Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater NEW AXIOM HT IN DALLAS

as most of ya'll know, my family and i went up to dallas this weekend to help my sister and brother-in-law move into their new house and set up their HT system. the system was pretty much parted together from different people and different places. but here is what we had to work with:

Sony 32" HD-Wega(they just bought at christmas)
H/K AVR130(from bray)
simple sylvania cd/dvd player(they already had)
4 Axiom M1ti's(from canadian hi-fi)
1 Axiom CTC-20 center(from lorenzo1000)
and a Velodyne CHT-10 sub(also from bray)

brady(bray) was kind enough to come over and help us get things set-up. let me start by saying that brady is quite possibly the most helpful, patient, knowledgable, laid-back, kind, giving and most generous people i have met in a long while. i was thrilled to get to meet him, and even more delighted by the fact that he is just a straight up, all right guy!! i got nothing but thanks and gratitude to give him. ok, enough of the love fest, lets get to work!!

me and my brother-in-law started working on it around 11 am. we went and got the parts we needed, and were in the process of deciding how or where to run the rear speaker wires, when brady showed up. he quickly determined that going thru the attic would be the best bet, and we went from there. we had to use the existing cable coaxial that was running down the wall, and used it to guide strings up to the attic, which we then tied the speaker wires to, and pulled them up through the wall. let me strees that THEY pulled them up thru the wall. i never got up in the attic, and never planned on it. brady, being the trooper he is, got up there lickity split, and took command. i think he just felt sorry for us. he then manuvered over the attic beams, found the drop spots for the rears and drilled thru the drywall. fed the wire through, and we had rears!! keep in mind, that process took about 3-4 hours. we started to mount the speakers, and realized the box we had bought didnt have all the correct hardware, so we had to go back to walmart and get more. blah, blah, blah, and we get back, drink a few beers, rears get mounted, and now we concentrate on getting all the components together and hooked up properly. i did most of that(i had to do something). once we got everything hooked up and running, the system sounded real good. VERY good. the M1tis produce a pretty amazing amount of good pure sound, and using them as rears worked just great. i am starting to become a believer that front firing surrounds can work real good as surrounds. and the CTC-20 center was awesome. once calibrated, volume was very clear and concise. no strain, and center blended very well with the others. the CHT-10 sub worked great, but i did find it to sound a little bloated. not bad, just a little less tight than i had expected. but, it will work fine, and my sister and brother-in-law couldnt have been more thrilled.

the only true problem we had in set-up, is that we couldnt get the H/K AVR130 to read and recognize a DTS signal. the cd/dvd player only had a coaxial out for the digital signal, so thats what we used. when selecting the Dolby Digital track on a dvd, it played great, and sounded fantastic. but, when we would select the DTS track on a dvd, nothing buy silence.. and the receiver wouldnt click over to show it was even receiving the DTS signal. that confused us, cause if it was getting the Dolby Digital signal, then shouldnt it have been getting the DTS also? both signals are carried thru the coaxial, right? any input or info on this matter would be appreciated. it was 10 pm by the time we got it all hooked up and working, so we were all kinda tired, and didnt really wanna mess with it no more. we are sure there is just some setting in the receiver menu that is wrong, and thats why the DTS signal isnt being read. my brother-in-law has the manual and i told him to read up and figure it out. lets hope he does, and i will keep you informed.

after that, cold beer and food were in order.. so, i managed to slip over to bradys house to hear his system. we ordered a pizza and cranked some music and a few dvd's. he has the HSU stf-3 sub, and i was literally blown away by it. he played a demo cd with some 16Hz tones, and my chest was literally collapsing from the low resonance. it was rather amazing. we did the darla tap, and some saving private ryan. very impressive, now i really got my juices flowing for a new sub. he also showed me a new deal that he has been experiementing with. on some movies with lots of dialogue, he would turn off his center, and just go phantom with it, and you could actually hear the voices better than with it on. ? and the voices seemed to come more from the mouths of the actors, rather than from the speaker. it was pretty neat. it only worked if you were in the dead center 'sweet spot' but it was a definite audio improvement.. at least to my ears. i plan to experiement on my system some, and see if i get the same results. anyways, few beers and half a pizza, and i was tired and ready to go. brady was a great host, and i felt privilidged that he would have me at his home.

sunday morning, brady and i met up for a round of disc golf. we went to a local park, and had a great time. he beat me... he shot a 1 over, and i shot a 6 over, but at least i got a birdie on 18.

overall, it was a very successful weekend. we got the HT installed, but with a small hitch, the DTS. but i have confidence that we will figure out what that problem is. i got to meet brady, which was just so enjoyable. the guy is just really cool, and someone you would definitely want as a friend. i think thats what i will call him now, my friend!
i look forward to hangin out, and getting to play more golf with him in the future. i cant say enough how thankful i am, and how much i appreciate his assistance and expertise.

sorry, i got no pics.. we were honestly busting our a$$e$ so much, we didnt have time.. and my wife might have remembered, but she and my sister were painting rooms. i thought we worked hard.... my wife and sister completely painted and trimmed 3 rooms in 14 hours. i think they were more tired than we were..

bigjohn

Awesome report, bigjohn!

No Pictures?!?!? Harumph!

I will pay for your wife and sister to come paint my house. That kind of productivity is amazing.

I have a similar challenge with the DD/DTS thing; I have to set the DVD Player to output one or the other in its setup menu. It might not be the HK at all, but the Sylvania player.

I'd say something nice about Brady, but you seem to have said it all already "takes one to know one" might be operative here.

Thanks again for the report!

Just seconding the "I bet the problem is in the DVD player setup" opinion. For some unknown reason a lot of players ship with almost everything disabled.

Sounds like a fulfilling time was had by all. Extra special that you and bray got to spend time together as well.

I had the same problem with the receiver not recognizing DTS. The output on my DVD player was set to "DD/PCM". Switching it to "Stream/PCM" solved the problem. Haven't had to touch it since.

Shawn

thanks, real80sman.. i will call my brother-in-law, and tell him to check the dvd player menu, and see what he can find out.

and i appreciate everyones input with this matter.

bigjohn

Yep...probably a setting in the DVD player...

Sony's I have have to have it set to ON as well as another setting for it to work correctly...

Since it is a machine they had previous to this without an HT...it has probably never been modified from its default setting...

You wouldn't happen to know the model number would you?

WhatFurrer

MAN! We got 'em gathering in Texas, where it's warm, and gathering in California, where it's warm, and here I sit, all alone, bereft of companionship, freezing my cookies off in Ohio. There just ain't no justice, I tell ya.

Sounds like a great time, John and Bray. I'm so glad you got the chance to spend time with each other.

You can come up to Toronto, see a bunch of systems, and go snowmobiling. How's that sound ?

steve- naw, i dont know the model number. but i can get it from him.

i do remember it is a sylvania, and it is one of those dual DVD/VHS deals. i know those arent the best, but it aint my system. thats what they had, and their budget was tapped, so they decided to stick with it. i did suggest for him to try and get a dedicated DVD at a later date.

and this particular unit only had a coaxial out option. it did not have an optical out. i ended up having to use the coaxial and s-vidoe outs for the DVD/CD side.. and then use regular RCA plugs for the VHS feed. hey, ya gotta make due with what ya got!! right?

bigjohn