Tell us about your stereo!

[LG]

^^Have you decided about the sensor Jim?

Was in the big city yesterday, went to a couple of shops just to see what's happening.

Thinking about an upgrade to my center channel, it's either a Paradigm or a Monitor Audio...I haven't decided yet. Don't intend on spending more than $500, which is a modest amount considering some Center Channels I looked at were $2000+

 

[mrJim]

^^LG I am going to keep the sensor on right now.

If I bought it again I would still buy the sensor model. It's inline and can easily be unplugged to get the best of both worlds.

Good luck with the center channel shopping. cha-ching I feel like some kind of cheapskate or something for what paid for the M40's. All the manufacturers are sure proud of their speakers.

Jim

 

[LG]

^^It's always great when you get a really good deal on anything these days.

Paradigm now manufactures their monitor series in Canada again, they still source some parts from China (who doesn't?) but the quality control and comfort of doing business here again offset the diminishing benefits of having a factory over there.

There will be more corporations doing the same thing and the sooner the better.

The Monitor Audio cc is expensive, didn't realize it was about $800. The Paradigm is 1/2 the cost and smaller, they have a model up that's about $650 but that's more than I want to spend. I'm in no hurry the year end sales are over, and I'll look on CAM (Canuck Audio Mart) to see if anything suitable comes up for a good price.

 

[taha]

LG go with the pairadiggems', lol ! Love my Canadian Classe and Paradigms !

 

[LG]

^^I am leaning that way Taha. I could field a full 5 speaker surround with Paradigm's, and my SVS sub for the .1 bottom end.

Right now I'm running my 10+ year old Mirage ($200 new) center channel, it's okay but it's got foam surrounds and they will disintegrate eventually.

 

[gcczep]

Lineages...

Good luck with the center speaker purchase Bruce. Does it matter to you that the speakers in your HT set-up are from the same manufacturer and that they are voice matched? Some owners are sticklers for that kind of thing.

I have a Mirage OMD-C2 as my center in between my Stats. I don't notice a difference nor do I go out of my way to look for it either. I had the C1 but it was being drowned out by the MLs.

 

[LG]

Good luck with the center speaker purchase Bruce. Does it matter to you that the speakers in your HT set-up are from the same manufacturer and that they are voice matched? Some owners are sticklers for that kind of thing.

I have a Mirage OMD-C2 as my center in between my Stats. I don't notice a difference nor do I go out of my way to look for it either. I had the C1 but it was being drowned out by the MLs.

No it really isn't a big deal for the cc to be matched, I can always use the Audyssey analyzer that came with the Marantz to 'match' the speakers. I'm going to muck about for a week or two before making any decision. It was watching my Blu Ray LOTR movies that prompted me to think about upgrading.

 

[gcczep]

Audio set-up...

Amazing the technology they have now. My Onkyo has Audyssey too. It sets the distance and levels along with EQ'ing it for different seatings. For stereo listening in music, I disable it. Do you fiddle with the settings to suit your taste?

I swapped an older Marantz for a Pioneer receiver which has that calibrating feature at my folks' place. It does make a difference with movies and TV watching.

 

[LG]

I've never tried it, I've done mine manually with a tape measure.

One thing I've read about Audyssey, if you have dipole or exotic rear surrounds it doesn't quite know how to deal with them, at least from what I've read. Swapped a Marantz for a Pioneer...

I've got a vintage Pioneer receiver collecting dust right now, it works great but just haven't used it for a while.

Yamaha had their own room/analyzer I used years ago, it seemed to do a good job.

 

[gcczep]

Changes...

I've never tried it, I've done mine manually with a tape measure.

One thing I've read about Audyssey, if you have dipole or exotic rear surrounds it doesn't quite know how to deal with them, at least from what I've read. Swapped a Marantz for a Pioneer...

I've got a vintage Pioneer receiver collecting dust right now, it works great but just haven't used it for a while.

Yamaha had their own room/analyzer I used years ago, it seemed to do a good job.

I swapped this Marantz SR-19 5.1

...for this Pioneer Elite VSX-47TX



The Marantz kept losing all the settings whenever there was a power outage. Really, really annoying... I got tired of re-setting it after awhile. Not so with the Pioneer. Marantz had the edge in music. Pioneer with movies and TV because because of the calibration feature. It had more inputs too and viable DSPs. Marantz has a warmer sound of the two in comparison though the Pioneer had better micro-dynamics.

As far as Audyssey, it gets the distances just fine. The levels were a whole 'nother matter. When it was completed, the surrounds were lower while the fronts were higher. Odd... Took out my Radio Shack SPL meter and set them all at 75 db. Calibrating and blending subs though was a chore. Plus if there was some extraneous noise like fans or anything...you get an error message and have to start all over again.