nolaklamonte

Actually the 301's were added after the fact. When I decided to use the side axis. Yamaha has a feature that sends the voices through both the center and side axis. The sound didn't improve or degrade with or without the 301's. In fact the speakers have a driver on the rear as well as the front which actually lends it self well to use as a side axis speaker. I am not defending them, but I already owned the speakers (got them CHEAP on sale). I was actually just using them as indoor monitors for my 4 outdoor speakers (yes those are Klipsch). Also, I disagree that they could pull more power from the rest of the system. The EMO amp is a true 7 channel amp with 7 independent modules for each channel and a HUGE transformer. They are gonna get 60 watts and that's it. I am not sure how they could get more power than the amp that they are connected to.

I didn't mess with it last night. I should clarify though that the problem is there regardless of the media being used (DVD, Cable etc...) DVD is a little better, but we notice cable more since we watch that 90% of the time. PS both DVD & Cable are connected optically. As for the settings, I have used the mic/ analyzer that came with the Yamaha to set up the system. I must say that it doesn't do a very good job. It gets confused as for as speaker size and frequency response. I had to manually adjust the system afterwards to correct. I don't own a DB(spl) meter so I have never done that for adjustment purposes. I do have the level on the center cranked up a bit. I think this weekend I will hook up the speakers with a short run of wire to rule out any shorts in the wall.

I think this might be the case. The settings for the cable box are correct (Cox doesn't let you mess with them much) I have double checked the wiring on several occasions, found no issues. In fact I have even tried using different brands of wire (my conclusion is that you should save your money and not by designer speaker wire). I have a cousin who is a rep for an electronics wholesaler that sells monster and can get it cheap. The mark up on that stuff at retail is incredible. As for phasing and cancellation, the subs' phasing is fine, I checked it last night. Cancellation may be an issue, but not really a fixable one for astetic reasons. I must add that my old system, which was pioneer elite and infinity ( I also has a KSW 15, wish they still made them) didn't have similar problems. The room is pretty live with wooden floors and very little upholstered furniture and no heavy drapes. The settings on the pre-amp are OK. I play with them quite often, trying to find that "SweetSpot" in the sound. As for night mode, it does eliminate some of the lower frequency boom when you don't want it, but that's about it from my observations. So this leads me to three possible theories...... 1. Ditch Cox and change to another provider, The only other option in my area is satellite. 2. Buy the bigger RC64, that is louder. (Not sure that this will make a huge impact though) 3. and this is the most expensive and far fetched idea... I am a church musician and our drummer is a sound guy by profession for several local cover bands. He seems to think that my system is hungry for power (eletricity). He seems to think that a 20 amp cicuit is not good enough to power my home theater and that I should have a circuit for the amp alone. Now all I have on this circuit is the TV (52" Toshiba DLP), DVD, Amp, Pre Amp, The sub, and a couple of lamps. I have never triggered a breaker so I am a little suspicious of this idea. but the concept does make a little sense. Any thoughts, I appreciate all of your input.

I upgraded my system 2 years ago, after Katrina drowned my old system! I purchased the largest possible Synergy series speakers available. Regretably I didn't know of the Reference Series, since the only retailer that had reopened at the time was Best Buy :-( , but In My Opinion, I still should have a loud, high quality sytem. Now here is the dilemma, voices are very hard to understand at reasonable listening levels. I tried to correct this by upgrading from the amp in my Yamaha Receiver to an external amp rated with a little more power and head room. I now use the receiver as a pre-amp and an EMO LPA-1 which is rated at 125W X 5 and 60W X 2 (for the side axis speakers, which do very little). This change made the overall sound quality better, but did little for volume. In fact if anything, the volume level decreased some. I didn't opt for the 200W amp, considering that the Klipsch speakers are so efficeint (granted not the Reference Series but loud none the less). I am considering buying a RC-64, as an option to try and fix this (it is very frustrating), but I am tired of throwing money away for little benefit. Any suggestions, PS, also this may be an issue of the cable company compressing the audio signal? We don't watch many DVD's but the problem is a little better when we do. Here is the system: Sub-12 F-3 S-3 C-3 Bose 301 (side axis) Yamaha HTR-5890 EMO LPA-1