First Hi-Fi setup.

covenantuk said:
You'd be better disabling it completely and running 2.0/3.0/5.0 else the sound will be totally unbalanced.
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the sub and receiver are one unit on the Onkyo htx22hd I guess you can disable it as such , not sure how as I have never tried it but cant see why lowering the volume on it would unbalance everything that much
 
beachBOYken said:
the sub and receiver are one unit on the Onkyo htx22hd I guess you can disable it as such , not sure how as I have never tried it but cant see why lowering the volume on it would unbalance everything that much
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So the sub has its own volume level as well as the side speakers?
 
If we are talking about a conventional 5.1 system based around an AV Receiver and speaker package, then the sub's volume is set so it provides the correct amount of bass to compliment the other speakers. You wouldn'y generally go fiddling with the sub's own volume control because that means the re-doing the setup for the next regular listening session.

So in order to make temporary adjustments, AV amps have facilities such as bass and treble controls; Trim controls for each speaker, and Night Mode which boosts bass and treble but reduces the dynamic range. For TV viewing though Night Mode only works on DD encoded audio. If the source is basic stereo or ProLogic decoded then you'd use the bass and treble controls or the sub trim feature.

You've been second-guessing what controls there are with the HTX22hd. Well it doesn't take much effort to find the user manual for that and most other current and previous gen AV gear from the manufacturer's sites. A quick download and skikm through will tell you all you need to know about the features available and how each system sets up.
 
I'm probably a bit late to this thread however I can give some great advice. Buy a pair of DM5's from a company called AVI - they are £700 but they include everything (amps etc) and they are some of the best speakers available and are that good you'll pretty much never have to buy speakers ever again. They are that good. They can prove this by objective evidence unlike 99% of other HiFi. The ADM9s which are the slightly higher model have been purchased by people many times over who have had £10,000+ separates and swear they have no reason to buy anything else. the guy who makes and sells them is a great guy and if you ask him you can go and listen to them before you buy and if your really lucky he'll buy you lunch! Search for hddaudio.net and have a look through the forums...
 
That sounds like a dream but also sounds too good to be true. I don't want to sceptical and cynical but if something is too good to be true....

And it sounds like something off the back of the white van. Best speakers ever, better than £10,000 separates, includes everything such as amplifier...etc etc

You can see my concerns right?

And do you have this set of product? If not, why not?

I am also curious how can they prove it is the best HiFi OBJECTIVELY, and why the rest of the world can't, do they have some special sensor or something? The more times I re-read that post the more it sounds like a con.
 
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Get a Marantz and some monitor audio br1's. Nice combo for about 400.

I had this combo with a tv a few years ago and sold up. Miss it now. Wish I'd kept it.
 
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Have a look at some of the older flagship AV amps by the likes of Yamaha and Arcam.

These old beasts offer amazing sound quality and can be bought for surprisingly little. The range topping (at the time) Yamaha DSP-A1, for example, cost £1800 new and one sold recently for £60 at auction.
Granted, it doesn't have HDMI inputs or onboard HD audio decoding but it has a multi channel audio input so there's no problem with HD audio with a suitable blu-ray player.
Then there's the sound quality. It will destroy any of the current AV receivers costing up to a grand. Processing may have improved over the years but top notch amplification is still top notch amplification.
It weighs over 20 kilos. It oozes quality.

Then there's the likes of the Arcam AVR280 and AVR350.

As for speakers, look second hand too.

You can get a pair of Mission 752s from £80 to £150.
These were fantastic floorstanding speakers.
I sold them in the 90's and owned a pair until a few years ago. I loved the 75 range. Get the 75C centre and 751s for rears and you've got a stunning set up.

Get good examples of these classic items and they'll deliver for years.

Three grands worth of first rate home cinema kit for £400 or so, given the right opportunities.
Bonus of the top notch amplification from the DSP-A1 paired with the 752s is superb two channel performance.

If it must be new then look for something like the Pioneer VSX-922. Recently discontinued but may still be available. At half price too. Originally £500 then down to £250.
Super for the money. Pair it with floorstanders like the Wharfedale 10.3 that can be had for less than £200.

You'll be hard pressed to get a better AV receiver and floorstander combo at the price.

But still nowhere near the quality of the used gear I mentioned. Not even close.
 
Raymond Lin said:
That sounds like a dream but also sounds too good to be true. I don't want to sceptical and cynical but if something is too good to be true....

And it sounds like something off the back of the white van. Best speakers ever, better than £10,000 separates, includes everything such as amplifier...etc etc

You can see my concerns right?

And do you have this set of product? If not, why not?

I am also curious how can they prove it is the best HiFi OBJECTIVELY, and why the rest of the world can't, do they have some special sensor or something? The more times I re-read that post the more it sounds like a con.
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I guess it does a bit however I'll try to explain.

Basically the entire HiFi industry is very corrupt full of utter bu****** think of the cables etc. The traditional set up uses passive crossovers to split the high and low frequencyies for the two drivers in the speaker.

Passive speakers are utterly awful and the only reason they are used in HiFi is they it keeps everything separate like amps pre amps DACs. This ensures there is an entire upgrade route and plenty of opportunities to sell you more kit. THIS IS THE ONLY REASON.

Active crossovers do the splitting before the amplifiers which mean they have to be integrated because it's a bit complicated for the average joe to set up. Actives are used everywhere other than HiFi, they are used in PA and recording studios because the active crossover alone has around one thousand times low distortion than a passive one.

I work in one of the most popular HiFi manufacturers currently as an electronic engineer and I'm leaving because I'm fed up of they utter crap and scamming the customers. They aren't bothered about the sound - just making the most amount of money out of you.

I don't own these speakers because I like building all of my own stuff. A very good friend of mine owns them and loves them.

I have tried to explain the best I can but I'm tired! It's a big subject too and it's hard to convey the awful state that HiFi is in in one post over the internet!
 
Also the reason they are a good price is because they don't go through any distributors which generally bump the price up by about 4x from the cost the manufacturer sells them for. Despite what the companies would like you to believe audio electronics is very simple and cheap.
 
I understand about the profit margin (it is a business after all) but I like the upgrade route option...that is the entire idea of separates. I mean how do I use those to set up a 5.1 system?

And £700 for a pair of bookshelf speakers isn't what I exactly call cheap either. and do they make a matching Centre?
 
GSWAudio said:
......I like building all of my own stuff.
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Any experience building subwoofers. I'm keen to build my own and have been reading up on the subject and modelling builds in WinISD. Looking at a smallish volume cabinet of around 100 litres. Any advice on drive units, amp plates?

...it's hard to convey the awful state that HiFi is in in one post over the internet!
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It's a pity. I started selling hifi in the early 90's. It's so different now.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I understand about the profit margin (it is a business after all) but I like the upgrade route option...that is the entire idea of separates. I mean how do I use those to set up a 5.1 system?

And £700 for a pair of bookshelf speakers isn't what I exactly call cheap either. and do they make a matching Centre?
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Well you will waste a huge amount of money through the upgrade route and never reach the quality these speakers offer. The 5.1 setup is tricky with these but the best way to find out is join the forum I told you about earlier as there's large thread where people are discussing this.

For £700 they are unbelievable value. Amps and speakers to that. You'll struggle to buy crap for that if you go with the separates route.

Failsafe said:
Any experience building subwoofers. I'm keen to build my own and have been reading up on the subject and modelling builds in WinISD. Looking at a smallish volume cabinet of around 100 litres. Any advice on drive units, amp plates?

It's a pity. I started selling hifi in the early 90's. It's so different now.
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Yeh I've built a few and they are quite easy. The key to produce low distortion bass (both subs or anything with a woofer) is high damping factor which is one of the reasons passives are so poor because for the large inductor that will be in series with it. This means you want a very high quality woofer and a large power amplifier class AB is best. I don't really know about backplates because I design all the amplifiers and DSP or any thing else from scratch. Also make very strong boxes.

This woofer is good quality. http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=238&Itemid=223

The TC Sounds drivers are also very good although they are expensive shipped from the US.
 
I don't know, they more you go on about how "crap" modern HiFi is and how great these are the more sceptical I feel and the more I think how rubbish these are, like how you perceive how rubbish you see modern separates.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I don't know, they more you go on about how "crap" modern HiFi is and how great these are the more sceptical I feel and the more I think how rubbish these are, like how you perceive how rubbish you see modern separates.
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I don't mind what you do I'm just trying to help you. However I don't think I will be able to if you make ridiculous opinions on equipment you heard about through one person a couple of days ago. You have to think in some very perculiar ways to come up with that post lol!
 
It just all sound very "white van" to me and I like the upgrade path of separates. That's the beauty of it.

I had some active speakers before, still do, PC speakers and they don't cost £700.

I would be a bit more open minded if you had said they are good, decent, with great clarity that oozes quality beyond their £700. But when you claim they are best speakers ever, better than £10,000 separates, never need to upgrade again, can prove objectively they are that good.

When I read things like that, it rings alarm bells.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
It just all sound very "white van" to me and I like the upgrade path of separates. That's the beauty of it.

I had some active speakers before, still do, PC speakers and they don't cost £700.

I would be a bit more open minded if you had said they are good, decent, with great clarity that oozes quality beyond their £700. But when you claim they are best speakers ever, better than £10,000 separates, never need to upgrade again, can prove objectively they are that good.

When I read things like that, it rings alarm bells.
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I don't think you understand what true actives are and they are not PC speakers and not a amplifier chucked in the box.

Okay I wouldn't say they are the best speakers ever but they may well be some of the best HiFi speakers on the market today. They are better than a large amount of speakers in the £10K+ purely because you can't polish a turd. I say never need to upgrade again because that's what the owners say about them after selling their £10K+ kit.

It's funny you mention the objectivity and it proves you didn't really think about what you were saying about your last post! If they could be proven better by objective means then surely you have no argument! I say objectivity proven what I actually meant was the technology it uses can be extremely easily proven it has very low THD which IS better. I said that because of the usual BS of speaker cables etc.

All I have said I have read from peoples personal experiences on that forum. They are great people and very nice unlike the usual snake pit of the WhatHiFi forums and that!
 
I am not going to write it off but until I try it for myself I am very sceptical but to be honest, I am unlikely to, my current speakers are £300 and I am happy with them plus I like my surround sound set up so this active speakers idea don't work for me.

I guess they would make a pair kick arse PC speakers !
 
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