Home > Podcast > AV Rant #539: Bro Fist Bump

AV Rant #539: Bro Fist Bump

May 19th, 2017

Our Listeners of the Week are Daniel, William, and Marc for their donations.

In the news, TCL announced their P-Series LCD TVs with Roku, FALD, Dolby Vision, and low prices.

Bill C. and Daniel M. both jumped on our advice from last week and bought themselves Harmony Hub-based remotes.

Dan S. wants excellent 2.0 desktop sound from small, affordable, USB speakers, so we suggest the AudioEngine A2+. He’s also looking for a 1080p Ultra Short Throw projector, so we recommend the NEC U312H (or ceiling mounting a regular home theater projector). Wesley M. likes BrickWall surge protectors and wants to know why we don’t talk about them. And Henry asks about SPL Meter readings and subwoofer trim level settings.

Luke has a small room, and he wonders how important it is to have a subwoofer that can play down to 20Hz strictly for music. He wants smaller, more affordable subwoofer options, so we suggest the HSU VTF-1 Mk3, RSL Speedwoofer 10S, and Emotiva BasX S12. Ty W. has his basement room stripped down to the studs and wants our recommendation for which Atmos speaker layout will be best for him. And Infinite Gary asks about upmixing content when you have an Atmos setup, as well as our thoughts on IsoAcoustics isolation stands.

Topher H. has a row house and wants speaker and subwoofer suggestions. We suggest Ascend Acoustics HTM-200SE or NHT Super Series speakers with either an SVS PC-2000 cylinder subwoofer or Dual SVS SB-2000. Christopher M. wants to upgrade to Ascend Acoustics speakers. Tom thinks he should start with a Front pair, while Rob thinks he should get L/C/R Sierra-1 with the option to get Sierra-2 Upgrade Kits later. And Tara B. is replacing a small speaker package in stages at a time. For under $500/pair speaker we suggest: RBH Impression R5Bi, Focal Bird, KEF Q300, Ascend CBM-170SE, SVS Prime, Aperion Audio Intimus, or NHT SuperOne 2.1. And we also discuss layout and acoustic treatments for her room.

Justin B. wonders why his vinyl isn’t sounding as good as he remembers in his new setup. He asks about closed-back planar headphones, where we agree the Audeze EL-8 Closed- Back are a top choice. We mention Tom’s favorite company name for headphone amps like the Schiit Audio Magni 2 or Schiit Lyr 2. And we give out a ton of under $1,000/pair speaker suggestions, including: SVS Ultra, Aperion Verus II Grand, KEF R100, Focal Aria 905, Emotiva Airmotiv T1, Paradigm Monitor, PSB Imagine, Energy Veritas, Salk Song, Mission, Dali, Linn, and Monitor Audio. Jonathan F. asks about the Legacy Audio Wavelet and some of the exotic speaker designs at AXPONA. And Earle B. wants a flagship Receiver with a “7 channel stereo” listening mode, so we suggest the Yamaha RX-A3070.

Cesar D. has a question about pronouncing “timbre”. Jefferson G. is getting noise and interference in his audio and video that seems to be coming from his motorized projector screen. And Ted M. gets our thoughts on the SUBPAC wearable tactile transducer.

Marc N. is going from maximum lumens to maximum performance in a 1080p projector, so we recommend the Epson 5030UB. Mahi has an acoustically transparent screen and wants to know if he should use three Tower speakers or two Towers and a horizontal Center. And Neil F. has an LG plasma TV and wants to know how to deactivate its overscan.

Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

  • Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
  • Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
  • Visit Tom's website for download links as well as links for the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
  • Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
  • Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

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  1. Martin D
    May 23rd, 2017 at 00:55 | #1

    Just a note on the Yamaha RX-3070 recommendation, the pre-outs on the Yamaha are all hot. You do not need to select a power amp configuration to use them. I run an Emotiva XPA-5 for the bed channels from the a RX-3050’s pre-outs and have the receiver’s amps handle the overhead Atmos channels without utilizing any power amp assignment.

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