What does it mean by VaSSallo speakers? I've seen this term before, but I haven't seen an explanation.

When I check the Products page and go through all of the options, I see nothing about VaSSallo. Is it just another designation for the wood cabinets?

If I go to the auction page, currently on page 2, there are some M80's listed as, "M80 v3 VaSSallo Speakers - Real Wood Cherry With Black Grilles".

When I google for VaSallo, it comes up with a lot of different people with this name. I'm assuming it's named after someone that Ian knows, or a company by this name.

Here's a link for a definition I should have found before.

But this still begs the question. Are all of the wooden boxes a VaSSallo speaker, or is it just certain ones?

Yes, they all are.

All the real wood veneers are Vassallo's, Here is a more thorough explanation.

That was interesting. Thanks.

Dang. Is it Friday yet? Waiting to get paid so I can order my first VaSSallo speaker. Replacing center channel VP100 in/on wall with M2 VaSSallo in Cinnamon Oak. Then another lengthy period for it to ship. I've had my VP100 listed in auction for about 3 weeks now. (Currently the 1st item on Auction page, after clicking on "Products For Sale"). I think the highest bid I've had is $3.00.

Don't start the bidding at $1...

Yeah, thanks, I've learned that lesson. I did lower it today from $50 to $45 though. I'm not going any lower than that.

It's FRIDAY! Yeah. I ordered my new center. A single M2 in VaSSallo Cinnamon Oak in simi-gloss finish with metal bracket. I noticed the e-mail and printable description of my order mentioned Oak finish, but nothing about Cinnamon or simi-gloss, so I hope they get the order right. I imagine they have that info from the order, and it just doesn't get printed on the feed back notices.

It looks like it would be ok to turn the bracket upside down from what the picture shows, so that I can angle it upwards a bit from under the TV. Now, I've got to repair the hole made by the VP100 in/on wall. I saved the piece I cut out. It's a short wall that's currently exposed on the back side from downstairs, where I can install 3 short studs. Center and each end to make installing the cut-out easier. It also looks like I'll have to remove the plate and box for the subwoofer because it's directly in the way for a stud. I need to install it where the subwoofer is anyway off to the side of the room.

Woohoooooot!

Saweeeeeeeeeeet! Enjoy, Cat!

Brian, I would call Axiom just to confirm your order, hate to have you have to wait even longer due to a bad order.

Already done. I e-mailed JC today and he shot an answer back with a copy of the production order that was exactly as I ordered it.

Hey Cat just a couple of question:
1. Why did you elected to go with oak cinnamon veneer instead of matching one of your other speakers ?
2. I noticed an air vent below your display? In my situation the display is mounted on 2 studs but in between them is where the air return vent is located and it travel upstairs. Did you any issues because of that and maybe, why you've elected to go with a regular M2 instead of a inwall?

Thanks, Bill...

My understanding is that the VaSSallos are real wood that has been stained, and not veneer overlaid on particle board, like the Boston Cherry and Black are, etc. (But you may be right, it just says real wood finish, not real wood.) I just wanted to try out the VaSSallos and see what they looked like. It was fairly close to matching the Cinnimon Beech of my subwoofer, which is vinyl, except a shade lighter. After I've seen them, I prefer the real wood looks over the black and the Boston Cherry. I'm not sure what I'll end up replacing the others with. I don't really like the look of what I have, but it sounds good. M80 or M60 may be too big for that spot, but that's another idea for some time later.

There is a floor between where I mounted the TV and the VP100. The TV is mounted on a single center stud. I removed the stud for the VP100 from access I had from the floor below. I'm going to put 3 new studs in that spot. There is horizontal wood above that return vent, so the length of the studs are only a couple of feet long. That will give me plenty of wood to attach the replacement drywall to and mount the M2 to.

I had thought about mounting a VP180 in-cabinet there, but after measuring, there wasn't enough depth between the wall and where some duct work was coming out of the top of the furnace.

You don't want real wood speakers for a number of reasons. Veneered MDF/hdf is far better.

That's what I've heard before. Anyway, I'm just curious if the extra $80 is worth the cost over how my Cinnamon Beech EP30 looks. I'm not returning it if I don't think so, unless there's something wrong with it otherwise. So, we'll see if I like it enough to order any more speakers in this, or similar finish. In the worst case, I can always order another one like this one and mount them on either side of my fireplace, or something.

Brian, yes the Vassallo enclosures are a real wood veneer over MDF. As Adrian points out, MDF is superior for speaker enclosures, and using a total real wood construction would lead to poorer results.

I have a set of Vassallo's and I can tell you that not only do they sound great, but the workmanship is awesome. You will not be disappointed!

Axiom sent me a sample of the Cinnamon Oak. After matching it up with the on-screen samples provided in the products pages, it is not the same as the picture. What matches the closest by sample against screen is Natural Walnut, only the sample is 1 shade redder than the picture. I may have to send this back and try a different sample.

Could someone from Axiom tell me which of the VaSSallo samples look the closest to the Cinnamon Beech vinyl? (Err on the light side, not the dark side (sic))

I'd give JC or Brent a call/pm.

Ok. I sent a PM to Jc.

At home the sample looks different that it did at work. Different lighting. It looks closer to the color on the web site for Cinnamon Oak, but still not the same. When I place it against the wall with the other equipment, it looks more like a light oak. It's several shades lighter than the Cinnamon Beech vinyl that my ep350 is in.

That's because color is hardly a well calibrated thing on most computer monitors. I keep my 3 monitors at work calibrated, but I still wouldn't trust the color on them to tell me what color something like a finish is.

I suspected the same. Monitors at work = cheep. I paid about $300 for mine almost 2 years ago.

You need a reference illuminant too.

Can I scream now?

Cat,
I went with 3 different vinyl samples and 3 different grills to mix and match. I found in general that the samples were redder than the image on my monitor. So the one I thought I would pick to match my cherry furniture downstairs is not the one that I went with. I acutally did get a fairly close match - especially in incandescent light. Natural sun light the match is a bit off but not much. The technical term is Metamarizing when the object changes color in different light.

I'm hoping someone at Axiom can tell me which wood veneer is the closest match to the Cinnamon Beech vinyl. I've e-mailed Jc this question and will see what he answers with.

I was expecting more red in the Cinnamon Oak, but there's more yellow than red in this choice.

According to someone at Axiom, the best wood veneer match to the Cinnamon Beech vinyl is Nutmeg Cherry in the Satin (low gloss) finish. They are sending me a sample of that one.

For some reason, by going with a simi-gloss, changes the entire look of the finish. I thought it would be the same, only shinier.

color match can be (is) subjective.

I e-mailed Brent but haven't heard back from him. If you see this, please send both the satin and the simi-gloss sample for Nutmeg Cherry. Please, please. Pretty please.

Brian: Interested to hear what you think when you compare them. I thought the satin on real wood made it look like Formica. I went with the semi, or "simi," if you're in the mood for wine.

Be careful with UV exposure. Some catalyzed finishes tout UV resistance. They're not all created equal. My semi yellowed considerably, but the room is nothing but glass. I've had some of my own maple pieces in there and that didn't happen. Not a complaint. It happens. But it's gonna be far worse with cherry, so watch out.

That's kind of what I was thinking, that the satin would just look, well, flat. I think a little shine would brighten things up a bit.

As far as uv exposure, there's a skylight above the place where the speakers sit. I wonder if the top sides would end up being a different shade than the undersides. I wonder if I should re-coat them with something to protect them from uv light then?

Coat your skylight, instead. That way, you don't get a sunburn.

In clients' houses, I have seen some terrible fading on high quality new cherry pieces that were beside a curtained window--never in direct sunlight.

I could plainly see where the coasters always went and if someone left a book there for too long. And yes, the tops and sides will end up looking different. I move my 4 QS8's around from time to time, but I will never be able to change the M60's or the sub. We had a small ceramic sculpture on the sub. Now that it's not there, you can see that it was.

My feeling at day's end---it's wood, it's real. Real things do that.

I think my clients don't really understand that until after they leave the ER.

Worst fading I've ever seen was on Jatoba flooring....terrible.

I knew I shouldn't of wandered around home naked.

I've decided on the Nutmeg Cherry Satin finish wood veneer for my M2 and any more speakers I might/will/(probably shouldn't) order for the living room. It's slightly darker and redder than the Cinnamon Beech vinyl finish. I really wanted the simi-gloss, but not after I was told it would make it even more darker.

My M2 bookshelf center channel speaker should be shipped on/around April 8. Long wait. I hope it will be worth it. I can't vouch for the bookshelf VP100, but I'm really not satisfied with the on-in wall VP100 at all. I bought the blu-ray set of the original Star Trek movies. So far, I've watched the first 2. They use the center channel extensively for dialog. Almost all of the vocals suffer tonal wise. Especially Ricardo Montalbon in The Wrath of Kahn. All of the lower portion of his vocal is missing. This will probably be the first movie I watch with the M2 just to detect the difference.

Just got shipping notice on this M2 tonight. I need to get busy repairing the wall where it will be mounted. Where the in/on-wall VP100 is now.

Exciting

LOL. I think they are just shipping the bracket. Darn.

Speaker and bracket arrived where I work at today. It looks good with the Cherry Nutmeg wood finish. I got it in satin because I was told the simi-gloss was darker. I noticed that they didn't put any place to attach feet on it because I'm only going to be using the wall bracket. The edges all look nice and even. I want to thank whoever made this one. It's a good looking speaker.

I was wondering if I could use some sort of furniture polish on it to give it a little bit of shine. Anyone know anything about this?

Check with Axiom on that Cat. I don't see why you couldn't use a non abrasive polish on it. I use a product called Trade Secret on my furniture...really gives depth to the patina.

Here's what ehow.com had to say about it. I just don't want to use something that will change the color or darken it any.

No Water - Don't use water when cleaning veneer furniture unless you have wet a cloth or sponge and have wrung it out thoroughly before proceeding. Water can lift the veneer and damage the wood underneath, resulting in a useless piece of furniture. Don't saturate wood veneer with liquid cleaning products, as they will essentially do the same thing as water.

Polish - Do treat your veneer furniture with furniture polish designed for real wood products. The oils in the polish will lift most dirt and residue from the wood veneer and clean it away. While the oil will soak into the veneer, it isn't rich enough to penetrate the wood underneath. It won't damage veneer furniture. Don't spray the polish directly onto the veneer furniture. Spray it onto a cleaning cloth instead.

Cleaning Solutions - Create your own homemade cleaning solution for cleaning your veneer furniture. Mix a cup of white vinegar with two cups of water. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle. Don't spray directly onto the veneer furniture. Instead spray a fine mist of the solution onto a cleaning rag and wipe the furniture with it. Be sure to use a clean rag afterward to dry up all of the solution. The diluted vinegar will cut grease and anything that has left a sticky residue without damaging the veneer or the wood underneath."

I don't think I'd use an cleaning solution on them, myself. Buff it with a decent furniture polish and just dust it once in a while.

On all of my other vinyl speakers, I wipe them with a cloth that's been dampened with a little water whenever I start to notice some dust on them. I wasn't sure about the wood veneer since this is my first one. I just checked the info that came with the speaker and there's no care instructions in it.

A little furniture wax would likely be fine, but I'd maybe check with Axiom to see what they use for a finish....

Bob K, whatever his name is today, will likely be of more help here than the rest of us combined.

Try Pledge Wipes ...... works good on wood ...
they also have different sprays for cleaning and giving shine to the wood ........

Pichuz! We wanna see pichuz!!

Here's a response for furniture polish/wax from Axiom.

A quality furniture wax (Black Bison, Goddard's, Butcher's Wax, Antiquax, and Renaissance Wax.) is the way to go.

My first impressions with the M2 used as a center channel after rerunning Pioneers MCACC and mounting the speaker as close as possible without actually mounting it.

The good news:
It looks good.
There is good wide dispersion.
There is improved highs over the in/on wall VP100.
Female voices are improved.

The bad news:
Male voices are made slightly worse.
There is less lower end than the in/on wall VP100 provided.

What I might do later:
Buy and mount a VP150 bookshelf under the TV.
Mount the M2 bookshelf above the TV.

Here's a picture that shows my temporary setup. I'll take a better picture of the speaker later in better light.

Pledge's true use is to spray on flooring to make it super slidey for playing knee hockey.

And for spraying the floor beside your brothers bed to make him fall in the morning to teach him a lesson that wearing socks to bed is for girls.




Not that I would have ever done that.

I bid on the warm cherry in/on wall VP150 for $99 on the auction site. If I can pick that up at a good price it'll save me the $565 expense of ordering a different one.

After much deliberation, I finally got the M2 installed in the location I've decided to put it for now. I'm going to post these pictures for all you pichuz freaks. LOL. I've yet to calibrate it and listen to it so I'm not sure what it'll sound like yet.

PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS!

I have a Pioneer Elite AVR (the smallest one) that's 2 years old. So far it's handled two 8 ohm loads on the left channel and two 8 ohm loads on the right channel. But as soon as I also put two 8 ohm loads on the center channel, the receiver shuts down. I think I've found the Pioneer Elite's limit.

It looks like I might need to add a mono-block for the center channel if I'm to continue as I currently am. Does this sound reasonable? I want a minimum of 100 watt, but preferably more (I'm just anal that way), that can handle one 8-ohm load and one 6-ohm load. Any ideas?

There's this outlaw 200 watt for $350, but that seems a little high.

Those Outlaw monoblock's are solid performers, Cat. There's some forum members that use them with very positive results IIRC.

I really like them, too; if that carries any weight.

After doing some research, it does look like the Outlaw is the best option, so far. I just have to wait another week before I have the $350. I can do $200 now, but I'm not finding anything for $200.

Problem found and eliminated. Center channel works fine now.

I decided to start eliminating things to see if there was some other problem. The VP100 works fine by itself, but the M2 by itself would cause the receiver to shut down. When I removed the banana plugs at the M2 and just hardwired it, it started working. There was some pressure applied to the banana plugs by the mounting bracket. This must of caused a short inside the M2.

No need for a monoblock now.

Brian, you beat me to it. I was just about to suggest carefully re-wiring, in case there was a short. You're our second member(GregLee)in the past few weeks who's "solved" a shut-down problem by re-wiring, rather than buying a new amplifier. Pioneer not guilty.

My wife would be very happy you blamed the bananas. She hates bananas with a passion. You can literally chase her out of a room by waving a banana around to create an odor. It's the only tactical advantage I have in our relationship. I once even bought a toy gun holster at a garage sale, added some length because the belt part was too small and then walked around the house practicing my banana quick draw.

Oddly, she did not find it nearly as humorous as I did.

Snicker ...


Double Snicker ...

Doesn't that work with almost all married women?

They run much faster if your banana is green.

THAT explains me never getting lucky on St. Patty's Day after the dye job!!

Sham*ock?

Sham Wow!!

My poor thread. Sob...

You could use a Sham Wow! to clean your Vassallo's!

Meh, not bad for page 7.

VaSSallo models are shipped with their OWN wiping cloth, ya cheap bas

Brian, I seriously hope these louts make it up to you for turning your thread into smut, again.

Bananas, really! Though I do kinda feel the same way about cherries.

It came with a pull string carrying bag (?), but no wiping cloth.

Bananas are good, as long as you don't put them where they don't belong, or smoosh them.

You can smoosh them a bit if you need to, but if it's starts to chafe you should quit for a week.

Bob = Funny.

I think when you bid on a speaker in the auction site, that Axiom ups the price to try and get you to pay more. Case in point: They had a VP150 v2 set at $95. There was one bid, I bid and reset it to $99. At the same time that new items were added to the list, I was out bid. I kept upping the bid and found that it was set to $200. This sounds fishy to me, the last bid was upped from $100 to $200 at the same time that new items were added. If they outbid me again I hope they are happy keeping their item.

When Axiom adds new items to the auction, they often post about it on Twitter (probably Facebook too). So new items do bring fresh eyes to all the listing.

Ok. I wasn't aware. I've never tied this stuff to Facebook or used Twitter. Not sure how.

Yesterday, I fixed a roast with potatoes and carrots and invited some friends over for dinner and movies. I had the volume turned up quite a bit and I was just awestruck at how good this system sounded. The M2 added as center channel over the screen sounded really good along with everything else. Good bass, good high end, good mid-range. I can't wait to go home and listen to it some more.

Do you think a VP150 bookshelf would sound better than a VP150 in-wall/on-wall? There are no ports, so only size of box. Does the size of the box without ports make a big difference? I'm thinking yes, the bookshelf would sound better, even without ports.

Yeah, the size of the box works as a high-pass filter. The larger the box the lower frequency it can reproduce. Cutting a hole (port) in a box is another way of making it larger.

Yeah! I won the vp150 v2 in-on wall in warm cherry from the auction site for $215.50. I can replace my black in-on wall VP100 with it now.

Congrats on the win.....and 2500 posts!

You are making good progress on your post count!

I can't wait to get back to working on my Home Theater downstairs. But with shoulder pain, MRI reveals either a torn ligament or tendon. Don't remember which one. I see a dr on it the last Friday of this month. Then a dental visit today revealed I'm going to have to caught up about $800 for more dental work. It's hard coming up with the money for HT work. Sheesh.

BTW, my dentist today said that we're only about 5-6 years away from dentists implanting a tooth bud in our gums to grow a new tooth. She said they've been doing it successfully with animals for a while. The technology comes from stem cell research. I didn't think to ask her where the tooth buds came from at the time. I started thinking about it later and my guess would be they take them out of aborted babies, but hopefully not.

Rotator cuff?

I don't think so. I did something similar to my left shoulder about 6 y ears ago, but I didn't do anything about it. It's still not 100%, but much better than it was.

Cat, it's just like growing an ear on the back of a mouse. They didn't need a fetal ear to get it started. Stem cells aren't tooth cells, or liver cells, or anything, They haven't yet been directed to become a specific cell type. All cells begin this way. In this case, they are genetically directed to become a tooth. Like the ear, they likely begin with a shaped, organic blank (template) and then genetic material builds upon that.

It's like a Chia Pet. What sprouts depends on what seeds you started with.

They only used aborted fetuses to make shampoo.

Just to get into more political hell here, fetal stem cells are derived from fertilized eggs shortly after they begin dividing. A proposed source of these is unused embryos from infertility treatments. Abortion (by the more traditional definition) does not enter into this.

The real idea with stem cells, is to figure out a source in an adult body, or how to trick specialized cells to become stem cells again. Taking cells from another person to grow an organ (or to a less extent, tooth) isn't ideal, because of compatibility issues.

The ultimate goal is to do something like this: You need a new liver, so some fat is exacted from your body. The fat cells are coaxed into a stem cell state, and then directed into becoming a liver, which is then implanted (not transplanted) in place of your failing one. There will be no need for anti-rejection drugs, because you body will accept the liver as its own.

That would sure be nice for my sister. She has a kid's kidney in her right now. Dialysis was a huge inconvenience, and anti-rejection meds don't sound like the best time, either. Either way, her treatments rely on a working healthcare system in a working government, two things that may become unreliable. One of my former coworkers who came from Bosnia said she remembered the first people to die were the ones with failed/transplanted kidneys. Very painful way to die, too, apparently. So, yeah, fingers crossed on being able to grow another one of her own at some point.

I'm going to put some stem cells in my wallet.

VaSSallo >>>>> Stem Cells?????????

This is like Freudian psychotherapy.

(Isn't everything?)

There goes Bob...gett'n all Freudy Toidy again.

They'll just dry out like that 6-year-old condom you carry.

So I end up with a 42lb liver that needs Weight Watchers?

Serial penguin killers anyone?

HaHa! well...you're half right...it's actually 12 yrs old!

VaSSallo is real wood, wood comes from trees, trees grow up from stems, stem cells.

I thought it was obvious.

That's a hard cell right there.

I think I'll quit my job and become an ant farmer.

I'll sell you the sand, Cat.

I got the in/on wall VP150 in warm cherry vinyl I won off of the auction site today. It is no longer an Axiom speaker. It is an Axion speaker because when I removed the grill to look at the speakers, the plastic broke on the name plate changing the m to an n.

Hi,
Simply dial Axiom's toll free number (866-244-8796) and I will order you a replacement Axiom name plate logo.

Thanks Jc, but it's really not an issue to me. I leave the grills off anyway, until company with small speaker pusher hands comes over.

JC,

I just went into my media room and notice that the black axiom badges on 2 of my m22 & my VP150 i/o walls were "broken" (how could it be, what timing, considering this thread!) . Can I get silver ones to match my other 10 speakers in the room if I call

Thanks in advance
Jeff

Here's how it looks after replacing the VP100 with a VP150. You see 4 finishes here. If the EP350 was in the picture, there would be a total of 5 different finishes. And no, the wall isn't pink, it's much darker in real life and is called Clay Pot.

Sound quality change: Only very slightly increased bass response, yet noticeable. More of a center channel presence. Louder. You can tell there is a lot more sound coming from the VP150 than there is from the M2, so dialog is not centered and more focused downward that it was with the VP100. So far, I prefer the VP150 over the VP100.

Off axis, the M2 fills in nicely as I had assumed it would.

Nice wall of sound cat. I would expect the SPL levels to be different on the VP150 and M2. How did you calibrate the center channel on your AVR?

I re-calibrated it again today no different that before. Pioneer's MCACC with mic on tripod in center of room at sitting ear level. Even so, the VP150 still seems to be the loudest component. I may turn it down a decibel later. MCACC set the L and R at -2.5 and the Center at -1.5, sub at +0.5. It would be nice if it were possible to turn the VP150 down separately than the M2, but most volume controls aren't made for over 100 watts, so I'm not sure how I can change it yet. The 150 plays a couple of Db higher than the 100, and the M2 a couple of db lower still.

While listening to Dave Matthews and Tim Rynolds blu-ray, I set L/C/R all to -2.5 and it sounds much more even.

It seems pretty obvious to me that you can squeeze two more speakers on either side of the M2....

I've also got about 3 foot of space above the speakers for 2 more rows, but nah. Someone else that's seen it has suggested I start on the ceiling.

I bought a new blu-ray player today. My first with wifi. I hope it streams Netflix ok. It's a Panasonic DMP-BDT210P.

I noticed last night when listening to some music, that the off-axis sound from the VP150 was different than the off-axis sound from the VP100. I can't put my finger on the quality of the change yet, but I thought I'd point out that there was a change, and not necessarily in a good way, but not all that bad either.

The problem with the downward center sound you are encountering is that the VP150 is 6 ohm speaker and the M2 is 8ohm, unless you have one of those speakers on it's own amp with a volume adjustment, the VP150 will always be playing louder by about 1-2 db.

It was just something I noticed when I was listening to some music in my recliner, off-axis. It seemed to be more of a design quirk with the VP150, is the best way I can describe it. Changed the sound is some subtle way.

I made a slight change on my EQ settings in my AVR a couple of days ago, and I'm amazed at how such a slight change can greatly affect the sound.

All I did was decrease 1/2 db from 1000 hz to 20,000 hz. on each of the available sliders. Most of my high end problems went away where it seemed a bit too bright, and the bass is more noticeable now.

An in-line attenuator might help in a situation like that, like the ones at Parts Express(as little as 1db up to 12db, iirc).

They have this one that might work. It only comes in a rack mount version. My only requirements are it has to handle at least 100 watts and not be a 3db per increment attenuation switch. This is the only one that meets those requirements.

I was thinking something like a fixed value attenuator , but I'm not sure if they can be used in this way or not(maybe call PE).

I never seen those before. I like them a whole lot better, much easier to work with. I'll probably order a few in a couple of weeks to play around with.

Sure, Brian; even a half dB difference over such a wide frequency range can make a perceptible difference. That's why one of the requirements in a blind test is to match levels to within 0.1dB so that a slight loudness difference isn't misinterpreted as a quality difference.

in my experience, changes as small as +- 0.05 dB are distinquishable (.1 dB overall)

I went to do some more adjusting to the EQ setting. I noticed that my Harmony Logitech 1100 was not responding on every button press on the touch screen. After rebooting it about 3 times, I noticed that most of the time it is the button to the right of where I touched that got activated.

Great. I bought from Best Buy on 04/15/10 and the 1 year warranty has expired. I guess tomorrow I'll need to pull about $350 out of savings and go buy another one. I use the stupid thing a lot, probably wore it out, but for $300 you'd think you'd get more than 13 months of use out of it. Next time I'm buying an extra year or 2 of warranty.

Or you can get the harmony one or the 900 if you need RF. The buttons will be more durable than any touch screen.

But, can I access all of the AVR, TV, and BR functions with it? With the 1100, I see all of them on the touch screen? I can even program it to turn my fan, and heater on or off. As long as it has an IR remote.

My equip is in a different room, so I definitely need RF. I already have the remote unit for the 1100.

One think I very rarely use is the numerical keypad. I don't use cable TV. That's one of the things that take up a lot of real estate on the 900. It looks like the price of the 2 are about the same now. I'll probably get another 1100 with extended warranty unless there's a really good reason to go with the 900.

The only good reason that I see is to have the hard buttons. The 900 controls up to 15 devices so it will control your equipment the same as the 1100 does. You can program any of the hard buttons to do any function so if you don't use the numbers on the keypad, you can program them to do something else. Even if you don't watch TV, I'm sure you press a lot keys like: volume, play, pause, forward, back, arrows when you go into your AVR Menu, etc..
In the end it's a matter of preference, I just prefer hard buttons and the way the 900 can be handled with one hand.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you switch to a different model, you're gonna have to reprogram most of the remote. When I went from a 720 to the One, it kept all my devices and activities but I had to reprogram the functions of each button.

Too late. I already bought the 1100 at BB today. It was still priced at $399 in the store. When I told the sales girl that it's much cheaper on-line, she said she could sell it at that price. I got one for 272.99 + 40 for 2 year extended warranty.

That was a good price and obviously a wise decision on the extended warranty.