Brand new meet thread - Austin (1 Viewer)

[Nils Luehrmann]

Um, it's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw the interest in this meet fizzle out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

[James Phung]

I don't think my pioneer receiver can compete with these.

If we had a projector shoot out, it'd be easy to take my infocus.

 

[Jonathan DA]

I'm still interested in a processor shootout. I'd like to compare my soon to be acquired H/K AVR-435 to some pre/pros. Yep, I'm gettin a receiver. I'm going to 7.1 in the theater and my Sony TA-P9000ES preamp only has 5.1 inputs. I also need some more amplification channels, and I don't feel like dropping $3-4k on new amps and a pre/pro right now, so I'm going to pick up a mid range receiver as a temporary solution. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use it strictly as an analog preamp, or if I'll use it as the processor too. The shootout would be a nice test.

Of course, I'd like to see James' SP4805 too.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

GASP..!!!

Mr. AR CRT projector, ClearAudio turntable, mega PC, high-end speaker designer goes "receiver"??? The planets are badly misaligned.

Pardon me whilst I go fix dinner and a martini and put on "The Thin Man". Nils called me today and informed me that Warner will release ALL the Thin Man movies as a boxed set! YES! Rapid-fire, DRY, hilarious dialogue, the likes of which have hardly been equaled since.

 

[Jonathan DA]

I said it was temporary. Give a guy a break! Will it help any if I said I'm going to attempt to use infinite impulse filters on the pc to do room correction in the digital domain?

Besides, from the info I've read so far, the H/K has some very good stuff in it

 

[Scott Oliver]

So if there is enough interest in this meet, where can we hold it?

Need a place that can hold 10 or so seated participants.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Only if you lay your speaker wires on those ceramic stand-offs that look like upside-down coffee mugs, so as to alay the evil floor impedance coupling that would otherwise smear the orchestral detail, making Julie the alto flute player sound like Melissa the E-flat clarinet player. THEN, some slack might be cut for you.

Tubes: You know I have a living room that would suffice, so I hereby offer it for the meet.

 

[Jonathan DA]

I wonder if we could talk one of the larger theater owners into hosting? *cough*Chad*cough* More people in the sweet spot that way. I'll offer my place as well, it's got the perfect setup for doing blind A/B comparisons since all the audio equipment is in a different room that the seating. Only problem is the sweet spot is only two seats. Three if two people want to get really cozy.

I would like to have a demo DVD pre-made for this event so that we're not wasting time switching discs and cueing up selections. If we can get a list of a few preferred scenes with excellent audio then I'll make the disc in advance. They've done something similar over on AVS (you can get the disc image on bittorrent). I would like to find some non-violent demo material, in addition to the usual gun fights and explosions, so that it will have a broader appeal. For instance, the final match scene in Wimbledon has some good surround effects of the crowd, and is quite funny to boot. The buzzing fly in Snatch is good too. One thing I'd really like to find, or create, is a very simple scene of person standing in the middle of the scene talking. They then proceed to walk off the screen in a large circle and then reappear back on the other side of screen, while talking the entire time. It would be a great test of front-side-rear soundstage continuity as well as tonal and amplitude balance. I've never seen anything like this. If I have time someday I might just make it myself.

Here's the list of suggestions from the AVS thread:
Order : Movie - Scene
1 : Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Assasin Chase (Vehicles, from Centipedes)
2 : THX Intro -
3 : U-571 - Depth Charge Scene
4 : Ice Age - Opening Scene
5 : 5th Element (SuperBit) - Diva Scene
6 : LOTR: Fellowship - 1st Two Chapters
7 : Matrix Reloaded - 1st 5 minutes
8 : Gladiator -
9 : Saving Private Ryan -
10 : Bourne Identity - Chase Scene with Mini
11 : Toy Story II - Opening Scene
12 : Eric Clapton Concert - One More Car, One More Rider -
13 : Eric Clapton Concert - Ococaine, Sunshine of your love -
14 : Cast Away (Dtheater) - Crash Scene
15 : Hollow Man - Gorilla Reversion Scene
16 : U-571 - Beginning
17 : Road to Perdition - When Hanks mows the bad guys down in the street
18 : DareDevil - dd gets Justice after the trial
19 : Matrix Revolutions - Dock Scene
20 : Matrix Revolutions - Night Club Break-In Scene
21 : Lost In Space - Opening Scene
22 : Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Asteroid Chase Scene
23 : TXH Ultimate Demo Disk - Pod Race
24 : Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets - Whomping Willow
25 : Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets - Quiddich Match
26 : Peter Pan (Non Animated) -
27 : Lara Croft: Tomb Raider -
28 : X2: Xmen United -
29 : Independence Day -
30 : ?? Last Bond Flick ?? - HoverCraft Chase Scene
31 : Bram Strokers Dracula - Keanu enters Castle & meets count
32 : Driven - Stalone doing test laps
33 : Rock Star - Opening Scene
34 : Apollo 13 - countdown & launch
35 : Matrix - Breakout & Helicopter Crash
36 : Master & Commander - 1st ship attack
37 : Armegeddon - Dual Space Shuttle Launch
38 : Heat - Bank Robbery shoot out
39 : Finding Nemo - Darla Tapping
40 : Finding Nemo - Sharks & mine
41 : Finding Nemo - Scenes from the aquarium
42 : Air Force One - Initial Take Over of Plane
43 : Das Boot - Popping the rivits & dripping water after
44 : Star Wars: ? - Death Star Attack
45 : The Haunting -
46 : Behind Enemy Lines - Land Mines scene
47 : Monsters Inc - Rollor Coaster Door Scene
48 : Starship Troopers (SuperBit) - Troops deployed from starship & landing on planet
49 : Blackhawk Down - "Irene"
50 : The Chub Chubs (MIB - 2) - Chub Chubs animated mini flick
51 : Jurassic Park 3 - In the Bird Cage
52 : Jurassic Park 3 - Surrounded by Raptors
53 : Indiana Jones 1 - Going through the jungles
54 : Fight Club - Dream Plane Crash/Imagination
55 : Donnie Darko - Sister gets dropped off by boyfriend
56 : Donnie Darko - Car Wreck
57 : Shaolin Soccer (DTS) -
58 : Titanic - Jack is handcuffed, Rose is looking for him
59 : Nutcracker (royal Ballet w/ Anthony Dowell) - Final Dance with Prince & Sugar Plum Fairy
60 : Monsters Inc - Skully skiing down snowy mountain
61 : Star Wars: Episode 1 - Light Saber Dual with Qui-Gon
62 : 5th Element (SuperBit) - Recreation Scene
63 : Matrix: Reloaded - "More" fight scene with Smith
64 : Star Trek 2 - Wrath of Khan - Nebula Scene
65 : Titanic - Theatrical Trailer
66 : Die Another Day - Beginning, when surfing
67 : Saving Private Ryan - Opening Scene
68 : Final Destination (2?) - Wreck Scene
69 : Kill Bill 2 - Uma Fighting Darryl Hannah
70 : Matrix - Last 20 Minutes
71 : Bring it On - First 3 minutes
72 : Top Gun (new/remake DVD) - 1st combat bet. Jester & Mavrick
73 : Imax - Mysteries of Egypt - Helicopter down Blue Nile in Ethiopia
74 : Animusic - Pipe Dream & Sneak Peek (5.1)
75 : Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense - Burning Down the House
76 : Santana: Supernatural Live - Migra
77 : 2 Fast, 2 Furious - Beginning
78 : Gladiator - Hell Unleashed
79 : Gladiator - Battle at Carthage
80 : Lion King - Circle of Life (with the song?)
81 : Jurrasic Park - Ripples in the Glass
82 : Swordfish - Opening Scene
83 : Relic (DTS) -
84 : LOTR - Mines of Morea
85 : I, Robot -
86 : Alien vs. Preditor -
87 : Haunting -
88 : Matrix Revolutions - Neo Talking to God
89 : Last of the Mohicans - Behind the Waterfall
90 : Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow - When Robots first attack
91 : Imax Speed - Jet Dragster popping engines
92 : Twister (DTS) - Tornado Scene(s)
93 : Pearl Harbor - Bombing Sequence
94 : Matrix - Lobby fight scene
95 : LOTR: Fellowship - Cave Troll Fight Scene
96 : Tear of the Sun - Final Charge Scene
97 : Hero -
98 : The Mummy - First two scenes
99 : Elizabeth - Dance Scene
100 : Shakespere in Love - Morning Lovers (ch 16?)
101 : LOTR: Fellowship - Opening with Galandriel's Voice
102 : Sea Biscuit - The Last Race through the end
103 : Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? - Chapter 4 through the song

 

[Scott Oliver]

I thought the 5th Element Diva scene (highs and mids, and distortion on punches) and the Dragonheart fly around scene from the last shoot-out were both effective (surround continuity) and would like to see them back. The other one or two I believe was Dinosaur or Moulin Rouge and neither ever added too much to my comparisons at least, so would love to see them replaced by some other more effective scenes.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

"Saving Private Ryan" Also, there's a THX audio demo track of a jungle scene in which a helicopter appears. Really good movement of sound from the helicopter and also from a large insect. It would be an excellent test. I think it's on an audio equipment manufacturer's demo disc that I've got.

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Just name a time and place and I will try and make it. Just remember weeknights are kinda bad for me if we are planning on staying up late as I have to get up at 4 AM the next day. Friday evenings and Saturdays are good for me. I will even host another party at my place and we can go play at the lake. Might even get Dave Elliot to join us. Hey Dave, we could even have a build meet at your place to knock out those risers for you and then have a movie night to cap it off. Just a thought.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the last movie night we did (Sahara) and am looking forward to doing it again in the near future.

 

[Dave Elliott]

Frederick,

I'll definitely try to join you guys.

My HT is now up and running in the new room. Watched a few movies last weekend. Its pretty cozy at 14x11' but the light control and an enclosed room make all the difference in the world.

I don't mind hosting. But I can only have maybe 6-7 folks in the HT room. However, the living room is a nice HT on its own with a 42" plasma HD, 5.1 wharfedale speakers, DVI upscaling DVD player, and a decent Denon receiver. And that room would easily hold 10 people. I've had as many as 20 people in there watching movies.

The riser is all planned out, I'm just waiting for my seats to arrive to confirm the positioning. My Berkline seating is tentatively scheduled to arrive the 2nd week of May.

The only major things I have left are the riser and the acoustic treatments. I've done enough research on the treatments to have a pretty good plan of what I'll need, but any help from the experts is certainly appreciated. I'll probably hold off on the treatments until the seats and riser are finished. But we could make another DIY meet out of that project.

-Dave

 

[Humphrey]

The 'Jungle Sounds' Scene with the Huey copter is on the THx demo disc. I've got a copy as well if someone wanted to hear it. It has ALL the THx trailers on it as well as selected scenes from Raiders and various Star Wars movies (including the Pod Race). The disc is the Lucasfilm THx Surround EX Demonstration and Test Disc and was never available over the counter. It even includes the WOW! montage a lot of the old LaserDisc guys used to drool over. You'd need to isolate that one VOB file (It's about 1 gig). You'd have to strip out the other stuff in it. etc...

On a side note, last couple of weeks my HT space has started coming together. I think I'm in the running for the smallest dedicated HT in Austin. The micro-Theater, if you will. Roughly 12 x 10 and will never seat more than 4 unless they're on the floor. I'm in the hunt at the moment for a smallish 5/6.1 setup and curtains to cover the TWO arched entrances to the room. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Hank -

Yes, I'm still around, just busy with a lot of things. I changed jobs in December and have been getting settled in. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how plans for the next meet develop.

I can attend a meet any time in the coming month except for Saturday, May 7 or Memorial Day weekend. Probably won't be able to host this meet, but I may be up to host the next one...

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Colin, good to hear from you and I hope your new job is a great "fit" for you. Whenever you get ready to host, I still suggest doing your HT acoustic treatments. The venue can be whatever the majority wants - either constructing the treatments or installing them and taking measurements to compare with Doc and Igor's "before" measurements, or whatever.

See ya.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Any more interest / progress on the meet? I'd be up for a processor shoot-out, as long as we don't let it get too tedious (which it can if you listen to the same 5-10 audio clips on 5-10 pieces of equipment throughout the afternoon). I'd say we should pick no more than 3-5 film / audio clips of different styles and spend about 20 minutes per piece of equipment.

I can bring my Theta if we do this type of meet, though I may get an upgrade bug...

I also like Jonathan's idea of a meet comparing CD audio to lossless compression (FLAC) and various "lossy" codecs (WMA, MP3, etc.).

Have there been any advances in projectors lately? A walk through some stores seems to suggest nothing has changed in projectors for almost two years. All the manufacturers are still pushing 4:3 1024x768 DLPs for $2K+. I thought we would be seeing true 1280x720 DLPs in the high 2000s by now. :frowning: I think there may be a few LCDs in that price range now, but those aren't enough of an upgrade over my 10HT just yet...

Edit: A note about my decreased involvement as of late... I've taken up some new hobbies in addition to home theater. I'm trying to work out 5-6 times per week, learn to play the piano, and am just beginning to experiment with digital photography. So I haven't devoted as much of my time and energy to the HT hobby as I did 4-5 years ago when I was researching and buying lots of HT equipment.

Also, once your HT gets to a certain level it gets too expensive to upgrade another notch. Until a technological advance improves performance in the price range of my components, I think my HT is pretty much done...

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I'd be happy to offer a side by side comparison of your 10HT and a Panny AE700. I think you'll be very surprised how far LCD technology has gone over the last couple years. I've already done two head to head comparisons between the 10HT and AE700 and both times the owners replaced their 10HTs that same night. I also did a head to head comparison of the InFocus 4805, the popular value minded DLP projector, and all those in attendance including the owner immediatley agreed that the AE700 produced a significantly better PQ including even contrast!

As for DLP, they have released four different chip sets in just over a year, including their latest 1080p chip. So I would not at all say that technologically speaking things have slowed down. In fact, projection technology has never been moving at a greater pace than in the last few months.

DLP prices have also dropped by a significant amount over the last couple years. While LCD continues to be the best value, $3,500 will get you a superb 720p DLP that outperforms models that were selling for as much as $10,000 two or three years ago.

 

[Jonathan DA]

The new Toshiba MT700 is an HD2+ DLP selling for $2500. And the BenQ 7700 goes for less than $3000 as well. They're the exact same projector except the Toshiba uses Faroudja deinterlacing while the BenQ uses a lesser known chip and adds in their own SensEye technology.

 

[James Phung]

The Toshiba mt700 seems like the 720p version of the Infocus 4805. The downsides to the BenQ and Toshiba are that they have a 0% offset, not very ideal for high ceiling setups.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Maybe a projector shootout is in order then, even if my 10HT will be a sacrificial lamb.