NEW AXIOM HT IN DALLAS - 03/21/05 06:00 PM
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
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
