Recent content by Patrick D

Why pay 500% markup for retail speakers? I prefer that 80% of my cost goes to actually buying components, not subsidizing advertising, management, and yacht trips. The Seas excel drivers put everything to shame for detail and accuracy, IMO. If I had that much coin to drop on stereo, I'd be...

Having done the Best Buy cheap receiver/amp thing, and being disappointed, I'm going to try out the Panasonic XR55. Supposedly it has a pretty good amp section, and pretty much everything these days does the whole Dolby decoding/PLIIx dance on the processing end. I just tried to do this...

I bought a pair when they first came out. They were $999 on sale for a pair, I think the regular price was something like $1200/pr. They just didn't do it for me at that price. For $500 a pair, they're not bad unless you start to drift into DIY. The low end is nice, the mids were not...

Price adjusted to $650 and $30 flat ground shipping (to the U.S.). I have three receivers in my living room, help me clean it up because I know you want this one in yours. :)

For a little over your mark I replaced my 1014 with a used Anthem AVM-30 and used Parasound Halo amps (51+21). Fantastic sound and good pairing, I think. There was an Arcam or something that was reputed to be better than the Anthem for music, but I don't recall the model (Scott said the 300, I...

This is kind of OT but I never understood why it was bad to lay an MT speaker on its side either... I tried it with mine and didn't like it as much.

Is the hum loud? Is it coming from the amp or the driver? My PE amp always hummed, but it wasn't obnoxious unless you were sitting right next to it in a quiet room. Could it be noise from a dimmer or other components in the house or noise on the line?

I recall it being about 80lbs to ship when I bought it. I put it on the scale and you're right, it's 56 lbs for just the receiver. After packaging + assorted gizmos it's probably around 70lbs. I have the original box but probably not the extra double box from the original shipment; nonetheless...

For sale... Harman Kardon AVR-8000 THX Ultra Receiver. Top of the line, until it was discontinued for the lower-priced (and lower-spec'd) 7000 series. One heavy beast, with 5 channels of built in amplification (125W), and full support for two more (just add your favorite external amp). $675 +...

Oddly, the XA-2100 is quieter than the XA-900. I had to fan-mod the XA-900 (two 23db computer fans), but I left the 2100 alone. It sits right in my stack not more than 6ft away. Noise on the 900 was something like 50db from 1 ft away, or like a louder computer (not the crazy overclocked with...

My HT1000 has DVI input (HDCP capable), along with VGA/HD15. Aside from a slight bulb difference, I believe the other major change is that the HT1000 has a Faroudja scaler, while the HT1100 does not (NEC brand scaler?).

I never used PL2 as I had a Harmon Kardon AVR8000 in the old theater which had Logic 7 (which was fantastic except when it 'glitched'). I made PL2x a 'must have' however on my next receiver/processor, because I want it to be able to separate out a "stereo" separation on the surround back...

My pro amp has no hum (PE amp did), fits in the equipment rack (PE amp hung off the back of the box), has easily adjustable gain (PE amp was a reacharound deal), cost less, and is far more versatile. X/O on the plate amp was useless, as it is done in the receiver. Only problem with the pro amp...

The boxes I made for my Avas suck. They are 3/4" walls, braced, but they aren't braced to the nines. If I double up the walls, I'll literally need a hand truck to move the thing. And here I thought Thomas' Stryke 15 box was overkill. :) I'm gonna make a sonosub next, because I hope that will...

Run the test in stereo? One trick is to have your left channel(s) off one amp, the right channel(s) off the other, and use a balance control to go back and forth. If you did run 2 sets of cable, I'd get an A/B switch for a coaxial digital out from a DVD player, so you have an enforced pause...