Home > Podcast > AV Rant #406: DIY Speakers Win Rocky Mountain

AV Rant #406: DIY Speakers Win Rocky Mountain

October 22nd, 2014

Special thanks to our listeners of the week Roland K., Cameron K., and Frederick R. Your donations help keep the podcast going! Thanks guys! This week, HSU put out 2 new subwoofers (LINK and LINK), Auro-3D comes to Denon and Marantz (LINK), Jason wants Tom to know there are Pacific Rim sequels on the way (LINK), Rob is excited about the new Mac Mini (LINK), and there is evidence that cable a la carte is on the way (LINK and LINK). Ray let us know that we butchered Dennis Erskine’s name last week and Aussie Gary joined our Hangout After Party last week and suggests checking out Samuel Barber’s “Agnus Dei, Op. 11”, Music and Monarchy by David Starkey (LINK), or The Tudors for the music. Aussie Gary also thought there might be something in a pre-fab room-within-a-room a la these portable “Office Pods” he found online (LINK). Gabe visited the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (LINK) and reports that the LXmini from Linkwitz Lab (LINK) stole the show. This DIY speaker solution costs about $400/pair and requires a bit of wood and PVC pipe to construct. Check out the details here and here. Tim is looking for the best bang-for-buck in projectors where the “diminishing returns” start to kick in, needs subwoofer placement advice, and clarifies his speaker needs. Jeff wants to use his Ultimate Ears UE Boom Bluetooth speakers with his receiver and wants to know how (LINK), Michael got his new sub and is loving it but has a crossover question and two-channel stereo issue, and John wants our opinion on the $130 Dayton Audio Sub-1200 subwoofer (LINK and LINK). Lior fixes his Onkyo by adding fans (LINK) but has a pushed-in tweeter that needs fixing (LINK and LINK for the drop-in replacement). Lastly Cameron asks about what to look for in a receiver’s specs to know that it can pass full 18Gbps 4k over HDMI plus he needs a 3.5mm cable and wants to know if he needs to spend money on a more expensive one while Kris has a new 4K display and wants to know what settings to use with his Oppo BDP-103. Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

 

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  1. Rob H
    October 29th, 2014 at 08:58 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    Denon and Marantz announced that they will be selling a firmware update to their Atmos-capable AV Receivers and Pre/Pro to add Auro-3D Audio format support:

    http://www.audioholics.com/av-receiver-reviews/denon-marantz-auro-3d-sr7009-av7702-avr-x5200w-x4100w

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    HSU Research has introduced a couple of new 15” subwoofers:

    VTF-3 MK5 HP: http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-3mk5HP.html

    VTF-15H MK2: http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-15hmk2.html

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    Apple’s got updated iPad, iMac, and Mac Mini models:

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/16/6989443/apple-ipad-mac-event-8-most-important-things

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    HBO Go will be available as a standalone service in the not too distant future:

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/15/6982049/hbo-go-will-offer-standalone-subscription-2015

    ————————————-

    CBS has decided that they don’t need cable, either. $5.99/month gets you access to a back catalogue and live streaming, but no NFL access:

    http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/16/6987543/cbs-all-access-streaming-service-no-cable-required-launches

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    AV Rant Listener Gary —

    had several recommendations for us to check out. Make sure you listen to episode #406 to hear them all. In terms of links:

    David Starkey’s “Music and Monarchy” looks like a really interesting documentary: http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=23765886

    and we kind of like the idea of taking something like these “Office Pods” and creating fully designed “Home Theater Pods” that you could assemble in your home to truly create a room within a room:

    http://www.officepod.co.uk/gallery/

    ————————————-

    AV Rant Listener Gabe —

    visited the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival and came back to rave about the Linkwitz Lab LXmini speaker kits:

    http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LXmini/Introduction.htm

    http://www.linkwitzlab.com/LXmini/Construction.htm

    http://www.stereophile.com/content/rmaf-2014-reichert-sunday

    ————————————-

    AV Rant Listener Tim A. —

    wanted a few more front projector recommendations that max out the ratio of price to performance.

    Rob put the Sony VPL-HW40ES and BenQ W7500 at the very top of that list:

    http://store.sony.com/economical-full-hd-home-theater-es-projector-with-reality-creation-3d-zid27-VPLHW40ES/cat-27-catid-all-tv-home-theater-projectors?_t=pfm%3Dcategory

    http://www.benq.us/product/projector/W7500

    —————————————-

    AV Rant Listener John M. —

    was curious about a suspiciously good looking measurement posted on a forum for the Dayton Audio SUB-1200 subwoofer:

    http://www.avsforum.com/forum/113-subwoofers-bass-transducers/1386049-dayton-audio-sub-1200-a-3.html#post24494203

    Rob mentioned seeing a pretty good review of the SUB-1200, which you can read here:

    http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/speaker-subwoofer-reviews/71766-dayton-audio-sub-1200-subwoofer-review.html

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