AV RantAV Rant #538: A Coat for Every Seat

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AV Rant #538: A Coat for Every Seat

May 12th, 2017 Tom

Our Listeners of the Week are Brandon and Tyrone for their donations, as well as James C. and Tara B. for telling Outdoor Speaker Depot and Accessories4Less that their purchases were thanks to our recommendations.

In the news, Nick B. let us know that the Rythmik FV18 subwoofer and Outlaw Audio Ultra-X13 THX Ultra Certified subwoofer have both started shipping. And two more Dolby Vision Ultra HD Blu-ray titles were announced.

Karl R. and Joshua M. shared articles about the growing use of IMAX cameras and formatting for blockbuster films and THX certifying Cinemark XD theaters. Josh S. details his friend’s insanely loud theater, including a short video demo. And Josh Z. pointed out that Dolby Atmos test tones up to 9.1.6 can now be downloaded from their website.

Earle B. asks if there’s an industry standard for grading Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, and wonders if he should adjust his Oppo UDP-205 player on a disc by disc basis. David B. has a basement theater with a permanent opening, and he asks about subwoofer options. And Roberto C. discovered a tweeter pushed in by one of his kids, so he asks if it’s worth repairing, and we mention Emotiva, SVS, NHT, and KEF as options with at least partially covered tweeters.

Russell L. gets some clarification about the pre-out settings on his AV Receiver. Jonathan F. asks about some confusing descriptions of the HSU CCB-8 speakers and how they ought to be positioned in a room. And he also asks about etiquette when overhearing a sales pitch.

Jonathan S. is building a theater with a six foot opening, so we discuss door options and bass pressurization. Mark O. is warming up to his RBH Impression Series Towers, but still wants to know why they produced some distortion when sent a full range signal. And P.J. asks about laying subwoofers on their sides, and what would pair nicely with his SVS PB-1000.

John M. shared a SMPTE presentation on Cinema Audio Standards, and he asks if the guidelines are applicable to home theater. Alvin C. upgraded his AV Receiver, and he asks about Surround and Surround Back speaker placement, Front Height speakers, subwoofer phase setup, and acoustic treatment ideas. And Bob S. wonders if there’s a way to make the various services and apps on his NVidia Shield all output audio at the same volume.

Bill C. gets our recommendation for a Logitech Harmony Hub based remote, and we also mention Control4as a more advanced and expensive option. Tate L. has ambient light and seats off axis to the left and right of his display, so an older LG 65EF9500 OLED TV might be a slightly more affordable option. And Nick B. gets some clarification and offers some suggestions for adjusting the phase of dual subwoofers, which reminds us to mention AudioCheck.net for bass sweeps with Markers.

Daniel M. gets our suggestion for an NVidia Shield Pro to make sure he has an IR receiver for use with a Harmony Remote. John B. needs a powerful subwoofer for under $1,000, so we suggest the Power Sound Audio 15V. And Tom K. gets our speculation on why some of his HDMI inputs on his AV Receiver worked with HD audio bitstreams while others did not.

John W. asks if he should buy a bigger TV, and if so, how big. Monty N. asks whether he should be concerned about the upcoming HDMI 2.1 specification. And Scott R. gets our advice to take advantage of the free two-way shipping offered by SVS and Aperion Audio, as well as auditioning as many speakers from local stores as possible.

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