shake777

Hi Two Channellers, An Audio Club friend, Jimmy, talked me into getting serious about two channel. I heard his Magnepan Dynaco system and was floored. It has this dark, romantic feel with an extremely detailed soundstage, great vocals and midbass. No sub but so what. It took me months to get anywhere near what he has. I did a lot of painstaking critical listening mostly alone and sometimes with my three buddies. It involved a tremendous lot of moving speakers around in small increments, test discs designed for the purpose, and patience. John and Paul (who does reviews on Stereotimes.com) also helped and Paul gave me a detailed review (unpublished), which said I had a good to excellent system and I needed more presence and had some graininess in the vocals. I set to working on it, tried an Audio Illusions Modulus Mark IV tube preamp with limited success. I found that as my two-channel system improved my 7.2 system got better as well. Although I'm giving the Modulus another chance, I think my UMC-1 is adequate and less hassle to switch. Hope you enjoyed reading about my experience, and, as always, I'm open to comments and recommendations. Shake

Blues Singer is a must must have for this genre. Wide open, airy, very simple stylish plink, plank, plunk, thump, blues.

There's something seriously twisted and wrong here but I'm tempted to watch anyway.

My favorite sonics.

Wow! Outstanding good looking theater. One of the best. Home Theater Magazine is always asking for theaters like yours to feature. I bet they would love to have yours. Thanks for all the great ideas and something to aim for as I start to finish mine. Shake.

Wake, wondering how things panned out for you? I had the 5 and liked it so much, I bought a bunch of monoblocs and they are quiet as a church mouse not to mention great all around amps...I'm tempted to say at any price but really don't have the experience to back it up. Many would question why I would use so much power with Palladiums but I just felt like all things considered that's what I wanted. I checked with Klipsch Techs before going with the massive power on the Palladiums and got an enthusiatic yes although on of the them was not at all enamoured with Emotiva. I noticed that there's a Member who could be considered very knowledgeable and he's biamping P-39s with two McIntosh 602s which pump out 600wpc. Mine, being that they are 4 ohm can produce 1000wpc. I've run them louder than I can stand it and never noticed the slightest bit of distortion anywhere...just lots of good clean sound. I think they are very lively and lifelike throughout the frequency range and produce accurate harmonics even from difficult instruments like the piano which has a complex sound and also taking into consideration the range of decay from the strings. Not everyone agrees with my opinion regarding the piano. The most agreeable critics have said that the Emos just don't have what it takes to be in the class of the best. Be that as it may, horns are obviously going to sound exceptionally great through Klipsch speakers so its hard to criticize an amp in that arena. Drums sound particularly life like to me as well. While I don't think the Emotiva Techs have always been exceedingly helpful when I've had technical questions they have been very good when I've had any problems that required repair or replacement. These instances have been rare especially since I've owned nine of their products and they even fixed free of charge a lug that I admittedly broke myself. I've read lots and lots of reviews and different discussion forums and the jist of it has been an overwhelmingly in favor of the Emotiva even among those who are familiar with the upper end. There are also a small percentage of those who say they are crap. I'm certainly no guru or genius but my system gives me countless hours of enjoyment and I hope things are working out for you as well.

Hi el, Wondering how you made out and what you decided to purchase? Thanks, Shake

For some reason I double posted the same thing so here's my edit after reading some of the more recent posts. I'm gonnna need a lot more money. Billions just to be sure the cash doesn't run out. My new plan is to buy a bunch of companies like Klipsch, Boulder, the holding company that has McIntosh, Denon, etc and have a brain storming session with all the best engineers, computer architects, civil engineers and the like to create the most cutting edge theater possible. Something not too big, just for me and few select friends and family from time to time. Certainly no more than ten seats to maintain an inimate environment. I, of course, would never have to leave as my attached residence, staff of personel assistants, ie, chef, maintenence, masseuse, and all the other fine and necessary help I could find would be available. It will be subterranian so I won't bother anyone and they won't bother me. It seems like the temperature and accoustical environment would be good in Shake's Cave Theater if its deep enough. Just to sweeten the deal any of the equipment developed from the project would be available to Klipsch Forum Members on a sliding scale so everyone could have their dream systems as well. Dreams can be extremely grandiose can't they? Shake

Hey Vic, You've heard my system and its improved since then so I think I'd stay with what I have. However, this is a dream so I better just grab a few hundred thousand dollars and see what I can come up with. Hope you are enjoying your new system. Shake

Hi All, I don't remember much about it except I had to turn it off after about five minutes. I got it (from the local library) twice more out of desparation to see something new but I couldn't bring myself to watch it. Then I noticed this thread and I can see that my worst fears are substantiated. Thanks, Shake

Utard, Mine always shows each channel for 7.1 as well. Shake

Hi Tasdom, Thanks for nipping that in the bud. You are absolutely right. I was referring to the RT12d. Thanks, Shake

Gentleman, I have one and I was wondering what you all thought about yours. I've had mine for about two years and thought about changing it several times but I still have it. I also have a Paradigm Sub 12 which I like a little better because the sound is more mellow and the puch is more powerful. Still they seem to blend well and most people who've heard them together like them. I had two Paradigm Sub 12s for a couple of weeks but wosn't happy with that...it was missing the detail that the RT12d puts in the mix. I also had a Velodyne DD18+ but after the initial excitement I was underwhelmed and returned it. It was almost $4000.00 and I was able to do a lot more to my system than just have something I could brag about. No offense to DD18+ owners, I just couldn't make it work for me. I'm thinking about getting a couple of SVS Ultra 13s. I've gone the gammut with the RT12d from loving it to hating it. Its hard for me to decribe it and I've never talked to anyone who owns one. Somehow it blends with the Paradigm really well but my main issue is that I it distorts at very high volumes. So does the Paradigm. I like to play some things very loud. You can see from my system profile that I've got tons of power so I guess I need subs to match. However, I'm really attached to the RT12d and I'd really appreciate it if you could give me you impriessions. Thanks, Shake

Hi derrick, I have Van Helsing as I'm a big fan of the genre and Kate B. I was floored when I realized she was Ava Gardner in Aviator and also heard that in casting they looked for someone who could fill the shoes of one of the most beautiful women of her time. As far as Underworld goes its hard for me to enjoy films that are so dark but I'll give this one another try on your recommendation. Thanks, Shake

Hi holtry, Got into watching that one many times quite a while back. Thanks, I'm gonna buy a copy. Shake

Hi holtrp, Thanks for the heads up on blu-ray.com Shake

Tron: It took me a while to get used to the visual special effects and then I realized what was making me watch it over and over again was the discrete audio coming out of each of the seven speakers. This, my favorite 7.1 audio has got a good runner up in Pirates On Stranger Tides. My projector is just fine but I sunk a lot more money into my audiot system because I'm a lover of sound. Shake

U, My current favorite is Tron and Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides is very good as well. Some of the older Classics done in 7.1 don't give me the same level of enjoyment yet its nice to have them so greatly improved. DTS-HD Master 5.1 audio is good but the real top of the heap discrete 7.1 are awesome. Shake

ajok, I'm surely jealous of that screen. Nice! Shake

Hi, Someone must have asked, "why not just put up a wall on the 2/3 empty space?" The reason is because there is a lot of usable space behind the opening so we want to slide the drapes back and have a nice big area to entertain. Another obvious question is why all the big power for efficient speakers? I experimented and found the power, detail, and emotion to be overwhelming withoout the slightest hint of distortion anywhere. So I kept them. Its a little kooky but I'm very happy with it. Both Stereo and multichannel sound good although I still have to get the placement of the front speakers dialed in properly. Shake

Hi Skule and All, I had to find a temporary set up because I was sick of bending over to make wiring adjustments and such so I bought an inexpensive rack system so I could see if that configuration makes me happy and I love it especially with plenty of walking room behind the "stage" and amps. I'm having a group of guys over from the local club to give me some pointers on insultaion and overall set up because just three or four of theses guys have ten times the experience than I do. It won't be until at least Christams Holiday Season before I can get started on the final end of the finishing. It I can come up with a decent picture or two before then I will post them. Its just that they all look like a bomb hit the basement even after I pick up the clutter. One change I made is that one side wall is 2/3 absent. I put up some heavy duty blackout drapes colored crimson or burgandy. I'm happy with those for the time being as they give the impriession of four walls and keep the sound inside the theater for the most part. I think I am going to get a good heavy set and leave theses up as well. As far as insulation goes many many fine suggestions were made in anther area of the forums the best of which seems to me to be to contact the local University which is exactly what I'm going to do when the time comes. Thanks for reading and any suggestions you might have. After a some time on the forums I'm pretty well able to accept constructive criticism so not to worry about that. Thanks, Nic

All, Power end of 7.1 Shake

Hi Ivan, I too missed the production when I visited London. I was able to see the Broadway version which I enjoyed tremendously and then proceeded to purchase the soundtrack, and film which have been used many times. It was the hookline..."the Phantom of the opera is there...inside my mind"...that got me. Oddly I noticed after some many watchings of The A Team and the Phantom film that the Viscount and CIA amusing bad guy "Lynch" was one in the same. Nice bit of acting to pull off such diverse parts. I got a lot of laughs from the A-Team. Back to the RAH Phantom. I stumbled upon it by accident on Amazon and the reviews were glowing including one which said it was a "must have". Hope you enjoy as much as I have and post comments if possible. Thanks, Nic

Hi Ivan, A salesman showed me an iPad remote that was awesome until he gave me the price tag...over two thousand dollars. It turns out it did everything short of starting your car and it still seemed like an awful lot of money. When I first got my iPad I couldn't keep my hands off it so it was only a matter of tme before I found a remote. There are more than one out there and I really didn't want to have more unused junk around the house. I saw that the Re had a couple of awards that I had never heard of but they sucked me in nonetheless. Gimmick or not I'm glad I took a chance. It has a room by room configuration so you set up tthe remotes for each room and tap an icon to get into the next room with its group of remotes. The first time I used it it threw my Epson projector into a tail spin so I was afraid to use it. My antipathy for wasting money eventually took over and little by little I was able to make sense of it. Shake

Thanks ref, I also have a heavily modded Sony SACD/DVD/CD mega player and the redbook is awesome. The megas really reduce clutter and the time consuming physical issues associated with using discs. I'm not surprised you're happy with your AVR as I've heard word of mouth the ES is components are particularly good. Shake