whtboy

I just bought a used Marantz SR5400 AV receiver... 6x90 watts. It's got preamp outs on all 6 channels. I've got all my sources going directly into the receiver, then L/R preamp outs -> EQ -> Sonic Super T-Amp -> Cornwalls. The receiver is directly driving the Heresy center channel & surrounds. The funny thing about this receiver is that there is no stereo + sub output option. The only way to get a signal going out the LFE-out channel with a stereo source is to use "circle surround 2" in stereo mode, but then that runs the center and surround amps as well which ruins the natural stereo imaging. My compromise on that is to have 2 seperate inputs to the sub... one coming from the LFE on the receiver (which has a signal when I'm watching dolby or dts movies) and another coming from the low pass crossover that is conveniently built into my EQ, which I switch to when I'm listening to stereo sources. It's a little ghetto, but it sounds good and whether I'm listening to stereo or dts/dolby stuff the sub volume is tied to the volume on the receiver, so I'm not having to constantly dial in the right amount of bass output. The T-Amp is obviously not the best piece of gear to be driving the corns with, but it's what I've got onhand and it is will drive them past my normal listening levels. Thanks for all your input!!! PS - be careful running pro audio gear with home audio gear. I ruined the LFE circuit that was built into my Yamaha receiver by overdriving one of the analog input circuits by turning the gain up too high on the EQ. =\

1977. I've already replaced the caps and the tweeter diaphragms too =)

Well, what is your budget? And what speakers will you be powering? How big is the room, how far away do you sit, and how loud do you like it? And why do you feel you need the equalizer? budget - undecided speakers - L/R - cornwalls center - heresy rear - cambridge soundworks ensemble the room is relatively small, maybe 11x14. my head is about 7' back from the mains. i don't listen too loud most of the time unless i'm in another room. i'm currently using the eq to tone things down around 8-16Khz - my cornwalls seem excessively bright and harsh to me in that range. i also drop 100-160Hz down quite a bit because my room seems to resonate pretty heavily around there. and i also bump it up a little bit around 40Hz just because i like to feel the lows when they hit =) i've got a persian rug high on the wall behind my listening position and i have a homemade fiberglass (R13) acoustic panel directly behind my head to absorb the mid/hi frequency reflections that would be coming off that wall. the carpet is very short, almost hard, and there is no treatment at all on the ceiling, but there is a ceiling fan in the center of the ceiling.

my current receiver doesn't have preamp outs =\ hmm... that's definitely something to keep in mind if i can find a decent used dts receiver.... thanks!!!

hehe, yeah i thought about that too... but that would be way outside my budget

just got back from target... $18 bought me a 3 way left/right/video selector box =) not pretty but it'll get the job done.

I'd be ecstatic to be able to EQ my mains if I could do it on all my stereo sources instead of just one. I don't care so much about EQ'ing my center or surround channels.

My current receiver (yamaha rx-v530) has VCR ins/outs but it doesn't function as a traditional tape/effects loop.... meaning, it sends L-R line level outputs to VCR-out and it will play whatever comes in on VCR-in when you select VCR as the input... ... but any modifications made by the VCR or EQ are disregarded. It's not a proper tape loop (on my yamaha anyway). -j

Also, having preamp outs would be a big plus in case I ever get around to triamping my L-R speakers. I've looked on the Onkyo and HK sites and they don't mention anything about tape loops. Thanks!!!

Hi, Can anyone recommend a good DTS/Dolby 5.1 receiver that has a real tape loop so I can use my equalizer with it for both analog and digital stereo sources? Thanks! -Jacob

Yeah, it took a lot of fiddling, and I'm sure I'm not done yet. The pink noise generator helped a lot in balancing out the sound.

I completely forgot about my Cambridge SW Ensembles. Ran some wires, hooked em up.... sounds pretty sweet. I'm sure 3 corns and heresies in back would be a lot better, but this is a helluva lot better than anything I've ever owned before =) No surprise, I've got surprise visitors tonight who decided to order pizza and stay for dinner and a movie =)

Hehehe, yeah, my buddy suggested that too, but he was joking b/c he saw how small the room is. It's probably 12x15'. I'd like to do that, but it would be pretty tight, esp in the left rear corner b/c that's the front door of my house, and the door is competing for space for a decent mounting location. My friend suggested using a pair of these for surrounds: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001H6DLM/ref=nosim/102-7091663-7822529?n=172282

Right now I'm using the Klipsch sub until my buddy takes it back. I've also got an Adire Shiva in a homemade box which I've been powering with a spare receiver plugged into the LFE out of my Yamaha. I'm still looking for surrounds. I'll prolly just pickup something cheap off craigslist for now.

Oh yeah, and a buddy of mine bought a Klipsch 12" sub off craigslist yesterday too, but he won't have a system to use it in for a couple weeks, so it's pumping the low end for my system right now =) =) =)

I got a pair of Cornwalls a month or two ago. I'm powering them with a Yamaha Natural Sound AV receiver. I listened to some new Klipsch reference speakers yesterday and there was no comparison. I picked up a pair of Heresies last week. They are a little abused - the grill cloth is pretty tore up and there are water and paint stains on the cabinets. I'm going to recloth the grills today. I've got one Heresy installed now as a center channel but I still need to get something for the rear/surround speakers. How much do single Heresies normally sell for? I'm *thinking* about selling the remaining Heresy, otherwise I might just use it to play music while I play drums. -Jacob

I hooked up the Heresies. The woofer cones look kind of bad too, like they were stored in a really humid enviroment. They sound pretty damn good though, although I would definitely want a sub if I was going to use them as my main speakers, but then again I have my sub turned on half of the time even with my Corns. My eq just arrived at the office. I'm heading in to pick it up. What a great day =)

Haha, yeah I still want to do that. My first excuse for postponing was to get the new diaphragms and caps in. My excuse right now is that I want to get my acoustic treatment done first. I've got the raw materials in my garage, I just need to take them time to put it all together. I definitely want to hook up sometime for a little A/B listening though. I'm really hoping it doesn't make *that* big a difference, because I have a credit card I need to pay off first and this hobby is getting expensive. My intention when I bought the corns was just to replace the crappy speakers I had that blew out, not to get started down a never-ending road of upgrades. But here I am =)

Hey what's up Jeff? I just build some stands for my corns too! They only raise them up about 6" but they look real cool. I painted them flat black to match the cabinet faces.

The first thing I did after I installed new K77 domes and capacitors was experiment with location, toe-in, etc. but none of that affected the problems I (still) have. Btw, I picked up the Heresies this morning =) They are pretty tore up. The grill cloth looks like it saw the losing end of a cat fight, the fiberboard part of the grills are warped and water damaged. There is a classic 8" potted plant stain on the top of one of them. The 45-degree joints don't meet up flush with eachother. I'm thinking I am going to strip them, restain a darker color to help mask the wood problems, sand and repaint the face (yes that looks bad too), make some new grills out of fiberboard and black muslin, and possibly go over all the internal wood joints with silicone just to make sure things are sealed. I told my mom about them and she said she might be interested in taking them off my hands when I'm done =) Does anyone know where I could find the Heritage-style Klipsch labels that go on the grills? -jacob

I ordered new caps and diaphragms from Bob about a month ago. I put them in the day they came in =)

I'm running them off a Yamaha RX-V530 at the moment. I've also run them from a Sonic Impact super t-amp and the sound isn't much different. I wish I had a bigger house or another room or something. I'll probably end up taking these Heresies to work or giving them to a friend or something. Apparently there is some water damage as well as spilled paint on them. This may be my first attempt at cabinet refinishing =) -jacob

So no one else has this problem with their cornwalls? If not I guess it *is* my room. Thanks, jacob

Those are them and I'm picking them up tomorrow =) Regarding acoustics, I just sold my leather sofa and loveseat and am getting something in microfiber. I also picked up some a roll of R13 fiberglass insulation and some fiberboard to build a few DIY acoustic panels =) Hopefully in a week or two I'll have something to report. From what I've read reducing early reflections will have a positive effect on imaging too. -jacob

I've had a pair of cornwalls in my living room for the last couple months and I'm thinking about picking up a local pair of heresys. I like them a lot overall but there are a few frequencies that really bug me. There's something somewhere between 200 & 600Hz that makes Natalie Merchant sound terrible when she hits certain notes. It's very resonant and artificial, like a male voice singing in the shower, and it sounds like it's coming from the woofers. There are one or two other frequencies that come out of the mid that have a hard, resonant overtone that definitely isn't in the source. I've got a 15 band eq coming in the mail tomorrow. I'm hoping that will be granular enough to deemphasize the resonant frequencies without affecting the rest of the spectrum too much. But even if I am able to get the SPL at that frequency turned down so it doesn't stand out by volume, it is still going to sound resonant and distorted. -jacob