wsu99999

The bottom line is that guy will never get 675 for them. Period. Not in this economy. I have a pair of 100% mint condition - same veneer as the one in your pic. Not a scratch anywhere - been used as rear surrounds all their life, and have never been driven at all. I can't even get 500 for em.

Instead of buying a whole new player, why don't you just get the box as referenced above by shawn? It should turn the ps3's audio into 7.1 analog

Shawn, When you say "be sure to buy the PS3 modes that support SACD", what do you mean? I wasn't aware the ps3 had many limitations on this, can you elaborate for us? Thanks

Shawn, The reason I said HDMI 1.2 is because if he is going to upgrade, he may as well go to 1.2 because 1.1 won't pass 1080P, only 1080i or 720p. The limitations for hdmi 1.1 will play all new audio codecs if decoded in the player. I wasn't aware of the converter. Thanks for the info! I'm glad they finally got one out. Phil, With that info being said... If you want to take advantage of the new codecs, get the converter and a ps3 - that way when you do decide to upgrade you will be ready w/ a kick *** bluray/gaming console and you can sell the converter and go straight hdmi! I still don't think with your current setup that I would get a bluray until I had 1080p video. Unless you just want to. I'd wait till I got 1080p and get it then - not only will it be cheaper, but there may be better players out by then. Keep in mind this is just my opinion and it isn't worth much Eskimo - DVD's that are upconverted by a good player will get close to the quality of bluray. For someone running a projector at 720p, there won't be a significant difference in my opinion (not enough difference to pay the price). Now, if you have 1080p and bluray vs dvd - you can tell a clear difference. My personal opinion is if you have a good enough dvd player that has strong video processing capibilities, you won't be able to tell much difference in 720p or 1080i. That is unless you sit within 1-3 feet from the screen. After that, it will be essentially the same and in my opinion not worth the money. Obviously you can tell some difference, but it isn't night and day as 1080p would be to a upconverted dvd.

Hey guys. What is your opinion on high end CD Players? I see CD Players out there for 5 grand and I don't understand what the big fuss is.. I've owned about 10 players in my life (none of them over 200 bucks) and I've never heard much of a difference between any of them. Can any of you really say there is a big difference between players? If so, what is a good budget model that I should keep my eye out on, and will it really play cd's better than say a HD DVD Player or PS3 or Computer disc drive? Thanks.

I've never seen any boxes that allow for 8 ch analog for the PS3. In fact, I've seen some requests from people for such a box, but I wasn't aware that one existed. If there is one in existance, please post a link to it so we can check it out Sfogg. Phil, Analog is simply analog - and your SACD 5.1 connection would work - IF the PS3 had a place for you to plug your analog connections into. There aren't any of t hose connections on the PS3 - therefore, you can't use that method for the new audio codecs. The only way you can get audio from the PS3 is 2ch analog, optical, or HDMI. As I stated earlier, you have a couple choices you can make. 1. Buy a PS3 and a receiver that accepts HDMI 1.2 or 1.3. 2. Buy a high end Bluray player that has 8ch analog inputs and use it the same way you would the SACD 5.1 3. Buy a really nice upconverting DVD player and use that until you have the money to completely revamp your system. If you go with option 3, not only would you save a buttload of money, you would essentially be getting just about the same performance as you would if you got the PS3 with your current setup. If you figure you can get most DVDs for 5-10 bucks, you could get 3-4 DVD's for every one bluray. Since the upconversion will make the video portion essentially look identical to a bluray player with your current setup, why not! If I were you, I would save my money, get a really good dvd player, and wait to upgrade everything at once. I think you may be flushing money town the tube getting into bluray now because you would essentially be buying a technology while it's still expensive and while you wouldn't be getting much benefit from it. If you wait 2-3 years, Bluray's will be 150-200 bucks for a really nice player and the discs will be 5-15 bucks instead of 600 for a player w/ analog and 25-35 per disc now. Just my 2c.

Phil, The new audio codecs can only be transmitted over HDMI OR analog 7.1 channel. Since the PS3 doesn't have analog, you would have to update your receiver to take advantage of the new codecs. However, as psg mentioned, there are a lot of players with analog 7.1 hook ups out there but I think it would be better to just get a ps3 and a new receiver. The ps3 is awesome.

And a follow up to my previous post - you would literally gain almost nothing by going bluray if you go the ps3 route. With your TV only being 720p, you won't benefit from 1080p performance. In my opinion, on my projector which was 720p, I couldn't tell the difference between an upconverted DVD and a Bluray or HD-DVD. Both appeared to have an almost even picture, and in that room, I couldn't benefit from the new codecs either. With that being said, if I take the same 2 test movies to my 1080p setup with the new codecs, the picture is 2x as sharp and the sound is phenomenal. Considering the price of blurays is double or triple that of dvd's, I really don't think you will gain much by going to bluray now. Especially if you use a PS3. On the other hand, if you play videogames AND would be interested in upgrading your theater room in the future, you would be crazy not buying a ps3.. All in all, you can't go wrong with it. But you will need a receiver capible of processing hdmi. Also, my projector may have been the reason I couldn't tell the difference between the upconverted & HD movies. Your projector may be better than mine.

Hey Phil, You mentioned ANALOG 7.1. The PS3 (I don't think) doesn't have analog audio outputs, only hdmi for the 7.1 hd sound. If you are lacking a HDMI 1.3 device (or HDMI 1.2 receiver) you won't be able to benefit from the new codecs or 7.1 sound. With this being said, you will need an alternative method for blueray.

Wow, I'm suprised to see so many opting for using a receiver as a preamp. I was always under the impression that wasn't a great idea. If you guys think that's the case, maybe I should get a new HK with 1080p etc for cheap and just go get a nice 3 ch. I didnt think of that option - then again - I want the amplification portion to last. I don't want to buy new amps in 3 years!

I'm not including the Pre in that price - that's just for amplification. I am definately NOT looking for something new - I always buy used unless it's the pre/pro. That I want new.

I've read a lot of information regarding amplifiers in the past few months and I wanted to get some real world information from my friends at the forum. On the topic of multichannel amplifers vs 2 ch amplifiers - what do you prefer? I'm about to upgrade my system's electronics and I want to go to a nice pre/pro and external amplifiers but I don't know if I should get 3 2channel amplifiers, 1x 3 ch and 1 2 ch, or just a soild 5ch amp. Or if I should go away from SS and get tubes. I think to keep my budget in line, I should stick to some old SS amplifiers, but wanted to ask here first. Of your experience, do you think a multichannel amplifier can hold it's own against several 2ch amplifiers? I run LaScalas, Heresy center and Forte II rears. Any suggestions? I'm more than likely not interested in spending over 1500 for the amplification portion of the setup. That would give me 500 per 2ch or 1500 for the whole kit and kaboodle. Let me know the best suggestions you can think of and which route will produce the best results. Thnks,

Just thought I would pass this along - the new Harman Kardon AVR-354 is on sale at Amazon.com for 518 w/ free shipping. Evidently, this receiver is 75wpc which is the same as the AVR-745's rated output. Therefore, you would get the same output amount as their flagship receiver from a few years ago for a quarter of the price. However, I sincerely doubt this will really have the 745's power, it still seems like a good deal.

I've wanted to get into Laserdisc's too. I almost picked up a deal on Ebay last year that had about 200 discs, and a top of the line Pioneer player. It ended up going for around 175 bucks but the shipping on it was outrageous due to the weight and size of the discs. I ended up passing, but I see package deals on the bay all the time that are nice.

The Dish box is built specifically to output at a max of 1080i or 720p and is configured well to do so. Potentially, the Bluray player is optimized at 1080p. I don't know. Clearly, you can't use a plasma in a theater room and I really miss my projector a lot! I should have never sold it.

To be honest - I don't know what it is, but I feel HD-DVD has a much crisper picture and better audio (at least in my setup). I've owned two bluray players (Ps3 and stand alone) and both performed about the same with the stand alone having bit of a sharper picture. The bottom line is this - if you don't have 1080P, you don't have a real need for Bluray or HD-DVD. The difference from DVD to 720p isn't as dramatic as DVD to 1080p is. That is the issue you are seeing. Sorry to burst your bubble bro. Sure, your setup is nice, but you should get a new projector or spring for a smaller LCD/Plasma w/ 1080p. I understand the importance of projectors, but you will always get a better pic from a plasma unless you drop 40-50k on a projector. My 2c.

Ideally, your idea works best. I use a heresy between mine and it sucks!

I don't own RF-83s so my opinion may not be too valid but I have auditioned them. I auditioned them against a pair of Cornwalls, Heresy's, LaScalas, and Klipschorns. All 5 set's of speakers were hooked up to a low level Integra amp (which I would assume would be better or the same as the low level HK). To me, I was seriously dissapointed with the RF-83's performance. I'm sure they sound good with higher amplification, but to me they didn't sound good at all. They were just flat and unimpressive next to the heritage line. Granted, the Heritage line are built for low power which I assume is the difference. If you must go the RF-83 route, I would recomend seperates OR get the AVR-146(if it has preouts) and a 200 WPC amplifier off Ebay for a few hundred. That way you would have the extra power and it wouldn't break the bank too much as buying a high powered receiver would. I think that is your best bet (or get some LaScalas)

A good middle of the road cap is Clarity Caps. The PX version are cheap and are supposed to be better than other budget brands. I can't verify that but they sound fine in my LS's

Does anyone have any info on the Swan amp I'm using? I hooked it up to my existing subwoofer (dual M&K VX-4s) and the old M&K hit's much harder and it's only like a 50w amp. The swan is extremely beefy and would appear to be a good amp. Anyone know what the problem could be?

Do you know how to solder? If so, you may as well just update the crossovers yourself. Just get new caps and solder them exactly as the old ones were. Even if you don't know how to solder, you can teach yourself in about a hour (for this job) it's really easy. I had never soldered anything in my life, went out and picked up a soldering gun and a bunch of soldering equipment (can all be had for about 20-30 bucks) and started playing with an old circuit board. Within an hour I could easily do the job. I'm sure you could too.

The way I have it wired is one set to each vc. I'm just curious how one would drop it down with a single woofer. In theory, could I run two subs off each amp lead?

I have a DVC Subwoofer and I'm running a plate amp that has 2 sets of speaker wire coming out of it. I'm pretty sure that you would need to have both sets of wire to have the amplifier run properly. Does anyone know if there is another way to hook this up aside from just running both pairs of wire to each voice coil? With dual speaker wire coming from the plate amp, can I drop the ohm's on the sub by running in parallel?

Thanks - I'm going to have to open it up and see what's going on. There may be a polarity issue somewhere from the prior owner (evidently he was on meth and liked to tinker with things) Could have hooked up something wrong.

So Ear - will both of those subs perform well with such low wattage?