Search results

I have 4 Axiom QS-8s in my main HT room and a pair of DT AW 6500 outdoor speakers. I like both of them a lot for different reasons. Since a large part of your constraints are around aesthetics, I have to say the QS-4s will get expensive quickly. The default vinyl colors for a QS are black and...

You could but it would be a waste of money. The Sub 800 is fine for the money but not a good subwoofer. If you spent $400 on a single subwoofer, it would be better than 4 sub 800s. If you spent $600 (4 sub 800 + 1500) on a real subwoofer, it would blow all 5 of them away. Subwoofers are...

A new receiver with FLAC support will be able to stream music from your local network or a usb attached hard drive/thumb drive. Most cloud music services do not stream FLAC and usually their quality is lower than CD quality. I'm not very familiar with cloud music services so I'll defer to...

As the previous poster said, I also rip CDs to the FLAC format. It's a good archiving format to preserve CD quality. This is my approach for what you are suggesting. 1. Use DBPowerAmp to rip to both FLAC and MP3 (highest setting) at the same time (but different directories). It's a nice...

Gene, I didn't read Andrew's article so I have no idea how he might be bashing/not bashing Audioholics. edit - <edit> just read it, yeah it's harsh but my original point still stands </edit> That said, I don't care and even though it is quite difficult, I ask you to not care as well...

I read your manual and they hint at the right approach for you in the Bi-amping approach. Both Pre1 and Pre2 are controlled by the volume knob. Neither are a set level. However, Pre2 has the addition of the gain control which only minimizes gain. You would probably be fine with either but...

I don't use them myself but lots of people like the Sonos approach. You could buy a Sonos Connect and one of the larger speakers that could be moved as needed. The Sonos connect would get audio in from your Receiver (zone 2) and broadcast it to the speakers. The Sonos connect has a lot of...

I've had a ton of challenges with going with a pure IR signal despite using Xantech, Niles and other reputable brands. The problem seemed to mostly be due to interference from Fluorescent or LED lighting. Adjusting the sensitivity of the various IR eyes helped but sometimes made it worse...

While you can certainly do what you are discussing, that's not the way I've chosen to do it. For maximum flexibility, I prefer separate receiver/speaker systems. You could purchase a Squeezebox Classic V3 on ebay. Then set up the two squeezebox to sync. Use your iphone/android to control...

I'm one of those Onkyo 805 owners that hasn't had a problem. However, I had read a review that said they ran hot so I put two computer fans on the top from day 1. The biggest problem I've had is that the receiver is getting outdated so I ended up buying an OPPO 103 and sending just audio to...

I'm not saying that you are going to do this but some surround speakers have their own mounts. For example, I purchased these Axiom speakers and they come with a speaker specific mount. Personally, I would just mark a spot where the wire should exit the wall and just leave the wire hanging...

Thank you for the review! After we build our new deck, I'm looking forward to installing 4 new outdoor speakers so this review was very timely. I do have a question about the mounting that was demonstrated. Wouldn't it make more sense to install them on their side, perhaps with tweeters on...

I don't have a clue about your layout but perhaps you could do some sort of TV lift where the TV rises out of a squat cabinet. Alternatively, you could do the TV kitty corner and put a drop down projection screen in the sweet spot so during night time, the screen drops over the windows. TV...

I'll tell a quick story for my bona fides... I used to live in a pretty large SF house with a couple of roommates. My roommate Jen liked the tv series "Sex and the City" and truthfully I enjoyed it too. I had been an A/V person for awhile so I started hosting "Sex and the City" nights at our...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you are a newbie. I'm just a big fan of keeping things simple and consistent. I'm sure you are perfectly capable of making a single giant receiver do everything. What I was meaning to convey is my belief in 2 simple receivers (ideally from the same...

While I completely agree with the previous posters that you are biting off more than you can chew, I will take a stab at a simple (relatively) system that would accomplish most of your objectives. For whole house music, go with a Sonos system. I will specify exact components. Living Room...

You might also consider this if you want to keep the Pioneer receiver that seems to satisfy a lot of your other requirements. It's certainly cheaper then buying a whole new receiver. Smarthome SELECT 2-Source 2-Zone Speaker Selector with Volume Control It has volume adjustment on the box and...

Regarding your points. The Sonos Connects should be able to fit into the same basic space as your other stuff. Also, the Sonos Connect unit is not one of the powered amp or speakers that the other Sonos units are. It's simply a pre-amp that can attach to your existing amplifiers. This should...

I'm not trying to belittle your requirements but it seems like it might be overly complicated. Why not go for a couple of Sonos Connect units? It seems like those would give you the functionality you need without having a crazy complicated AVR setup. Amazon.com: SONOS - CONNECT Wireless...

If you have the option, you should certainly directly plug into the components using mono 1/8 cables. The challenge is that some IR repeaters blast the IR in the cabinet plus the direct connection. It seems that components do not like get the same signal twice. I would definitely try a direct...