DTLongo

That's not such a basic question. Receiver and DVD player combinations can be quirky and you may have to experiment a bit. If your receiver has an HDMI input/bypass, you should run the HDMI cable from your player to that input and be sure you have the player and receiverr both set to HDMI outpuit and input respectively. Then run the HDMI output from the receiver to your TV to get picture to the TV (+ sound for when you may want to use thre TV speakers). If you are running digital audio out via coaxial or optical cable to your receiver, you should be sure that both the DVD output and receiver inputs are set accordingly. But there's an additional quirk here. I found that when I ran my new Oppo via digital coaxial out to my (non-HDMI) Harman-Kardon AVR 235 receiver, with the DVD player set to the manual-recommended "RAW" digital audio position, the receiver would lose lock on the audio every time I jumped to a new scene, fast-forwarded, paused, or anything. It would revert from 7.1 to 5.1 and I had to go through a whole bunch of button presses to regain 7.1. Maddening. But when I switched the DVD optical output to "PCM," everything worked fine and continues to do so, steady as a rock. So, experiment around some and let us know how you make out.

So, it appears that the thrust of replies is that I was on to something with my original query. Hollywood DOES purposely degrade movies by softening them and by other cinematographic filtering, etc. Hollywood is not alone, network TV does too. It is not a technicasl problem, it is choice. For example, Letterman and Leno look fine in HDTV but other programming is softened. "West Wing" was so softened as to be virtually unviewable, at least to me. So the question remains, unless you're a cartoon or sports fan, why in the world invest in either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, especially given the format war, if the movie DVD's one will be purchasing for them are degraded such that HD can't show its crispest best?

I am motivated to write this by experience with a newly purchased Oppo DV-981 HD upconverting DVD player that I have had up and running for a week now, hooked up via HDMI to my 50" Pioneer plasma HDTV. Based on its many positive reviews, I purchased the Oppo ($230 from Amazon.com) as an interim player until the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format war is resolved one way or another. I expected definite picture improvement from the Oppo compared to my regular DVD player, a Sanyo. But, the picture improvement is MARGINAL. There is a slight improvement in general but nothing dramatic or stunning. Slightly better clarity and slightly better color but nothing that would blow one away. On the other hand, the AUDIO improvement through the Oppo is very noticeable, even dramatic, especially in the back channels. Definitely a plus. I strongly suspect the nil picture improvement is because of Hollywood's tendency to soften the sharpness of movies as compared to the crystal sharpness that one can see, say, on Discovery HDTV and some ESPN HDTV. Why Hollywood does that, I don't know. Sometimes "making-of" featurettes on DVD's are sharper than the movie itself, which reinforces my sense that Hollywood "fuzzes-up" the final movie, for whatever reason. I saw the latest Bruce Willis flick "Live Free or Die Hard in in a local "digital" theater a few days ago. The image there too was less than crystal clear, it was soft. Given this phenomenon, I am skeptical that Hollywood movies so degraded would look dramatically better on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray than they already do on the Oppo or even my previous player. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray may simply not be worth their cost not only because of the format war, but because the source material, the movie, is purposely softened such that the expected high-def improvement is negated. Does anyone know whether it is tru that Hollywood purposely "degrades" movies as described above. If so, why?

Further to my July 18 post, here are first impressions of my Oppo DV-981 HD upconverting DVD player that I have had up and running for a week now, hooked up via HDMI to my 50" Pioneer plasma HDTV. Picture improvement over my previous Sanyo DVD player is MARGINAL. There is a slight improvement in general but nothing dramatic or stunning. Slightly better clarity and slightly better color but nothing that would blow one away. I strongly suspect this is because of Hollywood's tendency to soften the sharpness of movies as compared to the crystal sharpness that one can see, say, on Discovery HDTV and some ESPN HDTV. Why Hollywood does that, I don't know. Sometimes "making-of" featurettes on DVD's are sharper than the movie itself, which reinforces my sense that Hollywood "fuzzes-up" the final movie, for whatever reason. I saw the latest Bruce Willis flick "Live Free or Die Hard in in a local "digital" theater a few days ago. The image there too was less than crystal clear, it was soft. Given this phenomenon, I am skeptical that Hollywood movies so degraded would look dramatically better on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray than they already do on the Oppo or even my previous player. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray may simply not be worth their cost not only because of the format war, but because the source material, the movie, is purposely softened such that the expected high-def improvement is negated. On the other hand, the AUDIO improvement through the Oppo is very noticeable, even dramatic, especially in the back channels. Definitely a plus.

Well, it appears despite the passage of time that the format war is just continuing to slog along. Count me out, I am not going to be burned by Beta vs. VHS again. Am investing $230 in an Oppo DV-981HD upconverting DVD player in the expectation that it will noticeably enhance my present DVD's and ones I rent from Netflix or occasionally buy. I expect (hope) that will tide me over for the next three years or so until the wretched high-def DVD format war is won by one side or another. Of course, by that time something wholly new may be brewing, say, high-def directly downloadable from the Internet. Chissa'? (Italian for "who knows?" )

I have mint 2003 Khorns and an 2004 Belle in a 16' by 20' room along the shorter wall with perfect corners. Nobody here has mentioned how amplifier-sensitive Khorns are. With anything less than solid, strong low-frequency amplification they sound thin. But with a right amplifier, my gawd do they sing, with the purist and most satisfying MUSICAL bass I have heard from any speaker. Mine are happiest with an oldish vintage 1990 Pioneer VSX-5700S Pro-Logic receiver that I have, run in three-channel mode. With three newer Dolby Digital SS receivers I have tried them with, they sound crappy, tinny, no bass. It seems that the more "modern" multichannel receivers are designed to be subwoofer-dependent and will just not drive non-subbed right and left full-range speakers to the latter's full capability. The old Pioneer does not have a sub output and just pushes great sound through its main speaker outputs. The difference with Khorns between the Pioneer and the other amps is night and day, seriously. Doubtless, the Khorns would perform well also with tube amps but I'll let others comment on that. Just be aware that with these speakers, the AMP is critical. Otherwise, you should forego Khorns and go with some subwoofer + mains configuration. With good speakers and a a sub you will get adequate sound. But it won't be with the dramatic, enveloping purity, punch and effortlessness you get from well set up and well amped Khorns.

What is the latest wisdom among you aficionados on these two competing high-def DVD formats? Is either one achieving greater market acceptance over the other? Quality? I don't want to get burned al la Betamax versus VHS again. What do you experts think about purchasing an up-converting DVD player for around $150-$200 to tide me over until the stupid high-def DVD format war yields a winner? I have a Pioneer 50" HDTV plasma that does a very good job on standard DVD's and on cable non-premium-channels HDTV. Since I won't pay the cable ransom for HDTV HBO premium channels etc., would purchasing an upconverting DVD player make a real difference for DVD's until that format war is resolved? Tks., Tom in Delmar, MD

Where do things stand now in this format war? Having been Beta-burned years ago, I am on the fence. Has either DVD format emerged as better quality-wise?

I have 2003 Khorns in 17-ft.-apart perfect corners with a 2004 Belle center. The bass from the Khorns is the best I have ever heard from ANY speaker in terms of pure, unstrained, musical quality. For virtually all music, it's fine. For "beyond" music - bottom-octave organ, electronic - the Khorns, just like the specs say, don'y have much at all below 35 hz. They are incredible from 35 or so hz on up but, for bass nuts, a little lacking below. Solution: a good subwoofer. Yes, that sounds like bringing coals to Newcastle. But if you're really into bass, Khorns with a good sub give you the best of both worlds. Just be careful not to turn the sub up too much lest it smear the pure bass from 35 hz on up coming out of the Khorns. - Tom in Delmar, MD

Who is ahead in this format war? I had thought from Sound and Vision magazine that HD-DVD was besting Blu-Ray quality-wise. But a young salesman at Best Buy today laid an interesting comment on me. They had a HD-DVD player marked down to $399.00. Their cheapest Blu-Ray player was $799.00. The salesman intimated that BB was trying to unload the HD-DVD players since the market is settling on Blu-Ray. What's really going on. Does anybody know? I don't want to make a Betamax mistake again.

The corner-sealing challenge is nothing that you would not be able to compensate for by inexpensive foam stick-on pipe claddings frfom Home Depot or whomever. It may or may not have helped in my case, I can't really tell. Your real challenge with Khorns will be with having good clean corners in the first place, and with amplification. They are notoriously amplifier-sensitive. They reportedly love tubes. In my own experience, they vary WIDELY with solid-state amps. Newer SS amps tend to throw everything to the subwoofer, shorthchanging your front (Khorn) mains even if the amp is set to "full" not small." I had been using my '03 Khorns and '04 Belle with an older Pioneer vintage 1990 SS Dolby Pro-logic non-subwoofer-output amp run in three-channel mode with the two front mains (the Khorns) and the Belle center set to Wide. The array did sound good. But a few days ago just for curiosity I set the center to "Normal," feeding that bass to the Khorns in their perfect corners. The difference was staggering. No kidding. The Khorns had already impressed me with their pure, unstrained bass. Now they REALLY bloomed. E.g. with low organ music, one is back in church with that in-the-gut unmistakeable feeling stirred by seriously low organ that seems to set alive the very air around you. I am still leaning the parameters of these truly magnificent speakers as I play with my systemic arragements. The Khorns (and Belle) are a dream of a lifetime of audiophile me kicking around with this stuff since the 1950's. I wish you a similarly happy adventure.

"What's up with the center channel listening to stereo music?" A center channel "anchors" the imaging so that you have a solid center presentation even if you're off-axis. With just two speakers the imaging falls off to left or right if you are even slightly off-axis out of the center sweet spot. Minimum suggested dimensions for Khorns based on my (subjective) experience: 16' across, 18' room depth, at least a 7' ceiling, sweet seat 12' or 13' out equidistant between the speakers.

I wanted to share with you a relatively new website that will help your Klipschorns and other speakers shine. You need a high-speed connection and (of course) your computer audio should be hooked up to a quality amp. The site is www.pandora.com. I stumbled on it two weeks ago. You can build a series of "radio stations" of popular music to your liking. The sound quality is remarkably good. And so far it is free, though they threaten advertising in the near future unless you subscribe. Pandora sounds great even on the supersensitive Khorns. Try Dolly Parton, for example. Or Les Elgart. Or Tijuana Brass. Enjoy.

Here is a pic. I will say, there is a certain pride of ownership that goes along with these babies. I unabashedly describe them to visitors as the best speakers in the world. Maybe, maybe not, but they surely are up there among the very best and anything audibly "better" gets you into the tens of thousands of dollars range. In that league the Khorns are a bargain at their price. I will share with you one sweet moment. I volunteer with and am on the board of directors of a professional symphony orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony (www.midatlanticsymphony.org), about to start its tenth season. Our conductor and music director, a rising star, was here and auditioned the Khorns and Belle with some favorite music of his, Brahms Symphony #1 as I recall. He was mesmerized. Couldn't get enough of them. Said he had never heard sound reproduced so satisfyingly. Said he can't wait to hear them again. Nice.

Bought my new 2003 Klipschorns then and a new 2004 Belle center channel then. Would I do it again, especially the Khorns? Well, I dunno. Having hobbied with this stuff since I was a teenager building Heathkits in the 50's, and so forth, Klipschorns were a lifelong dream. And they do not disappoint but they ARE fussy. They MUST have their corners. And they are very amplifier-sensitive, which has proven to be a real challenge. And they are a bxtch when you are house-hunting. I moved here in March 2006. I looked at some 50 (!) houses before finding ONE that had what has turned out to be perfect Khorn corners. My previous house had corners but the room was still smallish. That wasn't the reason for moving but the Khorns did really complicate the house-hunt. Anyway, the short answer to the title question is, YES if you have the room and corners, NO otherwise. In the latter case use lesser, more easily placeable speakers with a subwoofer. On the other hand, I've tried my Khorns with a sub and the combo stinks. The Khorns' own bass eclipses any sub IF you can get that bass out, even if technically speaking the Khorns don't go below 35 hz. I LOVE their pure bass and their effortlessness and smoothness up through the rest of the spectrum, even at loud volumes. Vintage gear and tubes are probably the way to go with them but tubes are a difficult in a three-channel setup. In my former place I used the Khorns + Belle in a home theater, but they were overkill for that. In my present place I am using them in an audio-only setup. Having run them with some half-dozen HT amps, I have fallen back on a "vintage" old Pioneer VSX-5700S Dolby Pro-Logic receiver I have had since 1990, run in three-channel mode. It is stronger in the bass than newer stuff. It also has pre-out, main-in jumpers so I can run it with an outboard, no-longer-produced, little Radio Shack bass equalizer dating from the 1970's or so. The combo gives the Khorns an extra shove down there. I am going to be a sad little boychick when that old Pioneer finally dies, I hope never. I can see purists out there cringing with horror out there at this audio manipulation. But what I can tell you is that the combo sounds very pure and great. The Khorn sound, so bolstered, is everything that you have read on these forums. But without perfect corners and excellent amplification, practically speaking forget about it. Still, I expect these Khorns + Belle will become family heirlooms. That's in part why I bought them and I have a son who values and one hopes will inherit them.

I paid $2400 for a single (center channel) new Belle in 2004. New list was $3000, $6000/pair. So, if you paid $2400 for a nearly mint good pair, you did OK. Enjoy 'em!

Well, the "world's best speaker" question is so subjective. After several decades (I am 64 y.o. ) I achieved my 1950's audiophile dream by acquiring a new pair of 2003 Klipschorns , and a 2004 Belle Klipshch later to use all in a home theater. Upshot: these speakers are overkill for home theater. The picture pulls attention away from the sound. For home theater you will be better off with a good subwoofer + satellite system. For serious music listening, including classical, the Klipschorns win the day, bar none, relative to others that that I've heard. And, when you get into that high-end league, they are a bargain. The clarity, presence, and ability to put you right into the venue hearing the actual performance is stunning. I now have the Belle as a center channel speaker in in a three-channel audio setup, but it's really being underutilized. The Khorns do need considerable bass boost (for my ear) to come into their own, some 12db on my system, but I can do that and migawd do they sing. From around 45 hz, in terms of sheer purity and un-artifcial bass they blow away any subwoofer (including my topline Velodyne SR1500R) in terms of their effortlessness. It's quite impressive. You are IN that cathedral, etc. bass space. If any of you are in the neighborhood, contact me by email first and come by for a listen. /s/ Tom Longo, Delmar, Md.

"Is it possible to put the Khorns along the long wall to the left? If so, have you tried that?" Neither long wall has adequate corners. The one on the left abuts a large entryway. The one to the right abuts a fireplace back there. See pic.

Colin raises an interesting point. To tell the truth, when I decided I would no longer use the Khorns as previously in a home theater but in an audio-only setup, the Belle became "extra." In those corners in that room the Khorns imaged beautifully, especially from the Sweet Seat whose arms are just visible in the foreground of the picture. And, I could have gone off into two-channel tube Nirvana with just the Khorns. But what to do with that new expensive Belle? I experimented with a couple of A/V receivers and settled on the modestly priced but rather good Sony, running it in Multichannel Stereo mode. The setup does sound good, and looks good too. .

Well, Gary, Hurricane Katrina was the catalyst. Those destruction pictures really got my attention and nudged me to move away from my sea-level creek to some miles inland and a few feet higher up. My new house is on a small pretty lake so I still have water. Nice to hear from you, and by all means stop by when you're in Salisbury, I am just north of town. Yes, the home theater is in another room, powered by the HK-AVR 235 7.1 receiver. 50" Pioneer plasma, front mains are vintage Large Advents improved with new woofers (the old ones dry-rotted) and outboard tweeters, a remarkably good little Radio Shack center speaker, side and rear surrounds are Klipsch RS-45's, and a nondescript Audiovoice subwoofer does its duty OK though it is certainly no Velodyne. I will post a pic or two in Home Theater when I have time. My Bose 901 VI's are in a straight-stereo setup in another room I use for my back-up computer and as a reserve downstairs bedroom should I break or leg or something. Yeah, I know all about Bose "blose" but those vintage-1988 901's are still in great shape and sound pretty good.

It's actually a cat, Sugar by name, one of five. They rule the roost.

Pic 4 of 4, the Klipschorns and Belle set up in their new home. The Klipschorns really love this new room, they truly sing in it. The room dimensions are 15 1/2 feet wide x 17' long x 8' high. The speakers sit along the outside shorter wall, in perfect Khorn corners. Visible beyond the file cabinet on the left is part of a Velodyne S1500R subwoofer. I have three other subwoofers around this place but the big Velo is in a class by itself in complementing the Khorns wayy down low. It is almost overkill and is virtually inaudible on most music material, but the sub does add to the sub-40 hz. region on appropriate material, plus can be cranked to "excavate" bass from otherwise bass-shy material. I build a neat Heathkit amp and other kits and began messing around with speakers back in the mid-1950's. This present room and these speakers are a young-senior (64) audiophile's lifelong dream come true. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Pic 4 of 4, the Klipschorns and Belle set up in their new home. The Klipschorns really love this new room, they truly sing in it. The room dimensions are 15 1/2 feet wide x 17' long x 8' high. The speakers sit along the outside shorter wall, in perfect Khorn corners. Visible beyond the file cabinet on the left is part of a Velodyne S1500R subwoofer. I have three other subwoofers around this place but the big Velo is in a class by itself in complementing the Khorns wayy down low. It's almost overkill and is virtually inaudible on most music material, but it does add to the sub-40 hz. region on appropriate material, plus can be cranked to "excavate" bass from otherwise bass-shy material. I build a neat Heathkit amp and other kits and began messing around with speakers backin the mid-1950's. This present room and these speakers are a young-senior (64) audiophile's lifelong dream come true. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Pic 3 of 4.

Pic 2 of 4.