Q&A # 281 - April 7, 2002

Staff

Q  I'm considering a new Proxima DP9280 projector for my home theater. I haven't found much of any discussion on this and other pro units. Here's a link to the specs on this projector: http://www.proxima.com/site/Products/Products.cfm?Title=DP9280

The sister projector is the Sanyo PLC-XP30. The items that caught my attention was the DVI input, the SXGA 1280 X 1024 support, with both 4:3 and wide 16:9 support. I can see both positives and negatives to having 3000 ANSI lumens. What can you tell me about how this projector would compare to the likes of the Sony 10HT/11HT or Sanyo 60HT units? Is this a good option for a HT LCD projector? Oh price wise - the main reason for my interest - less than $5000 new. I've read that using something like the Grayhawk screen can tame the huge ANSI lumen type projectors. Your thoughts?

A The Proxima DP9280 is a board room projector for making business presentations. Typically, this kind of projector will have poor black levels (black looks dark gray instead of black). They work fine for presentations of graphics from computers (charts with bar graphs, etc.), but are not suitable for home theater (movies) where blacks are very important. You will be much happier with the projectors that are designed for home theater, such as the 11HT and 60HT. In making the black levels better, they give up the extreme brightness that the business projectors have. You can get the Sanyo for $4,299 and the Sony 10HT for $3,699 at http://www.projectorpeople.com. The 11HT is sold through professional installers. I would go with the Sanyo, because it is similar to the 11HT and has more contrast (better black levels) than the 10HT. All three of these projectors use 1366 x 768 LCD panels that are true 16:9. They give a more detailed image than the 4:3 panel projectors for wide screen movies.

Q I'm looking for a 5 disc carousel CD player (not necessarily high end but it is convenient) and I have a few questions. Does anyone make a good ($400-$800) carousel player? For obvious reasons it would appear that for the most part multi-disc players are at the lower end. A shop that I somewhat trust has recommended the NAD T571, it also happens to be a progressive scan DVD player and plays MP-3 encoded CD-Rs as well as HDCDs. This sounds really appealing as I do have a Mitsubishi HD ready TV and would love to kill two birds with one stone ( replace my old Toshiba non-progressive scan player and get a multi-disc CD player). I do have my doubts as to how well a player with a single laser can pull off so many formats. I can't find a single review of the T571 and I can't let a one shop's recommendation sway me. If you would , please recommend a multi-disc CD player (if it does everything the T571 does that would be great). I will of course audition several players before I purchase, it would however be great if you could point me in the right direction.

My current system consist of the following:
Amp- Yamaha RX-V1
CD player -  low end Denon
DVD player- Toshiba SD- 2109
TV- Mitsubishi WT-46807
Main speakers- Boston Acoustics CR-8
Surround speakers-Boston Acoustics CR-6
Center channel- Boston Acoustics CR-2
Subwoofer- Velodyne CT110

Thanks in advance. (Your site is one of the most informative sites I've ever seen without regard to subject matter. You are much appreciated!)
 

A I would suggest the Denon DVM-4800, which is a carousel player for CD, DVD-V, and DVD-A. It is a bit more expensive ($1149 MSRP), but because of it having DVD-A capability, the DACs are higher quality than in conventional carousel CD players. Another choice would be the Sony DVP-NC650V at $449 MSRP (also a carousel player). It will kill three birds with one stone instead of two, since it does CD, component video DVD, and also multi-channel SACD. Sony tends to do well with CD and DVD due to their experience with dual-lasers.

Q I have a Yamaha HTR 5250 A/V receiver that calls for an impedance of 6 ohms for my center channel if my mains were 4 ohms. I am planning a project to build speakers, but wonder if my amp will be able to handle a center and mains that are all 4 ohms. I've heard of other people pushing 4 ohm speakers with their receivers with no problem - what do you think?


A It is a matter of how loud you want to play your system. A mass market receiver will handle 4 Ohm speakers fine, if you don't play it really loud. If you like it loud, then either build 8 Ohm speakers, or get an outboard three-channel power amplifier, such as the Adcom GFA-5503 (200 watts per channel x 3 into 8 Ohms, $1,500 MSRP USA) to drive the front left/center/right channels.

Q I have an Onlyo 797 receiver. Is it ok to hook up two speakers in the surround center channel, or will it damage the speaker or the receiver?

A It will be OK as long as you connect them in series rather than in parallel with the receiver output. Here is a diagram showing both types of connections. Connecting them in parallel reduces the impedance by 50%, which causes the receiver to try and deliver twice as much current. This will produce amplifier clipping which could damage your speakers. Using a series connection doubles the impedance that the receiver sees, which will be an easy load to drive.

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Q  I am trying to find a good receiver. I looked at an Onkyo receiver that says it has a subwoofer pre-out. Does this mean that I cannot directly hook my subwoofer to this output? Do I need a subwoofer speaker that has audio processing capability? Please explain what is the difference between subwoofer output and subwoofer pre-output.

A All modern receivers have at least one subwoofer pre-out jack. This means that the low frequencies, depending on how you set up the bass management in the receiver menu, will be sent to that output. It is a line-level output, meaning it is around 1 volt or so, like a preamplifier output. It goes to the line-level input on your powered (active) subwoofer, i.e., the RCA jack input. Subwoofers have both a right and a left channel line-level input, and you can use either one. There are a few passive subwoofers available, meaning they need a power amplifier to drive them. But, you would still use the receiver subwoofer pre-out to go to the power amplifier that drives the passive subwoofer.

Q I recently purchased an RBH speaker system consisting of the 1044se for the mains, 441se for the rears and center, and a 1010sep powered sub. After perusing your site, I am thinking of going with a Denon 3802 as a preamp, to gain some of the latest features, without spending a fortune on a processor. Now I am having a hard time deciding which amp to get. I plan on using it for 60% home theater and 40% music. All of my speakers are 4 ohm, and I want to have enough power to drive them adequately. Some I have considered are Cinepro 2k5, Aragon 8008x5, Rotel 1095, and Sunfire Cinema Grand. I realize all of these are fine amps. Which would be the best match for my system and needs? It is hard, if not impossible for me to audition all of these. Should I be concerned about wattage, current, damping...? Which is more important? Any of my current list of amps stand out to you, or maybe some other suggestions?

A As you said, all of the amps you mentioned are great. In my experience, the Aragon and Sunfire have a bit more edge to them in sound quality, while the Cinepro and Rotel are smoother along the edges. By edge, I don't mean harshness, just a little sharper. If you are a young fellow, you might like the edge, while if you are older, say in your fifties, you probably will like the smoother edges of the Cinepro and Rotel. The Rotel has the softest edge of these brands, in my (JJ) listening experience, and I am 56 years of age. I use both the Cinepro and Rotel in my home theater lab.

Q I need to know what is the (or if it is there more than one) way to get a pass through for an analog signal entering (input) the Yamaha DSP-A1. I need that the analog signal not be handled by any transformation, just be amplified and then go to the mains. These days DVD players have DACs with higher sampling rates (and the newer DVD Audio players, for instance) than the ones found inside the DSP-A1, and I guess I would get better output sound using analog input and just amplify. I have read the manual, but I am not sure. I have thought (if I want to listen to CDs and also watch DVDs with the same DVD player) that I can connect the left/right analog audio outputs from my DVD player to the TAPE 2 MON/EXT.DECODER input on the DSP-A1 for CD listening, and the digital output from the DVD to the DVD/VCR3 input for the movie sound, for achieve this. Then I read your suggestion to connect to the MAIN IN input for the same purpose. Will I get the same result or not?

A The DSP-A1 has a direct setting for the front left right analog to go straight through, as shown in the diagram below.  At the top left of the diagram, it says L Analog R, and the circuit goes direct to L and R outputs of the preamplifier section. I no longer have the DSP-A1 here, but I believe this setting sends the front left/right direct to the front left/right power amplifiers. The Fl and FR labels in the diagram are not to be confused with front left/right mains. FL and FR are the front effects channels.

Q I found John Johnson's recent reviews of the The Carver Knight Shadow subwoofer and the Sunfire Subwoofer Junior very helpful. The reviews stopped short, however, of making clear which subwoofer was the better performing unit (and presumably better value, since they are comparably priced).

I'm particularly interested in how well either one works for classical music (as opposed to home theater), or whether I should focus my attention on other models. The Carver and Sunfire are of great interest to me in light of their combination of reasonably compact dimensions (and the resulting higher spousal acceptance factor) with strong bass output.

A These two products are for different purposes. The Knight is larger in size and correspondingly, has higher output than the Junior. If your spouse would be happy with either one, I would suggest the Knight, since it will output more at the deep frequencies. This would be the case for music or home theater. I use the Junior as my computer sound system subwoofer, but I would also probably get it if I lived in a university dorm room for a small music system. The Junior is for where space is really a serious issue.

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