This week, we thank Andrew, Tyler, Mark, Ben, Justin, and Richard! Thanks so much for your donations, gentlemen! In the news, Tom found awesome NASA poster images that would make excellent printed acoustic panels. HTC’s Vive Virtual Reality system will cost $799 and ship in April. Scott Wilkinson posted an HDR-capable TV chart on AVS Forum. And Yamaha’s DTS:X firmware is coming in early March.

Tom K. commented on Disney World’s villas that include surround sound, but all the speakers are in the ceiling. And if you check the Visitor Posts on the AV Rant Facebook Page, you can see part of Joseph P.’s conversation with Synergistic Research who really don’t seem to like having their ridiculous marketing claims questioned.

Andrew S. is building a basement theater. We weigh in on seating distance, Atmos speaker placement, Surround speaker height and alignment, matching subwoofers, Silver Ticket’s 120-inch screen, projector options such as the BenQ HT4050, Epson HC 3500, and Epson HC 5030UB, and soundproofing concerns. Dan B. has a large, non-rectangular basement theater and entertainment room, and he’s looking for advice on dual subwoofer choices and placement, as well as putting up drapes. Dan B. also wants to know how to prevent his TV from controlling his AV Receiver because of HDMI-CEC. We suggest an optical cable.

Robert F. has some more DVD-Audio player settings issues. Byron S. wants to know if we agree with Audioholics’ DTS:X evaluation results. And Tyler H. convinced his wife that a cylinder sub is more attractive than cutting open their ceiling!

Tim K. has a long basement room and wants our thoughts on speaker and subwoofer choices. He’d also like to know how Andrew Jones’ ELAC speakers stack up to his Pioneer speakers. Kris I. wants to know if it’s worth spending $2,000 right now on a projector or if it would be better to wait for new 4K models. And Toby H. shared a video by Brian Dunning on Vinyl vs. CD audio.

Dev B. has crossover and Y-splitter questions. Brad L. needs a very short throw projector and some clarification about lens offset and lens shift range. And Justin C. really wants in-wall Surround speakers, but he’d like them to match his Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2 Front speakers as best as possible. We suggest Ascend Acoustics’ Sierra Sat on-wall, RBH’s MC-6, Focal’s Chorus IW 706, Revel’s in-wall models, and possibly KEF’s in-wall speakers, none of which are cheap, which leaves Aperion Audio’s Intimus L6-IW as the “affordable” choice.

James B. shared details on the Spherovox Corner Folded Horn subwoofer. Justin B. wants to know when Emotiva’s new Passive Airmotiv speakers will start shipping and whether he’ll need to match his Surrounds if he gets them. He’s also interested in “different”-sounding speakers, so we suggest: Magnepan, Klipsch, KEF, GoldenEar Technology, B&W, Bang & Olufsen, Martin Logan and Polk’s LSi Series. Infinite Gary shared details on Harman and ARUP’s $15-million Virginia Tech audio test lab called “The Cube”. Gary also asks if soft dome tweeters inherently break up below 20 kHz. And lastly, Leighton is interested in the Sennheiser Urbanite XL headphones, but we’d lean towards the Sennheiser Momentum, PSB M4U, or V-Moda headphones.

Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

• Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
• Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
• If you like it, you can purchase the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
• Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
• Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Liked it? Take a second to support AV Rant on Patreon!