Avr-8000 review is up (1 Viewer)

[Gregory Scott Bass]

I will add more later...but here is most of it
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X59222562

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Greg- I like your review!

1 Q: how did you come to the conclusion that distance settings don't work in Logic 7?

 

[Gregory Scott Bass]

Well when you are in the setup menu...if you select logic7 as your default, the cursor will skip the distance settings, there does'nt appear to be a distance setting that is universally used, come to think of it I think neo-6 was the only setting that even let me do distance to the back speakers.....that and the loser manual is so adamant about how far the speakers should be away from you in a 7.1 setup....I think it said no further than 6ft behind you and the sides had to be at least 2 ft above your head....I violated both of those rules btw and it still sounds awesome lol.so if I am missing something please advise. thanks Scott

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Scott (!), maybe another difference between H/K's implementation and Lexicons's. Good to know that it didn't seem to affect the sound quality that much if at all. (I know, theory says it should, but we don't listen to our systems in a "theoretical" environment. )

 

[Gregory Scott Bass]

Kevin I think you are right....every rooms acoustics are different so placement of speakers in my opinion should be also. I wanted to clarify also why I sometimes switch to prologic2 instead of logic7.....HK version of logic 7 is very aggressive in the sides and rears....so you can hear them as opposed to just ambience, this is why how good logic 7 sounds depends so heavily on the source, for example if I am watching a sitcom I have no desire to hear the fake audience laughing behind me, lexicons version was more subtle. This also explains why I actually prefer HK version with dts and dd....the surrounds come alive really immercing you into the middle of the movie....plus the front soundstage is dramatically different....smoother.

 

[John Tompkins]

Gregory,

We have alot in common. I too have nht 2.9s plus I have a carver av-806 amp that I will bridge into 3 channels for the front 3 speakers for 380 x 3. I will use the 8000 for the other channels. I also had the lex mc-1 and had to sell it a while back for financial purposes. I have to wait another two weeks before I can take the avr8000/carver combo for a test drive. Im VERY glad to hear that you are happy with the avr8000 as compared to the lex mc-1. Can you elaborate a little more the differences in sound for dd/dts sources only between the two ? Maybe the decoders are newer in the 8000 therefore sound better for digital sources (not sure) ...Hows the carver (which amp do you have ?) sound along with your nhts ? have you compared the carver with other amps ?

 

[Gregory Scott Bass]

Hi John, sounds like we do have similar setups I love my 2.9's and just recently aquired the audiocenter2 to match them. I dont want to mislead you...The Mc-1 is superior to the avr8000 in smoothness and setup abilities, sorry I keep using the adjective smoothness but its really the only way I know to describe the differences, the pans from front to back on the mc-1 were more seamless. Having said that I guess your wondering why I said that I prefer the 8000 when overlaying dd and dts, I think it must have something to do with the 8000's musical ability, it's circuitry simply makes my speakers sound better than they ever have and I think its a world apart, when you play your first music cd on this unit you are going to be a happy camper. make sure you write me
I will say one more thing that very well could be giving the mc1 the edge in my mind. when I had the mc1 I was using a pair of nht superones for my side channels, after the mc-1 left I sold them to a friend and so after my 8000 arrived I hooked up a set of super zeros for my sides...superzeros have no bass to speak of and so this could be the problem because logic7 is very bass dependent to create its soundfield. It still sound fantastic but this could be a weak link in my set up, I plan to replace them at some point with either another superone or possible a paradigm atom. I would like to put audiocenter2's all around but that would be a 2000 dollar investment in surrounds and I don't see that happening lol...but God would'nt that be awesome. Scott

 

[John Tompkins]

I plan to replace them at some point with either another superone or possible a paradigm atom. I would like to put audiocenter2's all around but that would be a 2000 dollar investment in surrounds and I don't see that happening lol

I also have the audio center 2 great speaker!. I also at one point have had superones on the side/superzeros in the back. It sounded nice but wanted a better speaker (also considered the ac-2s for the side/back but was to expensive). I ended up getting the vs 2.4s and mounted them horizonally with some speaker mounts from rat shack for the sides. I then put the superzeros in the back, mounted on the ceiling 4 ft behind me. Man, what a difference the vs 2.4s on the side made! nothing short of incredible. They match the 2.9s almost perfectly and can be had for cheap. I bought them new (on clearance) for 380.00 for the pair(original retail was 450.00 each!). the vs2.4s are basically the top half of the vt 2.4s but sound almost identical to the ac-2s.