DTS Rulez!!!

[Wombat]

Well, they're a Yamaha dealer, for one. I don't know what else. I've never been in one, and I hear that what they carry in-stock depends largely on the size of the particular store they are in.

Denver is only about an hour-ish away, if I hit traffic right. It's not the drive, it's getting there while the store is still open that will be the tricky part. I can't just swing by after work.

[KvHagedorn]

There are Yamaha Dealers and Yamaha Dealers. Some (like Best Buy) carry only the HTR series. The best is the RXV series (which also goes up into the higher end stuff.) I don't know if an HTR dealer would even carry the RX series, which is the stereo-only line.

From what it looks like, they are probably a full line Yamaha dealer. They seem to be rather spare on the speaker end of things, though. What an odd product assortment! They supposedly sell Martin-Logan and Krell, and the rest is just mid-fi.. and they sell Sub-Zero refridgerators too!

I looked at Rotel/B&W Dealers online and found ListenUp, which has stores in Denver and Boulder. They are open on Saturdays, if that's better for you. You might call first to see what they have for you to listen to. Ask Paul (ALBPM) or Jammrock about B&W.. I think you'll understand what we are all talking about once you give them a listen. That Rotel receiver should be a good match too, though I haven't heard it yet.. their stuff is generally very good. Should be a step above the Yamaha or Denon Receivers.

[Chucky Cheese]

KvH,

i purchased an extra 4 year in-home sony warranty from the store online...not to mention the 2000 dollars i saved by buying it on line. due to the limited selection available around town it is highly likely that all my componets will be bought online, which by the way, makes me heavily dependant on the advice and recomendations of other people for brands and places to look.

cc

[Greebe]

CC if you don't mind, where do you live, Columbus?

[Chucky Cheese]

yes

cc

[Greebe]

LOL, don't ask but I had a feelin for quite some time now

[Chucky Cheese]

Greebe,

...what gives ????

cc

[Chucky Cheese]

...one last thing before i go to work...

the one criteria i forgot to mention for this system is that i want ...the best possible sound at low volume levels.

that hk avr 8000 says it has a peak current rating of 85 amps...is that right!!! i don't have a breaker in the place that can handle that...and what the heck is a "massive torridial transformer"???

questions questions questions

KvH...the only people manning these stores these days are "know it all" kids, that is why i"m skeptical of saleskids...uh, i mean salesman

cc

[Dogbert]

KvHagedorn,

I have a small (yet somewhat annoying) problem with my Yamaha (HTR-5170) DSP you might now how to solve:

On DSP mode "Rock Concert" and only on this DSP mode, the rear right speaker volume is much lower than the rear left one.

I checked it in other DSP modes (Jazz Club and in 5 speaker modes as well) and also tried switching the left / right speakers to re-duplicate the problem.
I checked the volume level of each speaker and they're the same (rear right and left at +6)

If it matters, I use Wharfedale Modus speakers - all 8 ohm (16 front, 8 rear and center. No sub).

Thanks in advance.

BTW, have you heard anything good/bad about the Wharfedale PowerCube subwoofers ?

[Greebe]

CC, Toroidal transformers are known for being smaller, lighter, with low stray magnetic emissions (hum), longer longitivity and cooler running. They are also somewhat self regulating do to the core being donut shaped like a reactor and exhibit improved effeciency.

cons, harder to wind and cost more because of this

[Chucky Cheese]

Greebe,

is it the low stray magnetic emmissions attribute that is key?? come to think of it, those things have a lot of nice attributes. that explaines the price tag!!


checkout the feature set of this hk avr 8000...

http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=haravr8000

I WANT THIS RECEIVER BAD!!!!!!!!!

from an electronics point of view, what do you think???

cc

[Jammrock]

*sigh* ... pay attention CCheese.

#1, if you are going to buy expensive electronics (besides computers), DO NOT BUY ONLINE!!!!! Most manufactures do not honor their warranty for online retailers and online retailers don't provide any. Check with their web sites first, if they have authorized dealers, then you can buy online, otherwise DO NOT!!!!!

#2, if you are going to drop $1800 on an AV reciever, pay a little extra and skip to a low-end component system. Get something like the Rotel RSP-1066 and a Rotel RMB-1075. You get more power, more features, better sound, MUCH better sound and better components. Those two parts with good high quality cables will run you ~$2600. You pay more, but you get more. I'm sure other folks around here have lots of other suggestions in that price range.

#3 From an electronics and gadget standpoint, the HK AVR-8000 looks fine. But, as all of the people here on the forums that once thought like you will say, it will not sound better, or even equal to, a nice AV preamp/processor and power amp component system. I once thought like you when I bought my trusty Denon AVR-3802, but looking back let me give you some advice from experince...IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY, GET A COMPONENT SYSTEM!!!!!

Go here to look up a local Rotel dealer: http://www.rotel.com/html/dealers.htm

Go to the store, listen and you will see why we tell you this.

Jammrock

[Chucky Cheese]

okay okay....

as it turns out there is a rotel dealership fairly close, with in 6 miles, from my house. if i don't work overtime saturday i'll go and check the stuff out and collect some business cards.

i've got lots of time to look...i figure 4 to 6 paydays to pay off the tv and stand

i got the cheapo sony sytem(dav-c900) and the s-vhs(..very nice) today. i also got the monster power hts3500 power reference center for home theater systems...WOW!!!...this thing is proffessional gade...very very nice.

i'll do more reading about this stuff, for sure

cc

[Elie]

I basically have the cheapest Pioneer DTS/DD receiver with a Panasonic DVD player hooked up via fiber and it's amazing how much DTS sounds better than DD.

I think I heard that DTS is 2 or 3:1 compression and DD is 13:1 which is why you hear the diiference big time.

But folks, lets not stop at quality audio when watching DVD's what about the visuals? Well let's say before I bought my DVD player, I was using the Marvel eTV hooked up to my receiver using Svideo, and it was good, then I bought the DVD player hooked it up using Svideo and it was good too, BUT WHEN I MADE THE CHANGE TO COMPONENT.... MAN!!!!! what a difference is visuals, the colours were briliant and simply spetacular to look at.

I have one or two movies for those that want the best visuals in terms of colour quality etc. and they are...

1-Charlies Angels (yes believe it or not, check out the first 10 minutes of the movie, simply amazing colour quality!!)

2-Molan Rouge, now I did not see this but I heard it was aboslutely stunning via component.

3-The one, Especially the end (last 5 minutes of the movie) colours of the cars come bursting out at you!

4-The Fast and Furious, the colours of all the souped up Hondas and Mazda's made my car look so pale

And then of coarse there's the great sound quality aspect of those movies as well

My 32 inch TV really helps, it's a Hitachi with component input, and to me the difference between Svideo and Component is like Cable and HDTV
Check it out.

Sorry for the off topic there for a while, but it was still relevent hehe.

[Muad'Dib]

CC, take Jammy and KvH's advice.

At the moment, Jammy and I have quite similar systems and I agree with him mostly. But it also depends on what you're going for and what your home environment is like. I think you mentioned portability at one point. If that is the case, avoid seperates cause that's three things to move instead of 1.

As I'm moving 1/2 way around the country in a couple months, seperates were not an option - or you could say I could have been intelligent and waited until I got there, but whatever.... If you want really good sound, but not the best and some portability, a reciever + a nice seperate 2 channel amp for your mains will work nciely too. Jammy currently has this setup and I think Paul does too - but memory can be shaky at my old age of 22

As for speakers, I think you need to define a price range (unless I missed it?) before you go and listen to B&W's. If you wanna pay over 2 grand, but under 20, there's a lot of competition for B&W (i.e.: Thiel, Martin Logan, some people might place Sunfire against them, I'd personally put my Jamo's up against them with the right equipment up to their 9NT rig).

No one has mentioned them yet, but if you're going to do this, B&K makes some AMAZING amps for the price (yeah Jammy, let's have a B&K vs. Rotel conversation, shall we? This morning I played stravinsky at -15 on my Denon/B&K loaner and I knocked a candlestick holder 3 rooms away over when the bass drum hit ).

Elie: Fast and Furious was ghetto! They're Honda's and that's all they'll EVER BE!

And a big btw to everyone, please, let's get this out of the way first off! NEVER EVER BUY MONSTER CABLES!!! Not that anyone had, just supplying the warning so no one does....

-Dimitri