Our Listeners of the Week are Nate, Daniel, and David for their donations, our 30 Patreon Patrons, including Kyle G. who let us know he’s one of them, and James C., Josh A., and David F. for mentioning us to SVS, Accessories4Less, and HTMarket, respectively.

We’ve posted our interview with Charlie Jones from SurgeX in which we discuss all things power protection. And we have scheduled our interview with Brent Butterworth for Thursday, Nov. 9, so send any questions you have for Brent to Question@AVRant.com.

In the news, we’ve made the decision to no longer make individual YouTube videos for each question. With our limited time, we want Producer Austen to prioritize helping Rob with the Topic List each week instead. Hisense is launching their 100 L8D 100-inch “Laser TV” that’s actually an ultra short-throw DLP projector with built-in speakers and an ambient light rejecting screen for $10,000. And Dunkirk releases on disc on Dec. 19 with switching aspect ratios and no immersive audio, just as Christopher Nolan wanted.

Jaremy P. is selling his Marantz AV7702 MK2, three Emotiva Gen1 amps, and the Denon AVR-X6400H he found at a discount at Best Buy, all in favor of an AV7704 and a new Emotiva XPA-11 Gen3. Nick B. suggests trying Roku’s “universal search” feature to find movies across a multitude of streaming services. Jeff G. moved his Top Middle speakers and achieved the convincing sense of sounds coming from directly overhead that he desired. Joseph H. recommends FreeNAS open source software to convert and PC into network storage. And regarding Patrick P.’s search for wireless, Bluetooth, open back headphones, Jim W. gives the Sennheiser RS120 a thumbs up, even though they lack Bluetooth, and Nathan W. suggests the Apple AirPods.

Bobby M. is saving up for dual SVS PB-1000 subwoofers, and he asks if temporarily using dual Onkyo SKW-204 subs is a reasonable stop gap. Matt S. picked up a used Aperion Center speaker to replace his Pioneer Andrew Jones Center, and now he wonders if the matching Aperion Towers would be worth buying. And Bill W. continues his questions about the house he’s building from scratch, so we discuss: acoustic ceiling tiles, Harmony Hub and Harmony Home Hub Extender, recommendations for dual HSU VTF-3 MK5 HP subwoofers, Ascend Acoustics CMT-340SE and HTM-200SE speakers, and a SeymourAV Center Stage XDscreen.

Ken M. needs to replace some Belkin surge protectors that sacrificed themselves, so we suggest a combo of an APC J35B and a Back-UPS BE850. Justin B. wants something new in his 2-channel and headphone rig, so we suggest the new Sennheiser HD 660 S or RBH Beryllium HP-2 headphones with the Monoprice Monolith Desktop Headphone Amp, and using the Tidal website to find Tidal-compatible products. Kyle G. wants to make sure it’s ok to run a long extension cable for an Audyssey microphone. Dave gets our thoughts on connecting two pre-pros together to allow him to connect more sources. And Greg B. gets our list of recommended TV models (Vizio M Series, Vizio P Series, Sony X930E or an LG OLED if Dolby Vision support is desired; Sony X900E if HDR10-only is ok) to look out for on Black Friday.

Karl R. wants to know why Blade Runner 2049 literally shook both a Dolby Cinema and an IMAX theater, and according to Scott Wilkinson’s measurements, it’s because the bass is unusually loud. Dan C. wants to upgrade his sound system a little at a time, and we like the ELAC Debut Series speakers he’s eyeing, so we give our recommended order of upgrades, and discuss the Atmos configuration and placement he could aim for. And Bill could experiment with two subwoofers, but he has limited time, so he asks if his current gear is up to the task of testing, and we suggest an SVS PC-2000, HSU ULS-15 MK2, Rythmik E15, or Power Sound Audio S1500 as physically smaller subs with enough output for his room size.

Byron S. would like to understand why a couple of specific frequencies result in ringing or reverberation in his room, even though the room is acoustically treated, so we talk about tuned membrane bass traps. David F. gets clarification about setting Tower speakers with built-in powered woofers to “small” and still setting an 80 Hz crossover frequency, although a wrinkle is thrown our way when there’s only room for one subwoofer in the rear corner. And Josh S. tried to explain the ins and outs of dual subwoofers on Reddit, but wound up doubting himself, so we go over output, power, and perception levels when using multiple subs.

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