My Home Theater Page (1 Viewer)

[Bob Bielski]

I would go with B. And you must have figured out by now I'm a little sick. I got an Anthem P5 Statement. Cranks 500 watts ALL channels driven at 4 ohms. Super high current stable to a short circuit. Can drive .1 ohms. And for small ADSL300s using rebuilt Nikko Alpha 440s. 240 watts 2 channels into 4 ohms.. Speakers max at 70 watts so plenty of headroom. I wasted alot of cash, the system is overkill, as it is more than enough for a 23×13 foot room. But I go high school volume with metal, and gotta prevent clipping. Don't want to pay for tweeter repairs. My speakers have a solid state circuit breaker to protect the tweeter. It resets if I get carried away. Your rack looks awesome, can't wait to see the Marantz.

 

[Bob Bielski]

You better promise me to post all your adjustments, experiments, and discoveries. Especially with Auro. My pre pro is fine and fully balanced, but just Atmos and DTS X. You have a superior processor. From all I have read to date Auro is the BALLS.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I will post everything not a problem. I used to have two of the black racks that I purchased from a store called Goodguys. Back around the early to mid 1990's. I am hoping to get a demo disc from Auro that I think would be cool to help demo and evaluate Auro 3D. I intend to upgrade the HDMI on this to 2.1 before the end of next year. As long as my income holds up and the problem area is around christmas when it gets slow at work according to other employees that is when I might get cut. But as long as my income holds up the following is the current upgrade plan. May make other additions but maybe that is where I should stop unless my views on digital versions of film change and I decide to include a NAS for storing movies, not in the cards currently. But in reality what is listed below is very aggressive and require alot of investment but would be worth it once it was done. I know that other things may interfer with and possible side track but I figure if I can get a new OLED TV, B&W bookshelf speakers and the upgraded blu-ray I would be very happy! The rest is just gravy and would just raise the ht to the next level. I have a working Denon that will handle DVD-A and SACD so push comes to shove I can get away with using that. I also have a Denon CD player and a Denon DAT recorder.

Marantz SR-8012 (Currently in progress)
Sony A8F 55" 4K OLED TV (Possible Choice)
Bowers & Wilkins 685 Bookshelf Speakers (Aprox By End Of March) 2 Pair upgrade current Advent Marble speakers being used as surrounds. Advent Marbles will be used temporarily as Atmos/X/Auro speakers.
Sony or Panasonic 4K Blu-ray to upgrade the Samsung I currently own (?)
Emotiva XPA-3 Gen3 Three Channel Power Amp (?)
Bowers & Wilkins 685 Bookshelf Speakers (?) 2 Pair - Replace Atmos/X/Auro speakers
Panamax or Monster Power Conditioner
Marantz SACD Player ? (May look for a used high end SACD/DVD-A player ?)
Apple TV or Ruku Box ?
Possible Upgraded Subwoofer ? (Currently HSU 15" sub)
At some point make sure all cables are AudioQuest!

Years down the road ?? Possible 85" - 100" 8K OLED display ??


That Anthem is very nice and a beast as well. Sounds like you get very good sound out of what you have. When you get it back up and running again I would love to see photos of it. What subwoofer are you using? How is your house coming along?

 

[Dave Moritz]

Well the work assignment ended before I thought but it did last 12 weeks longer than it was supposed to. If it picks up they want to have me come back so that is a good sign and tells me I was doing a good job. But I will hopefully be back to another assignment before the end of the week and I still plan to go through with the purchase of the Marantz SR-8012. I am also supposed to be paid for 40 hours even though they ended my assignment on Tuesday. Should be paid around midnight tonight and should be completing the purchase tomorrow.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Damn!!
Keep up your spirits, something else will come along. I am learning how to taylor my resume to the position I am applying for. Been applying for installation jobs, then sending my present resume that only contains all my past printing experience. Not a match. Did a seminar that said write a resume with whatever experience targeting the job being applied for. Not lying just leaving out non essential information not pertaining to this particular occupation. Just applied for a Home Depot job, and no real experience required they will train. It is measuring floors like square footage to get the price of whatever flooring the customer wants. It involves using my own car and getting a base pay of 21$ per job with 4$ travel allowance. So 25$ per job. I am not sure it is worth it.
What ever happened to the city water job?
Man I feel for you. Just get the Marantz for now, and go slow on all the other upgrades. I am proud of you for not charging the Marantz and just saving up and paying it off all at once. VERY SMART MOVE. The wife and I have our own personal charge cards as well as a family one. I never use the family one unless it is for an emergency. She drove it up to 18;000$ and we had a minimum payment per month that was close to 300$ and most of it was interest. I cut the cord and, I was saving towards a new car so i told her lets just take the money in the bank and wipe the charge. She at first said she wanted something to fall back on. I explained we are giving the charge card a free 260.00$ a month for nothing. She finally saw the light and took the money out and got rid of the drain on our income. AND SHE IS AN ACCOUNTANT.. No brainer for me.
I have to admit I am beginning to get down. Too much time chasing dreams and getting bored and fed up with the house remodel. Painting is finally done now trim then floors and HVAC Heat, then Kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanity finished electrical and plumbing and can move downstairs. This is all new to me and my heart breaks for you to have to do the ground hog day thing over and over. You should just drive a freekin truck. They pay good money.
Sorry to suggest an unacceptable solution, it just bothers me to see you get hurt.
I could just get back into the bindery there is 2 good companies in the want ads but I want out of a dying industry.
I am just lucky I have the wife's income. Isn't life funny?

 

[Dave Moritz]

One nice thing is they are paying me for the week even though I have only worked about a day and a half. So right now I am getting paid to do nothing. Am just hoping the agency doesn't try to put me back into assignments that are $11 - $11.50 / hr. Just hoping they have something decent to plug me into to keep money coming in. Sounds like your house is coming along and hopefully it will be done soon. Oh I am glad I did not have a tab on the lunch truck so I left not owing anything and I have 100% of the money for the Marantz so that is bought and paid for so I will not have to make payments or pay interest charges on it! Might have to wait on the new tv and bookshelf speakers but that is ok because I got a piece that is the hub of the entire system and finally up to date with current technology for now.

I am sure you will be very happy once it is all done and behind you and you do not have to worry about it anymore. I will be searching on my days off because if I can find a good job and they will direct hire me then I will be away from the cycle of jobs via the agency. It is crazy how much things have changed and how much harder it is to get employment especially when you really need it. But tomorrow is ordering day so once the transaction is done all I have to do is sit and wait and occupy my time job hunting and see what the agency has for me on Monday.

You are right there how funny life is and it sure doesn't always turn out the way we thought it would when we where younger. Even if I do not hit the goals I wanted to by the end of the year I am so lucky to have what I have!

 

[Bob Bielski]

The glass is always half full, not half empty. Great way to look at things.
I grew up very poor so I also feel very fortunate to be where I am in life.
Don't think I would have changed very much looking back.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I was in the same boat growing up as my mom & dad where not well off and we went without and did not have what alot of other kids had growing up. I think it makes you appreciate what you have more and you understand what it took to get what you have.

9/12/2018
Marantz SR-8012 surround sound receiver purchased along with a AudioQuest 1 meter HDMI cable.

The process is underway and it soon will be pulled off the warehouse shelf and shipped to the store I purchased it from. From there it will be delivered to me where I will unbox it and begin the process of calibrating it. Then the evaluation process will begin for movies and music and I will start posting my feedback on the Marantz SR-8012. I may have to push back a full blown review untill I am able to run it in full Atmos mode and that will require 2 pair of Bowers & Wilkins bookshelf speakers for my surrounds. But the purchase has been made and the process is underway! I could get a better deal on Monitor Audio speakers but that would for me mean replacing my B&W center and I kinda want to stick with that brand and match the rear and overhead channels to the center I already have.

Next planned steps depending on available funds are the following:

Sony A8F 55" 4K OLED TV
Bowers & Wilkins 685 Bookshelf Speakers
More AudioQuest Cables to come.

Next step after that:
Sony or Panasonic 4K blu-ray player

Not going to plan beyond that right now!

Purchased / On Order

 

[Dave Moritz]

Almost forgot I ended up not making it through the in person interview for the water job with the city. I thought I did very well but I guess I did not do as well as I thought. I will keep trying and also applying elsewhere as I am on a mission and will not give up!

 

[Bob Bielski]

I cancelled my interview today. Wife kinda talked me out of it. Too many miles and winter just wouldn't be happy. I would probably end up telling a customer to go f$%k themselves. Never dealt with public before. Just want to learn to be a tech and be able to take care of my equipment. Would make small change, maybe 18$ an hour but the skill and power to fix and maintain is priceless to me.
Looking forward.
You are much younger than me so I know it is scary. You have the right attitude and you will succeed in the end. Keep fighting. And enjoy da toy, boy. Please post satisfaction in 2, 5.1 and object based when you get to it.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Oh I have worked with the public in retail and you get some really good customers and then you get some that you want to tell them to go do something with themselves! We also got to many losers stealing from us as well. Like I said I have had customers that where great and actually listened to my recommendations after asking me for input. Then I had some that did what they wanted anyway or they where in a crappy mood so they took it out on me or they where just obnoxious and abusive.

I don't blame you because I don't want to drive to far ether and be stuck in traffic! But I wouldn't want to deal with snow and icy conditions ether so that was most likely a smart decision on your part. They already paid me my full week today instead of paying me next Wednesday. So I got paid from last week like always then a little later even though the week is not over I got paid for this week that is not over yet. If I am working a so so job and the pay is not that great and this company wants to call me back I am there!

 

[Dave Moritz]

This was a crazy idea I had for a home theater system back around May of 2015.

 

[Bob Bielski]

Crazy but pretty. The manufacturers have to improve the way equipment connects. Make it totally wireless, without any dropouts.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I am ok with how equipment connects and wouldn't want to see all wireless connections between components. I could see even more issues for those who live really close to people in multi story buildings.

 

[Dave Moritz]

It finally hit me for some reason how I was going to keep the printer in the room and use what was the unuseable shelf on the a/v rack in my room. The full tower was on the bottom of the a/v rack and I went through and reconfigured it and now have my Denon CD and Denon blu-ray in the a/v rack for my bedroom system. Before the printer was sitting on top and the pc was where the printer is now. I guess I really did not put alot of thought into it before!

 

[Bob Bielski]

ok being sick who is the babe in the left picture?

 

[Bob Bielski]

I think you are crazier than me for AV looking at the rack oh my god.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Picture on the left: I worked with her when I was in Arizona and she was the one I could talk to being away from family out there. So that was a picture I took with her and I photoshoped the background because the picture was taken at the back of the store. The only reason I did not pursue her was because she was married, and to a jerk! But she was a good friend and trust me when a manager above her was so out of line he made her cry. I made sure the manager didn't get away with it! He had to apologize to her in front of the rest of the managers, he couldn't do it in private! So after that the other managers watched themselves and a few would say don't worry I am not messing with your girl. The picture on the right is my snap on tools wall clock.

I am seriously thinking about putting my Denon DVD-2200 DVD/DVD-A/SACD player in my main a/v rack after I get my Marantz SR-8012 installed and calibrated to my liking. I still have my 1st gen Sony blu-ray that stopped working so I will most likely take it to a hazardous electronic waste round up and get rid of that.

Also going to evaluate if I want to send my old Sony DVP-S9000 ES DVD/CD/SACD player to be serviced. It was one of Sony's flagship players back in the day and MSRP'd for about $1,600 but I got it open box including a 10 year extended warranty for around $760 out the door. And it is built like a tank weighing in at a little over 27lbs which is almost 4lbs less than the Yamaha receiver pictured above. The Sony has stereo analog out puts and doesn't do multi channel SACD. But the Denon will do multi channel SACD and has 5.1 analog outputs on the back.

So the more I hear about my new receiver the more I know I made the right choice! So not only will it be upgradeable to HDMI 2.1 early next year. It will be firmware upgradeable to have the IMAX features around November of this year I believe. So this receiver is going to be great and I can not wait to get it all set up and see what it will really do in the real world! The Integra sounds like a really nice receiver and so does the Yamaha Aventage and I have heard some good things about the sound quality of the Sony ES receivers but IMHO this Marantz is on a new level without going crazy with the Emotiva pre/pro that is coming out that is expandable to 32 channels. Sure that sounds ultra bad ass but unless you have a big room and deep pockets $8K plus the amps and speakers to go with it, mmmmm. I will be more than happy with my Marantz 7.2.4 in my h/t. I am sure there will be some that get the Emotiva pre/pro and that it will be awesome in there configuration and to be honest I would love to hear one. Come on Marantz get here already! LOL. Transaction went through on my card today and hopefully Monday or Tuesday I will get the email with my tracking number so I will have an idea when to expect the unit at my doorstep!

 

[Dave Moritz]

 

[Dave Moritz]

Need to create a shopping list for cables to upgrade on the bedroom system!