Newbie looking for Sub, Cables & DVD advice!

I am a newbie and I am totally upgrading my entire home theatre system. After purchasing a Yamaha RX-V2500 and a new pair of M60's and QS8's and a VP-150. (All speakers from the FO and I am currently looking at 11 more weeks due to my color selection of Boston Cherry) :-(

Who do I send chocolate to again? Does that work?

I am going to buy some high quality 12 guage copper wire.I need good connectors for that and I would also like to buy/build new RCA cables for audio. (no soldering) I don't even know what type of cable to use in that application. I may even like to build a few (not many) composite video cables and would probably buy a few componet cables. Could someone instruct me on this and the best place to buy materials or the parts outright striking the best balance between cost and quality?

Secondly - I am at a total loss on the which subwoofer I can afford and should purchase. I am looking at a $500 price range + or - $100. My main listening area is 12 x 24 x 7'6" in a basement. My ceiling is drywall there is a small attached area at the front of the room on the left about 10 x 8 with a drop ceiling. I have been looking at:
HSU-STF2
HSU-STF3
SVS-PB10
SVS-PB12
I would love an EP500, but it I am not even close on cost. I am not sure that the EP175 is big/powerfull enough for the money. If several of you could make your top 3 picks available to me possibly with a bit of commentary I would appreciate it.

My last question is refarding a decent DVD player upgrade with some multi-format capability and preferably with some digital outputs. (I have a 61" 4x3 ratio Toshiba HDTV monitor. I normally always use it for HDTV and widfescreen DVD.)

Hell if anyone has any advice on a good terristial HDTV receiver (with DD that would be great too. I am an advanced user, but an expert by no means.

Thanks,

Scott Libbert
PS - You will probably be seeing a lot of me here in the future.

Scott, welcome. You send the chocolates to Amie; the shortening of your waiting period will be in direct proportion to the size of the box.

So far as speaker wire, this is a commodity item and "high quality" is a given, so you can buy on the basis of price, probably most conveniently at a local source such as Home Depot. No connectors are really necessary; the bare wire is fine, but you can use banana plugs if you want more convenience in connecting or disconnecting.

Unless you really want to build connecting cables(the tools can be a bit expensive), the convenient and cost-effective way is to buy them ready-made from some low-cost sources which have been discussed here, such as Monoprice, Triangle Cables and Parts Express. Again, there's little or no connection here between cost and quality; this is an area polluted with charlatans ripping-off the gullible.

The four subs that you list are all excellent, with 3 and 12 just a tiny bit ahead of 2 and 10. If you're not opposed to saving a little money here the very highly-regarded Mirage S12 on sale for a very good price here should also be considered. More later, I suppose.

The thing I hate about John (other than the fact that he attended "that school up North"

), is that he pretty much covers all the bases, leaving the rest of us to say only "What John Said!"

Do check out Monoprice.com. They're relatively new on the scene so I can't attest to the quality of the cables, but from all angles they appear just fine. In order to find out, the next cable I purchase will be from them. At those prices, albeit a fun project, making your own cables is hardly worth the time and expense.

Regarding speaker wire and subwoofers: What John Said!

Guys - Am I correct in believing that you are saying that the Mirage S12 is a better sub than all the subs listed in my original post? (And cheaper too!) :-)

Thanks,

Scott

Scott, I have no experience with the Mirage, but all John said is that it is highly regarded, NOT that it is "better." To me, that means it might be worth investigating. I'm more familiar with the the HSUs and the SVSs, and agree with John that the 3 and 12 are slightly ahead of the 2 and 10.

You can read a review of the Mirage S12 here .

The RCA connector stereo audio cables seem a bit on the low quality side at Monoprice.com. Is there any reason why I shouldn't use a pair of these for all of my stereo RCA connections? They use RG-59 which provides the added benefit of shielding and they look like they have high quality connections for a reasonable price. I guess what I need to know is RG59 a good conductor cable for all of my basic audio needs?

Scott

Have you looked at the Dayton cables from Parts Express.

You can use anything with 2 rca connectors on the ends, really.

I see your point about the stereo cables. I was not very impressed by the appearance of the component cable available at Monoprice either. But their digital cables, both video (other than the component) and digital audio cables look very good for the price.

I second Wid's recommendation of Dayton cables. Currently, most of my cables are Daytons. They are excellent quality at a reasonable price. If a Monoprice cable doesn't impress you, you won't go wrong with Daytons.

You guys are funny…

I'm a neculear engeneer in the navy, and work with equpt that even 1 or 2 volts off will make a difference in the accuracy of the gear and our readings have to be exact.. and um, we don’t use fancy cables.. and I will ganintee you that our tolerances are MUCH tighter than anything you will ever see, or hear… graneted I don’t deal with speaker cables, but eletricity is eletricity.. Electronts moving down a wire…

I would totally scrap the whole building your own cable idea.. the only way you will get a good connection is if you solder it, and at that, you need to know what your doing not to get a bad solder joint, and to actualy get a correct solder, some of the guys I work with went to soldering school, 6 week long school to teach them how to solder, after they are done, they are qualified to solder, nasa grade…. Anyhow, soldering is not just something you do, especialy if your worried about the quality of the signal after the solder joint..

Speaker wire, buy some for axiom, or their rca cables, they have Very good quality on both speaker cables, and rca’s… never really see anyone reccomending axiom, but every review I have read for axiom cables has been very simmilar to their speaker reviews…

http://www.axiomaudio.com/coaxial.html

Axiom no longer carries the analog rca cables.

Scott, sure the cable that you linked in your last reply would be fine in appropriate lengths(a too long cable, within reason, is okay, but a too short cable has a drastic effect on sound quality) for all your connector needs. However, their even less expensive cables would do a fine job, too. Note that MonoPrice is unusually frank in heading the section with the cables you linked by indicating the difference as "w/Fancy Connector". Any coaxial cable is shielded; that's what makes it coaxial, a central conductor surrounded by an outer shield. The degree of shielding varies, but rarely is interference in the home high enough to be a problem.

john, please explain how a "too short cable has a drastic effect on sound quality" i dont understand this, sense a shorter cable will have a lower total resistance -> a less voltage drop over the length of the cable...

Dak, I tried connecting a player to a receiver six feet away with a three foot cable. There was a tremendous increase in airiness(night and day)and the speakers seemed to disappear!

I knew there was a gotcha there somewhere

. I think I read that reply 5 or 6 times wondering what the heck you were talking about.

I am interested in the explanation of "too short" as well. I was going to order the shortest possible just to help alleviate the tangled mess. Is 1' too short? If so I suppose that 3' would be good.

On another note . . . I am still totally lost on this subwoofer thing. I have read and read and now I am just about to let you guys buy the damn thing for me. Could you guys chime in and elaborte on the new follwing list?

HSU-STF3 $599
SVS-PB12 $599
Mirage S12 $399 (free shipping)
Outlaw LFM-1 $579
Feel free to add more choices HERE if you want to confuse me further.

Am I correct in my thinking from reading till my eyes hurt that I am probably not going to notice much of a difference 95% of the time so I might as well save myself $300? But again, I would hate to have the "what if's" so I tend to overbuy.

Thanks again,

Scott

Was just waiting for someone to feed me a straight line, Rick.

JohnK, that was really funny!

What a set up, I'm impressed.

It wasn't going to be me.

And you get another straight line!

I was wondering myself. G1!

Now, to hell with the cables . . . help me get that sub and tell me exactly what kind of chocolate and where to send it to Amie so that I can get my crap Bose and JBL out of my basement and put in my new Axiom's.

I have only owned Hsu subs myself but for $399 shipping included the Mirage sure looks to be a hellofa good deal. In the review it said it only gave up a little to the Hsu VTF-3, that in itself is pretty high praise.

Scott, continuing with my tongue in my cheek, I definitely feel that if the distance between components was, say, 2', a 3' cable would give you better results than a 1'.

Now more seriously, on the sub; if the decision is very close I'd save the money and use it on stuff like more CDs and DVDs. Note however, as I've explained in the past, that I had upgraditis as a child and apparently developed an immunity. If you haven't looked over Tom Nousaine's sub test results in this table, note the high standing of the Energy S12.3, essentially identical to the Mirage S12.

I couldn't take anymore reading . . . so I just ordered the Mirage S12. Thanks for everyones input. I will be poking in here and there asking a question or two and maybe someday I will KNOW SOMETHING. You will probably see a lot of me when I actually get all my speakers and I need to calibrate my new system. I imagaine I will need some help with the damn subwoofer.

Thanks,

Scott

IMHO, you couldn't have gone wrong with any of those subwoofers. Congrats on your purchase, and let us know how it sounds.

Scott spend a little more and get the EP500 you will not regret it and you will never say what if.

In reply to:
I couldn't take anymore reading . . . so I just ordered the Mirage S12.

I own the Mirage BPSS210 and can say that it is a very impressive subwoofer (combined with the LFX-3 crossover to dial it into the room).

I have been a Mirage owner for quite some time (had the M3-si and 895is as well - sold to some buddies of mine so that I could downsize) and because of how much I watch movies more than music, I am switching to direct radiating speakers. Otherwise the Mirage speakers are very nice indeed. I believe that the sub you have purchased should be plenty for your space.

>Scott spend a little more and get the EP500 you will not >regret it and you will never say what if.

A little more money? The Mirage S12 was $399 to the door. The EP500 is $1150. A little more money could be defined a $100 or $200, but not more than double the price at $1150 which is an EXTRA $650. Not exactly chump change.

Thank for the input though.

Scott

In reply to:
You guys are funny…

I'm a neculear engeneer in the navy, ... Electronts moving down a wire…

heehee, now thats funny.

p.s.-NNPS 98-02, MTS 626, SSN-723

sigh, i didnt have much sleep that day... you know what i was trying to say though