a center speaker not much change. The subwoofer will change it a ton and even out some of the nodes moving the spot closer to the center of the room. If your chair is in the center of the room your feet might put a hole in the center speaker when you get one. I don't think you will be allowed to put a chair in the center of the room since other factors are involved possibly. JJK

I use the MY-HD 120 HD video card which sends all of the signal via DVI or analog cable converted to component to the in my case an HDTV, Sony KV-34HS510. It records anything that comes in over the air into a 24 meg data stream to your hard drive at 8.6 gigs per hour of video. A remote control thAt comes with the card and plugs into your serial port on the computer controls all functions including recording, playing back recorded files, setting times for recording if you are not present and also has about 10 scaling options. The quality of the recordings and the realtime viewing is identical to broadcast quality. The cable lengths from the computer to the tv are 36 ft. including the serial remote. The card has a menu to set black levels, contrast, brightness, color saturation and sound selection (toslink)for 5.1. HDTV pictures will be slightly lower in brightness and contrast from the analog channels and sometimes color saturation also. Remember I am speaking of over the air broadcasts, cable uses a different encrytion than either satellite or over the air so right now anyway you have to get three different tuners to do three different things. The card will also allow you to record to the JVC D-VHS recorder. The card records to a "tp" file with 24,meg MPEG-2 data stream with MPEG 1 layer sound. The card has DVI, analog, or component output. You can also see the same program the same time viewing on your HDTV and your computer monitor but it is not High-Def on the monitor. Your keyboard and mouse at the computer location can also do anything the remote does. You can download future programming info from Titan and preset the recordings for future programs. I can also capture High Def video from the JVC-D-VHS recorder (firewire only) or the JVC camcorder or the new Sony camcorders using the Connect HD Cineform codec for Sony Vegas 5.0d video editing software. The Cineform codec then converts the m2t file to DV-avi so it can be easily edited. The resultant rendering then converts the file to mpg in the HDV format, then you change the file ending to m2t for PTT to the JVC recorder or the camcorders, or change the file ending to tp and view it with the MY-HD card. This can be 720p or 1080i depending on the render setting. The MY-HD card will only work in XP. I also make a lot of slide shows using scanned 35mm slides (1200dpi) or 2200 x 2200 digital camera jpg pictures and rendering to HDV with sound and they are spectacular. You can do about a 10 x 1 zoom with the pictures without loosing a lot of detail. But for cable you probably will be "jacked around" by the cable companies for what you want to do. You might consider getting an over the air system in parallel with your cable system if you have some stations near your location probably no more than 40 miles away as all of the digital channels are UHF.I have 8 stations in my local area broadcasting High Def. Check out digitalconnection.com and the AVS forum. JJK

Save your money for SCSI, DVI, HDMI, Coaxial, and Toslink cables. JJK

I still have to wonder, how can anything sound better than a K-horn? JJK

I occasionally use the MY-HD 120 video card to record High-Def to 160 gig SCSI raid drive and view and or record to the JVC D-VHS recorder. I have a remote for the video card which operates through the serial port. I can edit still pictures or slides or HDV clips in Sony Vegas and view them on my Sony HDTV via DVI (outmoded) or analog. The results are outstanding in quality and sound. But most of the time I use an MDR-200 HDTV over the air tuner. The still pictures are 2200 x 2200 jpg which is excellent for HDV. My computer is sending the data over 36 ft cables. The difference between HD and HDV is the MPEG2 data rate, about 25 megs per second for HDV and about 50 to 100 megs per second for HD. 99% of the people can't tell the difference as all High-Def broadcast transmissions are coded with the MPEG2 25 meg data stream. The broadcasters found this out real quick so they could use much less bandwidth and make more money. Since the HDV looks absolutely stunning, I agree with the broadcasters. Theatre projection however is another ballgame and requires about what they call HD-4K which is 4 times the resolution of HD. Some pro cameras record in HD-8K---Viper ($100,000.00) The HDV market is going to explode the same as the digital market as the HDV stuff is roughly double the resolution as DV. The problem with computers is the boot up time unless you never turn it off. Then if you do turn it off it requires special procedures that you can't mix with ordinary Home Theatre equipment which is usually instantaneous. JJK

Electronic tech USN and Dewline, Heavy comm and radar. Electrical maintenance and plastic extrusion, video editing, computers. Rebuild Corvettes. JJK

Try slowly pulling out one of the RCA's from the input of the pre-amp so that the center conducter is contacting but the ground shield is not. If the hum goes away you have a ground loop. Isolate the three prong plug on each unit until the hum goes away. If it doesn't the turntable/cartridge is the problem. Most turntables come with a 2 prong plug plus a separate ground wire. JJK

Virtual Dub has a lot of video filters for professional applications and is very versatle. There are a lot of pro's using this in big time video work. Besweet will bust down AC-3 into wav. Very helpful if you are busting down a VOB file from a non-copyrighted DVD. AC-3 is a streaming codec and most applications cannot edit it. Be sweet does many other conversions. Virtual Dub filters: reduce noise, eliminate bulb burnout (on the film) in projected videos, deshaker, aspect conversion, field reversal, clean up frames, brightness and contrast, capture, accept any codec, frame serving, etc. JJK

Multiple hard drives, internal or external. My external drives are SCSI 3. JJK

Spybot VirtualDub Besweet Bitrate Checker Google Outlook Express Media Player JJK

I wish I could afford to purchase all of the Klipsch speakers to evaluate them so that I might share some insight with this post with my 12.5khz cutoff on the high end of my hearing range. JJK

There is no set top antenna that will bend a VHF/UHF signal around the curvature of the Earth. You have to remove yourself from this dreamworld of getting local stations that are 90 miles away. It is impossible. JJK

Antenna design is still a mystery. The way it was explained to me by engineers is they fist build the antenna then see if it works. If it works then they write up the theory on how it works. If not, they build another one. I use an external super big duper luper I purchased from MCM Electronics. It works pretty well but remember that 99% of all your HDTV stations are UHF.In my area channel 3 is 2, 5 is 15, 8 is 31, 43 is 28, 61 is 39, 49 is 50, 25 is 26, 19 is 10, etc. The higher you are the better the signal. UHF travels in a straight line unless you have "ducting" which occurrs about 2 days per year. Best thing is to get a Parametric amplifier (noise figure 1.0db)to dig out those signals. ($50,000.00) Typical noise figures for tv tuners in the UHF range is 4.0 db. Use Styroflex lead-in for no signal loss. That will cost you more than your house. Since this forum deals in extremes I figure you might want to know what they are, especially if you buy a parametric amp for each channel. Remember it's best to be located about at least 1000 ft high which will give you a shot at about 80 to 100 miles so that the signal will just tick the curvature of the earth, assuming that the tv transmitter is 1000 ft high also. You might want to try satellite which is really much cheaper. Remember, you cannot violate the physical laws and constants that exist in our Milky Way Galaxy. Somebody famous said that. JJK JJK

It's a connect symbol meaning there is more text than what is visable. I think. JJK

The 5.1 sound was being manipulated continously with the crowd noise routed to the left/right channels and the announcers to the center channel. Some of the commercials would almost cut off the left/right channels and use the center channel exclusively. They were bouncing back and forth between HD and SD when showing the commercials. The very bothersome low frequencies that sounded like about 200 bass speakers were continually a pain in the neck about 50% of the time.(house shakers) The very high stuff was good. The center channel seemed a bit low in volume. I loved the Chimps. The first half-time show I watched in many, many years. JJK

They are available up to 110 ft from an outfit in New York called, well guess what, I forgot. I purchased two of them at 50 ft length. JJK

Those mechanical splitters will double terminate the pre-amp outputs cutting the volume down considerable. I would do it electronically. JJK