Split Differenical

Any of you guys running AV in the same room as 2 channel are compromising your 2 ch setup.

It's because you extra speakers act as helmholtz resonators when in 2 ch mode.

OTOH, some of you may need a bit of help from the resonators to tame any 'room boom' you might have ...

reg

 

As you know, I have a "proper" AV system...

I listen to music mostly, Mezzo, DVDs and CDs, all in surround mode, DPLII for stereo sources... :MILD:

 

I press "AV" on the remote control - the relevant Cyrus boxes switch on: Pre X, 2 aPA7's, AV8 processor. Pre X automatically selects AV input, and calibrates its volume to around 1 o'clock.
I manually switch on the 2 Cyrus powers for centre and rears, and the TV, then press play on the dvd. TV switches to correct a/v input.
Press eject, pop in the dvd, press play, and settle in the chair. :MILD:

 

That's not fair reg, you stole Paul Ranson's line

I think the general shape of my room, position of sofas, windows etc has perhaps a teensy bit more influence on the sound than any Helmholtz resonance from my other speakers

Michael.

 

I used to have my AV amp linked to the stereo amp for the front channels.
As I use a programmable RC, was just a single click to switch all the AV kit on, select AV on the stereo amp etc etc.

It was only once I'd proved to myself the implications of having a 32" widescreen TV sat between my stereo speakers that things have changed.

I now have both systems in the same room, but disconnected from each other. The stereo system is on a wall perpendicular to the AV kit, nicely avoiding the implications of the TV.
The strange thing is that I've gone from using £5ks worth of front stereo amp/speakers to more like £200, and have lost the rears entirely, yet frankly I can't say I really care about the downgrade to the AV side of things. To me that suggests that the visuals are the most important aspects, which is why the TV will be replaced (for movies) with a Projector in the nearish future.

 

Marantz SR7200 preouts to AV inputs on Arcam A75 and P75 biamped to B&W CDM1nt's on the front. Other B&W all round for AV.

One press of the remote switches to av mode which fixes the gain on the A75 and so intergrates perfectly with the Marantz.

CD, DAC, MD, MP3 all into the Arcam for stereo only duty.
DVD, SACD, DVD-A and radio (because its an AV receiver) into the Marantz for surround duty.

Sounds bloody marvelous. No hassle of pressing switches or swapping cable. No compromise in sound.
Loving it!

 

2 channel only at the moment here, although I do listen to TV and DVDs (using stereo DAC) through my HiFi. I can so rarely be bothered to rent DVDs that I can't see myself going down the multichannel route in the near future, I'd rather spend any cash on getting the music right...

 

Stereo preouts on my Marantz 5200 to my Primare. Select AV and turn up to "55" (no 12 O'Clock on digital volume control!). Everything on my universal remote. (Oh, BTW, matching MA Silver 10i centre speaker and some Mission 733i for the rears )
(Oh yeah, and 36" telly!)

Liam.

 

Anyone running 2-channel in a room without acoustic treatment isn't getting the best from their investment either!

cheers,
Rob.

 

Well, until last December I did have a full-on 5.1 setup - ATC Active 10s for front, centre, and right channels, pair of Mission 77DS for surrounds, ATC Concept 4 sub. The front L and R were plugged into an ATC CA-2 stereo preamp (with Meridian 507 CD player). This was jacked into a Yammy E800 (pretty popular piece of kit, it seems) which took care of surround processing & amplification for the surrounds. Sounded pretty damn good in both music and movies, and not compromised in either.

Then I heard the Active 20s. :MILD:

Hifi has always come first for me so I traded in all my Active 10s and the sub in order to be able to afford a single pair of Active 20s. I now have the same pure stereo system (except with the 20s of course), but my AV system has been somewhat thinned out - 4.0 surround rather than 5.1...

The 20s are so much better than the 10s with music that I wouldn't care if I'd done away with my AV rig altogether... But that said the single pair of Active 20s does a surprisingly good job of producing a front soundstage (at least, for whoever's in the sweet spot - usually me of course! ), and I really don't miss the centre. They even produce enough bass that I don't really miss the sub that much...

Eventually I'll get myself another Active 20 and a nice meaty American sub and flesh out the AV system, but that'll be a while away for financial reasons. Nae bother, though - I'm happy with my system as it is. (I think some acoustic treatment will come first.)

Dunc

P.S. - I use a Sanyo Z1 projector for the V part of 'AV' and it's brilliant! Anyone not sold on the idea of using projectors for films needs to see a decent one in action ASAP! Prices have gotten really reasonable, and the latest crop of budget offerings have really reached the point of being essentially flawless.
P.P.S. - There have been LOADS of great movies out in the past few years. DOZENS. The movie industry is much like the music industry though: you have to look a little beyond the Top 40 to find the really good stuff - and there's loads of it! Actually, there's been quite a few really good mainstream movies recently too... AFAIC these are good days for film fans. :beer:

 

DOZENS is LOADS over a FEW YEARS?

I cant agree with that. Its rare that I want to see a film more than once, unlike an album which I want to listen to repeatedly.

For me at least, dozens of films over years would last me.... a couple of weeks? at a rate of one movie a night.

A bit naff really! IMHO

 

I dont buy movies, only music, movies I watch on cable, very good quality too, and rent once in a while... :MILD:

 

If you think about the time and resources it takes to make a film, I think a few dozen good movies in a few years is great - say 30 to 40 great films in three years. That'll do me thanks!

Dunc

P.S. - By "good" movies I don't mean "watchable" I mean REALLY good. There have been an awful lot of entertaining but not fantastic movies.

 

Last time I bought a DVD, erm must have been about 6 months ago I guess - it was a music DVD. Last time before that, about the beginning of last year!

Well, I started off in a/v by getting an integrated a/v amp, a Yamaha DSP-A1 and using it to drive the centre and rear channels only. Used the front pre-outs to go into the pre-amp in my main system at the time (Pass Pabs Aleph P which happens to be up for sale BTW ), and which was driving a pair of active ATC 50's. Rear and centre speakers were KEF reference series, although the dipole surrounds weren't bad for movies it was a bit hit and miss for some music (DVDs). The slight tonal balance mismatch between the KEF centre and ATCs was noticeable at times though.

Anyway, the ATC/Yamaha/KEF set-up was at the old place. When I moved house a few years ago the a/v and hi-fi got split up. The hi-fi being in one room and the a/v being in another with the Yamaha driving all 5 channels. I was finding I was using the a/v system less and less so decided to sell the a/v amp and surround speakers in order to fund more expenditure on the music/audio only system . More recently, the stereo amplification that was being used to provide mainly stereo TV sound and the occassional DVD viewing (in stereo) went too.

Just last week, the CD transport that was in the main system also got sold, so currently I'm using the Pioneer DVD/LD combi player from the what was left of the a/v set-up as the CD transport in my main system, until a replacement CDP is sourced. Bearing in mind that the TV isn't in the same room as the main hi-fi and that I haven't needed to move the DVD player between rooms so far...

 

SO...