YAHTT

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
how about the panasonic xr700

You should look up the official XR700 thread on AVSforum (I assume there is at least one good one) and see what people have to say about it.

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
how about the panasonic xr700

when i built my theater, i had a 2k budget after the TV, and ended up with the stuff in my sig. I have to highly, highly recommend Ascend. based on what i have heard from people who have come and listened to my theater and the research i did/have done, they are extremely difficult to beat at the price point. YoYo has done some more technical comparisons, i'm sure, but you definitely can't go wrong with them. I also love the Panny XR55. its obviously not an HDMI-switcher, but its hopefully testament to the quality of their other receivers. I got lucky with my sub and snagged it for $400 when they were phasing out the Omni S12.

i fully agree with YoYo's suggestion regarding going a bit cheaper on the receiver also...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
how about the panasonic xr700

when i built my theater, i had a 2k budget after the TV, and ended up with the stuff in my sig. I have to highly, highly recommend Ascend. based on what i have heard from people who have come and listened to my theater and the research i did/have done, they are extremely difficult to beat at the price point. YoYo has done some more technical comparisons, i'm sure, but you definitely can't go wrong with them. I also love the Panny XR55. its obviously not an HDMI-switcher, but its hopefully testament to the quality of their other receivers. I got lucky with my sub and snagged it for $400 when they were phasing out the Omni S12.

i fully agree with YoYo's suggestion regarding going a bit cheaper on the receiver also...

Ascend is definitely in the top few internet direct options in this pricerange :thumbsup:
I have not gotten a chance to hear any yet, but based on what I know about them from reveiws / owners / etc. I would not hesitate recommending them as a very solid option (in fact, I think I did already )

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

I don't know if the acoustic issues of having your seating up against the wall are enough to make surrounds a bad idea.

Based off the drawing, it seems like it might be possible to move the couch away from the wall a bit and not be totally in the way of anything.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

I don't know if the acoustic issues of having your seating up against the wall are enough to make surrounds a bad idea.

Based off the drawing, it seems like it might be possible to move the couch away from the wall a bit and not be totally in the way of anything.

the gap off to the left is actually a small room. i was thinking of doing something like this. or should i just keep it as it is and move the couch off the wall a bit?

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

I don't know if the acoustic issues of having your seating up against the wall are enough to make surrounds a bad idea.

Based off the drawing, it seems like it might be possible to move the couch away from the wall a bit and not be totally in the way of anything.

the gap off to the left is actually a small room. i was thinking of doing something like this. or should i just keep it as it is and move the couch off the wall a bit?

that probably wouldn't be a bad setup...its a neat idea at least. I guess it depends on what is going to be more obtrusive. IMO, it looks like moving the couch off the wall in the first setup would be more of a bother than doing your second setup, and it also looks like it may be easier to control lighting in the second setup. the only issue with the second one may be the placement of the center channel, as it won't be on plane with the R/L fronts. If you don't have a use for that small room, it looks good. i also like that one because i tend to like a bit more of a diffuse rear sound field, where the rears don't point directly at the seating area. You may or may not enjoy that, but at least you would be given the option. And realistically, i don't think you are going to notice much acoustic disturbance from things like the fireplace, etc...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

I don't know if the acoustic issues of having your seating up against the wall are enough to make surrounds a bad idea.

Based off the drawing, it seems like it might be possible to move the couch away from the wall a bit and not be totally in the way of anything.

the gap off to the left is actually a small room. i was thinking of doing something like this. or should i just keep it as it is and move the couch off the wall a bit?

That looks like a better option than the other way. Better spacing of the front speakers looks possible with the fireplace not being a problem for the left front speaker anymore.

I'll just echo Hyperlite's comment about the concern for the center channel. You'd ideally want it to be the same distance from the seating as the FR/FL speakers. Not a huge deal, but something to think about.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: Tiamat
With the couch against the wall, I wouldnt bother with surround sound as you cannot get it set up correctly (according to dolby). I would probably spend 500$ on the Hsu sub as mentioned and then check out appropriate receivers for the features you want. Av123's X series has budget in mind...

dolby says surround speakers can be perpendicular to the couch

Yes, but it is not a great idea to have the couch against the rear wall for acoustic reasons. There will be strong peaks and nulls due to the room wall modes. Adding more speakers will just make the problem worse...

I don't know if the acoustic issues of having your seating up against the wall are enough to make surrounds a bad idea.

Based off the drawing, it seems like it might be possible to move the couch away from the wall a bit and not be totally in the way of anything.

the gap off to the left is actually a small room. i was thinking of doing something like this. or should i just keep it as it is and move the couch off the wall a bit?

That looks like a better option than the other way. Better spacing of the front speakers looks possible with the fireplace not being a problem for the left front speaker anymore.

I'll just echo Hyperlite's comment about the concern for the center channel. You'd ideally want it to be the same distance from the seating as the FR/FL speakers. Not a huge deal, but something to think about.

it looks a lot farther back than it is... its only about 2 feet, but i suppose i could bring the front of the TV stand up closer to the opening and push the TV to the back of the stand since its an LCD. that would put the center almost even with the fronts

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

It's also best to keep speakers away from walls if possible. I know that's asking a lot for someone living in an apartment (I can't do a decent job of it myself), but I'll just mention it to make your life more complicated.

 

[Tiamat]

The new setup looks much better. In my experience, having the listening position compromised is much worse than having your speakers too close to walls.

Yoyo, if the surrounds are dipole etc. its probably not too bad, however if they are direct radiating, the rear wall's reflections would cause problems in the initial setup. Im not sure what type of surround speakers OP is looking for.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
The new setup looks much better. In my experience, having the listening position compromised is much worse than having your speakers too close to walls.

Yoyo, if the surrounds are dipole etc. its probably not too bad, however if they are direct radiating, the rear wall's reflections would cause problems in the initial setup. Im not sure what type of surround speakers OP is looking for.

Yeah, I'm not sure what kind he's thinking either, but with the kind of material that's usually on the surround tracks for movies, I don't think the placement issues are that serious. For multichannel music or something I would be a lot more concerned, but when surrounds tend to play ambient background noise to immerse the listener, I don't feel like issues with reflections, nulls, and such are that big of a deal. Getting some reflections going from the back wall to diffuse the sound a bit might not even be a bad thing if the OP gets direct radiating speakers.

(I agree that the new placement looks like a better option though)

 

[Oscar1613]

where are they supposed to go then?

 

[Oscar1613]

also the dotted line on the right of the outline means theres no wall there. theres an additional 7 feet for the dining area/doorway before the wall

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
where are they supposed to go then?

Surrounds go to the side or a bit farther back like the dolby diagram suggests.

 

[Imported]

YOyo, do you have an opinion on either of these receivers?

Harmon Kardon AVR 245
Onkyo TX-SR604
Panasonic SA-XR57

Looking for something under $400 with HDMI for my Oppo 970. Velodyne CHT Front Row + BIC H-100 sub as well. I'd love the Denon 2307CI but that's out of my price range.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
where are they supposed to go then?

Surrounds go to the side or a bit farther back like the dolby diagram suggests.

but not mounted on walls?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Imported
YOyo, do you have an opinion on either of these receivers?

Harmon Kardon AVR 245
Onkyo TX-SR604
Panasonic SA-XR57

Looking for something under $400 with HDMI for my Oppo 970. Velodyne CHT Front Row + BIC H-100 sub as well. I'd love the Denon 2307CI but that's out of my price range.

Nothing specific and useful to say about those. Do you have more sources with HDMI than your display has inputs?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
where are they supposed to go then?

Surrounds go to the side or a bit farther back like the dolby diagram suggests.

but not mounted on walls?

Depends on the speakers. Some are designed to go right on the wall while others are best used away from walls.

 

[Imported]

My display has 2 HDMI in. I figure I'll have DVR sometime soon when I go with cable or dish, and an XBOX360 when the HDMI version comes out. Only thing else connected to my TV is my computer atm.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
where are they supposed to go then?

Surrounds go to the side or a bit farther back like the dolby diagram suggests.

but not mounted on walls?

Depends on the speakers. Some are designed to go right on the wall while others are best used away from walls.

what about those ascends?

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
where are they supposed to go then?

Surrounds go to the side or a bit farther back like the dolby diagram suggests.

but not mounted on walls?

Depends on the speakers. Some are designed to go right on the wall while others are best used away from walls.

what about those ascends?

To elaborate on what yoyo said, the speakers that are designed to be somewhat away from walls would be the designs that are rear ported. By away from walls, we don't mean like 3 or 4 feet, just enough to not disturb the air exiting and entering the rear of the speaker, probably about a foot. Sealed speakers can be wall mounted or placed against the walls. As far as ascends go, the monitors i use for surrounds, the HTM-200's, are sealed and can be placed against walls. i have them wall mounted, using mounts i bought with them from ascend. all my speakers across the front are rear ported, the CBM-170SE's and the CMT-340CSE. I do have my RL monitors in cabinets, i made sure they are large enough to not impede air flow too much. so basically, as long as the ports have at least like 8 inches between the back of the speaker and the wall, you should be ok.

i just finished my webpage for my theater today, links in my sig. check it out. nothing compared to YoYo's, , but you can at least see what i/we are talking about. i'll probably keep adding pictures to it for a while.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Imported
My display has 2 HDMI in. I figure I'll have DVR sometime soon when I go with cable or dish, and an XBOX360 when the HDMI version comes out. Only thing else connected to my TV is my computer atm.

I was just thinking that having 2 HDMI switching on a receiver isn't that big of a deal, especially if it doesn't take care of the audio (depending on the receiver)

 

[Oscar1613]

so i looked around on the ascend site and noticed it said discount on amps with purchase of any speaker, so i emailed them and they said i could get the HK AVR-345 for $580 with the S23-2000 speaker package (same as Hyperlite's)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613
so i looked around on the ascend site and noticed it said discount on amps with purchase of any speaker, so i emailed them and they said i could get the HK AVR-345 for $580 with the S23-2000 speaker package (same as Hyperlite's)

Nothing wrong with that, but just fyi that price doesn't seem like anything special.

Amazon (through J&R) has the 445 for $600 with free shipping for example
http://www.amazon.com/AVR-445-Channel-T...F8&s=audio-video&qid=1173154276&sr=1-6

HK also sells refurb units with new 2 year warranties on them through the site harmanaudio and the ebay seller harmanaudio if you're looking to save more.

I got my old 325 through them.