MSRP on Pioneer 47Ai and Upcoming Relacement? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin C Brown]

I had the 45a for a few months and then moved to the 47ai. In spite of my desire for the 59AVi, I do really like the 47ai. Impeccable CD, DVD-A, and SACD performance. Likewise with DVDs.

As far as the chroma bug, I have had two 32" CRT TVs hooked up to it, and have never seen it. But, I have never gone looking for it either. I'm told, once you know what to look for, that's all you see and then you have to go with a non-chroma bug player.

One thing I like about the 47ai that I don't believe that the 45a had, is a specific set of canned video settings for CRT TVs.

Just also be aware that BM with DVD-A is not perfect. Brian can chime in, but it doesn't work with some/most 4.0 DVD-A's.

 

[Ben LG]

Kevin, since you had the chance of testing out both players can you tell me is it worth an extra $260 to upgrade to the 47ai? Im more interested in the audio performance of these two players.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Ben- Oooh man. First, I'd say look around for prices, because I got the 47ai for about $200 more than the 45a, but that was a while ago too.

Let me put it this way: I would say that the video improvements out shine the audio improvements by just a hair. So depending on the mix of movies vs CDs, you use your system for... Plus, if you're planning on having the player for a while, I'd probably suggest going for the 47ai. The 47ai is a better built player, but everybody has their own reasons for what they spend for what player. Actually, one of the only reasons why I did upgrade from the 45a was that the light weight bothered me personally. To be honest, I actually was 100% happy with the audio performance from the 45a. I don't know if any of that helps, but ...

 

[Brian L]

Just also be aware that BM with DVD-A is not perfect. Brian can chime in, but it doesn't work with some/most 4.0 DVD-A's.

Right. And it does not seem to redirect the .1 to the mains if you have all large/no sub (at least with DVD-A. Do not know about SACD, but it does seem OK with DD and DTS).

And that is all based on the Chesky Ultimate DVD test tracks. FWIW, Steve_AS was in contact with someone at Chesky about that, but I do not know what became of that conversation.

In any event, this is easily solved with an ICBM.

BGL

 

[Steve_AS]

Just also be aware that BM with DVD-A is not perfect. Brian can chime in, but it doesn't work with some/most 4.0 DVD-A's.

I have two 4.0 DVD-As; one by EMI and another from a smaller label (the first is a disc of music by Messaien, the second by Subotnik). The 45a doesn't do BM on the EMI DVD-A tracks, but it does on the Subotnik.

I suspect that all the EMI DVD-A rereleases of their old quad albums may exhibit this behavior, but I haven't confirmed that.

This only applies to the DVD-A tracks, btw; the DD 4.0 tracks on the EMI disc work fine.

 

[Steve_AS]

And that is all based on the Chesky Ultimate DVD test tracks. FWIW, Steve_AS was in contact with someone at Chesky about that, but I do not know what became of that conversation.

Basically, the Chesky contact couldn't figure out what might be going on either, though it wqas gracious of him to have a go at my questions .;>

my report of that phone conversation is here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...85#post1649685


But the 45a certainly *can* do redirection of bass to sub, for 4.0 DVD-A material. Whether it *will*, depends on who made the disc, apparently.

Here are links to two of my bass management reports for the 45a

the biggie (edited and reformatted considerably since first posting):

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...49#post1458749

and the follow-up re: 4.0

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...34#post1656634

Btw, I'm still interested to hear from anyone, regarding whether LPCM vs. PPCM might be the cause of different BM behavior for DVD-A 4.0 in the 45a. (The EMI disc DVD-A tracks read as PPCM , while the Subotnik DVD-A 4.0 tracks read as LPCM).

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Oh yeah, one more thing that neither of the 45a, 47ai, and 2900 can do, but kind of on the fringes of whether it would matter or not: if you do not have a center channel, none of those players will redirect the center channel into the L & R mains for SACD and DVD-A. (Phantom center.) Works for DD/DTS, just not for multichannel audio.