Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater 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.