I have to admit… I laughed really really hard about the viking comment. I actually had to pull over the car. Nicely done!

Tom,

I am a software engineer, and I must say, your comment about engineers, geeks, and wookies toward the end of the podcast made me laugh so hard; I listened to it probably 5 times yesterday and shared it with the other engineers in my office. BECAUSE IT IS TRUE!

There must be something about those that design the products we use everyday that make them indecipherable to normal geeks, and that require us to have Han Solos who speak our Wookie language to translate. I sense some Han Solo in you, sir.

Have a great weekend!

-sheep

Hey, that shirt colour looks really good on Dina 🙂

You can sort of “trick” your system to adjust subwoofer phase. As Tom said, most subwoofers only offer a 0/180 degree phase switch. But most receivers allow you to set the “distance” of your subwoofer. Essentially, the “distance” setting is just a delay. So you can fiddle with the “distance” setting in order to adjust the phase of the subwoofer.

Obviously though, that only works for one subwoofer. But quite a few receivers are offering “.2” or “.3” subwoofer outputs now, so if you can independently adjust the “distance” of both subs, you can essentially create a variable phase adjustment for both subs 🙂

I can give my opinion of the Pioneer Kuro plasmas vs. the Panasonic V10 plasmas:

The “Elite” Kuro HDTV models (PRO-111FD, PRO-151FD), Signature Elite Kuro Monitor models (PRO-101FD, PRO-141FD) and Pioneer Monitor models (KRP-500M, KRP-600M) all have essentially the exact same picture quality. And in every way, they are the best picture quality available today.

The black levels are unmatched. The contrast is unmatched. The colours are accurate. The gamma is accurate. The video processing is top notch. There is a 72Hz mode for judder-less 1080p/24 playback. The screen surface is the best anti-reflective glass screen out there. And black levels are retained quite well, even in bright lighting.

If you are looking for a 50″ or 60″ flat panel display, you cannot do any better – image quality wise – than the Elite, Signature Elite and Pioneer Monitor Kuro plasmas.

A quick note: the Signature Elite Monitors and Pioneer Monitor models are monitors only. That means that they do not come with speakers. They do not come with a table-top stand. And they do not have internal ATSC/NTSC tuners. So you will need separate speakers. You’ll need to buy a stand or a wall-mount separately. And you’ll need to have an outboard tuner (cable/satellite box or a digital converter box) in order to watch TV. The Elite HDTV models are full HDTVs and include speakers, a stand and tuners.

Now, the Panasonic V10 plasmas and the regular Pioneer Kuro HDTV models (PDP-5020FD, PDP-6020FD) are a step down from all the Kuro models above. But the V10 and Pioneer HDTVs are still really good.

The Pioneer PDP-5020FD and PDP-6020FD do not have as accurate colour reproduction as the higher-end Kuros. And the screen filter is not quite as good, so black levels are a tiny bit lighter and the image doesn’t look quite as good in bright lighting.

The Panasonic V10 plasmas aren’t quite as black as any of the Kuro plasmas – but the shade of black is still very deep and looks excellent. Colour accuracy on the V10s is excellent. The 96Hz mode is great for judder-less 1080p/24 playback. Where the difference between the Elite Kuros and the V10 is most obvious is in a well-lit room. The V10 does not retain its black levels too well in bright lighting. The image washes out and black looks rather grey. The screen is also not as anti-reflective.

Bottom line, if you can make do without included speakers/stand/tuners, the Pioneer KRP-500M/KRP-600M are the best deal out there. Their picture quality is simply the best out there right now and the prices are highly competitive on those specific models.

The Signature Elite PRO-101FD/PRO-141FD give basically identical performance, but they cost more.

The Elite PRO-111FD/PRO-151FD also give basically identical performance, but cost more still (although you do get speakers/stand/tuners)

There’s no real reason to go for the regular Pioneer PDP-5020FD/PDP-6020FD considering that the KRP models are less expensive. Unless, of course, you really need to have the speakers/stand/tuners.

The Panasonic V10 models basically pick up the mantle. In a dim/dark room, they are extremely close to Elite Kuro performance. But in a well-lit/bright room, they definitely do not look as good as any Kuro.

Hooray for acoustic treatments!

I have my GIK Room Kit on the way! I voted “lots of purchased treatments” because my room size is only 14′ x 12′ x 7.5′. I’m going to have four 244 bass trap panels – one in each corner; a “Monster” 246 bass trap directly behind the primary seat using a GIK wooden panel-stand; three 242 panels on the front wall; one 242 panel on each side wall at the 1st reflection point; and one 242 panel on the ceiling at the 1st reflection point.

So 11 panels in all, which isn’t a huge number. But for such a small room, it’s quite a bit 😀

Voted nothing but the furniture but I’m looking heavily into trying some DIY stuff.

About volume control regulation… I thought one of the bigger selling points of the technology was the volume differential in movies between action sequences and lower volume dialouge scenes. That was really the only reason I ever wanted it (and still thinking about updating it with the denon software update).

Tom, glad you spent some time on the speaker phase question but also wanted to know what 90* and 270* phasing and how that is achieved. I understand in phase and out of phase but what’s the deal with the other two… is that “partially” out of phase? I’m screw with the phasing on my two big velodyne’s and fortunately won’t have to involve the wife since they both have remotes to change the phase with.

Leif – imagine “phase” as though the path of the subwoofer driver is a “round trip”. In other words, let’s imagine that the subwoofer cone starts as far “into” the subwoofer cabinet as possible – it’s pulled all the way back. So let’s call that “0 degrees”.

Now, the subwoofer cone starts to travel outwards. when it reaches the “mid-way” point of its excursion, that would be the “90 degree” point. The cone continues to move outward until it is as far out as it can go – that would be the “180 degree” point.

Now the cone starts to come back in. At the “mid-way” point again, it would be the “270 degree” point. And as it returns to being as far “into” the cabinet as possible, it is at “360 degrees” or back to “0 degrees”.

So that’s a “round trip” of the subwoofer cone. A 360 degree “journey” 🙂

So if one subwoofer is “90 degrees out of phase” with a second subwoofer, all that means is that when the 1st subwoofer is at the “0 degree” position, the second subwoofer is already “mid-way” out at the “90 degrees” position.

If a subwoofer is “270 degrees” out of phase, it means that the 1st subwoofer is just starting to move from the “0 degrees position” while the 2nd subwoofer has already gone all the way out as far as it can go and is now “mid-way” back on its “journey”.

Make sense?

Your comment about the Dolby volume and the SRS equivalent seems a bit too simplified. I am not advocating for it or anything, but I think it is supposed to also do things like enhance surround sounds at low volumes. This might be a good feature for those who can’t just crank up their “wall o subs”. A fair number of movies have a pretty broad dynamic range in themselves.

Also, how stupid is it that commercials are so loud? Like I am going to listen to them because of it? Sometimes I might just let them play through if I am multitasking, but when they come blaring on, I can’t wait to get them off.