AV Rant #580: That Escalated Quickly
Our Listeners of the Week are Miguel, Jason, Alex, and Robert for their donations, our 53 Patreon Patrons, as well as Randy E. for letting Accessories4Less know his Denon HEOS speaker purchase was thanks to us, Jack R. for encouraging everyone to update their forum post signatures to include a link to AVRant like he did, and Neil F. for letting SVS know we’re the reason he bought an SB12-NSD subwoofer. Thanks once again to Lee Overstreet for being our guest co-host last week. And huge thanks once again to everyone who subscribed to our AV Rant Podcast YouTube channel and allowing us to remain in the YouTube Partnership Program by getting us to over 1,000 subscribers!
In the news, Samsung is rumored to be working on QD-OLED TVs that would use an all-blue OLED panel with red and green quantum dots to create a fully self-emissive display. And Samsung has said they will start selling “The Wall” – their 146-inch, modular, micro-LED display – in August, while LG is now rumored to have a micro-LED display of their own that they’ll announce in September.
Jeb B. installed a bunch of our recommended products, and now he only gets mad when he goes out, and the movie theater’s sound isn’t nearly as good as his home system. And Jim B. found help in an AVS Forum FAQ when his Denon AVR-X3300W stopped outputting video via HDMI.
0:20:23 Mark H. rearranged his theater to give him space for Surround Back speakers, which he’s enjoying. He asks, if he upgrades to an Atmos/DTS:X Receiver, but does not install any overhead speakers, will immersive audio soundtracks sound any different from the 7.1-channel versions, and will the immersive upmixers sound any different than Dolby Pro Logic IIx? Also, Mark’s theater is in an addition that seems to have been constructed on the cheap. We discuss what he can do to improve his soundproofing, and his door in particular, without resorting to major renovation.
0:33:40 Chris H. gets confirmation that the Monoprice 9723 subwoofer plays much lower than the 50Hz listed on its spec sheet, and we explain why we think he should spend a little bit extra to get either a Yamaha RX-V383 or a Denon AVR-S720W as an entry-level Receiver.
0:38:59 Tyson W. is very happy with the HSU speakers and subwoofer we recommended for his living room, so he wants to use HSU speakers in his dedicated theater behind an acoustically transparent screen. We discuss his speaker options, and go over placement and spacing for ported speakers behind a false wall.
0:46:13 Randy E. wants new subwoofers for his 3,500 cubic foot room, so we recommend SVS PC-2000 cylinders, Outlaw Audio Ultra-X12, or Power Sound Audio 15V to give him options for either a small footprint, or something he could use as end tables on either side of his couch.
0:51:46 Neil F. replaced his compact speaker package subwoofer with an SVS SB12-NSD. He only cares about one seat, and the compact sub only plays down to 37Hz, so he asks if he should try to pair them up as duals, or stick to using only the SB12-NSD.
0:54:20 Jay W. found an SVS SB13-Ultra subwoofer on clearance. He wants to know if the newer SB-4000 is worth $500 more, and whether he should still audition the HSU ULS-15 Mk.2 we originally recommended to him.
0:58:07 Jason H. wants to expand to Atmos, but he isn’t sure if he should install Front and Rear Height, or Top Front and Top Rear speakers, so we go over the elevation angles and explain the max and min recommended distances from his seat.
1:02:06 Jay C. is moving his theater setup to a smaller space, and he wants compact, on-wall speakers. We like the KEF T-Series. Focal Little Birds, or NHT SuperZeros for this application, and we also want him to spend a bit extra to get an RSL Speedwoofer 10S subwoofer. We discuss crossover settings for small speakers. And we recommend a Denon AVR-X1400H, AVR-X3300W, or AVR-X4300H Receiver depending on how much he’s willing to spend.
1:13:25 Jake M. got his first taste of high quality audio, and now he wants to convert his garage into a dedicated theater. He’s excited about all the equipment he’d like to buy, but we attempt to slow his roll and get him to focus his present time (and money) on the construction of the room itself. With HVAC, insulation, thermal breaks, soundproofing, the garage door, and other construction factors being big concerns, we keep an eye on his eventual theater configuration, but we want the room to be the priority.
1:33:52 Karl R. wants to put a 24-inch HDR TV in a camper trailer, so we recommend a Dell S2419HM computer monitor, or keeping an eye on the growing list of DisplayHDR certified products.
1:37:32 Infinite Gary has seen some audio amplifiers whose spec sheets claim an exact doubling of Wattage into 4 Ohms vs. 8 Ohms, while most show less than an exact doubling, so he wants to know why.
1:40:13 Dave was impressed by Yamaha Active Servo subwoofers, so he wants our thoughts on them.
1:43:38 Nathan D. has spotted “Dolby Atmos 7.1.4” listed on the backs of some Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray packages, and he wants to know if the soundtracks are limited to 7.1.4-only, or if a larger speaker configuration, all the way up to 24.1.10, can still make use of all the extra speakers.
1:46:26 Nick B. wants a very large field of view, a motorized, acoustically transparent screen, and a full 30 Foot-lamberts from his projector at a fairly close seating distance, so we recommend the EluneVision Reference Studio Audioweave 4K Tab-Tensioned screen, as well as double checking his math for light output, screen size, and screen gain.
1:50:37 Marc N. has heard us using the initials “DSP” and “DAC”, and he’d like to know more than his own searches have turned up, so we offer our explanations, and recommend the book Understanding Digital Signal Processing, and the intro to digital audio videos from Xiph.org.
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