Happy Holidays! Tom is away, so Rob H. is joined by Lee Overstreet, and making his AV Rant debut, James Bujold from Rainy Lake Audio and Dynamic Technologies. Rob is a terrible host and somehow forgot to give Producer Austen all of his usual mentions! Honestly, we add one new face and Rob loses all competence. For shame. Sorry, Austen!

Our Listener of the Week is Vince H. who sprang for three Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2 speakers plus a Sierra Luna pre-order, as well as an Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray player and Marantz SR6011 from Accessories4Less. Vince let all of those companies know he heard about them on AV Rant.

We mourn the passing of Carrie Fisher (1956-2016). As per her wishes, let it be forever remembered that “Carrie Fisher drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra.” May the Force be with you, Princess. Always.

In the news, Antoine gave us the heads up about the Emotiva RMC-1 7.3.6 Atmos Pre-Pro being shown at CES 2017. And Samsung can’t wait to use the name “QLED”, so much so that they’re rebranding SUHD and will have to come up with another name when genuine QLED displays eventually come to market.

In Comments, Kris P. says the new Vudu app on Xbox One already supports Atmos bitstream audio output for members of the Insider Preview program. Jim W. discovered the joys of a seamless timbre match with his new BIC America speakers. Lee is angry at Comcast downscaling lots of channels to 720p in his area. And Sean F. has nearly completed his home theater build, and he shares a few tips about riser height and IR control.

Justin B. measured a dip in his frequency response, so we discuss potential causes and fixes. He’s also considering new speakers, such as: Ascend Acoustics Sierra Horizon RAAL, or Legacy Audio Studio HD bookshelf and Silverscreen HD Center. He also asks about pressurizing his room and potentially using three subs and Andy C.’s Multi-Sub Optimizer software. Then he asks about 4K and HDR content on computers and upconverting existing 1080p content. Finally, Justin asks about Manual Pull-Down projection screens, Motorized Roll-Down screens, L-Brackets for wall mounting, and lastly, LeEco’s 85-inch uMax TV.

Jim W. wants to upgrade his projector for $500. The Wirecutter Best Cheap Projector pick is ok, but we suggest the Epson HC2030 instead. Jim also asks about Denon’s less expensive S-Series Receivers. Rick G. has a large great room and wants to upgrade his subwoofers, but his budget is limited. We suggest the HSU VTF-3 Mk5 HP, but for lower prices, the Outlaw Audio Ultra-X12 or SVS PB-1000 could suffice. And Adriano has a friend who wants a simple 2-speaker setup. We talk about ways to connect all his sources and compare powered monitors to stand-alone Bluetooth speakers.

We spend some time getting to know our guest co-host James, who shares some advice from the perspective of a professional installer. And Lee goes into a few details about his quest to convert all of his old analogue media to digital. He suggests visiting The Digital FAQ and the HDML-Cloner Box Pro from cloner-alliance.

Infinite Gary wonders if the lack of Ultra HD Blu-ray titles available from Netflix’ disc-by-mail service signals doom for the format. Jonathan F. wanted to point and laugh at the RokBlok record player, which sure does remind us of the 35+ year-old VW Soundwagon. And Timothy B. read Mark Henninger’s “Why Quantum Dot HDR TVs are Great for Gaming” article, and it made him question his OLED advocacy.

Brian A. clarified what his front wall will look like in his great room, which doesn’t change our in-wall speaker recommendations, but it does get us to suggest the GoldenEar SuperCinema 3D Array and KEF HTF8003 Speaker Bar as potential alternatives. We also dish out some hard facts about single subwoofer placement. Pete G. gets our list of excellent subwoofers under $1,000, which include: HSU VTF-3 Mk5 HP, HSU VTF-15H Mk2 (when it’s on sale), and Power Sound Audio 15V for huge output and size; SVS PC-2000 Cylinder for small footprint; HSU ULS-15 Mk2 and Power Sound Audio 15S for high output sealed; and SVS SB-2000 and Rythmik F12 for smallest size. James (our guest co-host) hit us up for a list of projector resources, including: Visual Apex, Projector People, HT Market, B&H Photo, Projector Central, and Projector Reviews. And Jack H. gets our thoughts on what really makes a difference when it comes to music sound quality, and why we think he should spend his money on good recordings, good speakers, and good setup while pretty much ignoring everything else.

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

• Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
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