AV RantAV Rant #504: In-walls and Near Field Speakers

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AV Rant #504: In-walls and Near Field Speakers

September 23rd, 2016 Tom

Our Listeners of the Week are Mahi and Robert for their donations. Thank you for supporting the podcast with your donations!

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In the news, Tony K. gave us the heads up about the Amazon 2nd Gen Echo Dot for $50. The Plex TV DVR Beta was updated and now works on the NVidia Shield TV. Antoine sent us word of the greatly expanded Monoprice Monolith Series Products lineup that now includes several amp models, speakers, and planar headphones. CEDIA brought announcements of the new Epson LS10500 laser projector, the Sony VPL-VW675ES HDR projector with HLG and installer-only UBP-X1000ES Ultra HD Blu-ray player, and a model number and $35,000 price tag for the JVC DLA-RS4500. And Nathan D. sent a link about the Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray player, which is strongly rumored to have the hardware necessary to support Dolby Vision on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. (EDIT UPDATE: Dolby Vision support confirmed!)

Infinite Gary suggests Guildford of Maine FR701 acoustically transparent fabric for wrapping subwoofers or DIY acoustic panels. And Michael R. solved his Kodi HTPC HD Audio bitstream output issues with the use of a mobile app for control.

Thomas tried to use our Plex HTPC HD Audio Tutorial, but came across some HDCP compliance and false chapter info on certain Blu-ray discs. Tony C. has good dual subwoofer placement, but wants to know how to get his bass sounding the way he wants it. Andrew N. wants our thoughts on near field speaker and subwoofer placement. And Scott H. wants to know if it’s a good idea to swap the Surround speakers from one setup for the Front Main speakers of a 2nd setup.

Gabe M. sent us Hanz Beekhuyzen’s take on high-res audio and MQA, and wants our take on his opinions. Holland W. either needs two very small subwoofers or one small but very powerful subwoofer, which gets Tom to recommend the Velodyne Digital Drive Plus and JL Audio Subwoofers. Justin B. reminds us to check EMP Tek B-Stock for deals and asks if stereo subwoofers ever make sense based on sound localization. And Robert G. gets our recommendation of the Aperion Audio Intimus I6 in-ceiling speakers to match his SVS Prime speakers for Atmos.

Mahi is building a new theater and asks some in-depth questions about soundproofing. Anonymous is also building a theater and asks about in-wall speaker options, such as: KEF, RBH Sound, and Focal; acoustically transparent screens, for which we recommend Seymour AV Center Stage UF; and professional installers, which leads us to mention: Erskine Group, Easy Living with Technology, The Screening Room AV, and our good friend Ray Coronado over at SocalHT. Kris I. wants some more details on Dolby Vision vs. HDR10 and what the forthcoming HDMI 2.1 spec might add. And PJ wants to know the PS3 settings for HD Audio output.

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