Any home audio geeks out there?

[Locomigo]

Bill,

Check these out:

Arcam AVR250 - FANTASTIC, and WELL worth it. Ive installed several.
Integra DTR-7.6 - New model of a SOLID performer

Marantz SR7500 - Hard to go wrong here (rebadged Denon)
Denon AVR-3806 - Again, decent unit.


the Arcam/Integra are a little more, but worth popping for the additional capital.

For speakers, check these out:

Axiom Audio - M2i

There are so many solid performers in this range that it is hard to steer you in a direction. Also everyone's ear is slightly different.

Give me a buzz and I can give you additional information.

The plasma thing is VERY true w/altitude, and consumer units dont typically have the high altitude option. The commecial units do, but there are a bit more utilitarian in nature and oriented with BNC connections rather than RCA style.

I prefer a nice DLP to either Plasma, or LCD as you can get bigger for less with a better picture.

A nice DLP front projector/screen combo would be the way I would go, but a lot of other considerations would need to be accounted for in this area.

Curious what else you listened to prior to deciding on the Paradigm? not as though its a poor choice, but I would be happier with a matched set left to right, front to rear as the timbre is important to me, and the subs... I know of some real house shakers that still sound fantastic.

Talk to me...

[VehiGAZ]

I thought I qualified as a "home audio geek" until I read the thread - I'm not in the same league as you guys, although I do like what I have - Yamaha CD player into a Proton D940 amp driving a pair of ESS AMT-1 speakers - the poor audiophile's home system!

Although I am keeping the audio system as is, I am also going big-screen soon. leaning toward a 50" or 60" LCD with DLP. Costco has some great deals on them right now. I will replace our much-heated Philips home theater system when I do, and was thinking of going with something from Cambridge Soundworks. Anyone have any experience with them?

[nater]

More on plasma's at altitude.

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/p...-altitude.html

[nater]

A few more notes on TV's, be sure to buy 1080p with HDMI and HDCP compliance. DVI is adaptable to HDMI, but you typically lose your HDCP, and the display may go dark.

Also, if you expect to get Cable HD directly into the TV, (with no box), be sure to get CableCard 2.0, otherwise known as M-Card (multistream).

CableCard 2.0 is not yet a finalized standard, so there seems to be no point to buying a tuner in your new TV at all, unless you just want HD locals from an Antenna and nothing else (no Dish, no Cable). So, save a few hundred $ and get the "monitor only" style television; then hookup your cable or dish to that.

Nate

[Hotsauce]

Turntable? No one plays records any more? Soo much more musical than a CD.






My Krells.


845 Single Ended Triode


MG20's with AG2 cables



John C.

[biju]

I too am quite humbled by the spendy equipment peeps on this board have... (Home audio envy...).

Thanks for the replies all...

TRIATHLETE:
Great idea, but unfortunately in this particular room the couch is literally up against the wall opposite the HD Plasma. The surround separates will need to be 'aimed' towards the couch (I know it's not proper, but given the amount of space I have to deal with I dunno if I have a choice...)

NATER:
Too late on the Plasma... A friend of mine purchased the Dell HD. I was so impressed by the quality/price I had to follow suit. I too heard that at high altitude there was a 'buzzzz' sound with Plasmas, but unless my car audio system has made me deaf I simply don't have that problem. Call me lucky I guess.???

9TINYFINGAZ:
I haven't forgot! I'll need loads of accessories (cables, wires, etc.) and have your contact info in case I can't find it cheaper on fleaBay...!!

IAMJACKSADRENALGLAND:
Mmmm... Dynaudio... (Insert drool *HERE*). I only wish I could afford that kind of quality!!! I agree though, I too had a hard time trying to justify spending a LOT more for a marginal difference in sound quality. I think that's why Paradigm appealed to me. Great value, yet still 'higher quality'. I can't wait to hear these puppies in my own home!!!

HOTSAUCE:
That's stuff's insane!! If you EVER need to get rid of that turntable because, oh, say... because you just *want to*, PLEASE contact me. I'll be sure to give it the nicest of homes!!!

MSHARDEMAN:
Dooood! I love B&O! Who wouldn't? Only if I didn't have a budget... *sigh. It's funny you mentioned "Cherry Creek" as it was "Cherry Creek Audio" where I purchased the Paradigm's...!

ETLSPORT:
BOSE! I keep coming back to that brand for the small surrounds I seek - however, not too sure about their power handling? Are there any other small speakers like BOSE (quality/rep/price) that could handle more power if needed? I'm a little spooked by the smokey death of your Yamaha however, like you said it could have been a fluke. What did you end up replacing it with? (or what do you plan to replace it with?)

WYRREJ:
Good link. Thanks. I like the idea of digital amplification, and the technology sound extremely promising. Know of any good A/V receivers with digital amplifcation that offer HDMI out?

LOCOMIGO:
The Integra DTR-7.6 and Denon Denon AVR-3806 are serious contenders to the Yamaha I'm looking at. All three have pro's and con's - however, you probably nailed two of the top three on my list! Before the Para-dig-em's I did give the following brands a listen: Infinity, Axiom (a buddy bought a set of monitors), Klipsch and Polk. In the end physical size, price, and sound quality (what I thought sounded best) won out.

VEHIGAZ:
LOL... I feel ya. Everytime I step into an audio joint to 'talk shop' with the sales folk I'm always humbled by how much I *don't* know about home audio. There's just sooo much technology out there, and sooo much to keep on top of.

-biju.

[etlsport]

ive been looking around for different components... i keep coming back to yamaha though, nothing else is really appealing to me, ive looked at a few sony units... but i despise sony car audio, so id rather not put sony audio in my home (but i loooooooove sony tvs)... so more than likely ill be going yamaha again

as for surround speakers.. ive never heard any complaints about bose power handling... a friend of mine works at a bose store and when he saw my 901s he told me about the demo they do with them....apparently they take a 220v outlet and run wires directly from the outlet to the speaker and the speaker doesnt blow!... ive got pioneer satellite speakers right now 100 watt power handling, they sound good (especially for the under $200 price tag) if i upgrade those ill be upgrading to the JBL Studio Series

[Triathlete]

Mount them in the ceiling!

[WyrreJ]

I like the idea of digital amplification, and the technology sound extremely promising. Know of any good A/V receivers with digital amplifcation that offer HDMI out?

The JVC's D-series (presumably the D is for 'digital') appear to have switchable HDMI, including upscaling from analog sources too. However, for the price difference, I would just buy a 3x1 or 5x1 "learning" switch and use that with the Panasonic - here's one company that sells a 5x1 for $200 -
Octava. There are others too, that's just the first that came up in google.

The only technology that I see in any other receivers that is worth a damn (e.g. is not just marginally useful tech to justify releasing a new model each year) is DRC (digital room correction). Denon has licensed Audssey's MultiEqxt for their current 3xxx models and up, and Pioneer has their own MCCAC stuff which, last I checked, was not quite as sophisticated as Audssey's software.

DRC is really good stuff - it works through use of a microphone to get "a map" of the way your speakers sound in your room at the places where you sit and then it uses fancy signal processing (the better versions of DRC do more than just equalization because they take into account sound-wave cancellation and reinforcement in the time-domain) to change what comes out of the speakers so that what eventually gets to your ears is closer to the original sound. It ain't perfect, but it can make $100 speakers sound like $1000 speakers.

Early DRC equipment by companies like TacT used to cost $10K, or you had to use a PC with specialized software that is not too user friendly. But that's changing with companies like Denon and Pioneer and if I were to pay a premium for anything beyond the Panasonics, it would have to have DRC.

Another alternative is partial DRC for bass-only, most of the worst room problems are in the lower frequencies because they have longer wavelengths making interference patterns more pronounced. The cream of the crop for bass-only DRC is the Velodyne SMS-1 - here is a review of the SMS-1 I myself have a jerry-rigged home-brew bass-correction system I put together long before there was anything like the SMS-1 on the market and it really does make a huge difference in the quality of the bass. The room graphs in the review are typical of the kinds of problems have with bass in their systems and it really does make an audible difference.

BOSE! I keep coming back to that brand for the small surrounds I seek - however, not too sure about their power handling? Are there any other small speakers like BOSE (quality/rep/price) that could handle more power if needed? I'm a little spooked by the smokey death of your Yamaha however, like you said it could have been a fluke. What did you end up replacing it with? (or what do you plan to replace it with?)

Bose has one of the most well-known, and well-thought of brands on the market. But that's only because they spend tons and tons of money on marketing. I'm sure you've seen more tv and print commercials for bose than for any other speakers by at least a couple of orders of magnitude - who else besides bose even advertises speaker systems on tv? No one. All that advertising costs beacoup bucks - and then there is the cost of those dedicated mall stores - that real-estate is ex-pen-sive. All those costs come out of your wallet when you buy Bose.

Because of all that wasted money, they are universally reviled by people who have gone past the "average consumer" stage of home-audio purchasing. Just read the discussions on any serious home-audio/home-theater website and you will see that Bose is everyone's favorite whipping boy. The whole "better audio through better marketing" approach really tends to piss people off when they realize how badly they've been had.

In less emotional terms - Bose is like Monster Cable - a decent quality product that is hugely over-priced. If you go with any of the less-advertised brands in the market, you will get significantly more bang for the buck. FWIW, if you want a shock, ask 9tinyfingaz how much mark-up there is on the Monster Cable products that CompUSA carries.

[TechnoPope]

While not perfect, here is an option that might work in your situation:

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/YSP1/idx_ysp1000.htm

[Andrey]

Well, I am having setup for several years Sony pre-amp and amp TAN9000ES and TAE9000ES, 9000ED DVD player, NEC 50MP1 plasma, 2 PV-HD1000 hdtv d-vhs vcrs, TU-DST50/51 hdtv tuners. Bose acoustimass 10 III. JVC 30000 d-vhs vcr. I am very happy with everything I have... I just need more time to enjoy it as for the most of its life it was sitting not doing anything

PS check out avsforum.com lotsa good advice and knowledge there.....

[AnalogVX]

Damn Hotsuace, you got me drooling! Dared has some really nice stuff. I like my VP-16 integrated, but it has devoloped a hum in the left channel So I am forced to have to listen to my Marantz 8B. Oh the agony!