Home Stereo. Surround sound... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

-Ever- · 12-21-2003, 12:03 PM

Not sure where else to post this...
Basically all that my mom asked for christmas was for me and my dad to finally hook up our long-awaited surround sound in the family room for tv, movies, and music. We've always had home-stereo receivers and good speakers, but never one solid setup that was more specific and not run by an all-around receiver (CD, Phono, TV, DVD, AM/FM, etc...)
So we have some decent equipment but I feel that there are going to be some bottlenecks here and there. First, we're looking for solid, true 5.1 surround sound for dvd's. Nothing serious, just good quality and true surround sound.
After collecting all our stuff, here's what we have:

Optimus stav-3560 Pro Series receiver. 5 channels (no sub!), 240 watts, 60x4, dolby prologic)

Denon avr-600 receiver. 5.1 channels (sub looks like a mono-rca output...), not sure what the specs are. Couldn't find on the internet.

Optimus sts100 front speakers. "8 ohms, 50 watts"

Optimus Pro X5 rear speakers. "8 ohms. Power handling 15watts rms, max 30watts)

Optimus sw14 subwoofer. "8 ohms. Power handling 100watts, max 200watts." Uses two sets of speaker cable, not rca-looking in...

Optimus center speaker

Klipsch rear speakers. "100 watts cont." Large image of speakers

So I'm thinking that the optimus fronts and klipsch rears would be just fine. I'm wondering if I should look into upgrading the receiver to a true surround sound receiver that is made specifically for just tv/movies/cd's, and a better quality sub.
Let me know if you need any more info!
Thanks guys
-Tim

- image was bit too big -juan
-sorry bout that! thx for the fix

sailor · 12-21-2003, 12:27 PM

Assuming that Denon has DTS/Dolby Digital support, it should do you just fine.

I dont know much about those Optimus speakers. Assuming you arent an audiophile though, they should do you fine.

Could you describe the subwoofer more? Does it get its input from normal speaker wire? You say it doesnt have RCA, what does it have? The subwoofer is a very important part of a home theater, you want to make sure it works.

Oh, and I would have posted this in Tilted Entertainment

-Ever- · 12-21-2003, 12:31 PM

Yeah I looked in entertainment and it seems to stick to movie and book discussion lately...

The subwoofer has speaker wire inputs which seems odd to me for some reason. I just took a look at it and it's got speaker wire input (R-L) and a speaker wire output as well (R-L)

brandon11983 · 12-21-2003, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sailor420
Oh, and I would have posted this in Tilted Entertainment

Since this is audio related I think this is the right place.

Last I knew, Optimus speakers and receivers were a Radio Shack Pioneer knockoff.

And the speaker terminals on the sub are hi level inputs. The sub gets its input from the speaker wire, then the signal goes out to the speakers. This is a less preferred way of getting signal to a sub.

-Ever- · 12-21-2003, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brandon11983
Since this is audio related I think this is the right place.

Last I knew, Optimus speakers and receivers were a Radio Shack Pioneer knockoff.

And the speaker terminals on the sub are hi level inputs. The sub gets its input from the speaker wire, then the signal goes out to the speakers. This is a less preferred way of getting signal to a sub.

You say that they are high level inputs, which also means....high quality? Also, you said the signal then goes out to the "speakers" from the sub. Why do they even use this daisy chain idea when most receivers have plenty of outs?

digby · 12-22-2003, 12:32 PM

This is done because the sub will have a crossover in it. This means that the signal is being split into parts. All the low frequency content (everything up to somewhere between 80-120 Hz depending on who made the stuff) is fed to the subwoofer. Everything else is sent to the smaller speakers that don't do as good a job at reproducing bass content. A good majority of recievers do this internally anyway. They have something called Bass Management that filters everything below 80 Hz and sums this information with the sub channel. This gives the .1 channel a little more action than the occasional explosion and also allows manufacturers to use cheaper main speakers since they don't have to output the low frequenct content.

-Ever- · 12-22-2003, 02:39 PM

Great info.

So what do you guys think my bottlenecks are? Just the sub? What about the fronts? I guess I should just keep the receiver as you guys said, set it up, and just see for myself.
I think my main concern from the start was the receiver. So having that rca-looking sub out on the receiver is generally the better thing to have? (read: most of the better subs use this kind of out-in...)
Thanks
-T

brandon11983 · 12-22-2003, 05:27 PM

First off, wasn't this in Tilted Music last night?? Maybe its just me being crazy...

Quote:

Originally posted by -Ever-
You say that they are high level inputs, which also means....high quality?

No, actually this is the less preferred way of connecting a sub. It's by far better to run the sub via a dedicated sub cable. Run it from the "subwoofer out" on your receiver to the "LFE in" on your sub.

Quote:

Originally posted by -Ever-
Also, you said the signal then goes out to the "speakers" from the sub. Why do they even use this daisy chain idea when most receivers have plenty of outs?

Hi Level inputs are used for older or lower end recievers that don't have a dedicated subwoofer out on them.

Quote:

Originally posted by -Ever-
So having that rca-looking sub out on the receiver is generally the better thing to have?

Definitely.

Finding your bottlenecks all depend on the intended use and users of the system. In my personal opinion, the sub is a BIG bottleneck. I'd get rid of that. The two biggest parts of your speaker system are the center channel and the sub. These are where you should not skimp. The center channel is the hardest working speaker in the setup, as it handles about 70% of the information on the soundtrack. The other big one is the sub, this will give you the most noticeable improvement in sound. The more sub you have, the bigger the explosions and car crashes and the like can be. Although bigger doesn't always mean better, it does on a "consumer (meaning non-audiophile) level" system. With a bigger sub, you can get away with skimping on the mains and surrounds a little more, as this will take the strain off of smaller, "low frequency challenged" speakers. The only upgrade worth getting in your receiver would be one that does full video up conversion. With a receiver with this feature, you can run all your sources, whether they be composite, S, or component video, and pump them all out via one highest quality (component preferrably) cable. This simplifies use for the technologically challenged. So instead of having to constantly change inputs on their TV, all the switching is done on the reciever. Say you're watching the VCR, and you want to switch to a DVD, all you do is switch the receiver from VCR to DVD. You don't have to change inputs on the TV.

I think that should be all my input at this time, and I did spare you my recommendation of starting 100% from scratch. But then again, audio is the world to me.

sailor · 12-22-2003, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brandon11983
First off, wasn't this in Tilted Music last night?? Maybe its just me being crazy...

No, actually this is the less preferred way of connecting a sub. It's by far better to run the sub via a dedicated sub cable. Run it from the "subwoofer out" on your receiver to the "LFE in" on your sub.

Hi Level inputs are used for older or lower end recievers that don't have a dedicated subwoofer out on them.

Definitely.

Finding your bottlenecks all depend on the intended use and users of the system. In my personal opinion, the sub is a BIG bottleneck. I'd get rid of that. The two biggest parts of your speaker system are the center channel and the sub. These are where you should not skimp. The center channel is the hardest working speaker in the setup, as it handles about 70% of the information on the soundtrack. The other big one is the sub, this will give you the most noticeable improvement in sound. The more sub you have, the bigger the explosions and car crashes and the like can be. Although bigger doesn't always mean better, it does on a "consumer (meaning non-audiophile) level" system. With a bigger sub, you can get away with skimping on the mains and surrounds a little more, as this will take the strain off of smaller, "low frequency challenged" speakers. The only upgrade worth getting in your receiver would be one that does full video up conversion. With a receiver with this feature, you can run all your sources, whether they be composite, S, or component video, and pump them all out via one highest quality (component preferrably) cable. This simplifies use for the technologically challenged. So instead of having to constantly change inputs on their TV, all the switching is done on the reciever. Say you're watching the VCR, and you want to switch to a DVD, all you do is switch the receiver from VCR to DVD. You don't have to change inputs on the TV.

I think that should be all my input at this time, and I did spare you my recommendation of starting 100% from scratch. But then again, audio is the world to me.

You nailed it right there. Get that sub fixed. It really does make the biggest difference in the system.

-Ever- · 12-23-2003, 05:40 PM

So I dropped into Good Guys today to pick up some RCA cables and speaker cable. I began speaking with a young guy who I actually know through a friend. I mentioned that I am setting up a simple home stereo system for DVD and music and am using mix-and-matched components right now. He had some pretty friendly advice so I asked him if he could show me some newer things. I told him that I wanted true surround sound (I realized that my Denon is ProLogic 1 which makes sence because I was never too happy with it). I asked which were the cheapest receivers that could do true surround (DTS, ProLogic2, etc) and work with just our tv, dvd, and cd player. He seemed to prefer Yamaha. We've got a nice Sony vega tv and a nice dvd player with progressive scan and an optical out. I'm thinking maybe I should look into upgrading to a decent receiver that will just host these three items, only really needing optical for the tv (HD) and the DVD player.
First, what are your guys opinons on this? Second, do you have any recomendations towards receivers that you think would suit my stated needs? I checked out the Yamaha rxv640 with 5 optical ins (not necessary) for $499 but found it on ebay for around $360 buy-it-now. I could probably save a lot more if I just got one with two optical ins...
Furthermore, I checked out some bookshelfs, centers, subs. I like a company that he called "Monitor" that I hadn't heard of before, well over the Klipsch that he showed me even though I usually like Klipsch. Keep in mind that I'm not looking to buy too powerful of a receiver so he said Klipsch would work well because they aren't too power hungry. I looked at last-years Klipsch rb3 bookshelfs and rc3 center. Could get all three for about $500 which sounds a little steep with Ebay in mind...
Let me know what you guys think! Also, just to let you know, the room we have this setup in is tile-floored and is about 30x30.
Thanks for any input
-T

brandon11983 · 12-24-2003, 03:27 PM

I would recommend the Yamaha recievers too. If you don't wanna fork out the extra scratch for a Yamaha 640, look at the 440 for $399. Secondly, could I get a definition for "nice Sony Wega TV" please. Is the TV HD ready? If it is, I would also highly recommend looking at your DVD player a little more closely. I can give you about a 99% assurance that your "progressive scan" DVD player is not a true progressive scan player. A true progressive scan DVD player has an internal de-interlacer (more accurately called a re-interleaver, but that's another story). The 2 processors on the market are the DCDi chip from Faroudja, and the PureProgressive from Silicon Image. This is a feature worth bragging about, believe me, if a player has it, it will advertise it up on the front panel. It would take me all day to explain the differences in a $100-150 Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, Zenith, Philips and so on.. "progressive scan" DVD player versus that of a true progressive model from higher end companies such as Denon and Yamaha. Long story short, a non, or "fake" progressive player will choke on motion and fire and curved lines and about a billion other things. Head over to www.dcdi-video.com for the full story in explicit detail. Once you see the shortcomings of a cheap "progressive" player, you'll never be able to NOT notice them again.

Now, about the speakers, Monitor Audio speakers are very nice. But for what it sounds to me like you would like to do, I think you'd be better off with the Klipsch. If saving money is in mind, then you could go with the RB-3's and RC-3, but you might want to look at their "new" Reference series speakers. The entry level Reference models are very close to a Synergy Series pricepoint and humble them in performance. You could get a pair of RB-15 bookshelves and an RC-15 center for not much more.

You'll have plenty of low frequency goin on too in that tile floored room too!

-Ever- · 12-25-2003, 01:59 AM

Thanks for the info on the DVD player. Our player actually is a true progressive player. I just checked and it's a Denon DVD-2800 and says PureProgressive Silicon. The TV is an XBR from about 2 years ago and is HD (ready...?) It's got component i/o on the back for sure.
So I went ahead and got the setup before you posted. The deadline was today as a gift for my mom so I did some more research and here's what we went with:

Yamaha rx-v1300 for $499! Would have bought the 640 but the 1300 was on a huge sale and was the same price.

MonitorAudio Bronze series fronts (mains and center)

Energy Encore 8 sub

Klipsh satellites in the rear that we previously had.

So I got everything hooked up today and I'm still messing around with the receiver's settings. I read the manual and it's pretty in depth so I'm taking my time. So far I'm a little stumped because the center isn't as loud as I wanted it to be, even after turning it up. This is in DTS mode playing Minority Report. Oh well, I'm sure it will take a bit to get going.
Thanks for your help. I'll keep in touch and let you know how everything goes!

brandon11983 · 12-25-2003, 08:54 AM

Denon 2800 is a fucking awesome player!! The Yamaha 1400 which replaces the 1300 sells for $799, so you got a steal of a deal!! I haven't played with a 1300 for a while but there are settings in either the BASIC MENU or the SOUND MENU in which you change your room size and speaker size. Make sure all speaker sizes are set accordingly... LARGE for floorstanders, small for satellites.... and use your better judgement for the center. Be sure to set your speaker distances properly too, it can make an impact on the sound for HT use and the soundstage for stereo use. There are a lot of tweaks to be done on a high end reciever, so play around with them.....

-Ever- · 12-25-2003, 09:28 AM

Good to find someone as excited as me. Mom's just happy that everything works.
If you don't mind, I've got a few quick questions on the top of my mind (with some more soon to come I'm sure...)
-What is HT?
-With this kind of setup, is it assumed that I'll have to go into -audio setup- of every dvd when I start watching one? I know the receiver has an auto function, but I'm wondering if this is necessary for optimization every time.
-Are regular handgun shots, like in the matrix for example, supposed to trigger punchy bass? I thought they were. I was watching the shooting scenes of this movie and the regular machine guns and when they were shooting single shots from handguns didn't trigger much bass. Kind of anticlimactic if anything (like when trinity shoots one bullet to kill an agent point blank...) Maybe this lack of "mid-bass" is from me using old front's while I'm waiting for my Monitor Audio's to arrive...

I've got some more questions but I just got up. I figure I'll post as many online (on this forum as well as others) before I begin to call good guys
Thanks for everything guys, especially brandon. glad that everything has gone so smoothly so far.
-Tim

brandon11983 · 12-25-2003, 08:43 PM

Yeah, I get borderline obsessive when it comes to sound. To the point where people wonder if all my dogs are barking on a regular basis....

HT is Home Theater.

You should NOT have to make adjustments for every DVD you watch. Leave the reciever set on AUTO, and it'll make any necessary changes such as switching from Dolby Digital to dts....

On the note of handgun shots and stuff... don't be too concerned with punchy bass from a gunshot.... be more concerned with accuracy, you want a gunshot to sound like a gunshot. There should be a hit of bass, but not an overpowering one. If you aren't getting as much bass as you would like, try turning the volume on the sub up or raising the crossover point to send more midbass to the sub. Also keep in mind that it is an 8" sub, so don't expect to be rattling foundations from it. There is also an LFE (sub) volume control in the SOUND MENU on your receiver.

*eagerly awaits next post....*

sailor · 12-26-2003, 11:44 AM

Yeah, you shouldnt have to be making any real adjustments to your sound, it should do it for you.

Gunshots dont have as much bass as you would think they do. To try out the subwoofer, put in something with horses galloping (usually a lot of bass)--I know that Gladiator is good for this. Star Wars: AOTC also has some spots with some really nice bass, and good sound overall. While a bad movie, it *does* have incredible sound, especially for a home theater. Play the scene with the little sonic charges in the asteroid field, it is incredible.

-Ever- · 12-26-2003, 12:46 PM

Heh thanks for the advice. Funny that you mention the horse sounds in Gladiator. It was this exact sound that made me decide to get the encore 8 sub instead of the 10.2 sub. I realized that the 10.2 just rumbled a nice deep, universal bass roll while the encore 8 let out a deep bass that you could tell was horses running.
What are your guy's opinions on rear centers? I've got the potential to do one with the receiver but it would be a pain to wire this. Maybe I'd just run a color-matching wire nicely along the roof....

Going to go watch Indiana Jones for the first time on DVD on the system!
-Tim

12-21-2003, 12:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Home Stereo. Surround sound... Not sure where else to post this... Basically all that my mom asked for christmas was for me and my dad to finally hook up our long-awaited surround sound in the family room for tv, movies, and music. We've always had home-stereo receivers and good speakers, but never one solid setup that was more specific and not run by an all-around receiver (CD, Phono, TV, DVD, AM/FM, etc...) So we have some decent equipment but I feel that there are going to be some bottlenecks here and there. First, we're looking for solid, true 5.1 surround sound for dvd's. Nothing serious, just good quality and true surround sound. After collecting all our stuff, here's what we have: Optimus stav-3560 Pro Series receiver. 5 channels (no sub!), 240 watts, 60x4, dolby prologic) Denon avr-600 receiver. 5.1 channels (sub looks like a mono-rca output...), not sure what the specs are. Couldn't find on the internet. Optimus sts100 front speakers. "8 ohms, 50 watts" Optimus Pro X5 rear speakers. "8 ohms. Power handling 15watts rms, max 30watts) Optimus sw14 subwoofer. "8 ohms. Power handling 100watts, max 200watts." Uses two sets of speaker cable, not rca-looking in... Optimus center speaker Klipsch rear speakers. "100 watts cont." Large image of speakers So I'm thinking that the optimus fronts and klipsch rears would be just fine. I'm wondering if I should look into upgrading the receiver to a true surround sound receiver that is made specifically for just tv/movies/cd's, and a better quality sub. Let me know if you need any more info! Thanks guys -Tim - image was bit too big -juan -sorry bout that! thx for the fix __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- Last edited by -Ever-; 12-21-2003 at 07:30 PM..

12-21-2003, 12:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Assuming that Denon has DTS/Dolby Digital support, it should do you just fine. I dont know much about those Optimus speakers. Assuming you arent an audiophile though, they should do you fine. Could you describe the subwoofer more? Does it get its input from normal speaker wire? You say it doesnt have RCA, what does it have? The subwoofer is a very important part of a home theater, you want to make sure it works. Oh, and I would have posted this in Tilted Entertainment __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato

12-21-2003, 12:31 PM	#3 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Yeah I looked in entertainment and it seems to stick to movie and book discussion lately... The subwoofer has speaker wire inputs which seems odd to me for some reason. I just took a look at it and it's got speaker wire input (R-L) and a speaker wire output as well (R-L) __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses--

12-22-2003, 12:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
digby Crazy Location: Ahh, the lovely South	This is done because the sub will have a crossover in it. This means that the signal is being split into parts. All the low frequency content (everything up to somewhere between 80-120 Hz depending on who made the stuff) is fed to the subwoofer. Everything else is sent to the smaller speakers that don't do as good a job at reproducing bass content. A good majority of recievers do this internally anyway. They have something called Bass Management that filters everything below 80 Hz and sums this information with the sub channel. This gives the .1 channel a little more action than the occasional explosion and also allows manufacturers to use cheaper main speakers since they don't have to output the low frequenct content. __________________ mmmm.... pudding

12-22-2003, 02:39 PM	#7 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Great info. So what do you guys think my bottlenecks are? Just the sub? What about the fronts? I guess I should just keep the receiver as you guys said, set it up, and just see for myself. I think my main concern from the start was the receiver. So having that rca-looking sub out on the receiver is generally the better thing to have? (read: most of the better subs use this kind of out-in...) Thanks -T __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses--

12-23-2003, 05:40 PM	#10 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	So I dropped into Good Guys today to pick up some RCA cables and speaker cable. I began speaking with a young guy who I actually know through a friend. I mentioned that I am setting up a simple home stereo system for DVD and music and am using mix-and-matched components right now. He had some pretty friendly advice so I asked him if he could show me some newer things. I told him that I wanted true surround sound (I realized that my Denon is ProLogic 1 which makes sence because I was never too happy with it). I asked which were the cheapest receivers that could do true surround (DTS, ProLogic2, etc) and work with just our tv, dvd, and cd player. He seemed to prefer Yamaha. We've got a nice Sony vega tv and a nice dvd player with progressive scan and an optical out. I'm thinking maybe I should look into upgrading to a decent receiver that will just host these three items, only really needing optical for the tv (HD) and the DVD player. First, what are your guys opinons on this? Second, do you have any recomendations towards receivers that you think would suit my stated needs? I checked out the Yamaha rxv640 with 5 optical ins (not necessary) for $499 but found it on ebay for around $360 buy-it-now. I could probably save a lot more if I just got one with two optical ins... Furthermore, I checked out some bookshelfs, centers, subs. I like a company that he called "Monitor" that I hadn't heard of before, well over the Klipsch that he showed me even though I usually like Klipsch. Keep in mind that I'm not looking to buy too powerful of a receiver so he said Klipsch would work well because they aren't too power hungry. I looked at last-years Klipsch rb3 bookshelfs and rc3 center. Could get all three for about $500 which sounds a little steep with Ebay in mind... Let me know what you guys think! Also, just to let you know, the room we have this setup in is tile-floored and is about 30x30. Thanks for any input -T __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses--

12-24-2003, 03:27 PM	#11 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	I would recommend the Yamaha recievers too. If you don't wanna fork out the extra scratch for a Yamaha 640, look at the 440 for $399. Secondly, could I get a definition for "nice Sony Wega TV" please. Is the TV HD ready? If it is, I would also highly recommend looking at your DVD player a little more closely. I can give you about a 99% assurance that your "progressive scan" DVD player is not a true progressive scan player. A true progressive scan DVD player has an internal de-interlacer (more accurately called a re-interleaver, but that's another story). The 2 processors on the market are the DCDi chip from Faroudja, and the PureProgressive from Silicon Image. This is a feature worth bragging about, believe me, if a player has it, it will advertise it up on the front panel. It would take me all day to explain the differences in a $100-150 Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, Zenith, Philips and so on.. "progressive scan" DVD player versus that of a true progressive model from higher end companies such as Denon and Yamaha. Long story short, a non, or "fake" progressive player will choke on motion and fire and curved lines and about a billion other things. Head over to www.dcdi-video.com for the full story in explicit detail. Once you see the shortcomings of a cheap "progressive" player, you'll never be able to NOT notice them again. Now, about the speakers, Monitor Audio speakers are very nice. But for what it sounds to me like you would like to do, I think you'd be better off with the Klipsch. If saving money is in mind, then you could go with the RB-3's and RC-3, but you might want to look at their "new" Reference series speakers. The entry level Reference models are very close to a Synergy Series pricepoint and humble them in performance. You could get a pair of RB-15 bookshelves and an RC-15 center for not much more. You'll have plenty of low frequency goin on too in that tile floored room too! __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.

12-25-2003, 01:59 AM	#12 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Thanks for the info on the DVD player. Our player actually is a true progressive player. I just checked and it's a Denon DVD-2800 and says PureProgressive Silicon. The TV is an XBR from about 2 years ago and is HD (ready...?) It's got component i/o on the back for sure. So I went ahead and got the setup before you posted. The deadline was today as a gift for my mom so I did some more research and here's what we went with: Yamaha rx-v1300 for $499! Would have bought the 640 but the 1300 was on a huge sale and was the same price. MonitorAudio Bronze series fronts (mains and center) Energy Encore 8 sub Klipsh satellites in the rear that we previously had. So I got everything hooked up today and I'm still messing around with the receiver's settings. I read the manual and it's pretty in depth so I'm taking my time. So far I'm a little stumped because the center isn't as loud as I wanted it to be, even after turning it up. This is in DTS mode playing Minority Report. Oh well, I'm sure it will take a bit to get going. Thanks for your help. I'll keep in touch and let you know how everything goes! __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses--

12-25-2003, 08:54 AM	#13 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	Denon 2800 is a fucking awesome player!! The Yamaha 1400 which replaces the 1300 sells for $799, so you got a steal of a deal!! I haven't played with a 1300 for a while but there are settings in either the BASIC MENU or the SOUND MENU in which you change your room size and speaker size. Make sure all speaker sizes are set accordingly... LARGE for floorstanders, small for satellites.... and use your better judgement for the center. Be sure to set your speaker distances properly too, it can make an impact on the sound for HT use and the soundstage for stereo use. There are a lot of tweaks to be done on a high end reciever, so play around with them..... __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.

12-25-2003, 09:28 AM	#14 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Good to find someone as excited as me. Mom's just happy that everything works. If you don't mind, I've got a few quick questions on the top of my mind (with some more soon to come I'm sure...) -What is HT? -With this kind of setup, is it assumed that I'll have to go into -audio setup- of every dvd when I start watching one? I know the receiver has an auto function, but I'm wondering if this is necessary for optimization every time. -Are regular handgun shots, like in the matrix for example, supposed to trigger punchy bass? I thought they were. I was watching the shooting scenes of this movie and the regular machine guns and when they were shooting single shots from handguns didn't trigger much bass. Kind of anticlimactic if anything (like when trinity shoots one bullet to kill an agent point blank...) Maybe this lack of "mid-bass" is from me using old front's while I'm waiting for my Monitor Audio's to arrive... I've got some more questions but I just got up. I figure I'll post as many online (on this forum as well as others) before I begin to call good guys Thanks for everything guys, especially brandon. glad that everything has gone so smoothly so far. -Tim __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- Last edited by -Ever-; 12-25-2003 at 03:03 PM..

12-25-2003, 08:43 PM	#15 (permalink)
brandon11983 Stereophonic Location: Chitown!!	Yeah, I get borderline obsessive when it comes to sound. To the point where people wonder if all my dogs are barking on a regular basis.... HT is Home Theater. You should NOT have to make adjustments for every DVD you watch. Leave the reciever set on AUTO, and it'll make any necessary changes such as switching from Dolby Digital to dts.... On the note of handgun shots and stuff... don't be too concerned with punchy bass from a gunshot.... be more concerned with accuracy, you want a gunshot to sound like a gunshot. There should be a hit of bass, but not an overpowering one. If you aren't getting as much bass as you would like, try turning the volume on the sub up or raising the crossover point to send more midbass to the sub. Also keep in mind that it is an 8" sub, so don't expect to be rattling foundations from it. There is also an LFE (sub) volume control in the SOUND MENU on your receiver. eagerly awaits next post.... __________________ Well behaved women rarely make history.

12-26-2003, 11:44 AM	#16 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Yeah, you shouldnt have to be making any real adjustments to your sound, it should do it for you. Gunshots dont have as much bass as you would think they do. To try out the subwoofer, put in something with horses galloping (usually a lot of bass)--I know that Gladiator is good for this. Star Wars: AOTC also has some spots with some really nice bass, and good sound overall. While a bad movie, it does have incredible sound, especially for a home theater. Play the scene with the little sonic charges in the asteroid field, it is incredible. __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato

12-26-2003, 12:46 PM	#17 (permalink)
-Ever- Junkie Location: San Francisco	Heh thanks for the advice. Funny that you mention the horse sounds in Gladiator. It was this exact sound that made me decide to get the encore 8 sub instead of the 10.2 sub. I realized that the 10.2 just rumbled a nice deep, universal bass roll while the encore 8 let out a deep bass that you could tell was horses running. What are your guy's opinions on rear centers? I've got the potential to do one with the receiver but it would be a pain to wire this. Maybe I'd just run a color-matching wire nicely along the roof.... Going to go watch Indiana Jones for the first time on DVD on the system! -Tim __________________ Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses--