AV Rant #880: Tom’s Troll Theater
MQA Ltd has been bought by the parent company of NAD, PSB & Bluesound. Amazon Prime Video will start inserting ads unless you pay extra. LG is ditching built-in ATSC 3.0 Nextgen TV tuners. And we make our cost-no-object audio & video gear picks.
Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAWd8a
00:00:00 – Intro
00:12:12 – What We Watched
Rob finished Star Wars Rebels, and caught up with Ahsoka (aka Rebels S.5) so far. Tom is also watching Rebels.
00:21:36 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are our 134 Patreon Patrons, as well as Rohan for giving Tom permission to use his photos on https://avgadgets.com/
We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Rohan, Mark, and Dan. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!
In the news:
00:27:51 – News: MQA Bought by NAD/PSB
Lenbrook Crop, parent company of NAD, PSB & Bluesound, has purchased MQA Ltd: https://tinyurl.com/44y7akp6
00:30:40 – News: Amazon Prime Video Getting Ads
Prime Video will start interrupting shows and movies with ads in 2024 unless you pay extra: https://tinyurl.com/y9c8x2tt
00:34:07 – News: LG Ditches Nextgen TV Tuners
None of LG’s TVs will have built-in ATSC 3.0 tuners in 2024: https://tinyurl.com/dxruy32r
Comments:
00:38:23 – Comment: Mark – Silence Phone in Car
A suggestion that silencing your phone when it’s connected to your car’s Bluetooth might prevent unwanted volume changes.
QUESTIONS:
00:39:44 – Jim – Revisiting Subwoofer Phase
We talk more about physically rotating one subwoofer vs another, why that can change the phase relationship, and why it isn’t intuitive.
– https://avgadgets.com/do-you-need-to-time-align-your-subwoofers-for-home-theater/
00:55:11 – Rohan: Listening Mode Command
Our suggestions seem to have helped solve his audio drop-outs. But what should he do about setting his Harmony Activities to always select his desired Listening Mode?
01:03:45 – Lance: Amp Fatigue, 2.0 Speakers & LG OLED Dimming
A new amp is causing ear fatigue. Why? And how to fix it. Why is it commonly recommended to not use subwoofers for music listening? And why is his LG OLED dimming too much?
– OSD Nero XA5180: https://tinyurl.com/b34ecn6p
– https://avgadgets.com/what-causes-listener-fatigue/
– https://avgadgets.com/everything-wrong-with-dolby-speaker-layout-diagrams/
– https://avgadgets.com/qotd-do-i-crossover-tower-speakers/
– We Explain LG OLED Dimming Due to TPC & GSR: https://youtu.be/mROm3nuo3pI&t=3112
– Fixing LG OLED Dimming: https://tinyurl.com/4mvtc43v
01:22:54 – Infinite Gary: Calibrated OLED Doesn’t Look Like Real Life
His professionally calibrated OLED looks terrific for movies. But live sports don’t look like real life. Why?
01:27:20 – Michael: New Room, New Subs?
Now that he’ll finally have an enclosed room, does he get new subs? Which ones? Does he keep his HSU? And does he go big OLED, or even bigger LCD?
– Our Pick for Michael – add one SVS PC-2000 Pro Cylinder: https://tinyurl.com/8k7nw9yb
– Smallest, won’t quite hit Reference at 20Hz – Dual SVS SB-2000 Pro: https://tinyurl.com/4t8xhfxz
– Home (-6 dB) Reference – Dual SVS SB-3000: https://tinyurl.com/2xac8a5c
– Budget Pick – RSL SpeedWoofer 10S MKII: https://tinyurl.com/5n869kvc
– Cinema Reference Minimum – Monolith M-10 V2: https://tinyurl.com/ydayvpkm
– Or – SVS PB-1000 Pro: https://tinyurl.com/3a957vv9
– Full Cinema Reference Picks – RSL SpeedWoofer 12S: https://tinyurl.com/5n7shs3e
– Monolith M-12 V2: https://tinyurl.com/57abe89r
– SVS PB-2000 Pro: https://tinyurl.com/yc4yry39
– https://avgadgets.com/three-myths-about-ported-and-sealed-subwoofers/
– TCL QM8: https://tinyurl.com/576x6y88
– Hisense U8K: https://tinyurl.com/ufezrz6f
– Sony X90L: https://tinyurl.com/2w5e54j9
01:43:31 – Tony: 2-ch Amp Expansion
Amp suggestions to expand to 7.2.4, and exactly how to hook it up.
– Fosi TDA7498E: https://tinyurl.com/2uhv6cty
– AudioSource AMP100: https://tinyurl.com/yvj2pmd5
– Monolith M2100X: https://tinyurl.com/mr355wmc
01:52:04 – Dan: Our Cost-No-Object Gear Picks
If we had a limitless budget, here’s what we’d buy:
Speakers:
– RBH Signature Reference: https://tinyurl.com/5ajpdzm5
– PerListen S-Series: https://tinyurl.com/56976tcu
– Martin Logan Neolith: https://tinyurl.com/mkkf725s
– Ascend Sierra RAAL: https://tinyurl.com/mt2evjee
– KEF R-Series Meta: https://tinyurl.com/ye2yyvph
Subs:
– SVS PC-4000: https://tinyurl.com/22jc9c3d
– JTR Captivator 4000 ULF: https://tinyurl.com/2z6pc49a
AVR & Pre-Pro:
– Trinnov Altitude32: https://tinyurl.com/4khrzmkb
– Denon AVR-A1H: https://tinyurl.com/3tt2jdav
Amps:
– ATI Signature: https://tinyurl.com/4uv4dn8h
Cables & Wires:
– Pixelgen THX HDMI: https://tinyurl.com/2uhwxfed
– http://www.bluejeanscable.com/
Power Protection:
– SurgeX: https://tinyurl.com/3acyt3kn
Control:
– Crestron: https://tinyurl.com/bddzj48n
Displays:
– 97″ LG OLED: https://tinyurl.com/3a2wsx3u
– Samsung The Wall: https://tinyurl.com/7sntewhb
– 77″ LG G3 MLA OLED: https://tinyurl.com/mjz4c8uj
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