1) i like Best Buy's warranties and i can always go back to them if i have a problem. have you ever tried sending something back to Amazon !?!? 2) i got a $3K Best Buy gift card at closing so i will be using it in full force
My first purchase was a Harmony 550. Its the bottom of the line but still can do all the things I need. I was OK when I just had a cable box and TV remote but the AVR will complicate things considerably Well I am getting solid midrange gear so it won't be poor equipment. I hope you are right about the listener fatigue. I want the setup for movies and games but hopefully it won't be two boomy or lispy for TV and such. Not a fan of volume really. This is really true when the sound is low quality. I am hoping that these speakers will be transparant and sonically invisible until they need to be.
Also anyone willing to post their speaker and AVR setup? Still int he process of putting my stuff together.
It actual simplifies it. it just ask you what your activity is, if you use a receiver, what input, etc. so if i press 'watch tv' it turns on my cable box, AVR, and TV, and switches the AVR to the correct sound input and TV to the correct TV input and presto. and if i switch to 'play video game' it knows to switch the TV input and AVR input and turn on my system. it rocks.
no i meant i got te 550 because the AVR complicates the situation. I agree that HArmony is awesome. It arrives tommorow and I am really looking forward to one button operation. It can also change settings ont he AVR for instance watch HDTV would turn on DD 5.1, play blueray can turn on MPCM stream etc.
Good timing, I just picked up a new home theater setup yesterday at Circuit City. I got the Denon DHT 488ba for only $409. It was the display unit and the last one they had. This is my first Denon setup and it's been a bit challenging to configure, but it's sounding great already.
probably should have done something like that for size reasons but I wasn't able to convince myself. It was hard enough for my sats to have 6 inch woofers instead of 8's.
Another way to help is to make sure to calibrate your sound setup properly. Some high end receivers come with microphones and can do a decent job of getting your sound levels correct from all speakers, including the subwoofer. I hear a lot of setups where the sub is set way too high in either volume or crossover and it just sounds bad. The subwoofer/LFE crossover is important as well. Sorry, but only James Earl Jones and a select few others should ever have even part of their voices coming out of a subwoofer. If you have main speakers with 5" cones or larger your subwoofer shouldnt be touching any sounds over 100hz, and if its a good brand of speaker, 80hz.
FWIW: I don't own this to know if it works as advertised, but there appears to be a third-party (or fourth, if you count the universal remote) workaround : the Blu-"Wave" remote featured in the corner.
Looks like it would work, since in essence it puts an IR sensor on it using a USB port. And again, you could use the new remote to teach a third party universal remote as mentioned in the review.
Last years model is better. xx71 or something like that. If you guys can find that model go for it, I assume its cheaper now.
the sound you will NOT tire of. It will change the way you watch anything. the nba playoffs were amazing, and I could hear the players actually talking more often. I actually JUST finished my home theater, i was working on it all summer. got a sony aw 15 projector (720, but looks real clean), onkyo 705 bose 5.1 setup (looking to upgrade to 7.1 or 7.2 in the future), dish HD dvr, and ps3. It took all summer, but im finally done (for now ) with it. I was thinking about posting pics of it, but w/e. PS- im pretty pissed at sony for the ps3 bluetooth **** that they pulled. I was gonna buy a harmony for everything, but it doesnt support the ps3, and I havent found a universal remote that supports bluetooth. anyone know of a universal remote that would support the bluetooth feature OR some way for the ps3 to respond to IR?
Here's my setup as of today: Source/Preamplifier: Musiland MD10 DAC/Preamp - This DAC has USB, Coaxial, Optical and BNC connections. I am able to connect my DVD player and laptop digitally, so the Musiland can do the digital to analog conversion, and work as a linestage for my amplifier. The difference between this DAC and using the analog out of my DVD player or laptop is night and day - very organic sounding. Link to review. Amplifier: Audiosource Amp 7T - This is a hard to find amp, because it never actually sold retail, because of some FCC issues. You can only find these on Ebay and the like - usually for around $250-$300. It is 200 watts into 8 ohms/325 watts into 4 ohms. It never gets hot, and sounds like an Audio Research 150.2 - which retails for $2,995. Both the 150.2 and the 7T use the same "Tripath" chip - TA104. Tripath amps are known to run cool and have a "tube-like" sound. There are no official reviews on the 7T, since it never sold retail. Speakers: Magnepan MMG's - These are the ultimate value in speakers at $550 brand new. Magnepan even offers a 60 day trial period. As long as you mate these with a quality amp and source - and have them setup properly, you will be hard pressed to find a better deal for under 1K. Link to review.
Weird, I was going to start a thread about this. A wealthy coworker who knows nothing about home entertainment systems recently asked me to build his for him. I get to spend someone else's money and he's paying me. He has a Samsung 40 inch already mounted in a bookcase with comcast HD cable. It has two HDMI slots. He wants something that will play his music, DVDs, a blu ray disc player and surround sound. I have recommended a PS3 for the blu ray/DVD player. I am a novice at surround sound. I know nothing about receivers or the speakers. He wants wireless for the back speakers. If the receiver had a cd changer and an AM/FM dial, that would be great. It is for his living room and would say he will be sitting 10 feet from the tv. The room is medium size. What brand/type of receivershould I get that is comaptible with wired and wirelss speakers. What kind of wired/wireless speakers should I get? What is a good remote to control all of this stuff? Can a uni remote control a PS3? If you think of anything I am missing, let me know.
I also like the fact that if it "forgets" to turn something on or change the input or whatever, you press "help" and it figures out what it did wrong.
Front end: Marantz SR8002 Receiver, Marantz SA8001 CD/SACD player, Pioneer DV-563A DVD universal player. (will soon get a separate 2-channel amp and use the Marantz as a preamp for stereo) Harmony 880 remote Speakers: Monitor Audio GS20 towers. Right now I only have a two channel setup due to showing our house for sale but I also have the following in storage that may or may not be used in the future: Axiom M2v2 bookshelves, Polk RTi (or something like that) bookshelves, Infinity Primus center speaker, JBL Northridge 12" subwoofer. TV : A big, bad, mean 27" Sony Wega Trinitron CRT set. Ah, yeah - analog quality, weighs hundreds of pounds, and is about 50" deep. Pure class and style. As you can tell, I don't care so much about TV's.
I will set it up for you if you have a few bucks to spare. I've lost count on how many systems I've set up for my family, siblings, parents, grandparents, etc. I recommend the highest quality cables at the cheapest price, and wire their stuff. It's a good feeling to know they're enjoying their entertainment because I helped them out. I miss Tweeter and how I used to "mimic" their setups.
