My Home Theater Page (2 Viewers)

[Dave Moritz]

Thank you for sharing and that looks like a nice system. I like Polk they make a really nice speaker. I have a pair of Polk bookshelf speakers and a Polk sub in my bedroom for my pc that is hooked up to a 43" 4K LG display. What kind of movies do you usually watch? It may only be a PB-1000 but I bet you get some good bass out of it being an SVS. Let me know how the Denon works out for you. I have always like Denon as well and still have some Denon gear. My first surround piece was a Denon pro logic and that is how I got into surround sound. Of course you know I have the Marantz and they are under the Sound United umbrella with Denon, Polk, Definitive Technology, Boston Acoustics and Classe Audio. It seems according the the news from Sound United they will no longer be purchasing Pioneer and Onkyo. When it is time to make the jump to a 4K display I hope you get something that will give you a great picture.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Maybe I am going back and doing to much research?

Parasound A31 Three Channel Power Amplifier
http://www.parasound.com/a31.php

This amp may actually be out of my price range unless I am willing to sacrifice and wait longer putting off other things knowing hours will dip after Christmas. And will it actually deliver enough to make the cost worth it considering how much I make at my job. Should just stick with ether the Emotiva or Monolith amplifier. The only thing that may actually guide me back to the Emotiva is the fact that on the Monolith site it says out of stock not available till 1/1/20. How can they stay out of stock that long and for the Christmas season as many people will not wait and will buy something that is actually available.

 

[Dave Moritz]

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/mcintosh-introduces-three-new-home-theater-products/

 

[Dave Moritz]

Just purchased a used Emotiva Three Channel Gen3 power amp from a local seller for $550 + tax from Ebay. Should be picking it up from the seller on Wednesday.

I am so tempted!

 

[Dave Moritz]

Meeting the seller of the amplifier today and will have it installed in the system and will run Audyssy and double check the settings before watching a movie today. Not sure what I will add next to the system but income will dictate that. Everything is 100% paid for so there is no stress about owing anyone. I am still deciding if I will upgrade my Atmos height speakers to matching Klipsch or just finally get my original DTS cinema poster framed. I should be buying a Sony 4K led tv for my mother for Christmas and debating on buying a second one for my brother. Also considering a pair of Bowers & Wilkins bookshelf speakers for the Pioneer Elite SC-05 receiver my computer is hooked up to. Will still need to purchase some nice AudioQuest cables for the amp but will use some cheap cables till I have some money to spend.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Officially the Emotiva XPA-3 3 channel power amp is here and sitting in the rack! While I had to finish the back plate of the a/v rack and place the amp in the rack. I did not have the time to hook it up and more importantly to run Audyssy on my Marantz SR-8012 receiver. Will order a 12 volt trigger wire from Emotiva on Friday. This is my first power amplifier and I can not wait to see what it can do for my home theater. Saturday I will hook up the inputs, speakers and run Audyssy and do some checks on the settings before I watch my first movie with the new power amp in the mix. Purchased a used Emotiva for $550! There will be a number of horror movies this weekend since it is October.

 

[JohnRice]

It’s not a big deal, but that’s not a gen 3. It’s probably gen 1, judging by the trim. Like I say, not a big deal, but it is older than you were lead to believe, if they said it was gen 3. I have two gen 1 amps myself.

...you know, there's no reason to pay Emotiva for a trigger cable. They're a dime a dozen.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I am ok with it not being a gen3 amplifier. I also noticed that the gen3 is modular is this one is not. I have been working 10.5 hour days so adding on two lunches I have been at work for 11.5 hours a day. Hooked up the amplifier today and once again ran Audyssy then did some fine tuning before listening to some music and watching a few movies. The amplifier worked flawlessly and I am very happy with how the amplifier performed. Am very surprised on how cool the amplifier runs and it has made an audible difference in my system. I have already purchased a trigger cable from Emotiva and it cost me a whole $3.50 as it was on clearance. I am deciding if I am going to stop where I am or if I am going to make any other additions to my home theater.

Things that are under consideration:

• Upgrade Adven Marble speakers (Atmos Height) to Klipsch RP-500SA Atmos speakers
• Upgrade HSU VTF-3 MK5HP subwoofer to ether SVS Utra 16 sub or Monolith M-215 dual 15" sub
• Control4
• Upgrade entry level Polk bookshelf speakers to B&W 606 bookshelf speakers for computer, powered by Pioneer Elite SC-05 7.1 receiver.
• Frame original DTS cinema poster & very limited Star Trek poster
• Purchase 8 port gigabit Ethernet switch
• New Turntable with phono preamp

Not sure how much further I could take the home theater beyond that to be honest. I have a number of titles to purchase on 4K blu-ray and some other titles that standard blu-ray will be good enough. Have been going at upgrades for just over a year nonstop so I will be glad when I can just focus on getting movies. Also need to work on some upgrades/updates for my pc. Will replace the current rca cable with a better one from AudioQuest! Will also be doing some cable management to clean up the back of the a/v rack. I think the only other addition would be a Sony 4K projector with a projection screen. Right now the room is big enough but when I have to move into an apartment the projector most likely with not have the throw distance for the size screen I would use. I could stop where i am and be very happy. The only thing I would need is at least a 4 port switch and framing the two posters and just buying movies and I could more than live with that. Should do something about my Altec A-7's to make them look better!

Watching John Wick 3 and listening to the audio the amplifier added a spaciousness and extra transparency along with extra punch and dynamics. Even though the internal amplification on the Marantz is very good the Emotiva just helped the Marantz get to the next level. If I really pushed myself I might switch the receiver to the Marnantz AV8805 pre/pro and add an additional Emotiva power amp and use balanced XLR connectors and balanced XLR connectors from the Panasonic 4K blu-ray for stereo music. But again the way it is now is not to bad!

 

[Dave Moritz]

Got the 12v trigger cable Monday and hooked it up yesterday and it worked very well. I am curious and will go into the Marantz SR-8012 set up to see what adjustments I can make since there is a 12v trigger menu. If I can I will delay the amp turning on by a few seconds.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Watched four movies today and really am enjoying my a/v gear! I really could stop buying stuff and be totally happy. I think the only reason I keep thinking about projection is because that has always been my idea of a complete system. Anyway the Sony OLED looks great and hopefully it last me a long time. Hope your week is going well.

 

[JohnRice]

Got the 12v trigger cable Monday and hooked it up yesterday and it worked very well. I am curious and will go into the Marantz SR-8012 set up to see what adjustments I can make since there is a 12v trigger menu. If I can I will delay the amp turning on by a few seconds.

I don't recall there being a delay, but it allows you to select which switches turn on for which inputs. In a way, the Emotiva has a delay, since it doesn't actually "turn on" the signal for a few seconds after the unit turns on. You'll hear it click. That's when it becomes active. That eliminates any kind of turn on "thump".

 

[Dave Moritz]

That is exactly what I ended up finding in the menu after selecting the 12v trigger menu. I am glad I picked up a 12v trigger cable so I do not have to turn the amp on and off every single time.

Well this is not a plan but this is what would need to happen for my home theater to have a 4K projector and what the plan might look like. It would have to share the same room with the Sony XDR55A9F 55" 4K OLED TV and the screen would have to be a electric retractable screen since it would have to drop down infront of the tv. The Marantz SR-8012 luckily has dual 4K HDMI outs for the same room so running a projector and tv in the same room is possible. This would most likely mean taking all of or most of 2020 to save and purchase the projector and screen and projector mount along with a HDMI to go back to the projector. At that point yes the home theater would have both a Sony 4K OLED and Sony ES native 4K projector. Would this be nice? Hell yes it would but is it practical to take so much income to get projection into my home theater. Yes I have thought about projection for a very long time and wanted it just as long. Do I currently have a great picture? Hell yes I have a display with a great picture. Not as big as a projection screen but a top notch picture just the same. Currently I just can not see myself committing to basically saving up for anywhere close to 3/4 of a year to a solid year putting off getting any movies for a long time. Is the display kinda of small? Yes on the small side but the picture quality makes for a very good movie experience! Again not that I am going to put this in motion but this is what I would have to look at to have a dual purpose home theater with both display and projector.

 

[JohnRice]

Watching John Wick 3 and listening to the audio the amplifier added a spaciousness and extra transparency along with extra punch and dynamics. Even though the internal amplification on the Marantz is very good the Emotiva just helped the Marantz get to the next level. If I really pushed myself I might switch the receiver to the Marnantz AV8805 pre/pro and add an additional Emotiva power amp and use balanced XLR connectors and balanced XLR connectors from the Panasonic 4K blu-ray for stereo music.

I used to be a frequent advocate for external amps here, but I got so much push-back, I kind of stopped. There's a general tendency to view an amplifier simply was a power spec, but there is more to it. I know, that itself is an arguing point, but it always has been and it always will be. So, I discouraged you from the power perspective, since you have extremely efficient speakers. I've just been using external amps for so long (about 30 years) that they're just something I'm used to.

One thing I can say is that there was a time while I was in transition to hdmi when I was using a Pioneer Elite receiver to drive all but the L&R speakers in my HT. I had my Aragon 4004II driving my Thiels, but the receiver was driving everything else. No matter what I did, I simply could not get it all to integrate as well as I wanted. Then I made my first Emotiva purchase, an XPA-5 for the rest of the system. It was like flipping a switch. BAM! The sound became integrated.

Class A/B and Class D amps simply sound different. In theory, Class D can be the ultimate, but it's extremely difficult and expensive to approach that goal. It's simply easier and cheaper to get most of the way with A/B. Plus, you don't even realize how much the power supply of a receiver is being exhausted driving a surround system. It still sounds loud, but not powerful and dynamic. You don't know it's missing if you've never heard it.

 

[xx Brian xx]

Dave,
I have been doing what you describe with the projector for a few years now. I took it up a notch and automated the whole process. With the click of a button or telling Alexa it's movie time, the OLED TV turns off, output switches on the receiver, projector turns on, screen drops, lights turn blue and start ramping down and the receiver volume turns up to a preset level.
Even though the current projector is 1080, the picture is great and I don't see a need to change it to 4k yet.

Brian

 

[JohnRice]

What? It doesn’t pop corn and make hot dogs?

Slacker.

 

[DFurr]

What? It doesn’t pop corn and make hot dogs?

Slacker.

That's my problem. I can't figure for the life of me how to automate the popper or the hot dog cooker! Both require work.

 

[xx Brian xx]

What? It doesn’t pop corn and make hot dogs?

Slacker.

Hmmmm, let's see if I can figure that out... Like Dave, it's been a slow process of buying components and adding to the system to get it where it is today.

Brian

 

[Dave Moritz]

I am looking at a Harmony Elite remote to get some automation in the process but need to make sure I can have processes for different video sources like Dish Network, 4K Blu-ray player and 4K Apple TV. I am glad Alexa is working out great for you but I will not put a device like that in my home. I figure one device capable of spying on my is enough (smart phone), LMAO. Right now I am trying to justify adding Disney streaming, CBS Online and maybe even getting Netflix back but that is adding a minimum of $30 a month onto my current bills. I would love to see the content on each on that is not available anywhere else and that doesn't even include watching Cobra Kai on You Tube. Then the time to keep up with it all. The one thing I am glad I did was save up for each addition and pay for that item 100% so I owe nothing and am not paying interest on top of it. Oh am looking at getting a pop corn popper this year if possible.

Maybe something like this one pictured below.

Also looking at finally getting my original DTS cinema poster framed in November and depending on final cost my very limited edition Star Trek poster I won may get framed as well. It has been a very long 1+ year dedicating so much finances to elevating my home theater to where it is now but it has been worth it. Big question is do I really want to do it for another year just for projection? Not so sure right now! If I did I would go for 4K because I do not want to be back saving for another projector a few years down the road. Even if the 1080p or faux k will do the trick.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Wow just noticed going back through my thread that I have been considering the Emotiva power amplifier since 2009 and I finally have one 10 years later, LOL.

 

[xx Brian xx]

Dave, Alexa is just one small part in the automation process. I run Control4 for the actual automation and have verbal commands programmed with Alexa to trigger Control4 automation.
I have used Harmony remotes and think they are excellent remotes. The nice thing is that you can very easily add or subtract devices as you change out components.

I look forward to hearing how the amp works out for you. I have been looking at adding an amp for a year now and still haven't pulled the trigger. I'm still trying to decide if I want a 3, 5 or 9 channel amp. Room is currently set up in a 7.1.2 configuration.

Brian