More basic questions (1 Viewer)

[John Walker]

I have been reading "Home Theater for Everyone" by Robert Harley (second edition, 2002) and find it to be an excellent book. It has however raised some questions for me and my particular setup.


My equipment for reference:

Yamaha RX-V1300 (on order, arrives next week)
Yamaha DVD-S530
Yamaha CDC-815 (older top of the line CDP)
Near 40M floorstanding audiophile quality speakers ("mains")
Paradigm 10" sub
Paradigm Micros for surrounds (on order)
DIY center to be added later


1) Are all the potentially speaker damaging signals confined to the LFE? Do I need to use bass management to protect the mains?

2) In the short to medium term I won't have a center speaker. I read bass managment will improve the dialogue due to the increase in mid range clarity. Is bass management preferred considering I have two high quality mains and no center or should I let the mains be full range?

3) I assume the RX-V1300 has digital volume control(?). For the best sound quality from the dedicated CD player should I use traditional analog connections or TosLink? I ask because the book seemed to suggest a digital connection would require additional DAC/analog to digital conversions due to the digital volume control. I realize I am just shifting the DAC from the CDP to the reciever (which is like 10 years newer and therefore likely has much better DAC's) but somehow the volume control type also enters into the equation.

4) Any comments on power filters/conditioners by Monster etc? I am in a new house but have noticed a horizontal white line on the monitor when a nearby bathroom fan is turned off. I considered running a dedicated circuit, but the dealer suggested one of these relatively inexpensive ($100) filters would be better.

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi John.

Lets see...

1) The LFE is not the only thing that can damage speakers, but as long as you dont crank the volume to stadium-filling levels, you should be fine.

With a dedicated sub, you want to tell your receiver that all your speakers are SMALL so it will route all the sounds below ~100 hz to the sub.

2) Well... Bass Management is not the issue. A center improves the sound simply because it's right on top of the TV and gives positional clues.

But some people dont bother with a center at all. Just tell your receiver you dont have a center and it will create a 'phantom' center with the L/R speakers. Make sure the L/R speakers are toed-in to focus 1-2 feet in front of your listening position (the classic music arrangement).

3) For ordinary CD, the digital connection (optical) is prefered. Yes, the sound DOES usually flow through the DSP/DAC chips in the receiver to do bass management, level adjustment, time delays, etc.

4) Filters .. usually power-conditioners are more useful than filters. This link on Voltage Regulators might shed some light.

If you want, "borrow" the $100 filter from the store and see if it has any effect on your system. Sometimes it does, sometime it does not. It depends upon how 'dirty' your AC service is at the time you listen/watch.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Well, if the receiver does it's controls in the digital realm you will have an extra conversion by going analog... I'm not familiar with RX-V1300, but some receivers still have a digital readout for an analog volume stage (and an analog bypass mode which bypasses all digital processing).

Again- I would personally go digital, unless the converters in the CDC-815 are REALLY soemthing to crow about- although I would think that if you were REALLY serious about music playback, then you'd be more critical in matching the receiver to best exploit the features of the CD. I would probably try to hook it up both ways and see if you hear a difference. If not, then there is your answer.

-V