feersum dreadnot

not to mention how neat it is to just put up a conventional coax TV antenna and pull down 5.1 DD + HD OTA. The OTA HD picture quality is astoundingly good - between that and surround crowd noise, I'm a believer. Just watching the playoffs on our new 52" LCD made my wife really happy we got it - right up until the Patriots could not pull off yet another miracle. Look at LCD in addition to plasma. I think LCD will be the future....(for the next 5 years or so)

~10 miles to the antennas for NBC, CBS, and FOX - so I probably did not even need to go for an amplified antenna. However, the antennaweb site is good for helping you figure out just what you might need to get OTA HD - i.e., depending on how far away you are, you may need to go to a rooftop antenna, instead of just hanging a little box in the media closet (like I got away with).

regarding OTA (over the air) HD TV where you live, simply go to http://www.antennaweb.org and plug in your address info, and it will tell you what is available in your area. It will also tell you what direction to point your antenna, assuming the game is being broadcast on an OTA HD channel that you can pick up. I did this, and then went to radioshack and picked up a simple amplified antenna for $49, which then inputs into the back of my dishnetwork reciever, which feeds by HDMI to my TV. Unfortunately, I have no clue as to how to send your signal from a TV tuner to your projector, but it looks like others have weighed in on that topic. good luck.

I doubt you are overdriving anything - if you were, you should hear the problem. When I use my ipod though the front inputs on my reciever, I set the ipod volume ~1/3 - 1/2 way up on volume, then control system volume through the reciever. that way you keep the output of the ipod at a clean level, and let the system do the rest. When I've done A/B comparisions, (lo tech, I don't have a way to truely match levels between ipod and CD), I can tell the difference. I'd be surprised if you can't also notice a difference.

make that 2 - my 52" sharp aquos LCD is 1080p. amazing with OTA HD, dishnetwork HD, and even upconverted DVD. Once the HD DVD vs bluray debate is finalized, I'm sure I'll go with whatever is the winner...

I went for the upscaling 1080, in order to continue to enjoy my ~550 DVDs on my new Sharp Aquos 52" LCD at the best possible resolution. I'm not ready to play betamax/VHS with the HD-DVD/blu-ray format wars, and wanted something to use now. OPPO for $229 seemed like the best deal out there, and I'm very happy with it. A second issue I went through was how to switch the HDMI, as my Yamaha RXV-995 was built before this format came out. I only wanted to run one HDMI cable to the TV, but needed to output both the OPPO and a dishnetwork HD box. My solution was a switcher, as well as an in-line amplifier (as my HDMI cable is 35') - both from http://www.octavainc.com/. So the HDMI outputs go through the switch, then to the TV. Audio comes out on standard digital to the receiver. Works quite well for me. The funny thing is that this exact topic (upconverting OPPO) is currently in play at my other usual forum, www.legacygt.com (for those with Subarus).

I had the KG .5s for rears, and a KV-2 center with my Fortes as my original set-up. I later picked up an Academy center. And then, once I got the wifely approval, I found a second set of Fortes on Ebay to use as rear surrounds. The difference was very noticable with the Fortes all around - the smaller surrounds just didn't have the oomph - not to mention the benefit of having the more efficient Fortes made balancing everything else out easier. I think the best bet is to work on the WAF and find more Fortes. Mine liked the fact that I allowed potted plants on top of them - once I added a layer of protection (i.e., piece of plywood) between the speaker and and the saucer. While the Fortes are much bigger, try approaching it from the floor /air space occupied issue - the KG1s cover an area of 9.25" x 9.4" . The Forte IIs "only" cover 16.5" x 12.25" .

TV above center is working well for me - I've got a 52" sharp on the wall, and an Academy sitting on top of my SVS centered below the TV. The sub is just the right height to put the top of the Academy at the same elevation as the tops of the front Fortes. Which is a noticable difference from the old setup, with the Academy sitting on top of a 36" mitsubishi TV - the 4' height difference between the Fortes and Academy always bothered me, but I didn't have much choice. Wall mounted TV just makes it all the better. watch the auctions - go for 5 Fortes and be my hero...

US Naval Academy - 1981 - 1985 USS IOWA 1986 - 1989 NSCS, Athens, GA 1989 - 1991 Out since 1991. But my roommate just made O-6, and is the supply officer for the 6th Fleet, living in a villa above Naples, Italy. Many others are still in service, I got to see one of my crew team mates getting interviewed by FoxNews while in Iraq (he was a USMC LTCOL, right before his battalion entered Fallujah).

'67 Sunbeam Tiger II - owned it from 1984 - 1989 Ford 289 V-8, bored, balanced & blueprinted, solid lifter cam, accel dual point mech advance, holly 650 cfm, muncie 4-spd. needed positraction, but what a fun sleeper. ~13.1 sec 1/4 mile - not bad for the era

I just upgraded to an Sharp LCD, and got an Oppo upconverting DVD to go with it. Because the components are in a walk in closet adjacent to the media room, I had to get a 35' HDMI cable. Apparently, the standard for HDMI is no cable > 15'. My solution was to get an "extender" - which is a small signal amplifier that goes in line at the TV end on the HDMI cable. Only had it all since just before Xmas, so I honestly have not played around - like to see what happens if I turn off the "extender" - I'll try it tonight... I bought mine from http://www.octavainc.com/ - along with a HDMI switch and the cables, as I wanted to run only one HDMI to the TV, and be able to switch from DVD to Dishnetwork HD, without changing my reciever. Set the Oppo player to 1080i out, and let it do the upscaling to the TV - seems to work fine for me.

Merry xmas and ho ho ho, I'm doing my part for the economy... item 1) Oppo DV-981HD 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player (HDMI)http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/dv981hd/index.html'> - HD Up-Conversion to 720p/1080i/1080p, SACD, DVD-Audio/Video, DCDi by Faroudja items 2, 3, 4) Octava 5-port HDMI switch, 35' HDMI cable and HDMI extender item 5) Sharp AQUOS® LC-52D62U with 1080p resolution - 52" LCD item 6) dishnetwork HD upgrade items 1-4 in house as of today, TV comes on thursday or friday, and the dish network guy is at my house as I write this.... All so I can host the Navy/BC bowl game for some other USNA 85' grads on 12/30...

it is time to pull the trigger. my media room gets a lot of stray light, plus I like the 1080p HD approach, so I'm looking at a 47" - 52" LCD. reasonable options include: Samsung LN-S5296D 52" Toshiba 47LX196 47" Sharp Aquos LC-52D62U 52" looks like I'm in for ~ $3,500 for something like the above - I know there is lots of experience on this board, any suggestions with respect to this purchase? thanks

My turn. something from a working draft sent to me today: Based on the geochemistry of groundwater in the Uranium plume, dissolved uranium is likely present in the hexavalent redox state [u(VI)], and exists primarily as carbonate and carbonate/calcium complexes. Figure 3 is an Eh-pH diagram for uranium indicating the range of groundwater conditions present within the depleted uranium plume (similar to conditions observed at MW-S24). Given the near neutral pH and redox potential of 100-250 mV in many wells, the predicted speciation of uranium lies in the U(IV)O2 stability field. Although such redox conditions suggest uranium reduction can occur, there is little evidence for uranium reduction at this time, and field measurements of ORP are not typically reliable for quantitatively predicting redox speciation. Figures 4a and 4b show the predicted uranium speciation based on measured geochemistry within the plume (again conditions are similar to those observed at MW-S24), and illustrate the variability expected across a range of pH (Figure 4a) and carbonate (Figure 4b). Note that at the pH used (6.37) essentially all dissolved carbonate is expected to be bicarbonate <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> concentration at ambient pH values. Precipitation of uranium silicates was prevented in these simulations because the measured concentration of silica (approximately 14 mg/L) substantially exceeds the solubility of silicate minerals at this pH, and suggests that the sample contained colloidal material (silt or clay particles). Figure 4c shows how the total aqueous uranium in equilibrium with a U(IV) mineral depends on carbonate. Note that uranium forms a number of carbonate complexes even at modest alkalinity or bicarbonate activities. Carbonate complexes are expected to account for most dissolved uranium in the pH range of interest at this Site (6 6.5), with a calcium/carbonate complex becoming important at the upper end of this pH range. Historically higher alkalinity at the Site may account, in part for historically higher uranium concentration in groundwater. Phosphate complexes are predicted to play a secondary role in uranium speciation. The expected solubility of uranium minerals under Site conditions is also enhanced by the presence of carbonate. Thus, to understand the fate of uranium at the Site, the interaction of these anionic uranyl carbonate complexes with the aquifer matrix must be understood. and so on. one aspect of a large scale clean up.

I started out with Forte I's in front, and added KG .5s and a KV2 center - back when I also bought an Adcom 3 ch amp and dolby pro logic decoder, as my first entry into surround sound. Since then, I first went to a yamaha RXV-995 surround amp. Then added a SVS sub. then built a room for everything to go in. I thought I was doing pretty good, then I started reading this forum too much. ;-) Then I went on line and got another pair of Fortes on E-Bay for rear surrounds, and got an Academy center through this forum (and sold the KG .5s and KV-2 through this forum). I think you'll see a huge difference by adding a sub, upgrading your center, then go for matching rears.

I'm very happy w/ 4 Fortes, an Academy, and a big SVS sub in a 14' x 15' room. I watched e-bay for a few months, and lost a few auctions to get my Academy - but if you want something smaller than a forte, it is the only way to go. if you can fit a forte on its' side - here is a pair check e-bay - http://cgi.ebay.com/KLIPSCH-FORTE-ORIGINAL-SPEAKERS-NICE-AND-CLEAN_W0QQitemZ110000026489QQcategoryZ61378QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem you'll want a sub eventually for low bass effects - while fortes can dig down to ~32 hz, my SVS gets below 20 - makes movies more of a sensory/tactile experience.

how about trying flat speaker wire? there must be a way to run it from your reciever to the location of the rears. such as: http://www.decorp.com/ or http://21st-century-goods.com/page/21st/PROD/GKWIRE

you gotta be kidding - I've got ~600 albums, ~700 CDs, and ~400 DVDs. At best, I could take a picture of my media closet and post it, at best.

The spring-like weather this weekend caused a prolonged test of my "other" speakers - the pair of AW-525s mounted on the back of my house. We added a small (15' x 14') media room and a nice equipment, media, and game closet last year. While the walls were open, and I was pulling the wires for the 5.1 set up, I had the good idea to add another set of wires run to the outside. Then I looked and found an appropriate pair of outdoor Klipsch speakers, which sat outside through this winter. Well - after spending the weekend outside doing a wide variety of yard work, I really enjoyed having the outdoor speakers. The AW-525s filled the backyard (I'm on a 1 acre plot) with the Sirius radio station, the Red Sox games, etc. and, while it didn't make the work any easier, it did make it go by all the better. Anyway, just thought I'd share a different, but still a good, kind of Klipsch experience...

I read the thread to see if I should buy the DVD - I can't speak to the Royal Albert Hall performances, but I can say that the show in Madison Square Garden was great. as someone else mentioned, they rock for three old guys... no keyboards, backing vocals, or extraneous BS, just the original team bringing their best.

matching the speakers is always a good start. but you are in the same situation I was in - I had a pair of 86' Fortes and a mish mash of the rest. I went from a KV-2 to an Academy center, and would suggest that would be a good first move... nothing wrong with the Fortes, and another pair in the rear would be an easy fix. heck, buy two pair used, and jump to 6.1... how about a subwoofer? that is a great bang for the buck upgrade, and would make a real difference in your HT. I'd get a sub first, then an academy, then a second pair of fortes for rear surrounds. oh, I already did.

the newer centers would not be a good match. If you go to "products" / "discontinued" you can see that the other KG series are the matching speakers for your 3.5s. by matching, they mean that the internals and speakers will sound the same or similar to the existing, which the newer speakers will not do. so, check out e-bay or this forum for some good shape used KGs, and match your system up and save some $. for a sub, I'd go with as much as you can afford. in my case, I may have gone a bit big, but I do not regret it a bit. if you're interested in a KV-2 center, I have one, liked it, but found the Academy to be a better match for my Fortes. PM me if you are interested, the KV-2 is black, in the original box in my basement right now. I am in 06092 zip code.

nope, nothing to do with saving money. you don't always need "full charge", and full charge does not always result in the best accuracy. If any of you are shooters, think of putting a 1,700 pound projectile out at ~2,600 ft/sec (about lthe same speed as a 180 grain 30-06 hunting round), then putting a 9-gun broadside into a football stadium sized target at 27 miles away - amazing accuracy. JJ - your memory is right, in that Sandia National Labs did do an extensive investigation of the accident. But it did not conclude that there was premature ignition. The investigation focussed on the cause of the accident. When you load a 16" gun, you start by ramming the shell, using a hydraulic chain ram. the ram has two speeds, and you use high speed to ram the shell. then, you open the first powder car, and move three powder bags into the tray by hand, then ram them at low speed. then raise the powder car up, and move two or three more 110 pound powder bags and ram them, again at low speed. then close and lock the breech (an interrupted screw plug that seals the end of the barrel). insert a primer (a brass shell about the size of a 45-70 rifle cartridge), and you are ready to rock. If I attached the picture right, it shows the breech, and the loading tray (the tray is folded in half, and pivots forward when the breech is open) Each silk powder bag has a pad on one end filled with black powder. the primer fires flame into the blackpowder, which ignites the rest of the powder. each powder grain is a thumb sized cylinder (compare this to rifle or pistol powders, which are millimeter sized flakes or cylinders). the powder grains are stacked in layers within the bag, and then a few are added, usually on their sides, to make each bag weigh the same (very important to have same amount of powder in each charge, to obtain consistent muzzle velocity and maximize accuracy). What Sandia found was that if the powder was rammed at high speed, and if just enough extra powder grains were added, then the impact and friction would set off and ignite the powder. 660 pounds of powder burning creates an immense volume of hot gases - which blew the rammer back out of the end of the gun, and killed the men in Turret 2. realize that every shell and powder used on the IOWA class battleships was of WWII or Korean War vintage. yes, the area where the powder is stored (the magazine) smelled of the ether volatilizing out of the powder - but that was the way it always is. You deal with what you have. with respect to the reputation for telling the truth, I can agree that putting the former CO of the Wisconsin in charge of the investigation was an error - he had no reason to find fault with the ship or mechanism. then they jumped on presumed gay Clayton Hartwig and tried to make it a lover's quarrel and sabotage. that was all BS to me as well. I believe the conclusions of Sandia, which also make physical sense to me in how the accident occured. However, I don't get your problem with the US Navy as a whole, as I have not seen the "reputation for telling the truth" to be all that bad. But, then again, I graduated from the Naval Academy, and the honor concept actually meant and still means something important to me. Maybe your actual mileage and degree of honesty have varied. and now, I need to run out to the mailbox and check if my Donovan CD arrived today - I am in need of some hippie music to chill out. Trivia question - who played lead guitar and drums for Donovan? (hint, they ended up in Led Zeppelin)

"And then what do you do with movies like "A Glimmer of Hell"? This movie has the USS Iowa firing its 16 inch guns and then fires an over-pressure salvo that wipes out the crew in one turret. It looks like you will just have to make do with a lousy 105 to 115 db. On the other hand, you can go out and fire a 30-06 or 12 ga without ear protection to get your jollies. In the old days, shooters never wore much ear protection. Now they have a touch of tinnitus and are partially deaf, but what the hey." not to get too off-track, but the accident in turret 2 on the IOWA was not due to "an over-pressure salvo" (whatever you think that is???) it was due to the ignition of the 660 pounds of powder with the breech of the center gun open - not an explosion. (i.e., the shell was loaded, then the powder bags rammed, but the powder ignited with the back of the gun open. the expansion of gas is what killed the men and tore up the center gun bay in Turret 2). Having served on the IOWA and having lost 47 shipmates, I tend to get particular with the details of what happened that day. even with the use of foam earplugs, plus hardshell ear muff type protectors, and opening my mouth when the 16" went off, they were still so amazingly loud that no home theater, anywhere, could re-create that noise (not to mention the heat of the muzzle blast, and the rain of fine powder blowing in the air, and the smell of burnt powder - yes, it does smell like victory. and it does suck to have a constant ringing in my right ear, and a serious drop in hearing above 6,000 htz in my right ear.

can't say how the Heresy integrates. but an Academy sounds great with 4 Fortes... get them.