Been wanting to upgrade my home stereo for a while now. I've been using an older ProLogic Kenwood receiver and a collage of different speakers (Aiwa to B&O!!). Anyway a friend of mine can get me components for nearly cost. So I'm thinking of getting (per his recommendations) the Integra DTR 4.5 receiver and ELAC Cinema One speakers. Anybody have any experiences with either of these components? Also was looking at the SpeakerCraft 6 zone DA system, though the wallet says just stick with the Integra for now (dual zone capable).
Home theater
- Thread starter rjmhotrod
- Start date
flat_black
Member
Oooh... What B&O's do you have? =) Can I have them if you aren't gonna use 'em? 
As far as stereo stuff goes, I like B&O (Caching!), NAD, Boston Accoustics, and Yamaha, in descending (price) order. =) I have a Yamaha receiver right now, an older one, and I still am enjoying it. =)
The Integra does strike me as a Yamaha-esque style receiver, and it LOOKS very nice, in my opinion. I've not heard or read anything bad about it, so I'd say it's a safe bet, for sure!
As far as stereo stuff goes, I like B&O (Caching!), NAD, Boston Accoustics, and Yamaha, in descending (price) order. =) I have a Yamaha receiver right now, an older one, and I still am enjoying it. =)
The Integra does strike me as a Yamaha-esque style receiver, and it LOOKS very nice, in my opinion. I've not heard or read anything bad about it, so I'd say it's a safe bet, for sure!
flat_black said:Oooh... What B&O's do you have? =) Can I have them if you aren't gonna use 'em?
NO!(no) (notcool) (no) (notcool) (no) (notcool) (no) (notcool)
Honestly I don't know which ones the B&O's are. They were my father in law's when he owned the house. He let me keep them when we bought the place. They are an indoor/outdoor speaker. They are mounted on the back wall of our living room so I've used them as the rear surrounds. If I do get the ELACs then I'll either use the B&O's in the garage or outside when we build our patio.
True story. I was in Amsterdam about 4 years ago and was shopping at a classical music shop. They had a B&O dealer downstairs, so I went down to check it out. I played a CD in one of the systems. The song was "Also Spake Zarathustra" (which is the 2001 Space Odyssey theme). It literally brought tears to my eyes. Not that I was bawling like a baby. There was absolutely nothing in the sonic reproduction that reminded me that I was listening to recorded music. It was incredible. I'll have to look up B&O's website to see which speakers that I was listening to that day. It was their top of the line model I think.
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flat_black
Member
Ooh, man. That rocks. =) My friend/manager here at work owns a set of BeoLab 6000's... Talk about some beautiful resoloution. I was totally in awe the first time he played Steve Reich's 'Different Trains' album. Yum. =9
flat_black
Member
I have a B&W shop right nearby, literally not even a block away. =) The Nautilus series is pretty damn cool, but I seriously think they'd become an eyesore after the novelty wore off. The more conventional styled speakers are terribly nice, and very inexpensive for what you get. I have much the same feeling toward them as I have toward NAD; Not what I'd buy if I had crazy money, but a terribly good compromise, for sure!
The choices I listed are more for affordability than anything else. Good brands with a good range of hi-fi speakers.
My ideal choice(affordable) would be these speakers that are by the same designer of the monsoon flatpanels but like 6' high. Absolutely amazing speakers but $6K+/pair. I forget the name of them.
You want an eyesore, check out Avantgarde speakers. Obnoxious looking indeed.
My ideal choice(affordable) would be these speakers that are by the same designer of the monsoon flatpanels but like 6' high. Absolutely amazing speakers but $6K+/pair. I forget the name of them.
You want an eyesore, check out Avantgarde speakers. Obnoxious looking indeed.
I have an old Kenwood 1080 VR DTS digital receiver and it sucks ass! It has a "buzzing" noise when playing and the noise gets louder when in any of the surround sound modes. Is that just a Kenwood thing? I have nice rose wood Energy front speakers, Energy center speaker, and a Definitive Technology 12" powered sub DFT 12. The whole thing sucks because of the crappy receiver.
MisterT said:
Kenwood is a solid company and their products generally are OK. Nothing spectacular, but OK for consumer uses. I'm not sure if you have a problem with the receiver or if you are getting a ground loop with your powered sub. If you unplug the sub, does the buzzing go away? Is the sub plugged into the same outlet as the receiver? Also, I'm not sure that using a powered sub with an amplifier is such a good idea. I'm not sure what it does voltage and impedence wise. Is the sub output on your receiver non-amplified?
It is nonamplified. I think there is a buzzing noise regardless of whether or not the sub is hooked up. I tried every thing and even sent it in when it was nearly out of warr. The shop just had it hooked up in their demo room for a month. I called after waiting for weeks just to find out that it was never sent and that they couldnt duplicate the problem. They did have a few people with Kenwood receivers with the same complaint. I'll have to recheck when I get home this afternoon. I am using high quality RCA cables too if that helps at all.
jersey_emt
Member
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- 04 MSM #1089
flat_black said:
Wow I'm surprised someone else has heard of that album.
flat_black
Member
Hehee. =) I'm full of wierd knowledge.
Flat black - It was either the BeoLab 6000 or 8000. I think it was the 6000. If only I had that kind of money!!!
MisterT - about the only other thing I can think of right now is to check the impedence rating of the speakers to make sure they're cool with the amp. For instance, if you were using a 6ohm speaker connected to an 8ohm amp, then you would have problems. I'm not sure if they would be in the form of a buzz or not, but it may be worth checking. Can you hook up any other speakers to the Kenwood without the buzzing? Using higher quality RCA cables will help for longer runs and runs close to RFI sources.
MisterT - about the only other thing I can think of right now is to check the impedence rating of the speakers to make sure they're cool with the amp. For instance, if you were using a 6ohm speaker connected to an 8ohm amp, then you would have problems. I'm not sure if they would be in the form of a buzz or not, but it may be worth checking. Can you hook up any other speakers to the Kenwood without the buzzing? Using higher quality RCA cables will help for longer runs and runs close to RFI sources.
speaking of home theater and speaking of being totally off topic, if I want to put in wall jacks to run my speaker wire through the walls, what jacks are best? Home depot only had these cheapo ones where you push in a button and it opens, stick the wire in the hole and it lightly clamps down on the wire. I am thinking the ones that screw down that you can use banana plugs for would be better no?
flat_black
Member
Craig, it's actually right near my workplace. =) Since I post from here (work) a lot, I keep forgetting that I effectivly live in New Hampshire.
Sounds like you've got the in! I need those kinda connections so I can get hooked up with a full B&W system for home. Muahaa!
Sounds like you've got the in! I need those kinda connections so I can get hooked up with a full B&W system for home. Muahaa!
I'll do that. For some reason I think the speakers are 6 ohm. I'll check to make sure though. Funny if that is it because the place that I got all of the equipment never told me.rjmhotrod said:
They weren't after a sell, because I worked there and got it all a fraction above cost! :mad:
