Q & A

Q&A # 134 - August 23, 1999

Staff

Q I just picked up the current issue of ***** (an A/V Magazine). In case you haven't seen it yet, they said that Internet publications tend to be very amateurish and that the info there usually is inaccurate to false. They also criticized the Newsroups as being the worst, and that e-zine writers tend to be poorly paid, sadly lacking in experience, as well possibly being biased and unqualified. They said we should remember the old adage about free advice being usually worth just about what we paid for it. Your comments on this?

A Another printed magazine talked about audio and A/V e-zines some time ago, with much the same opinion, i.e., that they are amateurish. However, they did not list Secrets, the reason being that we are not amateurish (IMHO!). But even though some of the writing in e-zines is amateurish, you can still get the information you want. And, I think everyone has seen amateurish writing in printed magazines too. Also, all publications have inaccurate info from time to time, e-zines and printed magazines included. One nice thing about e-zines, is that we can correct the inaccuracies (when pointed out), by simply revising the original web page. Errors in printed magazine pages stay there. Correcting the errors in later issues doesn't do much for the original problem, although it is better than nothing.

As to the e-zine writers being poorly paid, inexperienced, biased, and unqualified, that is a real hoot coming from printed magazines that depend so much on advertising to stay alive. Ask them if they are biased, and they will break out in a cold sweat as they deny any possible bias. Yeah, right. Let's see . . . on the one hand here is a printed magazine that is very expensive to produce, and whose income is derived mainly from advertising, whose writers make money talking about products many of which are advertised in printed magazines, and if the ads dry up, the magazine folds. On the other hand, we have e-zines whose writers make little to no money writing articles, and therefore, their income is not derived from the articles they write for the magazine, and if the ads dry up, the magazine can continue just fine because it is very inexpensive to produce (other than time spent writing and formatting, and the fact that it is nice to make some spending money from the magazine if you can). OK, I have this feeling that no matter what the spread in IQ for e-zine readers, pretty much everyone can figure this one out. As to the inexperience, yes, e-zine writers to a large degree are newcomers to the field. Every writer is new at first. For many years though, the good old boys ruled the magazines. They had the whole thing to themselves. Now, with e-zines, lots of new talent is breaking into the field. It's about time too. Since you get the results of their hard work for free, I think you are willing to put up with their efforts as they learn their craft. Again, score one for the new guys, and score a zero for the has-beens.

The e-zines concept has the printed trade soiling their pants. They see e-zines as a tremendous threat. We offer what they offer, for free. One printed audio magazine went under last year. Another one is getting thinner. The publishing industry and music industry (along with the old stock brokerages) wish the Internet had never been invented. They curse the day it was invented. Fortunately, readers are not buying the printed trade's views on e-zines. Readers like what they are discovering on the Internet, and it will only get better for readers and e-zine publishers, while the printed trade is suffering. Now that e-zines' reader base is nearly the same as the printed trade (and continuing to grow, unlike the printed trade), the sweat is pouring from their brows. All you have to do is look on the web and see that the printed rags who are poo pooing the e-zines have websites of their own with reviews and other info, along with links that practically beg readers to purchase a subscription. As to the comments about Newsgroups being the worst, well, Newsgroups have this habit of poking fun at printed magazine editors and criticizing them in a rather unflattering way. You can use the search features of Deja news (http://www.deja.com) to find some of the past remarks about the magazines and their editors in the Newsgroups. Actually, it is funny to watch these particular printed mags squirm in desperation. What is even funnier is that they may actually believe they are fooling their readers. All you have to do to let the printed magazines know you are not being deceived by their self serving opinions, is to drop your paid subscription.

This is not to say that there aren't any good printed magazines out there, because there are. In particular, some of the British A/V magazines are really enjoyable and well written, with lots and lots of short (to the point) equipment reviews, and tons of beautifully photographed color pictures, in each issue. The good printed magazines don't seem to be bothered by e-zines. It's the mediocre ones that are scared.

For the first time since the printing press was invented, the power to supply information is shifting from the big guys to the little guys. The publishing industry has never had to face this before. There is an old saying that no one gives up power voluntarily, and publishing represents a great power. But, nobody is asking that particular industry to relinquish power. It is being taken away from them whether they like it or not.

Q I recently purchased Martin-Logan reQuests for the mains, Martin-Logan Logos for the center, Martin-Logan Aerius Is for the rears, a Velodyne HGS-15 sub, a Krell KAV-250a/3 (3 channel version of KAV-250a), MIT Shotgun 750 cables for the mains (bi-wire) and center channel (single run), and MIT 330 Series 2 interconnects for the front 3 channels and the line level connection to the sub.

Here it the way I have it set up: I have a Yamaha DSP-A1 that is feeding the mains and center line level signal to the Krell amp, and the rears are being powered by the A1. I currently have a Pioneer laserdisc/CD player, Pioneer tape deck, Sony VCR, Panasonic DVD-A310, and a Linn LP player. I have a Mitsubishi 60 inch RPTV as the monitor.

I am at a point where I am running into a decision making problem:

1) The Pioneer laserdisc player and tape deck are quite old (I bought the laserdisc player along with a tape deck when consumer laserdisc players first hit store shelves many years ago), so both need to be replaced.

2) As the new DVD standards approach, the A310 will become outdated, so I want to purchase something that is higher quality.

3) I want to also get a front projector that is capable of both 720p and 960p HDTV. From what I hear, only the Sony G90 can do that at this time.

4) I would obviously need a line quad with the projector.

5) A screen to view it on (120 inches or larger?)

6) I also want to purchase a new preamp/proc, and have been looking at the Krell Audio Video Standard and Krell Home Theater Standard.

7) I also want to add a center channel sub (HGS-12), and a sub for the rears (HGS-15).

8) I also need to purchase two monoblock amps (Krell FPB-250m?) for the mains because I will move the KAV-250a/3 to provide amplification for the center and rear channels.

9) MIT cables for the rears and interconnects would be purchased when the new amps are bought (currently I'm using the in-wall speaker wire for the rears).

10) Maybe a CD-Changer, but that's not a big concern right now.

As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done still to this home theater!! Can you tell me where I should start, what I should wait on, what I should add or dump? The system is awesome right now and represents an investment of over 25 grand which I have been saving for the 15 years--so it is in working/awesome condition. I just want to start slowly upgrading the older parts over the next year or two to build the theater of my dreams. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

A Your amplifier plans are fine. I would suggest the HGS-15 for the center as well as the rears, instead of the smaller sub for the center (in fact, the center channel is very demanding). For the DVD player, wait until later this year (1999), since DVD-Audio players will be released then, and will probably have 5.1 analog outputs for use with DVD-Audio discs. Get a 1.3 gain screen for your projector, but right now, very few DTVs will handle 720p. They handle native 1080i broadcasts, but 720p is a little beyond that in requirements. Remember that only a few of the many DTV formats are HDTV formats. Software is now being released that will take the DVD player output from your computer, and perform video processing (including line-doubling), and you can output it to a projector or other TV with high scan rate capability. The first one we have our hands on is about $60 for the software, and we will report on that later. It puts excellent video processing into the hands of everyone with a DVD-ROM drive in their computer, considering that you could watch the DVD movie on your computer monitor if you want, and computer monitors have variable scan rates. The drawback is that the current versions of this software work only for the DVDs, not for broadcast programs such as DSS, but later versions probably will handle everything.

Q I have a Denon AVR-2700 receiver that is connected to an external 5 channel power amp. When playing some CDs, I see the 2700's 'overload' LED blinking. The manual explains that I should lower the volume in order to leave the overload state. I do this and still the overload LED blinks. What "evil" can come if I just ignore the overload LED? Any suggestions so that I won't cross the overload threshold?

A This may be due to the CD player having too much output for your receiver's input. Try connecting the CD player to a different input on the receiver such as the "Aux" or "TV". If your CD player has a set of variable volume outputs, you might try using them and lowering the output of the CD player.

Q I recently purchased a pair of speakers that are ported. While for the most part I really like the sound of the speakers, when a song contains frequencies below about 80 to 100 Hz, the low frequencies tend to overpower the higher frequencies. Since the ports are supposed to extend the low frequency range of the speakers, I thought that plugging the ports might help with regards to this issue. I was wondering if, since the speakers are designed to be ported, there would be any adverse effects on them if I plugged the ports? Would it put added stresses on any of the components inside the cabinet? If it is OK to plug up the ports, should they be totally plugged, partially plugged, whichever sounds better? And is there any material to use that might be better than others in doing this? Would an equalizer be a better solution?

A There are numerous speakers that actually come with foam plugs for the ports, and you use them or not use them at your discretion. There should not be any problem with using plugs for your ports, as to adverse effects on the enclosed drivers. You can use soft plastic/rubber foam or pillow stuffing (this can be purchased at material stores or stores that have bedding supplies). To start with, just put a rolled up sock in the ports and see if this helps. An EQ would benefit the drivers and amplifier, but could possibly muddy up the sound, depending on the quality of the EQ. AudioControl makes some very good, affordable EQs, so take a look there if you consider getting an EQ.

Q I have a Pioneer VSX-09TX driving 5 NHT SuperOnes with a Velodyne VA-1512. I am a little confused on how I should set up the receiver. Do I specify that my speakers are large or small or THX? Do I use the crossover circuitry built into the sub or bypass it and use the bass management in the receiver? Also, there is an 80/100 High-pass filter on the sub which I thought is a little weird. What do you think the best setting would be for this configuration? Lastly, in the bass management setup of the receiver, there are options for THX 80, 100, or 120...which one?

Current setting:

All speakers set to small

Using Sub and receiver crossovers

High-pass set to 80

Bass Management set to 80.

A The high-pass setting is for when you are running your main front left/right speakers from the outputs on the subwoofer. This could be either the line-level (RCA) or speaker-level (speaker binding posts) outputs. You would run the output of the front left/right to the sub, then from the sub back to the front left/right speakers. If you don't use this configuration, then the high-pass setting on the subwoofer does not affect your sound. For the other settings, it looks to me that you have it all configured about right. The subwoofer output of your receiver has a crossover regardless of your other settings. The large vs. small speaker setting determines whether or not the low frequencies from those speakers are routed to the subwoofer. Your subwoofer low-pass crossover should be set around 60 Hz.

Q I have a Yamaha RX-V2095, and the other day I plugged my CD player into the coaxial input of the receiver. I assumed my Yamaha would play in DD, but instead it was playing in PCM. What is PCM ? Can you tell me why it doesn't play in DD ? I have front effects, center, rear, and mains. No sub or DVD.

A The good news is that your hardware is working just as it should. PCM stands for Pulse-Code-Modulation. It is the way, or method if you will, that stereo sound information is stored digitally on regular audio CDs. Your Yamaha is capable of receiving and processing PCM information in addition to Dolby Digital and DTS. DVD is a more flexible medium. It can contain multi channel Dolby Digital information, DTS information, two channel PCM information, or various combinations of these if the publisher so chooses. As to whether this is the best hookup for your system depends entirely on the caliber of the D/A (digital to analog) converters within your CD player. If they are of quite high quality, it may be best to connect the player to the receiver with stereo analog cables. If they are of lesser quality, the ones within the Yamaha may indeed serve you better. So, for a conventional CD, your receiver was taking PCM two channel info from the CD, decoding it to two channel stereo (or Pro Logic if you have that feature activated), and outputting it to your speakers. CDs can also have DTS music, but DD is only on DVDs right now. You can find numerous DTS CDs at music stores (you must use the digital output from the CD player to the digital input on your 2095 to play them), but you will need to get a DVD player for DD music discs.

Q My system consists of an Onkyo TX-DS747 AV receiver, Infinity Reference 50 front left/right speakers, Polk Audio CS-275 center speaker, Onkyo A-807 intergrated amp, and Polk Audio RT5 rear left/right speakers. Up until recently I have been driving the front left/right with the A-807, using the pre-outs of the DS747 to drive the A-807 and driving the RT5s and CS-275 with the built in rear and center amps of the DS747. I decided I needed a bit more oomph in the front soundstage, so I decided to invest in a Rotel RB-993 200W x 3 power amp which is what my budget could afford. I connected the RB-993 to the front left/center/right and drove the RB-993 with the pre-outs of the DS-747. I connected the A-807 to the RT5s and drove the A-807 with the surround pre-outs of the DS747. The new RB-993 has not made a 'huge' difference to the front soundstage even though each channel is rated almost three times higher than the A-807 which is not even a power amp to start with.

Could this be because:

The RB-993 is still 'stiff' and needs running in.

My new Transparent cabling (interconnects and speakers) still needs running in.

The TX-DS747 is a poor preamplifier.

The RB-993 is an entry level amp.

Please explain because I feel that I have wasted what I consider to be a lot of money.

A The increased power of your new amplifier won't necessarily change the soundstage. What it will do is give you greater dynamics during transient high demands. However, amplifiers and preamplifiers do need running in (break in period), and you will probably notice an improvement over about 40 hours of listening. Also, if you are looking for a big jump in home theater experience, get a good subwoofer. Deep bass is critical when watching today's movies.

Q We are currently building our new home, and we will be buying new audio/video equipment. We would like to spend no more then $4500 to $5500 for the TV, Receiver, DVD player, and speakers. We also would like the capability of installing ambiance speakers in four separate rooms so music can be played there. The home theater room is pretty much an open concept. What do you suggest is the best buy right now...DD/DTS required?

A Taking into account your budget, here are the suggestions: Toshiba 32" - 36" Direct View TV with S-Video Input (several models are available at about $1,000), Yamaha RX-V995 Receiver (DD and DTS built-in, along with multi-room capability - $1,000), Yamaha DVD-S700 DVD Player (DD and DTS out - $700), Velodyne CT-150 Subwoofer (15" with 250 watt amp - $800), Four B&W DM-602 speakers and one CC-6 center channel speaker ($1,500). You can either use a speaker switcher for speakers in other rooms with the Yamaha's own amplifiers, or use the Yamaha multi-room capability along with power amplifiers and speakers in the other rooms. Either way, the Yamaha will control the volume in the other rooms.

� Copyright 1999 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
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