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Eskimo1

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Posts posted by Eskimo1

  1. Indy - He's waiting to see and hear my Emotiva UMC-1 - He's no longer very keen on dropping thousands into his equipment anymore when that kind of performance can be had for a fraction of the price these days. (He's got some damn nice stuff, DefTech towers and subs, Carver amps, Rotel DVD, etc) I kinda won him over to the internet-direct side after he saw and heard the XPA-5 that's driving my mains, and heard how a $1k DIY sub setup compares against his, which cost multiples of that..

  2. I picked up the 354 at BB on Sunday and hooked it up to my Aragon Stage One and 2008. It is going back tonight. Video switching is iffy and there is pumping of the audio. Volume goes up and down and I can't figure out why. .

    Did you update the firmware on the AVR? There were a ton of problems that were fixed by the latest firmware release.

    And it FIGURES that there was a KLF-C7 in Chapel Hill where I used to work, 3 months after I moved away... I had to drive almost 6 hours to get mine!

  3. The answer to this has to lie partially in your sub. Having a set of RF-7's (possibly with an outboard amp too) and a single 12" sub with a 500 watt amp is going to leave you at a bit of a mis-match where your sub can't "keep up", and it will sound better with a lower x-over freq.

    Also, don't forget that the filter isn't a brick wall... it's just the beginning of a slope. Your speakers are still going to be playing lower than that, just not as loud..

  4. Sorry to hijack this thread.... But this is important too.

    True, but you can take an older pre amp and bring it up to date this way too! This way on Blue Ray, you DO get all the newer sound formats!

    One snag I see maybe.... Using analog outs is say the DVD is only in 5.1 as most are... My current Pre takes it to PL II EX now so all 7 channels play. If I use the Analog inputs, it bypasses the Pre Amp surround modes.

    If I use analog outs of the Blu Ray DVD player with a regular DVD into the Pre Amp...... will it only play in 5.1 or will it go to PL II EX to 7.1?

    I think I am limited to 5.1.... Ouch.. If so, that older DVD player will stay in the rack too.

    Good point, and the answer is.... it depends! Some processors bypass all processing when a signal comes in over the analog inputs, some will only do tone controls, some will treat it the same as any other input... Depends on your processor... Best to check the manual...

    On your Sunfire TGIV (my neighbor has the same unit - it's a nice one, but he's upgrading in '09!), it bypasses all processing, so it's going to be 5.1. Best bet is probably to use the TOSlink optical or coax digital to the Sunfire and not get the lossless audio, as you'd be losing the bass managemen in addition to the surround processing.

  5. Is the HD sound much of animprovement over plain DD or DTS?

    Can you hear the difference between XM/Sirius (or a 128bit MP3) and a CD?

    One is lossy compression the other is lossless (which would be the same as uncompressed)

    Same difference.. (Just not quite as dramatic)

  6. What do you guys think of the Harmon Kardon AVR-354? I was thinking of picking one up and using it until the Emotiva gear is available. I may even use the 354 as a pre amp with the 5 channel Emotiva amp until the new processor is released. What you think? Should I just wait, or will this set up sound good?

    That's what I'm doing right now. I put up a little review of the H-K AVR's here: http://emotivalounge.proboards54.com/index.cgi?board=ht&action=display&thread=2904

    I'd say save your money and get the 254.

  7. So would you guys say that the new 5.1 Dolby true hd (which only hdmi can carry) is better than the 5.1Dolby digital on the older amps with out hdmi ?.

    There is no doubt about it. It's like comparing SACD vs a regular CD - Often, you might not notice a night and day differenc, but there's times when you'll say "HOLY CRAP" when you do hear the differences.

    Get the newer AVR, and update the firmware before you do anything (it wipes the unit clean) (also, make sure you go back and double-check the levels with a SPL meter after auto-setup - mine were off - both the 254 and the 354), and save up for a real outboard amplifier (Emotiva, Outlaw, etc) and you'll forget how to even spell Rotel. ;)

    Not to mention, HDMI switching is very convenient!

  8. HDMI is needed for multi-channel lossless audio, i.e. Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc. 5.1 or higher. (I guess technically 3.1 or higher, but who encodes things 3 channel on the source?)

    For 5.1 DD/DTS or 2-chanel lossless, optical is just fine, and because it's a digital signal, there is no quality improvement by going to HDMI.

    But with Monoprice HDMI cables being ~$5 for the shorter ones, why not? HDMI cables aren't indestructable, but they're not as fragile asTOSlink, either.. :)

  9. Oh, I built the screen using the shearweave 4500 material that reportedly has no combing filtering at all, so speakers can be really close to it.

    Disregard my mention of moving the speakers back from the screen then - Sheerweave is supposed to be THE stuff!

    Though, moving it back from the screen can't hurt in your quest.

    Did you use an SPL meter to match your levels initially? Might be worth a shot if you haven't..

  10. Thats the problem with this type of subwoofer design. No way to move it to achieve a flatter frequency response in the room. It really drops off after 35Hz.

    Should give you more respect for the amount of research and development dollars companies like Klipsch invest in subwoofer design.

    Are you talking about my IB? That's funny. That freq. response is EQ'd to a "hard-knee house curve", and the curve is completely intentional.

    There is no "problem" with this type of system. Its location was measured and planned, and no box subwoofer can approach the sound quality of an IB. Oh, and it's plenty loud, too.

  11. Phase 1 is to get it functional - phase 2 will be decorating..

    This is basically what it looks like now, except the temporary box sub has been replaced, and there's now a 117" wide 2.37:1 screen on order to replace this 92" wide, 1.78:1 screen.

    Posted Image

    The surrounds:

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    The infinite baffle subs -18's baby!

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    and the frequency response they give me... good down to 11hz..

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    The equipment rack: PS3, old DVD player, AVR354, Rane PE17 EQ, EP2500, Emotiva XPA5. Soon to be added is an Emotiva UPA-2 for the rear surrounds, and an Emotiva UMC-1 to run the show..

    Posted Image

  12. Go with the RF 83 and the RC 64, they will blow you away.

    The KLF are good speakers but the RF are a set up

    What makes you say that? Haven't heard from anyone here who have listened critically to both, it would be interesting to get your insight if you've actually done that.

  13. Anyhow. Would there be any benefit to using the XPA-5 to run my fronts and center and using my marantz amp(sr-8400) to power my rears vs just using the xpa to power all 5(marantz is still going to be used for pre-amp).

    No benefit.. it would be a step in the wrong way, actually. Use the amp for what it's made for.. all 5.

    You will NOT be lacking for power. [:)]

  14. It was my understanding that those tracks had a dts core that would pass through via optical, but it might be different with the PS3, I've read that the PS3 can't handle DTS-HD Master audio?

    It MAY have a standard DTS track in it, but DTS-HD/MA does not mean the Blu-Ray will have a standard DTS track in it.. but it WILL have a standard DD track in it.

    The PS3 can decode and send (only via LPCM on HDMI, of course) ALL the current HD codecs since the firmware upgrade from several months ago, so your statement is incorrect.

    To the OP - you need to go into the movie's menu and do not select the True-HD or DTS-HD MA or any of the other audio formats.. jsut choose the standard english ones, and make sure your setup in the PS3 under Optical is set to pass the 5.1 dolby over TOSlink, as well as setting your toslink output to "bitstream" and not "PCM"

    That should get you the sound you're looking for.

  15. Get a 100' or 200' roll of 14 gauge and you'll be set. 14 gauge for your longer runs and you will have peace of mind that you're not restricting anything. Home Depot sells 200' rolls for.....if I remember correctly.....$75.00.

    Monoprice sells in-wall rated 14 ga for $54 on a 250' roll ;)

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