Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater What electronics do you use?

It will be interesting to get your "review" comparing those DVD/CD players. I notice the Panasonic doesn't do DVD-Audio (or SACD) but it DOES have some sort of nifty "96kHz/24-bit PCM audio or the hypnotic Dialogue Enhancer" (according to a Web page description) Heh Heh!

Once you are out of your "hypnotic" trance, give us an update!!!

Randyman

chesseroo,

(oops forgot to add this...)
I'd be willing to bet that once you get those QS8s set up, (in place of the M22s for surround) you will not only LOVE their sound, but Black Hawk Down will even be enjoyable!

Let us know.....

Randyman

Hey chesseroo,

Let us know if you get the desired results from the QS8s.

Thanks,

CAV104

I will post a personal review soon of the Panasonic CV52 dvd and Hitachi 725U dvd players along with my opinions on the home theatre setup using the vp150, ep350 and qs8s once they arrive.
Most likely after or during the coming weekend.

STay tuned.

HT set up:
Onkyo TX DS797, Denon PMA 500V 2 channel amp for channels 6+7, Merak MC6H center, Michaura M665 tower fronts, Axiom M50 sides, Mission 77ds bipole backs, Velodyne CHT100 sub, Toshiba SD9200 DVD-A player, Sony 53" HDTV.

I'm experimenting by moving the M50s to the side and the Michaura M665 to the front position. The M665s may be comparable to the M60, but is a smaller speaker.

Sounds very nice!!! The DVD-A is also great for music in 2 or multi channel mode. Most of the DVD-A recordings I've bought are junk, especially those from AIX - favorites like Peppino D'Agostino on guitar. You've never heard of him and for good reason. However, try the Willie Nelson Night & Day DVD-A and have your third eye opened.

My stereo system:
Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT 5 watt tube integrated amp, Velodyne CHT80 sub, and swapping between Axiom M3Tis and Michaura M55 speakers. Now sourced by an Ah! Njoeb Tjoeb CD player. Previously a 9 year old JVC which sounded much better than the highly reviewed Cambridge D500SE CD player. I had to spend an arm and a leg to do better than the JVC, but the JVC could stack 6 CDs, and the Ah! takes them one at a time.

Electronics
-------------
Rotel 1066 pre/pro
Outlaw 770 amp
HTPC - handles DVD, HDTV, and music playback; using M-Audio Delta 410 soundcard (24/96 capable)

Speakers
------------
M60ti mains
VP150 center
M3ti surrounds
QS8 center back

For music, I'm using WinAMP. The CD-Reader plugin gives me digital extraction for CD-audio, and the MAD plugin gives me 24-bit MP3 decoding for my Mp3 collection. I'm also using the SSRC upsampling plugin to resample to 96khz. This setup gives me an all-digital 24/96 signal from the source to my pre/pro, and sounds quite good. I don't have any experience with high-dollar CD players that supposedly have great DAC's, but I'm quite happy with the DAC's in my 1066.

chesseroo,

Quick question regarding your experience with Black Hawk Down, did you find that you needed to turn the volume up higher to get the effect you expected from the film's sound? I know it's not in DTS, but my normal DD listening volume had to be raised a bit ("70" or so on my onkyo vice the normal "63"). My usual DVD references (S&V HT Tune Up, etc) all sound normal (too loud at 70) for DD, but BHD needed more volume for my taste.

Good luck with your set-up this weekend.

lando

Have you looked at Rotel cd changers? I heard (from a few people) they are exceptionally good

For the Onkyo 797 i've found that i can't play anything under 50 or 55 using the absolute volume option (i.e. max at 100). In fact, to play music or movies at the levels i prefer i've had to set the volume around 65-75 which i found to be quite surprising.
Offhand i didn't notice a difference with Black Hawk Down however i did not watch another dvd until the next day so i can't say i conciously remember any volume issue.
Great movie if you want to go to bed shell shocked though. I swear i had battle fatigue myself after the first hour.

I thought Black Hawk Down sounded just fine on my Onkyo 797 at about the 50 range. Then again I live in an apartment and much more than that will get the neighbors in an uproar. I rarely need to turn a movie past 50 to get clear sound out of DVD movies and great bass (not the kind that rattle you, but good). No problems with voices from the center or surround effects.

Room: 15' x 15' with a concrete floor

b_man