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Seb

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Posts posted by Seb

    Help With Entire System

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    TheEar, you're more knowledgeable than me when it comes to the Klipsch Refs...

    Why RF-5s, when the improvement in quality/sound isn't as big as the additional expense compared to RF-3s, and why RC-7 instead of a pair of RF-3s for center and surrounds?

    ------------------

    Bass is good...

    Help With Entire System

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    sam: you've got mail or a private message...

    I would recommend RF-3s, RB-3s, Paradigm PW-2200, Denon 3802, Panasonic DVDRV41, and a choice of either a RC-3 or a pair of RF-3s, making centers out of the speakers and sticking them in the front and rear as centers. Depending on budget and practicality, this may or may not be possible.

    Please no Onkyo with Klipsch, bad results in most cases. PW-2200 will hold you until you want another. You could go without a center for now and use the phantom mode on the Denon, to wait until you can explore the additional RF-3s option.

    I did not take into account the fact that you may need a monitor/TV included in the 6,000$ budget. Watch out for the taxes and cables, they are expensive. Use Radio Shack Gold for all your interconnect needs, apart maybe from the component video cable. As for speaker wire, I could see myself going for Monster simply for corrosion prevention (have seen cable corrode, not pretty), or else big ol' 12-gauge generic wire.

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    Bass is good...

    This message has been edited by Seb on 02-12-2002 at 10:52 PM

    Panamax 5300

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    the only thing I know for sure about surge protectors is that the margins are HUGE for the dealer.

    try to haggle.

    oops, sorry, just saw that you had a deal on it. haggle anyways. nobody should pay retail on those. outrageous.

    Not Enough Emphasis on Video Here

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    crash, thanks for the link. read it in detail.

    however, they seem to be really partial to projectors, and this coming from projectorcentral.com (don't know anything about the site, but just by looking at the name...) isn't really a surprise, is it?

    secondly, they talk a lot about the practical advantages of projectors, such as reflections and aspect ratios, and put a lot of emphasis on the "wow" factor due to the size of the front projectors.

    they don't talk about quality that much, though. and that is really what I'm wondering. I know about the size advantage, the practical aspects, etc.

    but, not having the opportunity to compare side-by-side a dlp and a good RPTV, I wonder about the picture quality difference. sure, Britney's boobs will be bigger, but wil they be as defined? Smile.gif

    Not Enough Emphasis on Video Here

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    crash,

    VERY interesting what you say...

    anyone else agrees with this?

    up to now, what I've seen points to the consensus that at equal price, a 16/9 HDTV will offer beter picture than a front projector, even though the projector will offer a larger image.

    I personally have always had a bias fro projectors, since the image can be so big, like at the movies. did anyone try both options in depth? it would be nice to come to a consensus about this, wouldn't it?

    Great Sounds from Techno Soup?

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    HornEd, get a Website!

    www.150m.com

    they give you 150 megs of free space, good place to put pictures on. That's where my website is now. That way we can all enjoy the full-resolution pictures!

    Other suggestions guys?

    Oh, by the way, it's really nothing difficult, I use Frontpage to make my pages and I've never taken a class or have much experience with it, and my pages turn out okay. Just don't use frames with the website I suggested, they put a banner on top of every frame and it's annoying. Still haven't figured out a way to make navigation easier on my site...

    ------------------

    'cuz not a lot of people have ever said

    "Pump up the treble!"

    Hey HornEd, need Phantom feedback...

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    quote:
    Originally posted by HornEd:

    Seb, I think you illustrated some points I was trying to make. 1. That a larger center handles 5.1 better... and you have a larger center. 2. That an on axis Phantom provides a lot more "center channel" than most people realize in their own rigs... before the benefits of a real center channel are added in. 3. That "theatre sound" you were alluding to is even much more a factor when you have a center that exactly matches your mains.

    yes, yes, and yes. I probably didn't underline enough that the diminished benefits I felt I got with the phantom mode were most likely due to the size of my "center speaker" (if you can call it that, it's really just a mid-tower)...

    Hey HornEd, need Phantom feedback...

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    Pardon me to add to an already very complete thread, but I think my experience, although not using Klipsch speakers, could be of interest.

    I finally had some time to myself to try out the phantom idea on my system. Now, I'm going to have to post my equipment here, and I am very ashamed. Please don't laugh and remember I'm only starting out in life and on my quest for audio nirvana...

    I'm using a Sony str-db830 receiver with Sony speakers in front. You can check out pictures on my very crude website @ http://sebdavid.150m.com

    I have my Paradigm PW-2200 handling all the bass, all speakers set to small. The Sony center (which isn't a center to start with) sounds quite different than the mains, and in my opinion, not as good. But since it is quite large for a center, I've always been quite satisfied with its performance, and wasn't convinced using the phantom mode would be of any benefit to my system and ears.

    For this test, I used the trusty old Matrix DVD in Dolby Digital. I listened to the Lobby Shooting Spree scene as well as the one where Neo is told the story of the Matrix by Morpheus, with Morpheus' trademark eerie voice.

    I'm of course used to listening to those scenes with the center set to yes, and I watched the LSS scene that way at first. Then I switched to the phantom mode. To be honest, this scene has such an overload (not to say confusion) of sounds coming from everywhere that I really didn't notice much difference at first. After playing the scene back and forth a couple times, the only thing I could notice was a little less impact on sounds coming from the center in phantom mode, probably linked to the weaker "anchoring" of the center sounds to the screen and center of the soundstage. Not a huge difference again, but certainly didn't help the phantom theory. Figured it must be because my center speaker was in fact pretty large.

    And then I played the "talking" scene. Again, at first I didn't notice all that much difference, since the sound of Morpheus' voice isn't really anchored in the center speaker when he shows the real world to Neo. Again, however, what I wrote above still holds true for that scene, with a slight advantage to the center set to yes. But when I got to the last couple seconds, when they are back in the plain white environment, his voice really comes from the center, and it is here that I noticed the most dramatic difference. In the phantom mode, his voice seemed more "movie-theater-like". It wasn't as anchored in the center, however it sounded better. Not more realistic, mind you, I never heard the actor in real life, so... But it had an impression of grandeur, of theater-like articulation, it was more impressive, and sounded more like you were listening through multiple speakers in a huge room or soundstage. Exactly like the difference I usually notice between my home theater and any local multiplex, it's just bigger, seems to come from higher. So here, I would give an advantage to the phantom mode.

    Now, this is only my experience and your mileage will vary greatly. There are serious drawbacks to using the phantom mode: when sitting ever so slightly off-axis, you totally lose the anchoring effect, which is already not as pronounced when you sit on axis. Also, in my configuration, the center sounds seemed to have less impact, maybe because they came from two different sources and thus are separated in two different signals that don't reach my ears in an identical fashion, thanks to room acoustics. Now I really don't know which setting to use. I'll try both with some movies I watch, without specifically setting up a test session, and decide which works better on average. I will probably stick with the center enabled, but it's a close call in my environment.

    more people should try this easy test, I think it could help us reach a concensus. Signing out.

    This message has been edited by Seb on 02-04-2002 at 07:30 PM

    What Speaker is This?

    in Technical/Restorations

    Posted

    first off, you should probably be posting this in the Promedia section of the bulletin board.

    secondly, this comes from the Promedia v2.400 system, not the 4.1

    as you can easily see from the pictures, there are TWO drivers on this sub. the promedia sub that only comes with one is the Promedia 2.1 sub.

    since the amp, xover, etc, are all integrated in that box, it wouldn't give very good results to use this sub with other speakers than the promedia satellites, plus you couldn't control the volume, bass, and so on since you're missing the preamp module, as eq_shadimar mentioned.

    RC-7s, really necessary?

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    Gary, you should read the "RC-7 vs. KLF-C7" and "Hey, HornEd, need phantom feedback" threads in this same section.

    To approximately quote the Horny one, "a phantom channel is better than a mismatched center speaker" he goes one to wonder how he lived with his KLF-C7 instead of using the phantom channel.

    Try both options, with and without the RC-3. If it sounds better without when you are in the sweet spot, then you know you need AT LEAST the RC-7.

    ------------------

    'cuz not a lot of people have ever said

    "Pump up the treble!"

    digital or analog for music?

    in Home Theater

    Posted

    IMO, you don't need a really expensive digital coax cable. just use Monster if it makes you feel better, but even that is overkill.

    i would hook it up both ways and switch. i could see myself spending the dough for a good set of Monster analog cables.

    so my advice is to go with good analog cables and cheap coax digital.

    ------------------

    'cuz not a lot of people have ever said

    "Pump up the treble!"

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