Recent content by John E F

I use ONLY a coax connection and it works fine with Dolby Digital and DTS. I have never heard of needing both connected. The turntable should have a switch under the metal platter that will either enable the preamp or bypass it so you can use the receiver's phono stage. Simply lift the rubber...

Take it out of the box and play with it! You can still take it back within 30 days with the receipt if you don't like it. As far as the component bandwith, I'm not sure. I run all my video straight to the tv. Hook up your dvd player through it and see if if you notice in loss in picture quality...

I understand how the EX/ES auto flags work (or don't in most cases) so the auto detect mode may not work. Unless you leave 6.1 on all the time, you would have to go into to the setup menu to turn it on or off with the Pioneer. The Kenwood allows you to turn it on and off without entering the...

I used the Pioneer at home for about 2 weeks and was pretty impressed with movie performance. Musically it was lacking, even with the midnight mode on in my opinion. I am currently testing the Kenwood and have been pretty impressed so far. For movies I would say they are pretty much the same. I...

I picked up one of these this past weekend and I am very pleased. We have a Panasonic 4:3 HDtv and this player has absolutely zero "jaggies". If it does have the chroma bug, it isn't very bad at all. I haven't noticed it. The picture is a little on the soft side. I will trade the softer picture...

I definately would not trust the opinion of the salesperson as to which "sounds better". Any good salesperson can pickup on a lot just by talking with you for a few moments. They usually can figure out which one to you "sounds better". A whole store of salespeople and customers agreed with me...

Thanks Justin. I will probably set the levels for normal DD/DTS use. I did a little tweaking today and found that the levels, while different, aren't really different enough to worry about.

It should. I had one for about a week at home and it let me select the 6.1 matrix on all Dolby Digital 5.1 and EX sources. Try The Perfect Storm, Toy Story 2, Harry Potter, or Jurassic Park 3. The Phantom Menace is the one dvd I used specifically to test DD-EX and it worked fine. Make sure you...

I have a THX Surround EX receiver and a center rear surround speaker set up. The only way to use EX is with the THX setting engaged. Now assume for a minute that I actually like the THX processing but notice the speaker levels are different than with just Dolby Digital, DTS, and DTS-ES. Should I...

Gladiator has a DTS-ES Discrete soundtrack. This means info for the rear surround is encoded as an individual channel. Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES Matrix carries the rear center channel info matrixed into the side surround channels. It is not a true individual discrete channel like DTS-ES...

Its basically the same. THX-EX does the same for the rear surrounds as DD-EX but incorporates the other THX processing features at the same time. Some people prefer not to use the THX features while others do. Originally, the "EX" feature was a joint venture between Dolby and THX. You don't need...

I used to have drop outs with DD 5.1 when I used to have Directv. This occurred on the Starz channel nonstop with both Onkyo (575x & 797) and Denon (3802). I really think it has more to do with the satellite equipment and signal than the receiver. With exception to the above mentioned DVD's, all...

I am not sure what you paid for the Intgra, but you might want to consider the Onkyo 898. The price difference is probably minimal. I compared the Onkyo 797 (similar to the Integra 7.2) and the Denon 3802 and found that for movies they were very similar, but I liked the Onkyo for music better...

The 5560 has alot more features for $61. You would be 6.1 and better DACs I think. The Crutchfield website has the best descriptions. I would definately spend the extra $61. I had one of the 5560s in the house for about a week and I don't think you find a better receiver for $385.

Eric- I have no extensive experience with the 600 and the Paradigms, but from what everyone is saying you will probably be okay. I doubt that Onkyo would knowingly market a receiver that would damage speakers during normal use. The damage to there reputation would hardly be worth it. Onkyo...