Questions And Answers Page 2
. Question: Please help! I have a Kenwood KRV-8080 receiver and Infinity
Reference 2000.5 speakers. I'm also running a Kenwood power subwoofer and a
Kenwood CD player. Now, I know that this system is FAR from "high-end," but
I have to make do with this set-up until more money comes along. My problem
is this. Whenever I have the receiver "on", there seems to be a soft, but
noticeable hiss that comes from the speakers. I tried messing around with
some stuff and this is what I found: The subwoofer has the same problem--when
the volume is at level 1 (the lowest level) I can hear a hiss, but when the
volume is put to "zero", the hiss seems to just cut off. Strangely, even when
a CD is not playing, the soft hiss can be heard. The hiss contines even when
the VIDEO 2 inputs are being used. My question: can this hiss be eliminated?
Or at least reduced? Is it the size of the wires that I'm using?? Thank you
for your help. I appreciate it alot!
. Answer: Greg; You need to check a couple of other things. Try turning off
the effects and see if the hiss stops. If it does return the receiver for
service, the problem may be in the surround sound chip. Also if your
hooked up to an outside "grounded" DSS or antenna or cable system,
disconnect the coax cable coming out of the wall behind your equipment
and see if that eliminates the hiss. Let me know what you find out.
There is a cure.m/j
. Question: My question has to do with purchasing speakers for my home. I am
looking for something that will get very loud, have a lot of bass, good sound
quality for when I am not playing it loud i.e. a decent mid-range, and some
clarity when I am blasting it. I can get JBL, Infinity, or DCM at cost
through a friend and was wondering which would be the way to go. My friend
said the DCM was the best but I have not heard too much of that brand. How is
DCM and would it be the better of the three. Any help would
be appreciated. Thanks, Mark
. Answer: Mark; I read your question and have one speaker manufacturer in mind
"KLIPSCH"! But between the three brands you are looking at, probably
JBL. But Klipsch is what you described. Use good wire! m/j
. Question: PLEASE HELP ME !
My name is Sérgio and I live in Lisbon, Portugal.
I’m very fond of movies and I thought of recording videos to build my own
video library. For that purpose I bought a second video recorder in order to
make recordings directly from video1 to video2.
The video recorders are exactly alike, the same brand and model, they are
both stereo nicam, with 4+2 heads, and both have two scarts (one in/out and
another only in).
Unfortunatly I ran into a major problem. SOME VIDEO TAPES MAY NOT BE
PROPERLY RECORDED, THE IMAGE KEEPS BLINKING AND CHANGING COLORS TONE EVERY 2
SECONDS.
I am going to explain now how I do the recordings:
Video1 is connected to the tv unit (video1 scart/out to tv scart/in) and
receives movie image from video2 (video1 scart/in to video2 scart/out). So
far so good!
What happens is that some movies go crazy when are played from video2 to
video1. I put the tape in video2 and play it, video1 receives the image all
messed up, and if I take the same tape and play it directly in video1 it
plays just fine!
There is some stuff on the tape that makes it impossible to send the tape
signal to another video, maybe the signal is weak or it’s some kind of
hi-tech stuff to prevent recordings.
Thinking the problem was the video2 unit I switched the videos and the
problem persists!
I’m getting desperate here, I spent a lot of money buying two video
recorders and now this happens!
What could this be? Some say it’s some kind of code to prevent recording
movies (that is illegal).
But if it is true it has been implemented only in the last 3 or 4 years
right? The amazing part is that it has happened to me with a 1988 tape!
I don’t know what to do. Is there a solution?
Please contact me at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
THANX
Sérgio Redondo
. Answer: Sergio, your hook up is correct. But many pre recorded tapes , even
old ones contain Copy-Guard. This "Hi-Tech" signal, or lack of it, will
not allow you to record a copy. There are video stabilizers on the
market that will help. Look in the back of video magazines in their add
section. For less then $100.00 US.m/j
. Question: I am in the market for a new Home Theater/Sound System. Like
others were saying there is so much out there to choose from that it is
overwhelming. Could you tell me if this is a good set up?
Receiver - Denon AVR3200 $899.00
Sub - Velodyne VA1012X $450.00
Rear - PCM AV Alpha $185.00 Pair
Center - PCM 200ci $200.00
Front - PCM 600i $395.00 Pair
----------------
$2,129.00
.....and would you suggest the Yamaha RXV793 Receiver for $740.00 over the
Denon listed above?
Thanks in Advance Russ McBride
. Answer: Russell, your choice of equipment sounds good. Both the Yamaha and
the Denon are good receivers. I would sit down and play with each one for
a while. See which one is easy to use or seems the most logical in it's
layout for "you". Yamaha also makes an RXV992 (bigger is better
right?)that you could probably find for $899.00 it's street price is
$999.95 but look for a sale. m/j
. Question: Hello. I had a small question. I've got an older model
television/w-out audio out. I'd like to use it with my stereo. Any
ideas on how to do this? Maybe there is a convertor. The simplest way
would be to purchase a VCR, but id like to get around that. Thanks in
advance. Ryan
. Answer: Ryan, If your TV has an earphone jack, use it to hook up to your
stereo. If it doesn't, then check with Radio Shack to see if they
have any old gadgets that we used back several years ago, where we
would disconnect the TV's speakers and attach the leads to a small
device that had load resisters in it. This gadget then would hook up
to the auxiliary input on the stereo. BE WARNED!!! Some TV's' can get
damaged by doing this. I know from experience. Your better off buying
a VCR and using its audio outputs to hook to your stereo. Get a stereo
VCR, even a cheap one will do the job. m/j
. Question: Mark---I would really appreciate your input on what is the best make /
model of cassette deck for recording compact discs. I want to record CDs
onto cassette for use in my car. Also, where is the best (cheapest) place
to purchase them. Thanks much for your help.
J. David Wynne
. Answer: David, A couple of decks come to mind for recording from CD's to then
play in a car system. One is Sony TCWR605 for about $200.00. The other
is Yamaha KXW492 for about $250.00. If money is no object, you might
see if you can find the Nakamichi Dragon, it was about the best deck
out there for about $2000.00. I don't think it's still in production.
Call Yamaha for a dealer near you (1.800.4Yamaha). Call Sony
for the same at (1.800.222Sony). The step up models from these two
decks are also good but I don't think you will notice much of a
difference when you play them in your car. m/j
. Question: I already got Onkyo receiver TX-SV545 (Dolby Digital Ready), Paradigm Monitor
5, Paradigm CC-350, and Jamo Surround 200 as my rear speakers.I plan to upgrade
my system to Dolby Digital (AC-3). My problem right now is to decide which
power subwoofer is match with my system. Now I'm considering Velodyne VA-8100X
or Paradigm Subwoofer PS-1000. So, in your opinion, which ones is better and
give a lot of bass?
. Answer: USOFH- Both subs would work fine in your system. I would take a good
listen to Velodyne or NHT. Both are great manufactures and both have a
good line of subs. m/j
. Question: Mark, I just bought a Harman-Kardon AVR85 receiver, and a I have a
question about hooking up my Velodyne FSX-12 subwoofer. I was expecting
to use the 'Sub Out' jack on the receiver, but then I read a 'special
note' in the Velodyne manual for home theater users NOT to use the 'Sub
Out' jack, but to connect in the traditional way (receiver speaker
output to subwoofer, then back to the speakers). I guess it's a case of
conflicting crossovers. What's your take on this? I was hoping to avoid
running 8 wires across the room.
Thanks in advance for your help.
. Answer: Dave, I would not use the sub out either. I would use the "front
pre-amp outputs" if your receiver has them, and I think it does.
If it does, just run a set of good audio cables from the pre-amp
outputs from the receiver to the line inputs on the the sub. But
if your receiver doesn't have pre-amp outputs then it looks like
you need to use the speaker jacks.m/j
. Question: My tv is the older style, only has regular coxial cable hook up,
but the vcr has a RCA jack in for the video. the question is, I just purchased
a DVD and the s style jack coming out of the card will not plug into TV or VCR
becausethere are no s video connectors. We went to Circuit City and purchased
an RCA cable connector that did not work. The cable that came with the DVD kit
has the S video connection on two ends plus RCA connection on one end. We
connected the RCA to the input video on the VCR that did not work. How do we
hook DVD up to VCR using the RCA jack because neither the tv nor the vcr has
the s video hook up. I must use the RCA jack to connect. The vcr has yellow
video in and out and audio in and out jacks on the back. I hooked it in the in
and the out video jack but it did not work. What am I doing wrong.
Thanks for your time. mike.
. Answer: Mike, the hook up is simple, but the VCR needs to be switched to
"line in". You should hook up "video out" from the DVD to "video in" on
the VCR using RCA type jacks. Then switch your VCR to "line in"
sometimes called AUX or just input on the remote or on the front of the
VCR. You also need to make sure the tv/vcr switch is on, on your VCR.
If your not sure what that is, just put a pre-recorded tape in your
VCR and press play to view it on your TV, once you see the tape then
just press stop. Doing that will set the tv/vcr switch to on. There is
also a button on the remote that will do the same thing, but most people
don't know what it is. Dont forget to also hookup a set of audio cables
from the DVD to the VCR. m/j
. Question: Hi Mark; hope you can help.
I wired a warehouse for sound(I'm not a pro. I work in the warehouse)-The
warehouse is so big that we set up 4 150 watt JBL's-two in the front and
two in the back. The wire,12 gauge, is run about 300 feet and sliced into
each other at about 150 feet so that only one set of inputs reach the amp.
The amplifier has two sets of inputs but it was decided to run into only
one. The amplifier is 150 watts and runs into a receiver amplifier of 200
watts. We have several probs......our original hookup was to output from
the receiver to the amp from the tape rec out via RCA jacks. This wouldn't
allow us any volume control from the receiver and the amp would cut out
after 3 hours of use. So we tried outputting from the speaker jacks via
wire to the inputs of the amplifier and out to the speakers-kinda like a
loop-and this solved our volume control prob but gave us a new one. The
receiver continuously goes into "protect" mode. I tried turning up the
gains on the amp but it only bought us time-not much about 1 hour. The
results are the same protect keeps coming up. So we scrapped the wires
output idea and were using the pre out as our output from the receiver.
This brought us right back to the original prob. I've tried every
combination of output-input I could think of but nothing seems to do the
trick......Please tell me if I'm wrong on the setup-if I just don't have
enough power-if the splice in the wire is effecting it?etc.
Thank you very much for your time.
Anthony.
. Answer: Anthony, The first thing you should do is run a speaker wire to each
speaker back to the amp. If your receiver has speaker " A & B" hook ups
in the back, hook up one pair on "A" and one pair on "B". Don't use the
amp just yet. This should work just fine. Make sure your splices in the
wire are clean, tight and no shorts. Be sure the positive and negative
leads are all correct, on the speakers and the receiver. Now if you want to
hook up the amp. You need a pre-amp output (not a record output).
But use both speaker connections on the amp. Hook up two left speakers
to one output and two right speakers to the other speaker output.m/j
. Question: I just bought two speakers yesterday, I need to know if I was
riped off or not. They are grafdale speakers, 300 w, freq. resp.
22khz, 96 db, 8 ohms. That was 300w each. I don't know much about them. I
bought them from some guy I met for a
"great deal", I wish I didn't but it's to late. I spent $360 for the set
Canadian, bran new. He said they are worth $2000 for the set. Can you help
me out.
Thanks alot
. Answer: Franco, If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. There are
many facets in building a speaker. There is one facet in building it
cheap. Buy cheap material. Although these guys that sell speakers out
of a van are all over the place now, but what happens when you need it
repaired or you want to exchange them for something else? I'll bet they
will be a little hard to find. But these speakers probably sound OK for
now. At least you didn't pay all that much. These will be a good
startup speaker for you, while your ears becomes educated going to some
of the better audio stores, listening to real quality speakers, like
NHT, and the new reformed Acoustic Research, thanks to Recoton. In any
case use good quality cable to hook them up with. That never hurts. m/j
. Question: Mark - Thanks for a great site! I am a first time home owner and
would like to add a home theatre speaker system (Bose Acoustimass-10, 5pc + sub)
to my downstairs family room and run wire to my upstairs living room and attach
an additional speaker system (Bose Acoustimass-5, 2pc + sub). I currently have
a Sony Str-D565 A/V reciever. It has 60 W in front and center channels and 20W
in the rear channel. Will I have enough power and inputs to accomodate all this
equipment? Thanks again
. Answer: Eric, although Bose may say that the 60 watt receiver will drive their
speakers OK, it really isn't enough to drive one set properly, much less
two. These are nice quaint small speakers but sound best with a nice big
amp. Try a receiver that is high wattage and high current. Look at
Yamaha RXV series, Denon or Harmon Kardon. If you are looking for a
very hi quality sound and haven't bought your speakers yet, although
more money, listen to NHT super one's, or super zero's with an NHT SW2P
powered sub woofer. They are small bookshelf speakers, and a typical
boxy sub that will knock your socks off. Remember use good wire in your
installation.m/j
. Question: I've hooked up my stereo vcr directly to my receiver via A/V cables
(both Sony components). When stereo sound is active on cable, the system works
fine and I can get dolby surround sound. However, when I play a movie with
stereo/dolby sound, the vcr plays the movie in mono. The instructions for the
vcr said that hooking up the vcr by A/V cables should allow me to view movies
in stereo. I have also hooked up my vcr to the TV, then to the receiver.
I still can't get movies to play in stereo. Can this a problem with the vcr?
Thanks for your help.
. Answer: Peter,
The best sound quality from your VCR will be the hook up direct to your receiver.
Just be sure you are selecting the correct input on your receiver, the input that your
VCR is plugged into not the input your TV is plugged into. One thing that you might
check is your VCR setup. Somewhere on your VCR you can select it to play in mono
not stereo. On late model VCR's it is found in the on-screen menu settings. On older
VCR's it's somewhere on the front panel or remote. m/j
. Question: Hi I just came upon your sight searching for audio help and I hope you
can help.
Ok Im an idiot when it comes to this stuff so I dont really know what to
look for. I would like to buy a CD player and reciever to go with some
speakers I have. What is the important things I need to know and to look
for? Do I have to match up the ohms or watts from the speakers, to that
on the reciever? Also I've read that I could use a preamp and a poweramp
instead of a reciever.. is that a good idea? (no I dont need radio)
I dont have the speakers with me so I cant tell you what the exact stats
are but they are 4 technics speakers. (They do sound very good, Im
buying them from the CD store I work in) Will having 4 speakers make a
difference on what I have to buy from the usual 2 speakers?
I hope you can find time to answer some of my questions...
Thanks
Ben
. Answer: Ben,you don't need to match up watts or ohms if you buy the right
power amp. Damage to speakers is usually caused from too small of an amp
producing distortion. You will want to make sure the power amp can handle low
impedance loads if your going to use 4 speakers. Separate pre and power amps
are usually better then a receiver but a more expensive way to go. m/j
. Question: I'm a home theater buff looking to buy a new TV, and I'm not sure which set
would make the best choice. Currently I am looking at the Sony 35XBR48 and the
Toshiba widescreen TW40F80 RPT. I have a Sony 27" XBR and love the quality -
and I've seen the 35" and think it's brilliant looking. I wouldn't want to
skimp when it comes to picture quality. However, the thought of having a
widescreen TV for around $2000 intrigues me, as I watch DVDs and laserdiscs.
But I have no experience with the Toshiba, or Toshiba products of any kind -
and frankly, I'm skeptical. I've heard good things and bad about Toshiba
products. Also, my living room has considerable sunlight during the day, and
at night I generally watch TV with the lights on (I'm not interested in
darkening the whole downstairs just to watch TV). Can the Toshiba be viewed in
normal available light? Any help you might be able to give me would be greatly
appreciated. Thank you.
. Answer: Jeff, forget the Toshiba. The Sony 35XBR48 is a great TV. m/j
. Question: I have a 53' sony T.V and A full surround sound pro-logic system
except for a center speaker and I wanted to use the speaker in my T.V as the
center speaker is it possible with a Pioneer VSX-453 receiver ? if so, how
can i do it? thank you.
. Answer: Ali, two things to check (1) if your Sony 53" is an XBR series check it's
owners manual on how to hook up your receiver to the center channel connection
on the back of the big screen. If it's not an XBR it may not have that
connection. (2) Your receiver has speaker terminal jacks for it's center
channel, if it also has a center channel output that uses an RCA phono
connection, you can run a shielded cable audio from that output to the big
screen's audio input. On the back of the big screen it will have left & right
audio inputs. Use the left audio input. It should also be marked ( mono left ).
If it's not, use a Y connector to hook up both left & right inputs from the one
center output. Now, you have to have your VCR or DVD/Laser player hooked up to
your receiver as the source. You also have to adjust the volume on your big
screen about 3/4 of the way up, and switch it's input to "Video 1", if thats
where you hooked up the RCA Connection. If nothing here works let me know, I
know of one other thing for you to try besides buying a center channel speaker.
Of course that would be the best thing to do. m/j
. Question: I'm looking to buy an AC-3 PreAmp for my Sony DVP-7000 and am not
sure which one to buy. I was thinking of the Marantz AV-550 any reason why I
shouldn't get this preamp (I know about the remote) I was hoping to spend
around $1000 but am willing to go higher any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.
Thanks, Jeff
. Answer: Jeff, the Marantz AV-550 is just fine. But when you shop
for your new hometheater gear make sure your salesperson qualifies you. This
is someone who asks you a lot of questions about what you want from your new
system. Take into consideration DTS as well as AC-3. You may want to be able
to play both systems. m/j
. Question: Hi, I hope you can find time to answer my question. As someone new
to Home Theatre I am confused on the subject of connection of subwoofers and
speakers. Some subs come with a single connection LFE in which connects back
to the receiver LFE out others come with two RCA connections l and r. Would
these two connect to pre out main on the receiver? Also, some subs come with
speaker level connections both in and out, should speakers be connected off
the sub or directly off the receiver which is better? Just how should subs and
speakers be connected?
Hopelessly confused,
Mike
.Answer: Mike, It gets even better! If you are setting up a sub to work in a
5.1 system, hook it up to the LFE output even if you use a "Y" adapter to hook
up L & R inputs. But if it's in any other system use the preouts of your amp
or receiver if you can or the speaker outputs as the second choice. If you
have bookshelf speakers that can't handle a lot of bass then use the speaker
outputs on the sub to hook up your speakers to the sub. It is best to not use
the sub out on most receivers if you can keep from it. m/j
. Question: Hi Mark, Thanks for your quick reply, I appreciate it!
I have another question for you. I have seen a sub at costco for $289
Cdn, it is a 100 amp rms 300 amp peak, called David-300. I have not
heard of this company before (they are in Montreal Quebec), I called
them to see what kind of direct buy price I might get from them but
could only get them to quote me local retail price of $569 Cdn. I wonder
if you have any opinion on that box or have heard the opinion of other
people?
Regards,
MIke.
. Answer: Mike, there are many good subs out there. I would recommend sticking
with a good brand like NHT or Velodyn. You will find these at good audio
stores. Wattage isn't always the best thing in subs, although it's part of it.
NHT has a separate amp with their sub. I like that. It makes it easy to adjust
for different movies and music, and their subs are tight not boomy sounding.
A poor built sub can produce a lot of distortion and can muddy up the low end,
so listen to them first and look at the construction for a strong built box.
m/j
. Question: Over the past 20+ years I have built a good (but now old) audio system. Our 26" TV is
a recent enough purchase to use for awhile. But, what I'm wanting to do is start from scratch
and build a home theater system. Having $1000.00 to start with, is it the receiver (Dolby
Digital) that is the first purchase? Speakers...second?...DVD player? I have been looking at
the Yamaha R-V1103 and the Demon AVR 3200 for the receiver. Speakers, I'm sure?
Any thoughts would be a great help.
Thanks in advance, RWB
. Answer: Robert, here are my thoughts. If you want to build an A/V system
from your present system then here is what I would do. Start with speakers.
They will make the biggest change in your system performance. Look at quality
brands like, NHT (NowHearThis) B&W, Klipsch, Acoustic Research, Advent, the
list goes on. First purchase a sub and front speakers like a pair of NHT 2.5i
with SW2 sub. Then buy the surround sound receiver and add the NHT center and
rear speakers to match those 2.5i. If you can afford it buy the NHT 2.9's, WOW
great sound but you need a very good surround amplifier to drive them and they
lean toward music not video but they will still sound good for video. Hey it's
only money. That's what we work for isn't it?, God first, our families second
and our toy's for the rest of our lives, correct ?? m/j Did I tell you I am a
new granddad!!!
. Question: I just picked up a sony STR-DE525 receiver,and I need to know how I
can Hook Up my Toshiba SD-3107 DVD player,so I can use the 5.1 Audio.I
picked them both up at BestBuy, Open box,no Manuals. Raheem
. Answer: Raheem, on the back of the Toshiba SD-3107 is a set of L&R audio outputs.
These will hook up to the DVD audio input on the back of the receiver for Dolby Pro logic
Surround, not 5.1. The Sony STR-DE525 is AC-3 " READY". This means it has 6 inputs
on the back to come from an AC-3 processor. Such as the ones built into some
DVD players but not your Toshiba SD-3107. M/J
. Question: I'm upgrading my HT to DVD and would still like to maintain a dedicated
cd player in my system. My question: Although DVD players can play audio cd's,
will a good-quality separate player produce higher quality musicality than the
DVD players as a whole? Please recommend a few in the 800 to 1500 dollar range.
Any other comments, input most welcome. Thanks - Michael
. Answer: Michael, sorry this response has taken so long. But here it is.
I would say if you are real sensitive to quality sound and understand what music " live "
should sound like, then I would suggest a separate good quality CD player.
The DVD players in the upper price ranges like Sony & Pioneer sound good, but not
quite as good as a stand alone CD player. A great DVD player would be Sony DVPS-7000.
A good CD player would be Sony CDPXA 20ES, or Cal Labs CD player at about $1500.00.
There are a lot of great CD players at around $700.00 to $1500.00. So take
your favorite music with you to the nearest quality audio store and have
fun listening. M/J
. Question: Mark: Thanks much for taking the time to respone to my cd player query and
for your recommendations. At this point in my upgrade plans, the following
are possibilities for a dedicated cd player: 1) CalAudio DX-2 ; 2) Cambridge
Audio CD6 and 3) Denon DCD 1650. Can you furnish me with some input,
opinion, suggestions regarding these possibilities and perhaps recommend
others? Also, am thinking of purchasing the Denon DVD3000 which received a
rather favorable review in SGHT recently. DTS on-board reading/decoding is a
requirement, so the Sony S7000 is apparently out of the running. Thanks
again for your help, time and thoughtfulness. Best regards-Michael
. Answer: Michael, I like all three cd players. I would probably go with the Denon DCD
1650 and the Denon DVD player, both are good choices. Denon has always had a good
reputation for quality and reliability. M/J
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