Problem with new Paradigm speakers?

[drinke]

I have two sets of questions -

The first - I don't know if this is a speaker issue, a TV issue or I am an idiot - but I just bought a set of Monitor 7 v5s and PDR 12 - came home and hooked them up - red to red (only to state the obvious), there are two sets of hook-ups on the 7s - I used the top set (does it matter?) etc... and placed them on either side of the TV - a sony trinitron rear projection 36 inch - about 8-10 inches away. Almost immediately the colors on the screen turned green and purple. The closer to the set, the worse it got - at about 15 inches or so from the screen, the problem seems to go away. The sub does not seem to bother

Either I somehow hooked these things up wrong, in which case I am an idiot - or these speakers naturally create some kind of field that screws up the color on the TV set - thoughts please?

The second - my wife burns CDs on her MAC and I tried playing them on a Toshiba CD/DVD player - it would not play it at all - I am guessing the Toshiba - a model 7 years old or so, does not recognize the materials? SO I switched CD players to some newer cheap Sanyo I got for $40, and while it plays the CDs, I can only get the sound to come out of one side of the speakers (that is the case with both burned CDs and store bought CDs) - has anyone encountered this? Aside from just scrapping the sanyo, is there some simple fix I might be missing?

Thanks -

By the way, I am rather new to audio equipment, but I think the 7s with the PDR sounds very good, I have a center 290 coming in a week and I also grabbed atoms for the surround - I auditioned Studio 20s and 60s - and of course they are excellent - they seem to add more dimension - but since I am new, I thought it best to try these out first and potentially upgrade in a year or so - but so far so good - and the wife was also pleased.

 

[MDS]

- The TV must be a CRT and the speakers are not magnetically shielded. The woofers on a speaker have a giant magnet and if it is not shielded it will cause interference on a CRT TV, just as you have noticed. You have to move them out a foot or so from the TV to eliminate the interference.

- The two sets of binding posts are to allow the speakers to be bi-wired (separate wires for the low frequencies and high frequencies) or bi-amped (separate amps driving the woofer and tweeter). You don't have to bi-wire or bi-amp and can use either set of binding posts as long as the metal jumper between the two sets is in place.

- CD-R has a lower reflectivity than commercially pressed discs and not all players can play them - especially older players that were made before CD-R hit the scene.

There are also many formulations of the dye on a CD-R (azo, cyanine, pthalocyanine, and probably others) and not every type will play on all players. It's a crapshoot but most newer players can handle a wide variety of disc types.

 

[Haoleb]

Keep in mind that you should play around with speaker placement in your setup as well. Most people who are inexperienced in audio will just stand their speakers up next to their tv's and backed up right to the wall. Proper speaker placement can make a huge differnce in the overall sound of your speakers. Its not rocket science either, Just look around at some writeups on placement and experiment.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Unfortunatly Paradigm makes shielded and unshielded speakers looks like you got the unshieled ones. I hope you have room to spread them out; if not you may have to take them back and replace them with shielded.

 

[BabelFish]

how do you know if you are getting the shielded vs the unshielded? (without doing the tv test )

Why would someone want an unshielded speaker?

Is there a price difference between the two?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

They are labeled as such. I believe all their centers are shielded, surrounds are not and mains have an option.

Mine are unshielded because it doesnt matter to me. I have a plasma and they are 2 feet away on each side. You bet they charge more for the shielded. I don't know how much more and if you have a good dealer he probably wont charge you.

how do you know if you are getting the shielded vs the unshielded? (without doing the tv test )

Why would someone want an unshielded speaker?

Is there a price difference between the two?

 

[BabelFish]

so besides price and tv issues.. is there any advantage to having shielded over unshielded?

 

[ParadigmDawg]

It's only about the display.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I should have made up some crap about how much it matters and Paradigm 100's have the worst shielding mechanism...

 

[drinke]

What if...

I called the dealer - I think given my limited space - the shield makes sense and it was only an extra 60 bucks - a point I guess I had to learn the hard way and the dealer just forgot to ask. The center is shielded, and I'm not worried about the sub or the surrounds - they aren't within 3 feet of the tv. Plasmas and LCDs don't have this issue, I guess.

My question is - why the difference - why some speakers with and some w/o shielding - is it just a cost issue or does the shielding impact the sound in a negative way and thus, should be avoided? I would assume no - but thought I'd ask.

 

[Warpdrv]

Yeah... Babel, your getting a Projector, so It won't matter to you... and I also have a plasma, so I have nothing to worry about either...

CRT's are where the problem takes a split in the road, as far as distance from speakers to worry about shielding...

 

[STRONGBADF1]

The problem with Paradigm Monitor series speakers is they only come sheilded in black in color. I think it adds about 20 USD's each to the price. They call it "magneshield". They also make black with out sheilding.

SBF1

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I have 10 bucks saying Babel stops at the sub and never buys anything else to enhance his plastic boombox and SVS. He may end up with some Norquest speaker wire so take that out of the bet.

Yeah... Babel, your getting a Projector, so It won't matter to you... and I also have a plasma, so I have nothing to worry about either...

CRT's are where the problem takes a split in the road, as far as distance from speakers to worry about shielding...