picky

Hmm..I see that Mr. McGoo and I are "twins"! Must be the "AV-DNA!"

Glenbarn: As another satisfied Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi and DV-47Ai user I totally agree with Mr. McGoo: I love the results I am getting from this combination via the Firewire (i-Link). In addition, I must tell you that the VSX-49TXi also makes a huge difference in how all of my other components sound within the room as well. That includes my (ancient) turntable, and my Digital High-Definition Cable decoder box (Comcast). The sound I get off the cable is remarkable. The receiver's self-calibration is easy and quick to do. The results illustrate that the receiver's adjustments are quite thorough. Although, I cannot on report a comparison with Yamaha products as you have asked, I can tell you that I have always highly respected their offerings. When I purchased my system late, last year, my initial considerations for a receiver were offering from Pioneer Elite, Yamaha and Denon (all respected brands). I did not get the opportunity to audition the Yamaha products (Sorry). I also agree with Mark's Dad: These are all very good machines, and ultimately, it really does end up with your own ears and personal desires being the deciding factor. I will tell you that many people do find the 150-page VSX-49TXi Owner's Manual to be quite intimidating. But, rest assured, the self-calibration has already read the manual (and apparently, it understands it, too!). So, give these babies a whirl at your local dealer and see what you think. Perhaps, the saleman will be able to answer any set-up questions you may have? Best of luck! -Picky

AVMAN: Yeah, it would be nice to hear what you think about the D-VHS setup BEFORE I spend the $90 bucks! Thanks. -Picky

Lovehertz: 'Video Essentials' (Joe Kane Productions) just released a brand new version of their calibration DVD called 'Digital Video Essentials' (DVD for NTSC). It was released September 9, 2003. It contains the very latest information of any of the calibrations disks I've seen and includes High-definition anamorphic widescreen setup. I just received a copy last Friday that I had ordered through Amazon.com for $17.49. Although the AVIA disk is good, it was released in 1999 and it is more expensive ($37.46). The old Video Essentials was originally released in 1997. I have not had the chance to try my new disk out yet. I'll let you know what I think of it. The reviews I have read say that the Digital Video Essentials DVD tends to have more video setup stuff and the AVIA DVD tends to lean more towards Audio-setup stuff, although both DVDs do cover both topics. So, you will have to decide which you prefer. One last note, 'Digital Video Essentials' is also available in D-VHS tape format for the calibration of 720p and 1080i HDTV theaters. They are understandibly more costly at $89.99. I may get one to calibrate my projector for my JVC D-VHS deck. I hope this information helps you. Best of luck! -Picky

Oh!...if I only had MORE ROOM.........!!!!!! Congrats! -Picky

Sorry, m00n. I've only seen this theater from his site. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting it yet first hand. I'm sure I will some day. I'll let you know how it sounds then. I'm sure it's awesome. He is a perfectionist and I'm sure everything in his theater mirrors that image. -Picky

Hey! Check out the bass shakers on the theater seats in my friend's theater. He's got a really nice theater and theater site: http://www.fatbulldog.com/ -Picky

I chose it over the AVIA DVD because the AVIA was released in 1999 and the DVE disk was released earlier THIS MONTH (9/3/2003)!!! It's a newer, improved release of the original DVE from 1997. The new one includes improvments over the first release and includes HDTV screen setup. To find out more about both disks, please follow this link to a site that compares the two: http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/aviaorve.html So, thanks again, guys! -Picky

Thank you for your suggestions, gentlemen. I believe that if I do follow through with building some type of enclosure that I will likely use an interpetation of each of your suggestions. Thanks, again for the good advice. I spoke with my projector dealer this morning: another good arguement for buying such a complex piece of gear from a showroom rather than from the internet (after-sales customer support). He had this suggestion: I am currently running my projector lamp on "Cinema" (bright) mode. He said to switch the lamp to "Normal" (standard) mode and consider the purchase of either the AVIA or DVE (Digital Video Essentials) theater calibration DVDs. Not only will the "Normal" mode lengthen the life on my projector's bulb by 40% or more (>$$CH-CHING!!!$$<) , but the fan noise decreases greatly on "Normal" mode as well. He said that after calibrating my projector with one of these DVDs, and then giving myself two weeks to adjust to the new settings, should allow me to be thrilled by more contrast, higher definition, and greater resolution while enjoying lower fan noise. He also said to be sure my room is dark. It is! I can vouch for the fan noise, as when it is set to "Normal" brighteness, it's nearly impossible to hear the fan. If this works, then problem solved! I ordered the DVE DVD a few minutes ago from Amazon for $17 and change.

As my home theater construction continues, it seems as though at each step, one more thing reveals itself as an issue that I had not considered in the original design. I've been viewing movies in my HT now for months. But, the room is getting gradually more quiet as the walls become finished. Because my HT is built in the basement of our home, and it's a rather small home that was built in 1943, it does not have a very deep basement. At the tallest point, the joists in the ceiling barely measure 7 feet down to the floor. My front projector hangs from these joists, putting the bottom of the projector about 6 feet from the floor. Some of my seating is directly beneath the projector, which places a person's head less than 3 feet away from the projector's bottom. The projector's fan is rated at a noise level of approximately 35 db, which normally, should be a whisper 4 feet away. Most of the time, one does not hear the projector. The problem occurs during quiet pauses in the movie. Having a 35 db wide-band noise two feet from your head in a quiet room can become very annoying. Have any of you seen plans out there on the web (or have plans of your own to share) for building a silent, ventilated projector hush box? Thanks! -Picky

m00n: I don't know if this will help you, but I found this thread today on the STC-rating of soundboard (Sound-Transmission Class). It also has a link at the bottom of it's page to more information. I hope this helps! http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/soundbd1.html Additional info: http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/faq10.html -Picky

Oops! I can see why you thought I had my RS7's in-wall by the way I had my profile worded. Sorry, m00n. It's the RCW-5's that are in the rear wall. The RS-7's hang by their mounting holes on each of the side walls. Sorry for the confusion! I have changed my profile to correct this. Thanks! -Picky

Correct, both Proj101 and Texas42! Just as I'd mentioned: We each hear sounds differently. And as I have aged (I am now 51) I have noticed a slight changes in my hearing, even though I can still hear very high-end sounds, the amount I hear of them has appartently been somewhat diminished. I do still pass hearing tests with flying colors, however. Perhaps, I am now less sensitive to this two-way Vs three-way phenomenon and the airyness that some of you say you miss? Although, getting old really sucks, age usually tends to bring one benefit with it for most of us: more money to buy better toys!!!! I'm not trying to say that RF-7s are going to be the best solution for everyone. That would be imposible and improbable. But, I do know they fit the bill for me and the wife! Also, I owe Texas42 an enormous appology: I mis-stated the model number of my living room Polk Speakers. These are NOT the huge towers (SDA-SRS) that some of us lusted over some 12 to 15 years ago. These towers are the smaller SDA-2's (I believe). They have a 1" dome tweeter, 2- 6" woofers and a 12" passive radiator. I use them in conjunction with a 10" powered Polk subwoofer, and a rather large, Polk center channel speaker. A thousand pardons, Tex! -Picky

Hey m00n: The THX folks would love you! They profess that ALL drivers should be identical (including the surrounds and rears), so you are 1/3 of the way there so to speak! I understand the screen-near-the-ceiling thing. The only way around that would be if you had a lot of room to place the RF-7 behind the screen and used one of those acoustically-transparent screens. I don't know about your place, but I know I certainly don't have much room to play with when it comes to placing large components. So, that is not an option for my HT. I have my RC-7 beneath my screen and no complaints, yet. I'm not surprised yours sounds so good! The entire front end it perfectly matched! That's pretty cool! -Picky

I've seen some excellent rear-projection offerings of late in the 50" to 65" range from Pioneer Elite, Hitachi and Toshiba. The latter two of which also carried great pricing. (at Circuit City). -Picky

Continued: Some were two-way and some were three-way. The Klipsch were the only horns. Out of all of those systems, my wife and I both agreed immediately: The Klipsch were the only no-compromise speakers we'd heard, regardless of whether it was a CD or a DVD we were listening to. The Klipsch reference series to me, sound excellent, and I do not detect anything missing from the midrange on the recordings that I am intimately familiar with, such as 'Crazy On You' by Heart and others. It is my opinion that the RF's, regardless of the model (3, 5, 7, etc), sound crisp and accurate in all ranges. I do not seem to miss the midrange driver. However, you hearing is different from mine and perhaps your ears require more mid-range definition than mine? It's a hard comparison to make. Good luck! -Picky

Hi, Pinipig: I'm afraid that I cannot tell you "why" they don't have midrange drivers in the Klipsch reference and synergy series speakers, but I CAN tell you this: I own a new pair of RF-7's, an old pair of Polk SRS/SDA Towers, and a VERY old pair of ADS L-810's. Both the Klipsch and Polk are considered to be two-way systems. The Polk's actually have a non-powered, 12 inch bass radiator that they like to refer to as being 2-1/2 way, but I disagree. The ADS are true three-way speakers. With that said, I used to be in love with the sound of three-way, domed mid-range and dome tweeter equipped speakers! I hated horns and two-ways because I did not think they did an accurate job in the mid-range region. I bought ADS's in 1976 and they were awesome. They had incredibly accurate and crisp mids and highs coming from their domes. But, being mid-sized speakers, they could not handle the power I wanted to throw through them. I liked my music much louder when I was a young man (most do). I bought the Polks about 12 years ago becuase they could take 600 watts, and ever since I have felt that, although they have an excellent overall sound, they compromise the mid-range, greatly! NOW: Enter Klipsch reference series. I listened to 10 different brand systems last fall. Everything from BMW-to-Martin Logan-to-Klipsch-to-Meridian (which I cannot afford). Continued below:

Hi, Chizler: I have a pair of RCW-5's in the rear wall channels of my 7.1 HT. Their power handling capacities are identical to those of the RCW-3's (50-watts max continous, 200-watts peak). Rated at 8 ohms, I drive mine using a Pioneer Elite receiver (see list below) that has the potential output power of 130-watts RMS (continous) per channel (at 8 ohms). I listen to my movies and music at fairly realistic levels. Given the good sensitivity rating of the RCW-5's: 94db @ 1 watt/1 meter (93db for the RCW-3's), it is quite believeable that the speakers will seldom ever see 50 watts input, let alone their maximum rated input of 200 watts. It is my opinion that the RCW-3's should be an excellent choice for your system. Ours sound wonderful. I do know that my wife likes the looks of our RCW-5's that are in our basement HT enough that she said she'd like to see them eventually replace all of the tower and satellite speakers we have in our upstairs livingroom. I highly recommend them to you. Best of luck! -Picky

Although I am currently using 12 ga Tributaries-brand cable on my HT and 12 ga Monster cable on my living room setup, I can remember when I used good, old 14 ga lamp cord from the hardware store and never had any problems. (Lamp cord polarity can be discerned by the edges or grooves in the insulation on one side and smooth on the other.) It was 14 cents a foot and I'd run amplifiers having as much as 150 Watts per channel (RMS) with no problem at all with runs up to 30 feet. When I ran commercial sound for bands in the local Detroit bar/club-circuit, I used wiring snakes that I had custom-made. Anything between 250 & 1,000 watts and up to 50 ft was 10 ga and anything over that in wattage and/or footage I ran 8 ga cable. HEAVY AND VERY EXPENSIVE! In most cases, lamp corp should work fine under 30ft. If you are going up to 50 FT, I recommend 12 ga cable. Buying the more-expensive stuff is good for one's conscience, but I'm not so sure the equipment really "knows" the difference. But, I can only speak for my own experiences. -Picky

Hey TomL1967: My HT is in my basement and the ceiling varies from about 7 ft to about 6.5 ft (luckily, I have short friends ). But the room dimensions aren't much different from yours: 11 ft wide by 17 ft long. As you can see from my equipment below, I am using the RF-7's as my two mains (left and right) and I must tell you that they sound perfect in that environment....low ceiling and all. I say...if they fit...use 'em! -Picky

Ah....Christmas in September! It's so much fun to get "STUFF", isn't it? I just love the smell of brand new semiconductors! I'm excited for you! I bet you'd be up till 4 in the morning playing with your new toys! I know I would! Live it UP! -Picky

On that receiver selection, it's pretty hard to beat your choice of the Pioneer Elite VSX-55TXi. That's Pioneer's brand new answer to those who don't wish to lay out a king's ransom for the 49, yet still want many of the 49's features, including i-Link and bass management for SASC and DVD-Audio. I think it's a great choice. The only other way I might go would to be to look at what Denon offers. But, I'm sold on the Elites at this point. HAPPY SHOPPING! -Picky

Yikes! SDDS? Hey m00n, I am all for the latest technology too. But as "Oven Mit" in the Arby's comercials says, "Will it ever en----d?....." (LOL) Please, correct me if I am wrong but, SDDS appears to currently apply to only commercial setups. Is this true? I too, would enjoy experiencing SDDS as well. Let us know if you hear anything on the consumer-front, m00n. Getting back to 7.1, I must recommend it highly to "i080054". I have 5.1 in my video production suite and 7.1 in my theater. And, although the 5.1 sounds dazzling at times, I receive so many more comments about the 7.1 setup, such as, "Hey! I keep hearing sounds coming from behind me. Are there speakers back there somewhere?" (Yes....in the walls!) 7.1 really takes things to the next dimension. As for 7.1 being considered as "overkill", I can only say that the one aspect that I can consider to be "overkill" could be 7.1's actual price (extra speakers and the processing equipment, etc.). But, if that is not an issue for you, then, I'd say go for it! -Picky

Holy Moly! That's awesome. All we've got is one, lowly slot machine! Hey, live it up! -Picky

Please do not feel bad about your Pioneer's volume setting. I have the Klipsch reference system (see below) and Pioneer's Flagship receiver, the VSX49TXi, which calibrates itself. During most movies (in DVD), I set my volume control at -9 db and I get realistic sound levels from my speakers at that level. I was a bit concerned, too when I first got my Pioneer. But, I guess that's just the way they function. There certainly is no audible distortion at that level for me. Hopefully, yours is the same story. Also, when I watch digital cable, I must reduce the volume to about -16 db, as apparently the gain on my digital cable must be higher than that of my DVD player. Best of luck! Enjoy that Pioneer! -Picky