tpg

Heh... Sounds like you've got a similar "good" wiring as I do. Whoever wired my house should be shot. My room is on one breaker along with half of another nearby room and part... The bathroom wiring is on the same breaker as the air conditioner, washing machine, and the dishwasher (which is downstairs)... When I turn on my receiver, my lights dim briefly and snap back. They also used to do this when I would turn on the power amp for my ex-sub. I rarely listen loud enough that I would dim the lights or anything... I wonder if using a power conditioner would even help in that case. If your sub is drawing that much power, I think you may have bigger issues than a power conditioner can fix...

Another interesting thing about my particular sub... according to the serial number it was the fifth F112 made. [] My dealer said that JL has just decided to raise the prices. I think he said the F112 will now retail for $2600, the F113 for $3000-ish, and the Gotham for $9000. And, the surround is foam.

I have searched a long time for a sub that fits exactly what I want, and I think I finally have it. I've tried DIY and had pretty good results (my last sub was REALLY powerful) but there was always something missing. I had difficult criteria: immense slam for home theater; punch for rock music; and smooth, invisible bass for classical music and soundtracks. It is very difficult to find something that does all of this... My solution was going to be to buy two of the new TC Sounds woofers and throw them in a slightly-too-small sealed box and EQ them to be nearly flat to 20Hz. But, this was going to cost a fortune and require me to build something again (I am a very poor carpenter). So, I started looking at Paradigm, Velodyne, Klipsch, SVS, Sunfire, etc., etc. subs. On a whim, I went to my local dealer and they had just received... JL Audio Fathoms and Gothams. Naturally, the Gotham was out of the question because of cost. But, the Fathom F112 (12" model with 1500 watt amp) was at the upper-upper end of my price range (the end that I really didn't want to go to unless it was absolutely necessary). Once I saw it, heard it, and learned about its features, it was necessary to let the budget go. The JL website tells about all of its features, for those who are interested. It sports a 1500 watt amp that I am told is very similar in design to those of the Sunfire subs that powers a 12" woofer that possibly has nearly 4" peak-to-peak excursion (no one knows for sure). The woofer is a redesigned version of the W7 that was made specifically for home use. It also features an automatic room equalization circuit, master/slave feature that lets you control more than one JL sub from one location, variable crossover at 12dB or 24dB per octave, ELF Trim (which cuts the bass below 25Hz for music if the bass seems muddy), and completely variable phase to match seamlessly with your mains. I briefly contemplated purchasing the 13" version of the Fathom, but now that I've had it home, I can honestly say that the 12" is more than capable. It weighs in at around 115 pounds and comes packed in a thick cardboard box with large plastic feet on the bottom as shock absorbers, I suppose. The sub was wrapped in a black felt bag instead of the usual plastic of other audio equipment I've purchased (the bag is somewhat visible beneath the grill in the pictures). This was a very nice touch. You also get the room-EQ mic and a very long cord. The amp plate on the back of the sub takes up the whole back and never gets warm. The power cord is absolutely huge- almost 1/2" in diameter it seems. For the first few days, I ran the sub in Defeat mode (defeats the room-eq) since I hadn't run the room eq yet. It sounded great. For classical music, it was smooth and transparent and never drew attention to itself. Then, for rock music, it had slam and showed its raw power. I still haven't tried it out with movies (lack of time), but I imagine it is great there as well. Earlier today I ran the auto-EQ, which was very simple to do. This smoothed the frequency response out even more and it now blends even better than before. I can definitely recommend these subs to those who want a lot of power that still sounds very musical. I can imagine that the sub will only get better with time as it breaks in. Now for a few pictures...

I will start a new thread for comments on this so as not to hijack this one...

I was in the exact same boat as you until Friday. I am running KLF-30 mains, and though I only have about 50 watts to them (but, in truth, they usually only see about 1/2 watt at the most), they are still very sensitive and it is difficult to find a sub that can keep up with them without fizzling out. My sub list was virtually the same as yours- I was looking at either a cheaper sub around $800 or going "all out" and picking up a sub around the $2000-ish range. I was looking at the Velodyne DLS5000, SPL1500R, HGS-15X, Paradigm Servo-15 v.2, Sunfire True Sub Signature, Sunfire Dominator D12, Klipsch RW-12, Klipsch RSW-12 or RSW-15, many of the SVS offerings, and probably some others I am forgetting... Because of my poor location, I was unable to hear any of these (although I heard the Velodyne DLS4000, which sounded decent, but not a major step up from what I currently had). I have Paradigm, Klipsch, Sunfire, B&W, and Velodyne dealers in the area, but no one stocks much of anything (except really low-end models). Special orders are non-returnable. In the end, I went to the last dealer on my list and they just happened to have the new JL Fathom and Gotham subs. I picked up a Fathom F112 for a little more than I had hoped, but I feel good about it nonetheless. My second choice would probably be the Paradigm Servo-15 v.2 because it seems to be a little beefier than the Velodyne HGS-15X and is the same price. Or you could wait for the flagship Klipsch sub... But, if you are like me, I wanted it NOW and didn't think clearly......

I am currently running a pair of RB-3's wired in parallel as my center channel. It is definitely probably not ideal, but since I don't listen very loudly, my receiver is not complaining yet. Paralleling speakers will put an extra strain on the amp, but since they are relatively efficient (I typically draw less than 1/2 watt while listening) there shouldn't be too many problems...

I just found these last night and was wondering if they happened to be Class D... The features list looks great, though, and they are a decent price to boot.

I have used eBay's second chance offer myself. But, this was not a second chance offer or any type of email from eBay. It came directly from a Hotmail email that I'd never seen before. I had no correspondance with the seller, so I don't see how it could have come from him. The general rule I've picked up is that if an email is most likely legitimate, it will have something like "eBay Seller: seller_name" in the subject and will have multiple eBay signatures throughout the email. Plus, you'll get it in your eBay messages section. This message had no eBay signings and didn't show up in My eBay. So, I am assuming it is fake...

Thanks, guys... I was pretty sure it would turn out to be too good to be true. I didn't reply to the person, and I don't think I will. If I reply, it may confirm what my email actually is and release a torrent of these kind of emails (or worse). In response to a question above, I never asked the seller any questions, so I don't think he could have gotten my direct email that way. I will let this pass... Thanks again for the responses.

I recently bid a decent sum of money on a rather high-dollar item that later sold for about three-times by bid amount when it ended on Thursday. That night, I received an email from someone (I don't recognize the name) saying they could give me a good deal on an item just like the one I bid on but didn't win. This sounds all well and good, but I am slightly confused about how I got this message. The email came directly to my main email inbox and does not mark eBay Seller: seller_name as the sender or subject. Instead, it came directly from the person's Hotmail email. The messages section of My eBay also does not have a new message listed. So, I am wondering how it is that someone got my email from eBay and managed to send a message directly to my inbox (my email and eBay username are 100% completely NOT related) without the message coming from eBay. Also, how exactly would they know that my email is associated with bidding on this item if they didn't use eBay to get my email (again, my email is totally unrelated). What is going on here? I am tempted to respond because it would be nice to get a good deal on something for a change. However, I would not like to open up a torrent of spam emails or worse by responding. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Thanks all...

It could be that the power caps in the receiver are failing or have failed. This often produces a loud, annoying hum... If that is the case, you'd have to open the amp up and replace the caps. Wait for a second opinion before doing anything, though...

Darn! I have been looking for a good deal on a servo sub for some time now... Too bad I am in western KY... []

I reset everything manually for each source... So I think I will hold off on resetting the processor unless it freaks out on me again in the near future. I will look in the manual to see if there is any mention of the wierd symbols I saw. As far as keeping the amp down, it is strictly a power amp, so it runs full throttle all the time...

NOS- It definitely has pre-outs. I would never have bought it otherwise... I've had the Forte since November and have never gotten to hear how good it sounds because my old receiver didn't have pre-outs and I didn't have a preamp (and I never picked one up). I saw this receiver and fell in love with its features, price, and the fact that it had pre-outs. I've had the whole thing going now for a little over two hours with no problems. The Forte is warm and everything sounds great. It must have just been a glitch with the EzSet+ because all of my settings looked wierd when that thing got finished. It is even playing nice with my sub (an astounding feat). PS- Does anyone know how much abuse KLF-30's can take? They got brutally beaten last night by accident...

The loud bass was part of the intro to the song (it is something falling down a well something like that... so a lot of boom.....boom....booom kind of things as it hits the sides and bounces off). So, I didn't have a 60Hz issue (thank goodness, because I did before I got the HK). There is an ever so slight buzz and 60Hz hum, but it is inaudible and can only be noticed with your ear right up next to the speakers. The back-story: I had a CD playing but decided to run the EZSet+ to get everything calibrated without me doing it (my meter never seems to show the same level across all speakers even if you max out the adjustment settings and by then it is WAY too loud). So, EZSet+ started and ran. While running, my mains started making wierd humming sounds toward the end of every pink noise burst. This made me think it was overloading the input of my Forte 1a because the surrounds and center never did this when they were tested at the same levels. So, EZSet+ finished and turned itself off. I unplugged the mic and the receiver turned the CD back on to the main outputs. This is when the incredibly loud music started. At -80 (mute), the system was inaudible. But, at just -79, it was playing as loudly as if it were at 0 or maybe even maxed out to +whatever it goes to. I turned off the amp, and left it off a few minutes while I looked at the settings EZSet+ had determined for me. They were quite strange. It had everything set wrong... no center or surrounds (and I have both connected and they were playing), levels all messed up- mains were +10 each, others showed wierd symbols like = or <.... So, I cleared all the EZSet+ settings and redid everything myself (with the remote). When I powered everything back up, it played fine. So, because of what I did in between, I actually don't know whether it was the receiver or the amp (I wasn't thinking clearly at the time because I was a little freaked out). Is it a miracle that my speakers survived such an ordeal? I mean, the amp only does 50WPC in Class A, so they should be able to take 150W over that and 1000W peak... but, this was some low, loud bass (much louder than my sub has ever played the same passage). I find it incredibly strange how temperamental more expensive components are. My old $400 (or was it $300) Onkyo never gave me any fits at all. Of course, it doesn't sound as good. But... it has always been reliable.

The amp is a pure power amp, yes. I know that it is always on playing full volume... But, something freaked out during the EZSet function. The fronts were making wierd noises during the pink noise bursts. And then the stuck-full-blast afterwards was too much to stand. I was really hoping it wasn't something that went wrong in the HK. Should I worry? I am actually rather afraid to listen to it too much now in case of a repeat offense. I am astonished that my speakers weren't blown (when I say loud bass, I mean louder just from my mains than my sub has EVER played in my room). I am still in shock, really... Just hoping the woofers of my speakers didn't bottom or something. I know this isn't the HT forum... But do you think the HK will have a similar freak-out if I just leave its settings alone now? I reset everything manually to pretty much what it should be. I just wonder how likely it is that it will mess up when playing... I have used my old (and not-so-great sounding) Onkyo receiver for several years now and I trust that thing 100%. I have left it playing all day before... gone outside, taken a shower, left the house for a couple hours... Never any trouble from it. Since I started upgrading, I've run into more trouble and horrible scares than I could imagine ever having. What gives?

I am wondering this because it seems to have happened to me... I just bought a new Harman Kardon AVR240 receiver to use for surround sound and as a preamp for my Forte Audio 1a power amp (50WPC Class A). I hooked everything up and decided to go the "express" route and do the EZSet+. Everything was going fine until the second run-through of tones. The front left/right started making wierd "shrng" noises when the tone was playing. I didn't think much of it... until EZSet turned off and music came back on. OH MY GOSH!!!! I have never been so startled in my life. Unwordly LOW, LOUD bass was coming out of my mains by themselves (no sub, no xover). I am talking loud... So loud I was sure they were blown from the excursions. I could hear the cones flapping. As far as I know, though, they didn't bottom (miraculously). I didn't hear any clacking or anything like that, just flapping. And, the REALLY strange part, this was happening at -79dB on the volume scale (with -80 being mute). I turned the amp off and back on and the problem has stopped. I also changed the settings of EZSet back to my own... Does anyone know why this may have happened? Could my amp have been stuck in LOUD or was it the receiver? Should I worry about this in the future (dumb question because I will most definitely worry about this EVERY time I listen from now on). I am REALLY afraid of this amp... It seems too darned powerful. I need some comforting advice here, guys...

Congrats on the new PC! It sounds like what I SHOULD have bought... I also just bought a new computer. I got a laptop (Mobile Athlon 4000+ 2.6GHz, 1GB RAM, ATI X600). I have had nothing but trouble trying to get it to run my beloved old games... [:'(] I am really considering taking it back (which WOULD be a shame, because my other machine is a 6-year-old 850MHz HP). What are your thoughts about XP Media Center? My laptop has it as well, but I don't really see me needing its features...

I just purchased a new Gateway laptop yesterday (Friday) and am trying to get it to "play nice" with my 6-year-old HP. I have a very antiquated Alcatel USB DSL modem that I use to connect to the internet. I currently have Internet Connection Sharing set up on my old HP, using the modem to dial out to the internet. My laptop and the HP are connected with a crossover cable. At present, the internet is working fine on both the laptop and the desktop. Except for one thing... When I have the firewall software (ZoneAlarm Pro) running on the HP, I cannot access the internet with my laptop. I told it to use ICS by clicking on the Advanced button, but every time I set it up to run this way, my Windows task bar changes colors and I get an error message saying that I need to insert my Windows XP CD because a file has been changed to an unrecognized version and needs to be corrected. My internet connection then dies completely (although it says it is still connected). Restarting the HP and turning off my firewall fixes the problem. So, at present, I am running without firewall because I cannot get ICS to work with my ZoneAlarm. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any suggestions? I feel very vulnerable without my firewall... Thanks all!

I was going to... but people frequent this section much more than the Aragon section, so I thought I might have better luck here.

I need a decent preamp to match with my Forte Audio 1A power amp... I really don't want to spend much because I am not sure if these components will be staying with me long. Anyway, I read down in the Aragon section that any 24V supply should work ok, but is this true? The preamp doesn't come with the IPS (nor does it come with any power supply). Would it be worth my trouble trying to locate a power supply?

Well, I haven't had any experience with them, but their products do look very nice. Perreaux is a New Zealand based company that makes all kinds of hi-fi stuff. Check out their website: http://www.perreaux.com/ Did the seller mention which amplifier and preamp he is selling?

Well, if you get a discount at Best Buy, I'd also get a receiver from them. The Pioneer VSX-1015 is probably the best for the money. I think it retails for $499 there, but is often on sale for $475 or thereabouts. With discount, it may even be much cheaper. You might also look at the similar Yamaha products, but I am not sure they'll compare as nicely for the money.

I'm currently running a Forte Audio 1A, which is 50-watts per channel in pure Class A, and was designed by Nelson Pass, with my KLF-30's. The circuit topology or the Forte is a little different (push-pull vs. the single-ended of the Alephs), but the sound should remain quite similar. I do have some idle noise, which, unfortunately, does bother me quite a bit. I think it is my haphazardly thrown together "passive preamp", but I'm not 100% positive. These amps seem to be quite picky, but do sound quite good when you finally make them happy. I'd definitely give the Aleph 3 a shot if I had the chance.

I used to buy impulsively like that... but then I started running out of money... With that price range, you have a few good options... You could pick up a cylinder or box sub from SVS. You could also buy a Dayton Titanic 15" sub kit from Parts Express, which will require some assembly, but is a good deal overall. Or, you could buy a different driver and build a sub of your own design (which is what I did). I am happy with the performance of my sub, but not the looks. It is ugly as heck, as I am a horrible carpenter. I cannot see dishing out $200 for someone to build me a new box either. The Sub-12 would probably match quite well, I've heard good things about it. The RW-12, again, would be good... I;d say an RSW-12 would be better, though. Also might try looking for used Velodynes (this is what I am going to do soon...). I've kind of been out of the audio loop for a few months because of school... so maybe someone else has some more insightful comments that we both can learn from. []