JCole

Actually, there is subtle LFE during the very first scenes in the japanese house/conference center building. You can hear a very low (maybe 21hz or so) tone, which comes and goes. I wondered wtf it was for a few seconds and then realised that it's the waves crashing outside.

For that sort of budget, I would look into an Emotiva Processor and amp. http://emotiva.com/xpa5.shtm combined with http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm will absolutely RAPE those pioneer receivers for a hair less than $1600 + tax + shipping.

I have the Synergy setup, which is a comparible size/configuration to your speakers, and with the "Sub 12" Klipsch sub, I find that setting the speakers to small, and the receiver's crossover to 80hz sounds best, atleast at levels up to -15db. I don't really ever listen louder than that. You didn't mention if you have a sub or not, but I assume you do. If you dont, set your front 3 speakers to large.

I paid about the same from London Drugs in Vancouver. I don't know what your room looks like, but if you can mount them on the side walls, slightly behind your ear, about 5-7 feet from the ground, they work really well. Because of my room setup, I have them mounted at 6 feet on the back wall. The angle is too steep and I don't get the greatest surround effects as a result.

For starters, a dedicated amp like this actually has 125watts per channel. Any receiver out there with ratings such as 125watts/channel are usually rated at 1 or 2 channels driven at a time, so if you're powering all 7 speakers at once, its usually more like 45 watts/channel. Emotiva amps (and anything with similar specs) all weigh well over 50 pounds. Any of the receiver/amp all-in-one combos usually weight in at less that 1/2 that.

My speakers are as listed in my signature. My Pioneer receiver auto-calibrates the levels to -8.5db for the fronts, -9.5 for the center and -8db for the surrounds. That is, when the volume is turned up to reference level, it pulls back the speakers for 75db (I think). Anyways, if it's pulling the speakers back that far, does that mean I have enough headroom to listen at reference volume without clipping ? How well would the speakers handle this ? I'm not actually planning on playing that loud, as I'm in a condo, but I'd like to know how far I can push this setup without damaging anything.

I have F2's right now for my fronts. I want to trade up to some F-3's, however it's hard to find the F-3 either through craigslist or locally on ebay. There seem to be a lot of good deals on the newer F-30's though. How would they match up to the C-2 centre channel ?

I'm running a klipsch synergy + sub 12 5.1 setup. I'm powering it with a pioneer vsx919. Not sure exactly how much power output this receiver actually has, but it's obviously not 120watts per channel as advertised. I listen to a lot of music via the boxee box, usually not too loud. Movies if the mix is good I usually listen no louder than -15db. I was reading recently that going from a receiver to an amp with some actual grunt improves the low volume listening the most and brings out a lot of detail. Anyone actually experience this or is this just marketing hype ? I'd like to know the opinions of people who have made a switch like this. Basically, is the higher wattage going to improve the listening experience if I'm not listening at reference level ?

was just curious, if you ever made the "false wall" and if so how did it turn out?? ~ross Not yet. Been way too busy with work etc. Now that work is slower I'll have some time to do it over the next couple weeks. I'll make sure to post pics.

Downhill Mtnbike (thats at whistler) Wheelin (1 week after buying it new. I don't really go mudding, that was a hidden sink hole. **** stave lake.) Listening to good music and hating religion (these go hand in hand) Getting angry at things that most people couldn't care less about

Hopefully some guy doesn't pee on it. Nice room by the way, its not how it compares its how you like it. Hopefully someone doesn't pee on it thinking that you're someone you're not because of a last name mix-up.

Some of the responses are a bit over my head, however, I'd like to pose another question: If you had a set of Khorns or lascalas or something set up in your room as theatre speakers, would you still use auto EQ ? I'm not talking about delay etc but would you allow your AVR to adjust the frequency curves for those speakers ? Would such adjustments nullify why people love heritage speakers so much ?

I have a pioneer receiver and up until now, I've let it auto equalize each channel to allow for a flat frequency response. While this seems like a good idea, and allows accurate sound reproduction, isn't this defeating the purpose of quality speakers versus something like a htib setup ? I cut the speakers off at 80hz and let the sub take over, and have the speakers tuned flat, wouldn't a cheap set of junk speakers end up sounding the same ? Obviously they would clip before the nicer speakers when pushed, but is auto calibration taking away from what my speakers are capable of ?

I think the two fronts are fine. People say the c2 center speaker can be lacking though. I will try watching some bluray sources first, and then bump up the center a notch or two. How high should I go ? 3db ? If worse comes to worse I can sell the c2 and pick up a c3. But first I will try bluray. On a side note, has anyone found that the voices are lacking with downloaded movies ? They cut the bitrate down a lot, even on 1080p files. Maybe it's all in my head and I'm just not used to gunfire and explosions being felt as allowed to heard. My last setup was a sony htib and it was all treble or all mid-bass.

I find I have to turn a lot of movies up to uncomfortable levels for the voices to come through loud enough. It seems like sound effects etc are easily loud enough at -25 or -20 with my amp, but I'll have to turn it up to -15 for the voices to come through loudly. Vocals in music are fine. It seems like just 5.1 sources have this issue. Could it be that my center channel is turned down too much ? (calibrated with pioneer mcacc mic) When it runs the sound level check, the amp turns up to 0 (reference?) and then all the channels get turned down roughly 6.5 - 8db. Does this seem normal ? Listening environment is a small - midsized apartment room with concrete walls and floors. Could it just be that I am watching shitty sources ? This is mostly stuff from movie central hd channel and downloaded movies. I should try a bluray before I start fussing this settings I guess. Thoughts ?

I started a thread last week called "pics of my budget home theatre setup". It should be on this forum 1st or second page. Basically I went with used and bought new when I had to. I decided on a pioneer amp. They have a ton of features and are cheaper than the denon amps. They might not have the wattage but theyre still good. Consider the pioneer vsx 820 k receiver. eBay has them for around $230. They do 3d, have hdmi, Dolby and dts hd formats, iPhone, Sirius radio and mcacc auto calibration. To get the same specs from a denon you're looking at atleast $100 more. Have a good look at the synergy line of speakers. They're "discontinued" as there is a new synergy line, so they go for cheap online and on craigslist. I got the f2 floor speakers and the sub 12 for $500. I got the c2 center channel for $130, the surround speakers I got new for $230. These are Canadian prices, in the use with a larger used market the stuff might be cheaper. I purchased a used pioneer vsx919 ah k for $280. That falls well under your budget and honestly, its better sounding than anything I've demo'd in a store. My only gripe is that the sub is downfiring. I live in a condo and I'm afraid that it might shake the downstairs too much during really low frequency tones late at night. I may sell the sub for something forward firing. If you don't have to worry about downstairs, the downfiring sub is damn fine for it's price. I have the gain turned up just a bit over 1/3 and it produces lower tones than I've heard in any theatre, in my place. Your mileage may vary.

Right now the fronts are about 7' apart and facing straight ahead. Can't move them farther apart, but perhaps I could toe them out ? The calibration I ran today improved it, but I think the answer is just to listen in prologic II Music mode. It ads a bit to the center, but still allows for accurate staging, but from a much wider listening position.

Tool's lyrics are usually pretty deep, often with some dark humour thrown in. The lyrics are usually in metaphor and it's up to the listener to draw their own conclusions as to the meaning. Prison Sex, is basically about child abuse, and how, ironically the abused often grows up to be an abuser. Musically, the singer has probably the best voice of any rock band today, check out the song "3 libras" by A Perfect Circle which is his other band. The drummer for tool, Danny carey is considered one of the best drummers in the world also. The band oozes talent but they're pretty dark and experimental. Think pink flloyd mixed with king crimson.

I re-calibrated using "multipoint" calibration. You stick the measuring mic in 3 different spots on the couches. It improved things a bunch. Also the "EXT. Stereo" function on the receiver pumps it out of the surround speakers etc which helps fill the room a bunch. Also I found that just listening at a higher volume (currently -30db) and above seems to fill the room better. FYI I was testing using the song "Prison Sex" by tool ( ). Seems to have a great range of sound, and some really good high hat work on the drums and nice cymbal crashes.

Agh sorry. Arsenal I suppose.

I have the pioneer vsx919ahk receiver. I let it do the full auto calibration. It worked great for surround sound, however when listening to a cd, and purporting in 2.1, if I move left or right of where I placed the calibration mic, I lose the soundstage and it sounds like the audio is only coming from the side I'm closer to. How do I tell the pioneer receiver to make a larger sweet spot (I've read it can do this) also, is there a better mode to listen to than "stereo" For cd playback ? Maybe something that pumps music out of the surround speakers also ?

What's an FC ?

I've decided that to hide the wiring I'm going to put a false front wall behind the sub but infront of the wires. I'll cut out a cardboard piece. Fit it then make a cheap plywood insert, paint it to match the wall and then tuck the wiring behind. I'll hold it in place with some Velcro tabs.

Do you like everything George Takei likes? Well I'm not really into fine wines, if thats what you're getting at.

Could be slightly. I focused on the closest speaker I believe. As for hiding the cables in the walls, the cables that you see underneith are almost all power cords. After tieing everything up you almost cant see any speaker cable, it's just all the devices' power cords. 8 devices.