Q&A # 140 - September 24, 1999

Staff

Q After much research, I am about to spend about $6,500 on a new Music/HT/Computer system. The system will be used 70% music, 30% HT. My intention in to convert most of my CDs to MP3 format and store them on a very large hard drive on a 600 Mhz Pentium III computer using Musicmatch Jukebox Software. The computer will have an 8X DVD drive and decoder card with TV out. The sound card will be a "Soundblaster Live" with digital daughter card to provide a digital signal to my receiver. The conventional parts of this system will be a Denon AVR-3300 receiver, Klipsch RP-3 powered mains, a Klipsch RC-3 center, Klipsch RS-3 surrounds and for some extra bass a Velodyne CT-150 subwoofer. I have not been able to find many references anywhere on the Net or anywhere else for that matter concerning a set-up like this. My question is do you have any opinion, good or bad or ugly, about this set-up?

A I think it is a great idea. MP3 has astonishing quality for such a compression ratio. You might want to look into some of the new software that will let you put your MP3s on CD-Rs so that they can be played like a CD rather than simply clicking a file stored on the CD-R. Also, don't forget to experiment with the MP3 selectable quality to make sure you have a satisfactory playback before you encode your entire library at that level. I recently purchased a Seagate Barracuda 50 GB Ultra-2 LVD SCSI Drive to store video on for non-linear editing. Video takes a huge amount of space. It will hold about 4 hours of 720 x 480 video along with two-channel stereo. We are experimenting with making video along with surround sound audio that you Secrets readers will be able to download and play through your surround sound decoders in your computer or home theater receivers. But that's a later story. The point is, get as large a hard drive as you can afford. It should be SCSI, 7200 RPM, 7.5 ms access time (or faster), and BIG, BIG, BIG. This will let you store your audio (and video as it becomes more available on the Internet) in uncompressed or compressed formats, so that they will play back without skipping (uncompressed audio/video uses high data rates that are difficult for slow hard drives).

Q This may a dumb question. I am new to this site and have read a few questions/comments about which speaker wire is best. The question I have is why isn't something like common electrical wire or coaxial cable used to connect speakers? I would think that solid 12 gauge electrical wire could carry quite a bit of "sound" to the speakers. Also, coax is solid and somewhat shielded, so wouldn't that be a good thing?? If they sound terrible, Why?

A  It is not a dumb question at all. What would be dumb is not to ask. Speaker wires and interconnects are excellent fodder for discussions and arguments. The problem is that, the differences between the best wire and the worst are subtle. Also, because of the numerous designs out there, some inexpensive but carefully designed wire might sound better than expensive, but wrongly designed wire. The 12 gauge zip cord you are referring to works fine in a typical home theater application, and heavy gauge wire is actually quite important when the speaker run is long (say 50 feet). Coax cable is used for interconnects between CD players and receivers, and between preamplifiers and power amplifiers. It is not used for speakers. There are a number of electrical factors that affect the sound. For interconnects, having low capacitance appears to be important, while for speaker cables, low inductance is more important. Zip cord is very inexpensive, even for 12 gauge. What I use in our reference home theater is Nordost 2-Flat. It is still relatively inexpensive, but does have the low inductance that I want for my speaker connections. For high-performance setups, such as with dedicated preamplifiers, power amplifiers, and speakers that are attempting to reproduce the subtle nuances found on CDs, as opposed to the compressed sound tracks on DVD movies, then going to a high performance coax and speaker cable is worth the expense. Once your ears lock on to the audible differences, you will never go back to the electrical wire stuff. But, the quality of the sound is not reflected by just the price. There are lots of great cables out there that are not mortgage busters.

Q My question is concerning the S-VHS. I have a Sony rear projection (KP41T15) and a Sony Hi-Fi 678. Can the S-VHS jack ever be utilized? Does it receive cable TV signals? Basically I am trying to receive a crystal clear picture on all formats. Please advise and are there any inexpensive converters, like Monster Cable, etc?

A S-VHS refers to the video tape format. S-Video is the jack through which a video signal is passed, where the color (chroma) and brightness (luminance) are carried in separate conductors. DVD players and Satellite receivers have an S-Video signal that should definitely be used with your S-Video inputs on your TV. This bypasses comb filters and gives you much better images. Use of the S-Video outputs on laserdisc players depends on whether the comb filter in the player or the TV is better. For S-VHS VCRs, use the S-Video output to the TV. There are converters that convert composite video (chroma and luminance combined into one signal) into S-Video, but they are really just for the purpose of having everything in your system go to one S-Video input on the TV, rather than having some sources go to the composite input and others to the S-Video. They will not really improve the image, since the original is still composite video.

Q In your response to my question about connecting a power amp to my Yamaha RX-V995, you mentioned it does not have pre-outs. Actually, my unit is the European version (RX-V595RDS) which does have pre-outs for all 5 channels. So, if I connect the Yamaha as a decoder and amp for the surround speakers, will the Rotel RB-991 as power amplifier for the main speakers through the main pre-outs on the 595 be suitable?

A Rather than using a two-channel power amplifier, I would suggest a three-channel amp such as the Rotel RB-993. The center channel gets lots of action, and it is important to have it powered at least as well as the front left/right.

Q My interest in home theater started when I bought an old A/V Receiver (Pioneer VSX-5900s) from a friend. This particular unit does not have a sub pre-out. I'm planning to upgrade in the near future but definitely not his year. So what I did is to use my car power amp (Kenwood KAC-646) by connecting it to the pre-outs of the receiver. This power amp drives a pair of front speakers (DIY MTM) and a subwoofer (DIY, 4th order isobarik bandpass). I'm planning to buy a power amp as soon as I sell audio equipments that I pulled out from my car. My question is this: is it alright to use this particular amp for a home theater setup? By the way, it is being powered by a regulated power supply (13.8 volts). Another question is out of ignorance. I've encountered "parafix amp" and "op amp", can you tell me what are these and what they do?

A The car amplifier should be fine. Its limitations are in the voltage area. Car amplifiers use low voltage and make up the difference by having high current that can be delivered to low impedance speakers. That is why they are rated into 4 Ohms and often into 2 Ohms. If your speakers are 8 Ohm impedance, you probably won't get a lot of volume, but nevertheless, the amplifier should be OK within those limitations.

I have not seen "parafix", but op amps are described in our glossary and definitions section, which we are in the process of revising.

Q Another question in the continuing confusion with 24/96. I understand that the Pioneer DV-05 will output a 24/96 signal via its digital output. If I were to play a Chesky or Classic Records 24/96 disc on this unit and compare the sound with say a Sony DVP-S7700 DVD player that downconverts the signal via the digital output, would the sound be appreciably different? If the analog outputs of the Sony DVD player were used (24/96) and sent through a processor such as the Sony TA-E9000ES (which digitizes the signal), would the sound be improved since it would be 24/96, or would the subsequent D/A (DVD) to A/D & D/A (processor) conversions detract from any benefits acquired from getting a 24/96 signal?

A What I have found is that 24/96 analog out from a DVD player sounds terrific. Noticeably better than regular CD. Of course, 24/96 is only available on DVD format, not CDs, and the DVD player I used does not have the dual lasers that the Sony does. For the comparison you mentioned, both would be using the DVD. I would say that the 24/96 digital would be better than the downconverted 20/48 digital, even with the Sony A/D followed by D/A.

Q I'm considering buying a Pioneer Elite 51" RPTV, with an aspect ratio of 16:10.7. Can you tell me if it has any pros/cons over the much more widely used 16:9 aspect ratio? I'll be using it primarily with DVDs, and eventually HDTV viewing.

A The Pioneer is a unique TV. That 16:10.7 is so interesting, we had them prepare an article about it some time ago. The way they get 16:10.7 is to minimize the overscan. So, with DVDs, or any TV image for that matter, you will get a little more picture along the sides. However, as to HDTV, make sure whatever TV you buy is HDTV-ready or an actual HDTV. Only a fraction of new TVs can do this.

Q How can I know if a CD player, receiver, power amplifier, etc. is high performance even if it is a mass market brand? You said that mass market brands have decent quality, and high end products have high performance quality. What about a new audio company that starts selling products, but you don't know about their history of quality? You mentioned that high end uses quality material like transformers, wires, circuits, connectors, etc. How can you tell if it's high end? Do you open it and look at the internal parts one by one when you audition?

A "High End" is more of a marketing term. "High Performance" is what we prefer to use because it is descriptive. Of course, both are just semantics and relative things (high performance compared to what?) In the past, high end basically meant expensive. Sort of like "Upscale". Another word for expensive, or meaning those consumers who have plenty of bucks to spend. There used to be a big chasm between the mass market products and the high performance items. Now, that has changed. The reason is that home theater requires five channels, which necessitates a substantial power supply. Another is that the mass market decoders and high performance ones use similar chips for many of the basic functions. The high performance units have finer quality capacitors, resistors, and usually, a much larger power supply. It's the power supply that is the cornerstone of high performance products, even in preamplifiers. An amplifier uses the input waveform as a stencil to make a higher voltage waveform replica, taking the juice in the power supply to make that higher voltage replica. If the power supply is noisy, the output has to be noisy too. Think of it like trying to make a cake. No matter how fancy the oven, if the sugar has ants in it, you are in trouble. Mass market design engineers are just as smart as anyone else, but they are limited by the price point of the product they are trying to design. Power supplies are the most expensive part of the product, so that is where you see the biggest difference. Nowadays, most of the mass market companies have a high performance product at the top end of their model line. It's expensive, usually around $2,500 for their top receiver. The power supply has a big part of that cost, but they often incorporate other components that imply high performance too, such as laser trimmed resistors, and other things. You get pretty much what you pay for, but the difference between the mass market mid-fi stuff and high performance products is probably only about 20% in sound quality improvement. However, every audiophile is willing to go into hock for that last 20%. In the meantime, don't worry about the designation. Just go and listen. Your brain will bypass all the marketing hype and tell you what to buy.

� Copyright 1999 Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
Return to Q&A Index.