evolution of my home theater

Wardsweb

Behind The Curtain
Staff member
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start small with Carver gear
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then THX
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then more amps and major subs
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w/tape storage
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I'm a huge JBL fan from way back in the 60's. I also own AR and Pioneer, but once I heard a set of Martin Logans I HAD to have some. It took over a year for the right deal to come around and now they are my favorite. My personal therory is spend the money on the best speakers you like and then upgade the rest of your sytem as money allows. That way you will never replace them. Good speakers will bring out the best and worst in your system, so get good ones.
 
Hey ya Wardsweb..

I am confused. When you say, "then THX". Does all of your home theater equipment have the big stamp of approval from Geaoge (help me line my pockets) Lucas. Like your speakers etc? I guess I don't understand THX all that well then. If only part of ones system has paid for the THX logo does it make the whole system approved within the parameters set forth by Lucas Labs? I thought all componets had to be THX approved to be a THX reproduction sound system. Otherwise it is merely 5.1 reproduction like everyting else. Alas having said that... Personally I never bought into THX in typical home theater use. To me it merely increases costs of affected AVR's causing cuts to be made in other areas (internal parts) in order to keep competitive model for model with the competition. Sure in a commercial movie theater with multiple speakers, proper decoding equipment and a 35mm film putting out the soundtrack. I have no doubt it does as designed. Not a DVD with simple 5.1 digital output.

Sorry, I am probably missing something here and I hope you can help clear it up for me. But after copious amounts of reading on the subject I gather the afore mentioned opinion. I would love to hear your .02 cents on this. Thanks! :)

P.S. I totally agree with you. If you spend the big bucks somewhere, do it on your speakers! I also am a BIG JBL and Altec Lansing fan from the old days. In the 60's I really didn't think it got much better.
 
Ok anyone may blow me out of the water on this one, but here is my undetstanding.

First what your playing must be THX encoded. This is an audio option on DVD's not the default 5.1. Next the preamp must be THX to handle the decoding and send the appropriate information to all your speakers. The amps must be THX certified to have the necessary headroom and current capability. I'm not up on quote THX certified speakers. I beleive if your speakers can handle the dynamic range required and your subs can make your body literally vibrate, then they should handle the THX requirements. So, in a nut shell that is my system.

The Parasound preamp does allow me to choose between the standard and THX encodings and my Carvers are THX for the mains and subs. The surround amp does not say THX but at 200 watts should be ample for surrounds.

Given all that, do I hear a difference in THX mode? Bottom line is yes with the major emphasis being in the low end.
 
Whew, well when it comes to low end, you sure got the speakers for that eh? LOL Hey ya know. Have you ever borrowed any MP3s that people have done just for bass playback. LOL There are some real fun ones on the net and I have a CD full of them. Your speakers would rock!!

Do you have many DVDs with the THX encoded option? I thought I read somewhere that not many do. Only one I can think of is Saving Private Ryan. But my reading in that area is a bit dated and things may have changed. What I do know is that I rent the crap out of DVDs and I don't recall seeing that option in the sound setup menu.



:yippy:


LMAO I just found these new bouncey guys so I had to use them! (easily amused ain't I? Sigh... simple minds)
 
Those Martin Logans are just the stat pannel types? I have listened to the hybrids but never the big pannels. How do they differ from Maggies? I have listened to a few of those over the years.
Thatch
 
I've only heard one set of Maggies and they were from the guy I bought one of my Carvers from. I went to hear the Carver drive his Maggies. Well to me, (subjective) the Logans are tighter in the high end. Crisper, if you will. I get more a sense of depth to them. The Maggies were not bad at all, they were actually very nice and cheaper;)
 
$0.02 on THX

the reason thx is 'good' for ht is as such, now for the record i don't own any thx gear (once again poorboy comes into the picture). George sets the high standards for the gear to bear his logo. For things like speakers he has rules on their freq response, their horizontial and vertical dispertion, there power handling abilities. For rcvr's things like the ability to hold a certain loudness (db's) for an extended period of time ( i think it's 110db or something like that, don't quote me on that), the crossover freq which is 80hz. Thx also re EQ's the centre channel to cut some of the brightness out of it, cuz you don't have a thick a s s curtain hanging in front of your speaker like theatre's do.

Basically THX is just a strict set of standards for company to follow on how ht should sound, and as much as some people think that the extra change for having 3 little letters stamped on their compents is worth jack, he is the reason that ht and movie theatre's sound as good as they do. I personally would like to thank the man for that because now i don't have to shell out $40 to go see a "blockbuster" movie with some idiot that thinks that i need a running commentary on the movie sitting behind me.


i'm sorry, i'll get off me soap box now

shibby
Allan
 
why do you think I built this thing. when I want to watch a movie, I WANT TO WATCH A MOVIE. Don't talk, don't analyze, just enjoy the movie. I hate going to theaters these days. So many people think it's their living room. IT'S NOT, so shut up, turn your stupid phone off and take off your dumb hat.

Sorry about that, but I feel better now.:D
 
Hi Wardsweb,

Those MartinLogan CLS are still amazing speakers after all these years.

Production of this classic will cease this December after a 16 year run.

What iteration are yours ?
What are they sitting on ?
Custom pedestals ? They look great.

Have you tried locating then further away from the walls and your equipment rack ?



In an earlier post you mention "THX" encoded, do you mean
THX EX , the matrixed 6.1 format ?

That's the only THX encoding that has been used on DVDs.

Other non-THX EX DVDs/LDs/VHS did not have any special encoding on them, THX was just a set of performance standards used to maintain a consistant quality level.

The actual sound formats were standard Dolby Surround/Dolby Digital/DTS.

On the other hand, THX certified surround processors did have special circuitry to meet THX specified audio processing.
Stuff like re-equalization, timbre matching and rear channel decorrelation .

This processing works with all stereo and surround sources.


cheerio
 
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