wuzzzer

This is the upper right corner, as looking at the wall from the above pic:

Tonight I rearranged my basement and also put up some foam/corner bass absorbers on the back wall. The first pic is the before picture. (Sorry about the mess!)

My H/K DVD-A player that I just picked up refurbished on eBay is very very nice. I haven't listened to any DVD-A discs on it but regular DVD playback is incredible, both picture and sound. CDs sound very good too.

Guess it means someone knows a lot about speakers.

Got my foam and corner blocks today. I was surprised at how small the box was. When I opened the plastic the foam just about burst from it! They really vacuum pack it in there. Probably will be next week when I install it.

I agree. Lower the center channel and space the front mains apart more and you'll be surprised how much better everything will sound.

Email sent.

Some speakers such as the RF-7 have a very low minimum impedence (2.8 ohms). Most low-watt receivers and amplifiers cannot effectively handle that low of an impedence. Typically a high-watt and high-current amp will be better suited for lower impedences. More watts give you more headroom to work with for sudden bursts of sound. I'm not sure if the RF-83 has the same minimum impedence, but I think its safe to say that they too would benefit from a clean high watt amp with the type of music you listen to.

Listened to almost all of Rattle and Hum tonight. WOW, what a great DVD! Put in Star Wars Ep III tonight and played it for a few minutes until my wife yelled at me to turn it down. Man, I'm going to be enjoying watching movies again!

Good to see you probably figured it out. Although, I have no idea why it would be shutting off with simply being in a certain input? [] My best friend had a LaserDisc player a looong time ago. I remember watching Jurassic Park on it. He had a pretty nice system with a Klipsch sub back in the day. It was annoying having to turn the disc over every half hour, though!

Matches my h/k receiver perfectly! Embarassingly, up to this point I had been using a Magnavox DVD player that I won at a work party 2 years ago. It was worth about $30. Music DVDs such as Eagles Farewell Tour I and U2 Rattle and Hum always sounded terrible on the Magnavox. CD playback was also very poor. Picture quality was so-so. Blacks were never black, colors were ok. I was happy to see UPS deliver my h/k DVD player to me at work today. I got a DVD 31-Z (refurbished) for $88 shipped, retailing at $349. So what is different between a $30 DVD player and a $349 DVD player? EVERYTHING!!! I used to be disappointed when I played live concert DVDs because everyone on here kept saying how good they sounded. Well, now I hear what everyone else is hearing. First DVD I played was Rattle and Hum and the first song I played was Angel of Harlem. Halfway through the song I turned to my wife and said "Now, I know that you don't notice any difference between this DVD player and the old one" at which point she interrupted me and said "Um, I can tell a HUGE difference! The picture quality is quite a bit better, too." Lots more bass, treble is much more detailed but much smoother and voices sound incredibly crisp. It is a DVD-Audio player, too. I'm only in 2 channel right now, but maybe in the future I'll be able to take advantage of that feature. Looks like I'll be spending a bit of time watching/listening to all my DVDs again! []

Also make sure you don't have any errant speaker wires that could be touching each other in the back or at your speakers causing the amp to shut off. It really is an odd problem!

Very weird problem! No idea why it would be happening, but you might try and switch which input you have the TV going in to. Do you have your audio going from your TV into your receiver? If so, is there a way to bypass going through the TV and running your audio directly into your receiver from your cable TV? Also, if you have the audio going from your TV into your receiver make sure to set your TV's audio out settings correctly. Most TVs have the option to change between fixed/variable audio out. It should be set on fixed so that the volume is controlled by the receiver.

And, did he ever think that I don't want that much frequency dampening? Sure they're more effective, but at what cost? Having a completly dead, flat sounding room?

1 as far as my CD player and receiver, 2 until I get my h/k DVD player tomorrow from UPS (taking forever!) and 2 until I get my acoustic foam up on the walls (this week some time!)

Foambymail lists their specs very well on both eBay and their website. There is different foam as far as open-cell and closed-cell. I don't think packing foam is the same thing. Plus, the advantage of places like Foambymail is that each tile is symmetrical and can be placed end to end or stacked without any variations in the pieces lining up.

Even regarding visual, the same co-worker who's husband had Klipsch once told me she didn't see any difference between something in HDTV and in non-HD. [8-)] As far as the nerd part, I love cars and know a lot about them. I love audio and know a lot about it. I love watches and know a lot about them. I love computers and know a lot about them. Yes, I'm the guy in school who was considered a nerd. For me, I try and find out as much as possible about my interests. I know many, many people who love music and if they just became a little interested in audio itself they would appreciate their music that much more.

Ah, seraphim and cherubim I believe? Saraphone, jerebone?!?!?

Having a forum like this is great, but being able to talk to someone in person about your love for audio is another thing. From my friends to my co-workers to my wife, no one I know has the same passion or interest for audio as I do. My best friend got me hooked on audio, and now he's somewhat out of the game as he delegated the most recent home audio purchase to his wife and ended up with a Sony HTIB. Most of my co-worker's think Bose is the ultimate. One co-worker's husband used to have Klipsch, sold them to his sister and now has a Bose cube system. It took an A/B test at Ultimate Electronics to show my wife how vastly different speakers can sound. When I had my Definitive Technology sub/sat system we went to Ultimate Electronics and they had a sound room with Definitives similar to mine and also the Klipsch RF lineup from the RF-15 up to the RF-7. I put on some Eagles CD and started with the Definitives. I then switched over to the RF-25s and my wife couldn't believe the difference. I then switched to the RF-7s and her only response was "Holy crap!" I don't know why people need such a in-your-face demonstration. At the time I was focused on the RF-25s since they were within my budget. 6 months later I found a deal on a pair of RF-7s that were less than 1 year old for $1000. Jumped on the chance. If I hadn't done the A/B test with my wife I can guarantee I would not have my RF-7s, let alone the previous RF-25s.

Looks great Rudy! I'll take some pics of my setup when I get it installed.

I never realized how big Cornwalls are! They look 3 times wider than my RF-7s! []

Finally got around to ordering some acoustic foam! I bought it on eBay from foambymail. Their eBay prices are actually cheaper than their website prices! I bought 48 12x12x2" tiles and instead of the foam adhesive I opted for 2 extra tiles for free. The deal came with 8 free 3x3x24" corner bass absorbers which will help my basement room quite a bit. I already have a game plan as to how and where to put up the tiles. I'll probably have a good amount of them left over. I'll have my wife help me with the mirror trick to tame the first reflections. For temporary placement I'm going to use double sided tape first and then when its set up the way I like I'll probably look into a more permanent mounting.

If you are using an S-video for your PlayStation I would seriously suggest getting the component video cable instead. With the TV you have you will see a HUGE difference in picture quality!!

I've never heard the THX system, but my immediate answer would be that it would not be an upgrade. At best it would be a side-to-side move, but even then I would doubt it. The Reference system you refer to would be pretty sweet, though!

Both systems are very nice, however the Reference system gives you much more flexibility as far as a wider selection of bookshelf, center channel and floorstanding speakers. The drivers and crossovers and general materials of the Reference series are better than the Synergy series. If you look at the specs, generally the Reference series will have higher sensitivity ratings and have just slightly deeper bass output. I have listened to the Synergy series and they are very nice speakers. Nothing in the Synergy series can come close to the performance of the RF-7 or RF-83 in the Reference series, however. The Synergy Sub-12 subwoofer is being touted as a surprisingly awesome sub for usually under $500. So, if you're looking at the lower end Reference series, you shouldn't rule out the Synergy series. If you're looking to get a killer system, then Reference is definitely your way to go.