AllanJ

Great advice. Also, bring along some CDs of the music you like or DVDs of the movies you like to watch.

Many moons ago a friend and I were buying gear and he was into classical music and I was into rock. We ran Andrew Lloyd Weber through some NHT and Paradigms and we heard in an instant the NHT were the better choice for him. For my music, a full set of Paradigms came home. Floor standing Paradigm 11's for the mains, big center channel, dipoles for the rear and the 12" powered sub. I still use them and they are great for what I run through them.

Cheers,

Dale Gribble

will be doing that. hopefully bay bloor on friday, then going to go demo the maggies and the Focal's as well, audio excellence i believe is a dealer for both.

Jamie140

This is the problem with these threads - they go on forever and lots of guys seem really into the minutiae and details. I'm in the process of converting my finished basement into a *modest* (nothing crazy) home theatre and the thought of learning all this crap, let alone reading 6 thread pages just exhausts me.

Dead-eye, once you decide, I'm coming over with a 6pack and a bottle of wine for the wife so I can demo your system.

Rally Guy

Omar - RESIST this temptation. This is a slippery slope - once you hear a good set up - and you prolly haven't ever yet - you'll want it and kill your bank account to get it. ; )

But serously - for that room - you'll need full size floor standers and a sub - plug BAGS of real power.

While I'm strickly a 2 channel guy (Krell, Parasound, Arcam, Vandersteen's) the multi-channel stuff can be great. Spend tons of effort on set up though. Milliseconds count here.

Also - buy USED. My $10K+ system cost me about $5k.

Check out... www.canuckaudiomart.ca for great deals from a friendly, trustworthy crown. Kinda like Rennlist for the audiophile.

RK

Rally Guy

Okay - went back and read more of the thread.

I think you migtht be okay. The trick might be to NOT hear a "great" set up. The system you've spec'd - properly set up - might do all you need.

But if you get hooked - you start to want MORE and we've all seen your car... : )

DO get good cables though. They can make a huge difference... (oh don't get me started!).

RK

Dale Gribble

good god.....the fact that you've now compared my basement to my car thoroughly scares me.

re: the cables
to what extent does cabling make a difference? on the video side, i've yet to find anything better than HDMI for use with the DLP tv.

On the audio end, does cabling really matter? i was trying to read thru on AVSforum and it seems there's a split on either side with no middle ground really.

also: this will be strictly for home theater use. a separate 2 channel setup will be used for audio in a different zone.


EDIT: listened to some 2 channel goodness with my buddy's oldskool rotel setup....really nice warm sound for music, some anomalies though but i just chalked those up to his setup and our different hearing preferences.

Dale Gribble

k..so it turns out Brack's flagship showroom is right next to my house...going tomorrow....frankly i'm a little scared.

*repeates to himself*
don't impulse buy, don't impulse buy, don't impulse buy, don't impulse buy,

imcarthur

Good luck. But remember to take a CD or 2 that you know really well. If a speaker sounds good with music, it will be great for HT. The same applies to electronics too.

And just so you know, B&W, Rotel & Classe all come from the same distributor - Equity - which is why they are always found together in a store. They are all good products but there is no 'special' sonic marriage despite what the boys at Brack might say.

I am planning on changing my system here sometime in the next 2 weeks if you want to hear it. [plug]Cambridge 640R receiver & Focal 800 series speakers[/plug] I use a PC as my DVD source driving an older DLP projector. My room has bass issues (too much), but I can usually get it to sound reasonably good.

Ian

Dale Gribble

^ Ian,
i'd love to hear them. please let me know when would be a good time for you.

also, i'm thinking of just saying "****it" and getting floorstanders...so i don't have to remove shelfs. how far left and right from the TV should they be placed to work best?

imcarthur

I'll let you know once I order it & set it up.

You are welcome too, Jamie.

Ian

Turbodan

what do yu guys think for rogers hd...component or hdmi? I know hdmi carries better signal but if signal is better w/ component that is the way to go. In Calgary my wifes cousin does 6 fugure sytems and he only does component as the cable company delivers stronger component signal.

Dale Gribble

dan,

i'm clearly no expert on this stuff, but wouldn't the cable company deliver the same quality signal, but the cables and TV be the sole difference? I will definitly accept that some ppl prefer the image from component with certain TV"s, but I think the real reason some people prefer component to HDMI is that HDMI seems to have a lot of compliance and handshake issues between devices. Component won't give you 1080P, but you can still get 1080i and it still looks great.

aside, my rogers box is connected to my 1080i suporting DLP set using component an i have no beef with the picture quality. Its pretty sharp, colors are vivid. My upscaling dvd player is connected by HDMI and i think the 1080i image is a bit sharper thru HDMI but the difference is not worth loosing sleep over.

Dale Gribble

also, anyone have any opinions on KEF? specifically their Reference lines and XQ series?

trickydisco

What i've been told is that there is no difference you can see betw component and hdmi, except that hdmi has less bulk and cost more $$$.

I'm running rogers HD with component, and I see the ice cuts and shavings
when the Leafs play.

imcarthur

The theory is that HDMI is superior. The reality is that many HDMI interfaces won't talk with each other. Hugh headaches for installers who then have to run component or hdmi with separate audio.

Ian