*** THE OFFICIAL HOME THEATER & AUDIO THREAD**

[crazybalhead]

Ok,

So I took a long listen and look at Duane's system yesterday.

The TV was AMAZING. Lush colours, rich blacks, amazing detail.

Duane, SR and I have decidedly different viewpoints though. SR is biased towards two channel audiophile sound. Duane is more into the visuals and movie sound. I watch a LOT of movies, but the picture is not as important as the sound. My system has also grown from an initial bias toward two channel audio listening to a home theatre type set up.

My first impression is that Duane's room is too acoustically live, a lot of reflections and reverberations, the tweeter and upper midrange is also very bright, too bright for my taste.

The sub was impressive, both in subjective and measured response, but I felt it needed to be toned down a little, especially on the LFE channel.

The surround effects were coherent and enveloping, with a nice stage height and seamless integration of the fronts and surrounds, it was easy to get lost in subtle intricate sounds coming from all around.

Right, so we also listed to a two channel DVD recording of Sarah Brightman's La Luna concert. This is an artist I'm familiar with and have listened to on many systems. I found that the lower midrange to midbass was lacking a bit, and some of the artists rich vocals were missing.

I went home and listened to the same DVD for a reference and found that I could hear some more breathiness and detail in the vocals.

So all in all a great home theatre set up, but in my opinion the audio needs some more fine tuning to be a little less fatiguing and live up to its potential.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Having a background in graphics, colour correction, image manipulation etc I am more into visuals than sound.
For you guys sound is primary. For me when watching movies the video is just as important as sound but visual is my first love.

I calibrated the TV myself. I don't need help with that.
I needed help with the audio!

I like the brightness of the Klipsch as opposed to the tonally flat characteristics of audiophile brands such as Paradigm and Definitive.

I agree that I have a reverberation problem and need to get thicker drapes and the center channel needs focusing. It's a relatively small concrete room.

For the price I think the Klipsch SL are good speakers but I am at the point where I want to audition something better.

I still think electronics can fix anything and you have to admit what the auto calibration was able to do in about 20 minutes, it would have taken hours, if not days to do with a meter, calculators and alot of testing.

Good testing!!!!
THANKS!!!

[crazybalhead]

The wifey say yuh have to come by us to calibrate yuh ears.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ lol I feel so

[SR]

to bad electronics couldnt fix a simpl phiasing issue by swapping polarity of the wires



get some steelpulse and some more plum chow

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ I had "Auto Phase Control" set to off

[Anton]

For the price I think the Klipsch SL are good speakers but I am at the point where I want to audition something better.

When they're up for sale let me know.
Thanks.

[nareshseep]

good site for info on calibration

http://revision3.com/hdnation/hdcalibration

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

Can someone recommend a decent pair of reference quality headphones?
preferably professional over-ear headphones

budget is around US$400

I realise that most of these require a headphone amplifier; I would prefer not to have to use one.
I will be plugging the headphones into a receiver, so I dont know if I need one.

5.1 headphones would be a plus if they are actually real

[X_Factor]

http://www.amazon.com/Beyer-Dynamic-Pre ... 247&sr=1-3

personally used it when i was in miami about 1mth ago
and i was really blown away by how decent headphones can sound

that bass dread...wow!...listened to some songs--frozen, uninvited, hotel california live, Lata live
and wow!! u could swear you were in that hall...soundstage is amazing, tonal accuracy wrt to attack and decay of the instruments, highs were crisp and not too bright or harsh...i wish i could get my car to sound like that

i saw he had a grado with a goldish tingy at the back of the cups but i didnt get a chance to use those

ohh, and the beyer is like mid-ranged headphones so i can imagine something more higher end

[nareshseep]

^^ Pioneer should have some recommendations, here are some good review sites

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/
http://www.goodcans.com/HeadphoneReview ... tions.html
http://www.headphoneinfo.com/ratings.php

[zcarz]

http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php
i've used the home audio enhancer, and i must say it really makes even a bad pair of speakers/ headphones sound quite good, anybody else tried it? downside is when the trial period is up you have to un-bypass it every half hour.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

http://www.amazon.com/Beyer-Dynamic-Premium-32-Headphones/dp/B0024NK358/ref=sr_1_3

personally used it when i was in miami about 1mth ago
and i was really blown away by how decent headphones can sound

that bass dread...wow!...listened to some songs--frozen, uninvited, hotel california live, Lata live
and wow!! u could swear you were in that hall...soundstage is amazing, tonal accuracy wrt to attack and decay of the instruments, highs were crisp and not too bright or harsh...i wish i could get my car to sound like that

i saw he had a grado with a goldish tingy at the back of the cups but i didnt get a chance to use those

ohh, and the beyer is like mid-ranged headphones so i can imagine something more higher end

Thanks!!! I was actually looking at the Beyerdynamic DT 880 - 32 Ohm since it doesnt require an amp.

The gold back Grado is more than likely the RS1i Reference. They sell for about US$675 and a lil out of what I want to spend.

ever heard anything from Ultrasone?

[nareshseep]

That will make three of us the reviews so far is great.

[RapToR]

$2500.00



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[SR]

nice


keep in mind with headphones its easier to damage your hearing when turning it up

[crazybalhead]

Was reading a review on Monster. Apparently the owner of the company is a true audiophile, and his products reflect it. Beats and the Lady Gaga version are all made by monster just branded differently. I expect these to sound fantastic and be robust too.

[zcarz]

i have heard the beats by dr dre already and i have to say it's extremely crisp, that being said, I haven't compared it to anything else in the price range.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

I am skeptical of anything that needs celebrity endorsements to sell.

wish if there was somewhere we could audition these in T&T

[ru$$ell]

klipsch launched their new reference line

http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/reference-home-audio/default.aspx?viewall=true

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ noice!!!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

thanks for the links fellas

it's down to the grado SR325i or the beyerdynamic DT880
So far I am leaning towards the Grado as I listen to Rock more than anything else.

any experience?

[X_Factor]

thanks for the links fellas

it's down to the grado SR325i or the beyerdynamic DT880
So far I am leaning towards the Grado as I listen to Rock more than anything else.

any experience?

anyone u choose will be great!!

the look of the beyerdynamic is really sweet and sexy!

[MBC Autotronix]

What do you guys think about this for Entry level..it seems to have good reviews for that....
Is it worth it ? OR

shud i just buy something good and done? (i normally go this way)

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DH510-5- ... 21&sr=1-20

[RapToR]

What do you guys think about this for Entry level..it seems to have good reviews for that....
Is it worth it ? OR

shud i just buy something good and done? (i normally go this way)

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DH510-5- ... 21&sr=1-20

get something good and done if you got the $ to put out for it.




that model if from 2005

[X_Factor]

^agreed, while i dont know much about them for now
best u put a 100US more and get something better
there are a few decent pioneers, yamaha and onyko for under 300US maybe even 250US

look for something that does HD audio (Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD etc)

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ agreed 1000%

the receiver is the heart of your home theater system and it is not something you change often. They can last for years, if not decades, so when buying try to be as future forward as possible.

HDMI and HD audio are a MUST right now. Video upscaling is a plus.

I would avoid "all in ones" if you are an audio/videophile

Onkyo, Pioneer, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha are brands to look for.

[16 cycles]

http://www.headphone.com/headphones/akg-k-240-mk-ii.php

^ have a pair of these from AKG as well as two others from same manufacturer....(one pair ~ 8 years and going)

does not require amplification, very smooth and does not 'tire' you for long listening periods.

these aren't 'closed' (no acoustic seal) and are very comfortable.....

[X_Factor]

so i changed out the shitty cables from the flow box to tv (panasonic 42X1)
using these http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Cable-V10 ... 65&sr=8-25
together with monster cables audio wires as well

i got the video cable at radio shack for 75$, had the audio cables before

and i dunno if its just me again, but im sure the images area bit clearer and sharper than before
less "fuzz" video noise has been reduced alot!

thinkin about buying this now
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-MV2R-1M-S ... 36&sr=8-14

btw, if anyone wants this to buy,i bought this and ordered 2 more sets which have not reached yet, then i got the monster cable brand so i really hav no use for it
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Comp ... 766&sr=1-1
i used it for a very very short period of time, probably 2 weeks if so much
i'll re-sell it very cheap (pm if interested)

before i was of the opinion that cables didnt really matter...but im totally changed with that view now!!
i cant wait to get the mediabridge hdmi cable now!

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

^ YUP!

I got digital cable just about a month ago and at first I was using generic elcheapo composite cables to connect it to my receiver. The picture was fuzzy with lil sparkles and I was pretty much disappointed as it was marginally better than analog and that was showing like crap!!! The big TV wasnt helping as analog looked better on the smaller 32" upstairs.

Once I got digital cable I was too impatient to order cables online so I bought a set of Auvio composite RCA cables from Radio Shack down here for about TT$300 - I know, I was impatient.

The Auvio cables are thick and heavy with 24kt gold connectors - woopee

Anyway the quality improvement was HUGE!!!

I connected the FLOW digital box via RCA to my receiver which can upscale analog signals to HD and send it through HDMI to the TV. The upscaling is an even bigger improvement.
Even on my 58" TV (larger TV's show up faults even more) the picture is great.

Some channels like Nat Geo and CNN are near DVD quality after the upscaling to 1080p.
I don't have an HD cable box.

Cables DO matter!!!! A good receiver helps too.