burtlively

let me know when you want to start up the "bose boutique" trade in store. i would love nothing more than to take some pathetic klipsch stuff in on trade, especially some heritage.

i'll take some vintage 901's but nothing else.

i would take a look at jolida. first of all they are powerful tubes and hybrids. secondly, they are relatively inexpensive. finally, they will fit quite nicely into a 2 channel rig. oh and they are beautiful. your wife will even approve of them.

my box has a coax out which helps w/the music.

you'll hear this all over this board. go with what sounds good to you. obviously this is a klipsch forum and most of us are extremely passionate about our klipsch. i for one would not own another speaker, however that is just me. follow your ears!

my suggestion would be to investigate an amp and use the yamaha as a preamp for a while. it seems to me when you put some power in those speakers you could scare the neighborhood!

i have the charter package with the music and i think it is terrific. as a matter of fact it's on the smooth jazz channel for a chick party my wife is throwing as we speak. sounds pretty good through the jolida.

good for you dude!!! i'm glad you finally got something that works for you.

dougdrake is right on. the two things i would recommend is to go with matching speakers all around (all synergy, all reference, whatever) which match (check the product website to match appropriately). secondly make sure you have the right receiver or preamp/amp combination with adequate power and adequate processing capabilities.

i like mine.

i like my rb-5 ii's. pair them with a good tube and enjoy!

adding a center in the rear (6.1) should provide a better listening experience. adding 2 channels either in the rear or side (7.1) should also provide a better listening experience. honestly i have been gunshy to try either because that means spending more $$$. my 5.1 is more than i can handle. better power and/or better speakers will always make you happier. it is your ears that matter and no matter what our opinions on this board are cannot replace what you hear. if it sounds better to you, it is better!

i got mine through cable, and when the networks decide to film in widescreen, its pretty cool, but most stuff is 4:3 and at 1080i, you can't "stretch" the picture so you get bars on the side. conversely HBO is way cool.

dougdrake is right on. BEST deal going. infocus x1 is absolutely tremendous.

so nice to see that b&k ref 50 in the sig. i am so pleased to hear your impressions w/the ref 50. you are experiencing exactly what i experienced about 6 months ago. the ref 50 has made my life utter bliss.

amen brother, the b&k is the way to go!

you will be EXTREMELY happy w/the ref 50. make sure you take the time to set it up. there is a ton of customization to do and it will be well worth the time spent.

one more thought on isf calibration. my set was running at 15,000 degrees kelvin before calibration. after calibration it was running at 4,000 degrees kelvin. as a result i can expect my set to last much longer. i invested $2,500 in this set a year ago. although it was built to last, now it should last much longer. also when we opened the set up to put on the duventyne and clean the lenses, my lenses were filthy. when you consider the $300 to extend the life of your tv, consider the investment you made in the tv. i thought isf calibration was a racket until i saw the numbers. as i stated before, this was reason enough for me. the picture quality was an added bonus. i thought i would not see a difference. not only did i see a major difference, my father in law asked if i had bought a new tv.

chuckears is right on. although i get tons of info from this forum, ht spot is incredible for a wealth of info.

http://www.imagingscience.com/ for an isf calibrator in your area. the best investment you can make from a video perspective. it was worth it to me to see the measurements of the tube temps cut in half to lengthen the life of my tubes. the improvement in video quality was an added bones. EVERYTHING looks better. even my analog cable tv. dvd's are AMAZING. consider the duventyne as well.

how much for the 200x5?

my wife missed this memo, so i e-mailed it to her FYI.

i'm not sure about all the surround formats of the ref 30. the ref 50 can be had for $2200. if you can get the ref 30 for $1000 or less, you can contact b&k to get the upgrade for $500 - $600 (i'm not sure of the exact cost). i have looked at the manual and cannot decipher what surround formats it supports, but the bottom line is after you upgrade, it will support everything imaginable. the one caveat is the remote. the ref 50 uses the ht master 700 and it is absolutely awesome!!! i know the ref 30 has a good remote, but it isn't the ht master 700. nevertheless you have to determine whether it is worth the coin to get into separates. i can tell you from past experience that although your denon is top shelf, moving to a separate preamp/processor will absolutely blow your mind. the sound and flexibility is incredible! i have not second guessed my purchase for a millisecond. the ref 50 has provided the most important upgrade to my system i have ever made. on the topic of the popping when changing sources, i have read the same reviews. it does happen sporadically with my system, but it is no big deal. i have found it to be annoying only when i had the volume way up and chose to change sources. obviously others have strong opinions in the other direction. i have also heard challenges with talking to a human from b&k support, but when i called to get some direction on using the rs-232 port, i got a human within 30 seconds. there is a good b&k forum at home theater spot if you want some more perspectives.

i have seen some ref 30's with the upgrade to make them ref 31's which give you everything the ref 50 has w/a slim chassis and no balanced outputs. if you get the b&k you won't be dissappointed!

EAR, here's the deal with the coin and the ml subs. you can take a coin and stand it up in the middle of the sub. no matter how hard you push the sub, the coin will not fall. this is amazing because it takes a bit of time to balance the coin in the first place. if you barely touch it or bang the sub itself, the coin will fall over. the dealer showed me this "trick" to demonstrate the engineering of the sub. we did this with the descent, so i can't speak for the depth. it's not like there was a lack of bass either. we fired up clapton's one more car, one more rider, and drove the system hard. quite amazing. i'm not rushing to the store to trade in my klipsch just yet, but one day when i've got the means, my true ht will be krell/ml.