Home Entertainment Systems

I don't even watch tv. I rarely play the radio unless I'm in my car..... but, my computer! Dunno what I'd do without it!

You know, I half suspect the wall of electrical equipment divide tends to be one of the great gender divides!

I cannot STAND to look at walls of electrical equipment!!!

I have a lovely Asian cabinet that used to house stereo and TV until I moved and bought a larger telly - it still hides the stereo system - and the odd fugitive cat.

I can - JUST - tolerate the TV being generally visible, because the place I live in now has that sparse, modern look - you know, steel skirtings and windows - and the view is so breathtaking that that is all people notice. Also, the telly can be wheeled way back against the wall, and looks sort of ok in the context, on its steel trolley.

The speakers I can tolerate cos I have to, and cos they are congruent too - but, if I can ever afford to, they will be replaced with ceiling ones, or the new, fabulous little ones, some fine day. I wish I could make the telly disappear when I am not watching it - which is most of the time these days.

The computer is banished to the study cos it is so ugly - when they make a pretty one I can afford it may be allowed out....

bunny, you not only are entertaining, but rare. There aren't an awful lot of wussian-wifle-wielding bunnies, wee or otherwise.



timber

I have electronics envy of timbers great stuff

drool

Timberland - blush.....

Quinn - then I am clearly wrong!!!! 'Tis not a gender divide thing.

Hey wabbit! If you go with the new plasma TVs you can mount it on a wall and when you aren't using it you can use it to display whatever picture you want on them as a "screen saver" kinda thing. They can become "Art" when not in use. You could do the flowing waterfall thing or even the little doggies playin' poker! lmao

dlowan...no tis not a gender divide thing...Im a bit off though, at least thats what all everyone has told me

Fishin' - eeeeeeek!!!!!

could I do really interesting and wonderful images thing?

bunny, if you can get a graphic, still or full motion, to a computer monitor, you can just as easily put it on any 50 or 60" Plasma Display you might have laying around.



timber

We bought a great 42" Philips projection TV in late 2001 and dismantled our entertainment shelving. Since then, the JVC stereo system, VCR and Fisher speakers have been disconnected and sitting on the floor because my husband and I can't come to an agreement on new shelving. The JVC DVD is connected to the TV but that's it. It's really a shame.

Timber - Are you famaliar with the Onkyo TX-NR900 A/V Reciever at all? I was looking at one and they have a "Net-Tune" feature built in which appeals to me. It's got ethernet port and they include software to run on your PC so that if you connect the reciever to your home network you can play MP3 and WMA files off of your PC or you can tune in Internet Radio.

Do you know of any other THX recievers that have that type of functionailty?

I'm not positive, fishin, but I believe Kenwood has a similar capability in some units toward their upper end. IMO, Onkyo builds excellent equipment across a broad price structure, and their upper end is quite well regarded. My audio power and signal processing are accomplished by Yamaha, and my source equipment is Sony ES, JVC, Yamaha, and RCA (Satellite Tuners) and my TV is also a Sony. My speakers are all Polk. None of my gear is THX Certified. I'm not real sold on the "THX Mystique". Don't get me wrong, THX Certified equipment is generally very good. Other stuff out there at similar price/feature points is as good or better and is not THX Certified. Just this fall I replaced a separate component processor-pre-amp-separate amplifiers setup with a receiver ... the first receiver I've owned in about 30 years ... I'd always gone with separates. The receiver offered equal performance to any separates combination I could find at remotely similar price, and occupies less space while involving fewer connectors and power cords. THX was not a consideration one way or another; I was after "Bang for the buck". Yamaha won in my contest, only incidentaly was it also Yamaha equipment which was replaced. My computer sound system is essentially a Harmon Kardon Dolby Digital receiver, with smallish Klipsch speakers and a modest Infinity subwoofer. The computer-to-stereo link is by wireless 2.8Ghz , and any sound generated on either system can be reproduced or captured and archived by either system with excellent fidelity. In fact, right now, I'm in the office, listening to the computer soundsystem, which is playing the audio from an Eric Clapton concert captured earlier this week by the PVR, while the matching video is playing on the small TV at the computer desk. I look for performance, flexibility, and function in A/V gear, and pay little attention to promotional hype. I really hesitate to absolutely say one brand is better than another, for many brands offer excellent equipment. A piece that is right for one situation might not fit a different situation at all, regardless of price, brand, or certification. After the first few hundred dollars, almost all of it is pretty darned good. Pretty quickly, it becomes apparent that significantly more money is required to achieve meaningful performance increase.

You're in a major metro area, so it should be practical to check out both mass retailers and dedicated A/V shops. Listen to the equipment, compare ease-of -use and desired features among a number of brands. Many A/V Dealers will allow you to exchange a component for another of equal or greater price within 30 days, giving you a chance to audition it in your environment with your media. I envy you that; if I want to go flip switches and spin knobs, I pretty much also have to arrange overnight lodging as well.



timber

We've got an older 27" t.v., stereo surround sound speakers(5), a vcr, digital cable box, and receiver.
I keep threatening to upgrade to a flat screen t.v., but can't see the sense in parting with the old t.v. until it dies. I'm also waiting to buy a Dvd/cd player at the same time. I don't see the sense in buying that yet either. I'm not even sure there's a place to connect a Dvd player into the t.v. I've got. When I want to listen to Cd's, I use my portable Cd boombox.

lol Way back when.. When I first went overseas during my military career I built one heck of a stereo system that featured the old Yamaha M-4 Amp, T-2 tuner, C-2 pre-amp, etc.. I ended up with 2 full racks of individual components (I had the entire line of DBX processors in the system, yeash!). It just got to the point where I didn't have room to keep all that gear and my now ex-wife complained that she could never figure out how to turn the dang thing on or change from tuner to cassette deck.

I've always liked Yamaha's equipment and I still have a Yamaha P-750 turntable kicking around here. At one point I stumbled onto a great deal on a McIntosh Tube amp and picked it up and I could kick myself for ever getting rid of that.

Anyway, along came the kid and money started running short so I sold most of the system and bought a reciever and a car. I think the only items I have left from that only system are that one turntable, a DBX Tape selector box and my TEAC X-1000RBL Reel-to-Reel. The core of my current system is pretty well dated at this point and needs a good upgrade. I haven't really done much with it since 1992 or so.

We have a sound system in our den. Oracle turntable, Electrocompaniet Amp., homemade phono preamp., Sony CD player (my hubby is itching for an upgrade.) We have Altec Lansing two way speakers, and a subwoofer.



In the living room we have a 50" Mitsubishi connected to a Harmon Kardon amp, a couple of speakers (don't know the name, because my husband does not believe in keeping grilles on speakers,) and a subwoofer. We have a CDplayer, a DVD player and a casette player connected to it all.

I could never be married to this man, and be a Luddite!

Very nice, Phoenix ... and that picture brings to mind something we've sort of overlooked ... the point of all the glowing LEDs, myriad buttons, and whirring fans is what it DOES. That's a respectable looking collection of media there ... without which there's not much point in having the gear in the first place. I'm far prouder of my LP collection, my thousands of hours of video and audio tapes, and my hundreds of CDs and DVDs than of the equipment on which they are played. BTW, I agree w/Mr Phoenix about speaker grills. I never "Dress" my own speakers.



timber

This is a truly sincere question. Why do you say you are proud of those things?

2.8Ghz wireless....one question....something else I have to consider as possibly interference with the dang new phone....2.4Ghz?

argh

Not that Im going that way anytime soon, but I was considering wireless rears

I cant answer for timber, of course, but perhaps I can give you some insight as I am proud of what I have as well, and just wish I had more, could find most of it, was able to display it and use it more often, etc etc
If you compare this fascination to that of a book lover perhaps you can understand it more competely. A person who adores and admires and holds high regard for their media.

Those shouldn't be a problem. The frequency seperation is enough that they shouldn't mess with each other and both are digital signals so if a scattered stray bit is picked up it would be ignored by the processor picking it up. If both were on the same frequency then you could possibly run into problems with LOTS of colliding bits and you could end up with drop-outs.