AV RantAV Rant #602: The One Where Rob Almost Died

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AV Rant #602: The One Where Rob Almost Died

August 3rd, 2018 Tom

Our Listeners of the Week are Robert for his donation, our 61 Patreon Patrons, including Jorge S., Michael I. for letting HSU know he bought a VTF-3 MK5 HP subwoofer because of our recommendation, and Ash for creating our new 600th episode logo and lower third graphics for us!

In the news, Vizio launched their flagship P-Series Quantum TV. Samsung will make “The Wall”, their microLED display, available in 2019 for the “luxury” consumer market. And Sony debuted their “Master Series” A9F OLED and Z9F LCD TVs ahead of their Fall release.

David F. tells us his experience with the miniDSP Wi-DG WiFi to USB Bridge.

0:17:48 Cesar gets some settings help for HDMI-ARC between his Sony TV and Marantz AV Receiver, and we suggest the Marantz 2016 AVR Remote App as a way to view info that the small front panel display does not provide.

0:25:13 Brandon N. gets our thoughts on potential reasons why his new Center speaker sounds “hollow”, and we detail the Aperion Audio Verus Grand Center and Ascend Acoustics Sierra Horizon RAAL speakers that we use.

0:30:25 Sushmit gets our take on active digital speaker crossovers, and our opinions on whether or not to absorb side wall reflections.

0:39:32 Ilango wants to know if setting his PC’s audio output to the same bitrate and sampling frequency as the original source will make his external DAC and headphone amp sound any better.

0:43:01 Luke K. gets our opinions on active noise cancelling vs. passive isolation. We mention the Shure Bluetooth Accessory Cable and Avantree Clipper Pro as ways to convert his Shure in-ear monitors into Bluetooth earphones, or the RBH EP-SB as a replacement. And we discuss sound being directional and crossover settings.

0:55:39 Infinite Gary asks about THX certified DVDs and THX Re-EQ, running digital coax audio cable close to a power cord, why track title information doesn’t always show up on his player’s front display, and what he might be able to do to improve the lip sync of his streaming sources.

1:05:00 Earle B. has pre-terminated speaker cable meant for bi-wiring, so he asks what to do with it since his new speakers only have one pair of binding posts.

1:06:50 Josh S. wants to know how an SVS Featured Home Theater by a fellow named Jeff manages to make use of 10 overhead speakers with a Denon X8500H Receiver.

1:10:04 Nick B. wants to know if the color banding he sees when viewing streaming services will improve with the purchase of a new streaming box or a new TV. We talk about Sony and LG’s banding-reduction processing. And we talk about huge OLED or microLED displays replacing projection setups in our homes.

>1:21:41 Mike S. gets our recommendation for RBH in-wall speakers if in-walls are a must, be we’d much prefer to use Focal Super Bird or RBH Ultra-1 on-wall speakers to avoid punching big holes in his double drywall.

1:25:31 Bob gets some clarification about Brightness, Contrast, OLED Light, and Dynamic Contrast settings for his TV.

1:30:03 Travis D. says he has a nearly inaudible noise floor, but he wants to know where the last, tiny bit of noise is coming from, and how he might eliminate it.

1:35:24 Michael I. gets some further details about the Game Mode variant of the DTS Neural:X Upmixer. Then we talk about our favorite Atmos speakers, including: for upward-firing Modules, the PSB Imagine XA and Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-140SA; for on-ceiling, the Focal Little Bird and KEF E301; and for in-ceiling, the Outdoor Speaker Depot MK650.

1:41:42 Jack R. tries to get us in trouble by asking about Chane Music & Cinema.

1:48:26 Neil M. wants to know if we think his room would benefit from more acoustic panels, where he should put them, and which of the various GiK Acoustics panels with or without diffusion he should buy, which prompts us to remind him that Acoustimac offers printed art panels at attractive prices.

1:55:51 Chris M. gets our recommendation for the Audio Source AMP100 or Dayton Audio APA102 amplifiers to power the additional speakers in his Atmos setup. And for step up options to power his Front three speakers, we suggest the Emotiva BasX A-5175 or Monoprice Monolith 3X.

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