Had an op to buy NHT 1.5 speakers for $60. (1 Viewer)

[Seth=L]

So did I mess up not getting the NHT's, I know they retailed for around $600, but my thought was the cosmetic damage they had incured, I mean they look rough. The grills are missing spokes, the corners are chipped as if they had been dropped, the glossy cabs were all kinds of dirty and lots of dust. The drivers seemed intact, the woofers weren't locked up or scrapping and even the tweeters looked OK. So should I go back and get them on just principle or should I just leave it alone? Should I sell my Infinity Interlude 10's in favor of the NHT's? If the speakers work perfectly would they easily outperform my Infinity speakers or even my PSB Century 600i's?

Any suggestions would help.

 

[Arthur S]

Yes, you messed up. Go back and get them so you can have 20 speakers and a puny 27 inch display.

You have my suggestions on your 3rd or 4th post on your recent trip to the pawn shop.

Why do you think they call this the Home Theater Forum?

 

[Seth=L]

Take it easy on my poor tv man, it has done well for me. Note that all I use it for is DVD's. I always hate the way DVD looks on a HD display, so I am going to wait, that isn't so wrong is it, and I only have 15 speakers, so I probably didn't make my point, but Oh well.

Does anyone else have an opinion on the NHT 1.5's?

 

[Seth=L]

What do the NHT 1.5 speakers sound like? ie. sound charateristics.

 

[JeremyErwin]

44 reviews of the NHT 1.5 might give you some idea. I'd give them a listen before buying.

The other thing is that for home theater, matching speakers can be very nice indeed. Getting an NHT center and surrounds might be expensive.

 

[Seth=L]

I don't think I will buy them for a couple of reasons. The first reason you would know if you saw them, they are kicked to crap in the cosmetics department. I would rate their condition as 3 out of 10. But the biggest issue is if I get rid of my Interlude 10's and get the NHT's and I don't notice an advantage then I have just lost my Infinity's and there would be no turning back. So if anyone in the Fort Wayne area is reading this and wants these speakers, go to Cash America Pawn at 944 Coliseum Blvd. N., Fort Wayne, IN 46805. If they aren't there then that means some other lucky guy got them or I changed my mind and got them anyway.

 

[dan-0]

This is the first time I've ever heard someone hating the DVD picture on a HD display. Are you sure you just don't hate it because you don't have a HD display?

I hate Ferrari's.

 

[JeremyErwin]

the secret is calibration.

 

[ScottyH]

V for VENDETTA ROCKS

 

[JeremyErwin]

kind of a non sequiter, isn't it.

Anyway, many merchants apparently don't know how to calibrate for display on a HD display. Perhaps they're turning up the sharpness control (minimum works best). I have an Oppo, and it looks spectacular on my 768p display.

In addition, support for anamorphic video is a bit of a plus...

 

[Seth=L]

I guess that is why I didn't like it, poor calibration. I have seen DVD's on LCD flat panels at Best Buy and Circuit City and it has always looked like crap IMO. Plasmas do a good job though. Right now it doesn't really matter because I can't afford one especially when my M&K blows up and I have to repair it.

 

[JeremyErwin]

CRT hdtv's are always a possibility. I don't have one because

a) They're heavy.
b) I can see scanlines.

but they are fairly inexpensive. hdmi is a must, and an atsc tuner is useful for cheapskates...

 

[Seth=L]

Three words, "Broke College Student". I am going to make shirts and sell them, so maybe I can fund my expensive hobby.

 

[JeremyErwin]

that's true. It's still going to cost ~ $400-$600.

About as much as my speakers...

 

[Seth=L]

So long as we are on the subject, what speakers do you have? Maybe some other system components.

 

[JeremyErwin]

speakers: b&w dm601s3. dm303 surround, lcr3 center.
other stuff: onkyo tx-sr502. scd-2000es sacd player, oppo 971h. viewsonic n2751w hdtv. dayton 10 inch subwoofer. grado sr-80 headphones

The grados are quite nice headphones. The oppo can be hooked up to anything with a dvi port. The sacd player is nice, but I probably am not running into its limitations. The onkyo was, at the time, considered one of the better entry level models.

The speakers-- well, they seduced me.

 

[Seth=L]

I used to have the 502 beleive it or not. I sold it maybe 3 months ago. I sold it because I had just gotten an Onkyo TX-DS787 which had loads more futures and more stock power. However I was probably able to get more power from the 502 because of the heat sink design. The 787 had a tunnel heatsink with limited access and the only means of cooling was the fan, which the thermal sensor was bad so I got the thing super cheap, $100 at, you guessed it, a pawn shop. Considering the unit worked and it originally had a price tag in the $700-800 vicinity I thought what the heck, I will trade up. I was able to get more from the 502 because of simple physics, heat rises and if the heat can be disapated with a fan then that can reduce clipping quite a lot, increasing the continuous output.

I also retired the 787 in favor of a higher quality 2 channel system, which I have been very satisfied with. PSB Century 600i's, Carver AV-505 5 channel amp, currently bi-amping speakers, so 160 watts to each speaker, Rotel preamp, Pioneer Elite PD-65 CD player, and Flagship Toshiba player (SD-9000)

I won't get back into surround sound for a while, at least untill the dust settles with HDMI, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and all the new surround formats to be. I cannot afford to buy into a format anyway, so it is best to just keep myself out untill there is only one standing on the mountain.

I have a friend who is interested in the 600 series as well as the 700 series and Paradigm's studio series. Any insight on any of these, including your own speakers?

 

[JeremyErwin]

I would suggest that he demo them... Honestly, I only looked at a few brands (Polk, Infinity, Polk Rti, Definitive Tech, Boston) before I decided that the B&Ws had the sonic characteristics I was looking for.

My ears had long ago decided that the Grados offered great sound, so perhaps I was looking for "the same charcteristics, with a soundstage." Perhaps the comparison isn't that apt, but that's what I was thinking.

I got the dm303s first, and got the dm601s at a Myer Emco private sale. I was initially interested in electrostatics, having heard a high end Martin Logan setup in college, but "4 ohm" scared me off.

 

[Seth=L]

My dad has a pair of Martin Logans powered by a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5x200 watts. Enough power drive the power hungry speakers, they are amazing speakers as well.

 

[dan-0]

You can see the scanlines? How close are you sitting?

How many finger(s) am I holding up?