paradigm

[red930]

Depending on the system people hear anything from no difference to WOW. It's really satisfying when a minor change results in such a positive outcome.

Here's a shot of mine tri-amped.

 

I think sometimes it's just a question of having enough juice to properly power them. My H/K AVR-7200 does okay with my Eros...but I really miss my old Citation 16 power amp. I don't remember why I sold it but it damn well better have been a good reason.

 

And Dan, they had a had a chart from paradigm saying almost 80% of the sound comes from the center speaker, so i kinda like the idea of not having one. I have a nice 5.1 setup for my pc, and i don't agree with that chart, unless home theatre 5.1 is that much different than pc 5.1. I barely notice the center channel, and it's sitting right in front of my monitor, about 1 1/2 feet away from my face.

I don't like the idea that a small center channel $peaker, even a Paradigm, is going to be 80% of sound. The chart said the surrounds get about 22% and the rear gets 8%.

 

Well, 80% of important audio (i.e. dialogue) is going to come from the center channel. I've always found it to be distracting though, even when using the same speaker for every channel. Running without it I've enjoyed a much better movie experience.

[jaz]

Those are nice cables, Praz, they look like the ones they use in the showroom to demo different speaks. Wow. I bet thy cost too. I have the paradigm focus sitting here connected to the "b" channell Just so i could hear them. They say on the back focus v.3 high definition speakers.

 

They do sound really good. My old denon with it's 45 watts per channel can push all of them at the same time with no problem. i hardly have to turn it up. Denon makes very powerful clean bass. Even before i bi-wired them, i could feel the bass very deep and growling. and i could hear the bass drum hit seperatly from the bass note distinctivly.

 

I was wrong on that chart, Dan, it said, 50-something % of the sound comes from center, not 80 like i said before. You reassure me about not even liking the center channel. I felt like it was overkill from the 1st time i ever heard of it anyway. I don't need a center speaker, especially now that the soundfield has improved so much. It's like you can't tell as much as before where the sound is coming from. and i don't even want a sub, so it's 4 channel for me. but it's still going to be great. :cool:

[Praz]

The cables are kind of a joke here at the house. Every year my wife asks what I want for Christmas. I always say "nothing". One Christmas she kept on me and finally I said speaker cables. She said that had to be the dumbest thing she ever heard. I told her a nice set of cables would be a good present. She gave in and told me to get them since she wouldn't have a clue what to ask for and she'd pay for them. Should have saw the look on her face when I handed her the bill. No need to post what the cost was but suffice it to say they weren't cheap. The center conductor is silver.

 

Imaging is a big problem with center channel speakers. That's why I went through a number of revisions building mine. With a properly blended system a person shouldn't be able to tell the sound is coming from the center channel.

[jaz]

I bet she'll be picking out your presents from now on...heh. :eek2:

I'm waiting for the ups guy to drop off my optical and component cables i ordered online. Nothing fancy like you got, but double shielded and gold plated contacts are at least manditory. I got one optical cable for the hd cable box to reciever, and one for dvd to reciever, then component cables for both to the reciever and one set to tv-(32" sony trinitron flat screen wega).

 

Recently I bought the sony kdl-40xbr2 and hooked it up with an hdmi cable, and even though i know it's probably one of the best ones made, regular cable broadcast channels looked like crap. I wsn't very impressed with the hd channels either. It didn't look like the 1080i feed they give their tv's in the store (best buy) so i brought it back and my tv looks much better with hd box and component cables. The optical cables are for sound only. So i will be getting digital sound from any true digital source.

 

I never heard of hd speakers before i bought these focus v.3 before though. I wonder what the difference is technically. all i know is, i had to get them because i know i would've wished i bought them every time i turned my set on. Now i just gotta pummel the credit card till it's all paid up.

[Praz]

I don't think I've actually went and got my own presents since. lol

 

It takes a long time to put a nice system together. I've been working on mine for quite a few years and still no quite finished.

[jaz]

I don't think they ever get quite finished. There's always something new and/or improved to add or upgrade to. Now we've got the hd dvd-blu-ray war, and I was just reading an article somewhere that congress is debating whether or not to allow radio stations to broadcast a digital signal. I couldn't tell when that article was written though...no date...just month and day.

 

Kudos to Travis for expanding this forum for us to discuss a braoder range of things. Nice to have a place to discuss so many things with people you get to know and trust online. I just looked at my join date. Hard to believe it's been alomst two years! The older we get, the faster time flys by.

 

I thought this was already being done. The article said it would cost a radio station about $75,000 to upgrade everything to digital. I called my favorite station in Troy, NY (WRPI-91.5fm) it's a college station that went fm in '68 and I've been listening and calling in some talk shows for over 30 years.

 

It's a progressive news and music station that plays the best of all kinds of music. It's one of the only reasons i don't move away from this area, besides the spring water and general geological safety of the northeast states. I live about 10 miles from the Mass/NY border, and wrpi's transmitter is about 70 miles away, over a big mountain.

They do braodcast from their website www.wrpi.org. I'm guessing that might be digital and not anologue? I dunno.

 

I have a 100' long coaxial cable running up to the attic to 2 big tv antenaes facing the fm stations in Albany and Troy area, and i get them in really good. I can turn the volume up 1/2 way somedays and can barely hear a hiss. Love it. RPI stands for Rensailear Polytecknic Institute, Where they have their station in the basement.

 

I've been offered a slot to do a show in the past, but declined, because of the long drive and commitment. It was tempting, though.

 

Speaking of time, It's time to eat! Me tummy is growling. On a parting note, i finally thought of a custom caption for my user name. It came from the movie "The Island."

 

Wow! wrpi is off the air cuz of summer break (some emty time slots) so i am listening to PIX106.5 from Albany and they just now said they are broadcasting in digital! I've never heard them say that until just now! Twilight zone $hit...long post...i was bored...lol.

 

update; Even though pix106.5 said they're broadcasting in digital, which i kinda doubt they actually are, my reciever says the signal is anologue. My tv and dvd optical digital sorces say digital on the reciever when i play them, so i know it works ok.

I joined an (owners club" on Denons site and will call to ask them some questions. Such as if i give them the serial #, can they pull up the work order sheet to see why it was returned, and what, if anything, was fixed.

 

So far, everything seems to be in great working order. This thing is freakin' amazing. It does everything except make me breakfast. The sound is incredible. So many options. It will take me weeks to learn all this thing can do and the effects i can differentiate. :shake: