A report on my new HT. I owe you all one because this board had so much influence on my choices. Thanks everyone! Pic links at the end.
Actuals, including shipping and taxes
TV+warranty+stand - CircuitCity - 3450
Receiver - MagnoliaHiFi - 0900
Speakers+stands - Axiom+RacksandStands - 1250
Sub - SVS - 0650
Cables+wire+power strip - BestBuy+HomeDepot - 0250
total - 6500
TVThe Samsung HD3 chip HLP4663W is simply amazing. Side by side, it is clearly inferior to the HD2+ chip Tantus, but in my living room it's plenty bright, plenty contrasty, and a lot more practical than the Captain Kirk. It is also a lot bigger than it appears in the showroom. Thanks to Alan, who steered me from the 50" to the 46". It may have helped that my wife put her foot down in favor of the 46" too. Nobody sees the rainbow, nobody sees the dimple.
Excellent picture, even in SD. I can't overemphasize the impact of the picture. Lots of inputs. Good speakers for a TV. Spend 3K on a TV and get phone support that's prompt and helpful. Samsung support walked me through the cable box setup, but see frown below.
Component1 takes only 480i/p. Component2 takes everything but 720p. 720p apparently accepted only from DVI or HDMI inputs (not from component1/2.) Ultimately, both the cable guy and I could not get any hi-res to work while he was here, because we had the DBS plugged into Component 1. This is unfathomable to me.
Can't deselect connected inputs or antenna. It drives me to the menu just to change sources!
Cable boxI received a Motorola 6200 HD cable receiver. It works fine and has a good set of outputs.
Installing it caused the cable guy to replace a bad splitter, which really improved the signal for all the TVs in the house. He also set up the cable remote as the wife remote, which allows her to just watch TV using just the cable remote. That was nice of him.
Cable guy had no clue about box setup and no instruction manual for the box with him. When he left, I was receiving all channels in 480i (see TV frown above.) Also, apparently Comcast box programming does not support RF bypass, which means you either have to watch the channel you record, or split the cable signal, instead of the more proper daisy chain.
HDIt's all true! HD is stupendous and there's not much of it. I watched the Olympics in 1080i and noticed a problem. In situations where the camera panned in front of a complex background there was noticeable pixelation around the foreground focus object. I saw this strongly in high diving, where the camera would follow the divers as they moved in front of the stands. In situations where the background was simpler, like track and field, it didn't happen.
My wife remarked that HD is like looking through a window. Everyone who sees it is stunned by the clarity and sense of depth. 480p is a very welcome evolution, but true HD is a revolution. It reminds me of when I was a boy and we got our first color TV. For a while, I watched programming I didn't even like just because it was in color. I'm doing that again with HD. We are amused.
Not counting premium channels (free for 2 months, remember to cancel) I have 3 full time HD channels: INHD, INHD2, and Discovery HD, and also the local affiliates (which each have just a few shows in HD) ABC, NBC, PBS, WB, and Fox. No CBS affiliate HD, but the ABC and NBC affiliates both broadcast their local news shows in HD and the NBC affiliate even produces some of their other shows in HD as well. But is all so new. I watched the premier of "Father of the Pride" in HD. NBC had audio problems with the HD feed and they had to substitute the SD feed. Another audio glitch occurred when ABC showed Dinosaur a few nights later. So right now I think the dedicated HD cablecasters are doing better technically than the networks.
ReceiverThe Denon 2805 was a satisfactory choice, although I think now that any one of a dozen receivers would have worked just as well for me. It's thoroughly unremarkable, which is a compliment in this context, I guess. I have not performed any serious setup yet. No avia/spl meter. No sub crawl. Auto-equalization run through once. My differences of opinion with the auto-eq: Highs wrong. Center volume low and surround volume too high. Just tweaks. Lows and mids came out very well, I thought. Still, I find myself listening in no eq mode, and probably will until I can take the time to do it right.
My standout feature seems to be the OSD. With the remote and good OSD, who needs a front panel? I know I'm not getting off my ass any more. Also, I've decided I like optical cables. I now use two: cable box to receiver, and DVD to receiver. Supposedly they're less flexible than regular cable, but they took my turns. Fewer analog conversion steps = less distortion. Also, I am warming up to PLIIx.
The manual is poor. A great deal of ink is spent repeating basic instruction sequences leaving little room to explain what it's all for. A manual made only to fulfill the requirement for a manual. That matters because even the guyest guy has to read his receiver manual.
SubwooferSVS PB1-ISD. Best bass I ever had period. I have my volume set on 11 o'clock.
How low can it go? I still don't know. But I love using the first scene in LOTR1 where Sauron is defeated for showing it off. I have a sturdy house, and I can swing low without creating too many rattles so far. I have fun with it, and scare the dogs a little. I must hear cannons!
It's furniture. I've got mine kind of tucked out of the way but when my wife looks at it, I get exasperated sigh code number no64U (just joking - they all have that number.)
SpeakersAxiom M22/VP100/QS8 standard 5.1 system. Since I've only had them two weeks, my impressions are still evolving, but I'm liking them so far. It's a huge improvement simply because it's surround sound.
Every time I hear the Axioms play music, my opinion of them goes up. I personally have never heard better midrange. The M22s and SVS together make quite a speaker(100Hz xover.) Lows and mids sound very good. I love this part, where I get to play all my old CDs and hear new things on them.
The owner's manual could spare one line for cleaning instructions. Also, my placement leaves everything to be desired (I can't get the surrounds behind me) and I will continue to work on this (see as-is layout pic.) Maybe a 6th channel (3rd qs8) is needed for my room, just to throw some SPL behind the couches.
Finally, remote proliferation is an issue. I now have four to deal with. Maybe for Christmas Santa will bring me a MX-700 w/opt granny remote.
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for all the good advice I received here. I learned a lot and I'm sure I made much better decisions with your help than I would have without.
Pics
As Is Layout (11K)
The Front (72K)
Right Surround and Sub (72K)
