System advice
June 30, 2003
Wes,
I'm starting out fresh and need advice on a home theater. I
have a large multi-use family room, 500 square feet (20' x 25'), 16-foot ceilings, and the
back of the room opens up to the rest of the house and kitchen. It is pre-wired for two
front channels, a center channel, two side channels, and two rear channels. It has a tile
floor that adds to the challenge acoustically. My house is pre-wired for speakers in six
other rooms, including the backyard. I need a multisource/multizone A/V receiver.
One of my greatest challenges will be speaker placement. My
entertainment wall in this room only allows placement of speakers well above the level of
the listening ear (approximately 8' off the ground). The viewing area is approximately 13'
to 15' back from the television. The side speakers will have to be mounted on the ceiling
16' off the ground (my wife is not crazy about floorstanding speakers). This unit will
primarily be used for home theater. I have an office that I'll equip with audio equipment.
However, I do want something that has good audio quality for when we entertain. Therefore,
I need a recommendation on the following:
(1) an A/V receiver;
(2) speakers (I've been leaning towards the Axiom line only
because of some of the limited reviews I've run across and because of the price);
(3) a good "how to" manual to understand what
equipment I'll need and how to connect up for running multizone/multisource.
John
The Integra 8.2 I reviewed is a
great 7.1 multizone receiver. The Axiom loudspeakers are also
very good.
As to a good how-to book, I haven't seen a truly
authoritative one yet, especially one which covers multizone control. However, the
mail-order giant Crutchfield has just established an information site that covers a lot of
area. The company has hired various A/V "authorities" (myself among them) to
write a variety of tutorials, and they'll be adding new content frequently. When it comes
to multizone systems, the company has posted some very useful information, such as
"Powering Your Multi-Room System" and "Controlling Your Multi-Room System.
I'm sure www.crutchfieldadvisor.com will be a useful
source for your new project....Wes Phillips
Needin' some bass
June 23, 2003
Dear Wes,
I am in a bit of a bind. You see, I am in the process of
purchasing a subwoofer for my home theater. I run two very large floorstanders up front
(Yamaha Pro Audio oak series), and I would like something that will complement them. I am
torn between the Paradigm PDR-10 and the JBL PB-10, both outstanding subs, I hear. I have
heard them both in-store, but I would like an outsider's opinion. I mainly listen to
hip-hop music and much prefer the "boomy" bass that tends to be felt more than
heard. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Dave
I'm going to assume you mean you like tight, punchy
bass -- which indicates power and control -- rather than "boomy bass," which
doesn't. If what you want is bass that hits you like an open palm to the chest, then I
doubt that any 10" subwoofer is going to do it for you. I suspect you'll need at
least a 12" -- maybe a 15".
The best bang-for-the-book 12" subwoofers I have
come across are Polk's PSW-650 ($780) and Earthquake's Super Nova Mk IV-12P ($1499). If
you really want bass impact, try two of the PSW-650s!...Wes Phillips
Problem with DVP-7700 default settings
June 18, 2003
Hi Wes,
I have a Sony DVP-7700 DVD player connected to a Denon
AVR-5700 receiver using a BetterCables coaxial digital cable. When I play a DVD with a
Dolby Digital (DD) track only, the player detects and feeds the DD signal to the receiver,
which puts itself in DD mode; however, when I play a DVD with both DD and DTS tracks, the
Sony doesn't seem to detect the DTS signal, and consequently falls back to DD. For
example, playing Jurassic Park III yields DD only. I have configured the Sony to
enable DTS output, but without success -- the player's DTS LED indicator never lights up,
and the receiver's input mode never budges from DD. I've battled long and hard and
obviously still missed something. Can you set me straight on this one?
Robert Gairns
At first glance, I thought you must be having a
recognition problem in your player, but you indicate that you went to the menu and
selected DTS, so it sounds as though you know your way around the unit. Other people have
reported this problem with the DVP-7700, however, so apparently it's not a stone-simple
process. It turns out there are two places you must "enable" DTS on the unit.
You can choose the DTS soundtrack on the disc menu and you also must initiate the menu
selection that enables DTS, as outlined on page 38 of the manual.
If that's what you meant by "enabling" DTS
output, however, no other cause comes to mind -- but write me again and I'll make a few
more calls to see if we can find a solution....Wes Phillips
M&K or Polk?
June 16, 2003
Hi Wes,
I don't know if you are able to answer
this, but I'll ask anyway. I believe you reviewed the M&K S-150 system a few years ago
and were very impressed with it. I think at the time you may have said that, for home
theater, it was about as good as it gets. Then I read your more recent
review of the Polk LSi system, which you also loved. I have a good sub, so I am
just looking for powerful satellites. Which system would you recommend purely for home theater?
Or is there another system you could suggest? Room size is 21' x 16' x 9'.
Damien Murphy
The M&K is a fascinating speaker
system and I still miss it sometimes. It's a perfect example of how design and setup can
wrest the best out of what were really not-so-extraordinary materials. The M&Ks were
designed to match THX's standards very precisely and perform at their best when set up in
a strict THX configuration. When they were, they reproduced the soundtrack with phenomenal
authority.
The Polks, in addition to being
rather larger (at least the FR and FL speakers are), do not require such attention to
detail, but they probably offer more musical performance for multichannel music and stereo
reproduction.
When I had the M&Ks, I had
separate home-theater and listening rooms. I almost never listened to music on the HT
system, so that wasn't a problem for me. If you ask your system to do double duty, you
might want to audition the M&Ks with music before coming to a decision.
The Polks are, I think, slightly
better-looking, but take up more floor space in the front channels. The M&Ks live
quite happily on your walls and their own unobtrusive, but very utilitarian stands.
Other than that, listening will have
to tell you the final story -- and that's something I just can't do for you....Wes
Phillips
Power-source problem
June 9, 2003
Dear Wes,
I recently built a theater/music room in our home and after
the purchase of a HDTV and DVD player, I am now at the next step of upgrading speakers and
their power source. I love the sound of SACD, along with HT and two-channel stereo music.
After many hours, days, and weeks of test-driving speakers,
I have decided to go with the Polk LSi15s, the LSiC center, and the LSi/fx
surrounds. I will also be running a sub that has yet to be found.
My question lies with the power source. In all honesty,
separates intimidate me. I have never owned separates. I don't know the first thing about
amps, preamps, monoblocks, and such.
Is there a receiver that will give me the home-theater
choices of multichannel along with the music capabilities? Are there good receivers out
there with enough power and grace to come close to separates in sound, yet powerful enough
to drive demanding speaker systems?
I have been looking at a Rotel RSX-1066 and others as well.
Could you please help by shedding some light on simplifying my power-source problem?
Brad
You're in luck. A/V receivers used to be the poor cousin of
high-resolution HT, but the manufacturers actually listened to their customers and now
offer receivers that offer lots of power, lots of processing options, and lots of value.
In fact, these days, it's the separates manufacturers who are struggling to offer the same
set of functions and performance, not to mention value. It's a great time to be a in the
market for an HT receiver.
I have been very impressed with receivers from Denon,
Onkyo, Kenwood, Sherwood, Integra, B&K, and JVC, although there are lots of other
great receivers I have not yet auditioned. The magic price point is around $1000 -- at or
above that level, you will have a hard time finding a poor candidate for consideration.
Below that price, you may have fewer options in terms of surround processing or
input/output configurations, but there are still many good choices as long as you make
sure that your needs are met.
This isn't all that specific, but buying a great-sounding,
full-featured A/V receiver is incredibly simple these days. Good luck....Wes Phillips
Screen question
June 6, 2003
Hi Wes,
I am in the process planning a home theater in my house. I
am looking at installing the InFocus Screenplay 7200 DLP projector and using a 108"
diagonal screen. The theater is in a dedicated room with one double-door entry and a low
level of ambient light. I have heard that for HD the gray screen is the way to go, but I
have also heard that non-HD programming appears washed out on a gray screen.
Jeff
In my experience, that's not the case, although I can see
where HD's greater detail could make other sources seemed "washed out" in
comparison. I find a gray screen essential with DLP projectors for two reasons: They are
more forgiving of ambient light (which you say exists in some small degree in your room),
and they give you deeper blacks and grays, which makes all colors seem deeper and richer.
For more on this subject, check out my review of
the Stewart GreyHawk ....Wes Phillips
Biamping mandatory?
June 3, 2003
Wes,
I'm sure you have more interesting things to do than answer
my relatively simple question, but I'll give it a shot anyway. I am not an audiophile -- I
find A/V equipment more confusing than computer technology. Anyway, I just purchased a
Polk LSiC center-channel speaker, and I want to connect it to a paltry Denon
AVR-1801. The problem is the Polk has two -/+ terminals/jacks, I've never had a
center-channel like that before. The Denon only has one -/+ terminal/jack. Does this Polk
require biamping? I use my system mainly for movie watching.
Cory
Actually, I don't have anything more interesting to do than
answer your question -- it's a good 'un. Your Polk LSiC has two sets of speaker terminals
to facilitate biwiring, which is when the bass drivers and midrange/high-frequency drivers
are each driven by a separate speaker cable. This eliminates a common ground point at the
crossover level -- and many manufacturers and audiophiles have been arguing over whether
or not this makes a difference for years.
I have heard differences when biwiring some speakers,
although many speaker designers I respect don't offer the feature for a variety of reasons
-- Thiel, Wilson, and Dynaudio come to mind.
You don't need to use separate outputs on your amplifier to
biwire speakers -- some cable companies make biwire sets of speaker cable that run two
sets of wire out of a single lug or plug, and many amplifiers have enough leeway in their
output terminals to accept two different cables.
It is also possible to biamp a speaker with biwire
terminals. This is called passive biamping since there is no active crossover involved.
Again, sometimes there are tremendous benefits from this practice (as there would have to
be considering that you essentially double the price of the amplification), but this is
not guaranteed. Since the Polk LSiC is not a hard load to drive, I wouldn't imagine that
passive biamping would make enough of a difference to justify its expense -- although, not
having tried it, that's just my guess....Wes Phillips
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