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I have a denon x4400h and use the fact that it’s AirPlay compatible a fair amount E: To be clear I really don’t think you NEED a new receiver either Dogen fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 12, 2025 |
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Feb 12, 2025 06:08
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Thirding the Apple TV recommendation. The streaming apps are good, it should let you control everything via remote, and lets you play Apple Music. If your receiver and speakers get loud enough for your liking, I don't think you need a new receiver. That means your receiver has enough power to drive your speakers.
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Feb 12, 2025 14:32
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Found a killer deal for a used NAD T778 at the local electronics recycler. Finished the initial setup and did a dirac live config. This bad boy sounds so good, much better than the onkyo I was using. Also works with Roon out the box (albeit only in stereo, hopefully blusound updates bluOS to handle surround sound files down the road). I think I'm set for the next while.
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Feb 13, 2025 02:45
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I had an AudioSource AD1002 that went kaput. Didn't even last 4 years, which sucks. Opened it up to diagnose and it was totally hosed with bad bias on all the ICs while the supply looked fine. Is there any other 2-zone, rackmount amplifier I should take a look at before getting another one? My use case is being able to cast to an AirPlay Target (I use an AirPort Express with the stereo out) to stereo speakers in 2 distinct zones. This one was nice because it would detect the AirPort Express output and "wake up", going back to sleep afterward. Hed fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Feb 23, 2025 |
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Feb 23, 2025 20:54
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I'm having a strange issue with my system. I recently noticed that when I set up my 4k bluray player, I had ran it through the receiver (which doesn't support 4k video output) instead of connected directly to my television. The television is connected directly to the audio in on the receiver through ARC. When I changed this (putting the 4k player to the tv, now every time I turn on my tv (i use apple tv for most viewing) the sound cuts out about every 2 seconds for a millisecond and then comes back. When I switch to the receiver as my source on the TV, and then switch back to the Apple TV the issue is gone. Any ideas? Sorry if this is not the right thread to ask this question.
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Mar 6, 2025 18:18
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You mentioned ARC so I’m gonna go on and say devices not playing nicely in that realm is your problem.
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Mar 6, 2025 18:34
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Dogen posted:You mentioned ARC so I’m gonna go on and say devices not playing nicely in that realm is your problem. Yup that was it. Changed a setting in the receiver menu and it seems to be fixed.
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Mar 6, 2025 21:31
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ARC, eARC and CEC are the unholy trinity of home theater. If you're having any sort of an issue, it's probably one of the three. I had CEC working across my entire system. I would turn everything on and off with my AppleTV remote, automatic input switching worked, everything was good. It stopped working at all a few weeks ago, and I had to pull out every remote. The culprit? One of my 6 HDMI input connections had gotten loose. That was enough to break the entire thing.
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Mar 6, 2025 22:58
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I just bought a house, and will be setting up a home audio system for the first time ever. Up until this point I have only ever just used built in speakers on my TV for audio, so I don't really know anything. I think I need to get a receiver that will sit below my living room TV. All my stuff like the Playstation and stuff like that will live under this living room TV. Right next to the living room is my kitchen which already has ceiling mounted speakers. The speaker wires to these kitchen speakers terminate to a spot right under where the TV will mount. My house also has built in ceiling speakers in my outside patio area. Also, in the living area I want a 5.1 surround system. The way I want it set up is is to have the kitchen speakers mirror the living room speakers. When I go to the kitchen, I can press a button maybe on a remote that turns on my kitchen speakers so I can continue listening to whats on my TV when I'm in the kitchen. When I done in the kitchen, I can turn off the kitchen speakers. The kitchen speakers will always be mirrored to the living room audio. There will never be a time when the kitchen speakers are playing something different than whats playing in the living room. Now for the outside patio speakers, they will never be mirrored to the audio in the living room. When I'm sitting out in my patio, and I want to listen to something, I can pull out my phone and just connect to something and have it play audio through the patio ceiling speakers. My question is should I look for one big receiver to do all of this, or would I be better off getting two receivers? Maybe one for the pation, and another one for kitchen/living room. I don't know anything about home audio, I'm a new bee, lol.
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Mar 9, 2025 16:17
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School of How posted:I just bought a house, and will be setting up a home audio system for the first time ever. Up until this point I have only ever just used built in speakers on my TV for audio, so I don't really know anything. really all depends on how its hooked up and what you already use to listen to music. Every receiver with multi-zone (that's the term you need to look for) has its own quirks and limitations when it comes to multizone audio and how easy it is to transfer between zones. You should be able to find a receiver that can do all of them at once or act as separates, but you'll need to do some research on each model you're looking at. patio can be much simpler. If you just use your phone and streaming apps for music, a small bluetooth enabled amp would be fine. You can get fancier 2ch stereos that can act as endpoints for various music software suites (Sonos, Roon etc) if you want to get a bit fancier and have a personal music collection you want to stream from. Take some time to research the basics, come up with a budget, and look at 2-3 receivers and if you have further questions, post the specifics here.
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Mar 9, 2025 16:57
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Anyone have any thoughts on ISO Pucks and any alternatives? Style and functionality (raise just a couple inches) wise they seem about like what I want, but also seem wildly overpriced.
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Mar 9, 2025 17:50
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Mr. Crow posted:Anyone have any thoughts on ISO Pucks and any alternatives? Style and functionality (raise just a couple inches) wise they seem about like what I want, but also seem wildly overpriced. If you're going for mostly style, the ISO pucks seem nice looking. If you're looking to isolate vibration in your speakers/turntable, you can probably achieve what you want with foam deadening pads, marble slab cutoffs or cement slabs for much cheaper.
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Mar 9, 2025 17:55
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Is there anything to worry about getting used speakers? Someone's selling a pair of B&W CDM 7NT just a few streets away from me for about $1k. They seem to be undamaged based on the photos. I can go over listen to them but I doubt I'd be able to tell anything without doing A/B tests since I have no experience testing out lots of speakers. There's also 703 not too far away for about $1.5k but that feels to more than what I'd want to spend and probably unnecessary.
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Mar 15, 2025 13:59
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They look good in that photo, if nothing else? Take the dust covers off the tweeters and inspect them closely, IIRC they're titanium dome and the internet thinks that the sound changes if they've ever been popped/buckled. Ask if they can hook them up for a listening test, and then play some music you know fairly well. Make sure to crank the volume enough that you can notice anything obviously wrong with the sound. If they refuse a listening test, walk away. Other than that, B&W makes generally decent speakers.
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Mar 15, 2025 15:16
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Yeah go listen to them using tunes you know well and listen out for any weird rattling or resonance. Chances are they're absolutely fine though, I doubt they'll have been cranked enough nor moved around enough to have gotten damaged.
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Mar 15, 2025 15:33
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I'm not sure if this is a thing or not, but it's it possible to connect two wireless headphone sets to the same TV to listen to at the same time? We want to try watching TV again after we finally put the toddler to bed, but live in a flat and can't risk the noise. We have a Frame TV with a Sonos soundbar, for reference. Are there receivers that would allow two simultaneous headphone outputs?
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Mar 16, 2025 17:12
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Fhqwhgads posted:I'm not sure if this is a thing or not, but it's it possible to connect two wireless headphone sets to the same TV to listen to at the same time? Others will know more about receivers and the like, but I got a bluetooth transmitter like this: https://avantree.com/products/audikast-3-bluetooth-transmitter-for-tv for this exact situation.
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Mar 16, 2025 17:22
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Yeah, I don't want to buy a receiver if I don't need one specifically for this, I just figured that would be the most straightforward solution. If there's a gadget like this that would work I'd be all for that instead.
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Mar 16, 2025 19:40
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Apple tv supports two pair of airpods
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Mar 16, 2025 20:16
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I'm still a little confused by the concept of setting the crossover. My setup is currently 4.1 with 2x KEF LS50 Meta fronts, 2x KEF R3 back, and an rp-1600 subwoofer. It's being calibrated with a UMIK-1 but I don't have the Bass Control so I need to set the crossover myself afaik. My receiver is a Pioneer and only allows very specific crossovers, something like 50, 80, 100, 150, 200. So far I've actually been enjoying the 150hz crossover, but isn't that insanely high? The standard THX recommendation is 80hz, so I'm more than doubling that. People say you should set it as low as your front speakers should go. But that seems weird to me? By setting a higher crossover, you take work off the speakers and presumably trim down on the resonance too, right?! The manual says my RP1600 goes from 14.5hz to 175hz +- 3db. Does that mean, to reduce load on the speakers and lower resonance, I should be running at 150hz crossover? Hope I'm making sense here. My concern is also driven (get it, driven!) by the fact that KEFs are low key known for people overdoing it and blowing the driver cones. e: for reference lol, not mine 
Taima fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Mar 18, 2025 |
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Mar 18, 2025 21:49
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I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping it at 150 Hz if it sounds subjectively good to you. Even at that frequency, our hearing has very poor directionality, so you're not likely to be able to tell the difference if you move that crossover up and down a bit, everything else being equal. About the risk of blowing them out like that, the question is how loud do you like to play? I think you have it right, that the higher the crossover, the less risk of blowing the woofers of your speakers by overextension. By removing more low-frequency material, you are making them work less hard and extend less. The question of whether they need offloading is very theoretical without knowing if you're playing really loud, like trying to reach reference level, or even the maximum rated output (106 dB). You could do some back of the envelope calculations using desired dB, speaker sensitivity, amp wattage, listener distance. If you have some margin left before your amp bottoms out and starts to distort, you are most likely fine. 106 dB is really loud in a home listening context. (You are much more likely to blow the speakers, especially the tweeters, if you overload your amplifier to the point of distorsion.) some website tells me posted:Movies are mixed to target a volume of 85dB with 20dB of headroom according to Dolby/THX standards. That means the loudest peaks will reach 105dB. (...) After calibration, setting your receiver to 0dB on the relative scale will mean reference level. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Mar 18, 2025 |
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Mar 18, 2025 22:07
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Those KEFs were designed for 2.0 use, so shouldn’t they be honky dory with an 80 Hz crossover?
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Mar 18, 2025 22:18
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Not what you asked but I'd swap the R3s and the LS50s and set it to 80Hz. R3s go lower and are also less likely to get blown as fronts doing heavier mid range duty. If you've already tried that config and like the LS50s better up front ignore me, but my ears prefer the R3s for this kind of use.
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Mar 18, 2025 22:36
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping it at 150 Hz if it sounds subjectively good to you. Even at that frequency, our hearing has very poor directionality, so you're not likely to be able to tell the difference if you move that crossover up and down a bit, everything else being equal. I see, thanks for such a detailed response. I do play my music loud at times, so blowing the LS50s out isn't really a concern probably, I'm more just trying to determine what the benefits are for lowering and raising the crossover. Subjectively, yeah, 150hz has been sounding really good... it just seemed odd because frankly I don't know a single person who sets it that high. aparmenideanmonad posted:Not what you asked but I'd swap the R3s and the LS50s and set it to 80Hz. R3s go lower and are also less likely to get blown as fronts doing heavier mid range duty. My setup is a bit odd, it's more like quasi-nearfield (I'm about 5-6 feet from each speaker in all directions, pointing at a desk that seats one person, very unusual). I did a bunch of testing and the LS50 Metas are just amazing nearfield when combined with a subwoofer. I didn't feel like the R3s were nearly as good in this particular setup but I am fully able to believe the R3s are superior L/R in a more typical home theater. The R3s dig way deeper and have a fantastic movie signature, but the LS50 Metas have this completely undefinable secret sauce when it comes to nearfield music that loving astonished me in my testing. The subtlety that they bring is something I haven't experienced before. Josh Lyman posted:Those KEFs were designed for 2.0 use, so shouldn’t they be honky dory with an 80 Hz crossover? I can believe that the R3s are designed to be used without a sub. The LS50s are decidedly not, they're a whole different thing.
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Mar 19, 2025 17:15
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Looking at the specs I would try setting it at 80 and see what you think. Unless you’ve already done that and like 150 better then more power to you
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Mar 19, 2025 17:23
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I had it at 80 for weeks because that's what everyone says to do. Then I set it at 100 and liked it better, then I set it at 150 and liked it even better, but began to wonder if I was just being an idiot because no one seems to recommend 150, hence this thread. There is a thread I don't have the URL for offhand on an audio forum that said you should do at least 100 on the LS50 Metas which is what led me down this whole rabbit hole. I understand what crossover does but could find almost no information on reasoning and benefits to setting the crossover so extremely high...
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Mar 19, 2025 17:25
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That's because it's mostly subjective and there is no real science behind it. There are general ideas that should be applied (Starting at 80Hz) and from there its a matter of tweaking until it Sounds Good To You. Of course, you could waste weeks and months tweaking every value to try and find your super sweet spot only to walk in one day and decide it was all wrong and start over. That's why DIRAC is good, it lets a machine decide it for you so you can get on with listening to music instead of test tones.
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Mar 19, 2025 17:33
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It might be a weird sweet spot with your particular setup. Who knows! Nominally I think the best thing to do is set each pair of speakers based on a reasonable assessment of their frequency response (or just focus on your fronts if you can’t set multiple crossovers) and then set the LPF to whatever your sub says. My sub has its own LPF and actually discards everything over 120 I think?
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Mar 19, 2025 17:42
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HKR posted:That's because it's mostly subjective and there is no real science behind it. There are general ideas that should be applied (Starting at 80Hz) and from there its a matter of tweaking until it Sounds Good To You. Of course, you could waste weeks and months tweaking every value to try and find your super sweet spot only to walk in one day and decide it was all wrong and start over. That's why DIRAC is good, it lets a machine decide it for you so you can get on with listening to music instead of test tones. There is definitely a ton of science behind it but a lot of the actual performance is so dependent on the room and speakers that it's impossible for normal people to learn more than some vague best practices.
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Mar 19, 2025 20:59
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qirex posted:There is definitely a ton of science behind it but a lot of the actual performance is so dependent on the room and speakers that it's impossible for normal people to learn more than some vague best practices. yeah, I should have phrased that as "no real applicable science."
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Mar 19, 2025 21:04
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Taima posted:The R3s dig way deeper and have a fantastic movie signature, but the LS50 Metas have this completely undefinable secret sauce when it comes to nearfield music that loving astonished me in my testing. The subtlety that they bring is something I haven't experienced before. R3s will still benefit from a sub, but they are objectively (according to measured output capabilities) better at reproducing accurate sounds at a wider frequency range at 1m than LS50s. That said, none of this matters if you like the way the LS50s sound in your particular use environment. With enough tweaking you could likely replicate your ideal sound on the R3s or another speaker, but if the LS50s come that way then that's great for you. This thread is a pretty nice example of audiophile counter culture in the sense that very few of us are going to second guess another poster's ears - you've got thousands invested in nice stuff and you like it, enjoy! The only point about output I'll leave you with is that I tend to drive my system the hardest when I'm home alone and in and out of the ideal listening environment (vacuuming, doing laundry, etc.). Use headphones or earbuds or something instead cause I could totally see leaning too hard on LS50s trying to hear them from a floor away.
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Mar 20, 2025 04:21
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Taima posted:I'm still a little confused by the concept of setting the crossover. My setup is currently 4.1 with 2x KEF LS50 Meta fronts, 2x KEF R3 back, and an rp-1600 subwoofer. It's being calibrated with a UMIK-1 but I don't have the Bass Control so I need to set the crossover myself afaik. Another reason that people suggest 80hz and maybe 100hz, but not higher, is because higher than that bass frequencies stop being omnidirectional and you can sort of localize where it's coming from. So right now with your 150hz crossover, you or some of your guests may be able to tell that some of the lower frequencies are coming from just one side of the room and that may sound really weird with some audio. Though this depends on how good your hearing is(some people are able to tell where bass frequencies are coming from as low as 60hz) and your room layout. But like everyone else already said: if it sounds good, don't worry about it.
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Mar 21, 2025 02:56
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My current setup is simple and was sort of scrimped together while I was bedridden for a long time. Now that I am feeling pretty well recovered I'd like to optimize things. Currently I have ELAC Debut 6.2s FL/FR/C, a couple homemade sealed bookshelf speakers (surprisingly good) I got from Goodwill on the sides, 1x Klipsch R-120sw. Receiver is a Sony str-dh590 (arc, 2.0) and all A/V is being fed by a PC over HDMI. TV is an older low end 4k TCL 55". Overall, this setup sounds very good as is but eventually I'd like to upgrade the TV to a more modern 65 inch with higher refresh rate which will mean I need to upgrade the receiver at least. The "surrounds" are overkill, so I will probably take care of that at the same time. 75% of the time this is used for music/computer stuff, occasionally movies. The Sony actually does pretty well with the setup as is but I need to start looking around. I've gone back through the thread a bit and checked out accessories4less, it looks like something there will work for me. I will likely use the receiver for a long time so some future proofing would be a good idea but bang/buck is most important. Any ideas? Should I wait until the next models are release for deals?
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Mar 21, 2025 05:55
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no pubes yet sorry posted:My current setup is simple and was sort of scrimped together while I was bedridden for a long time. Now that I am feeling pretty well recovered I'd like to optimize things. If you just want the least expensive receiver with hdmi 2.1 and 5.1/7.1, get a Denon S560 or S760 or whatever fits your requirements. If you want hdmi 2.1 and Dirac room correction, I think the Pioneer LX305 is still the cheapest model that has it.
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Mar 21, 2025 07:30
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no pubes yet sorry posted:My current setup is simple and was sort of scrimped together while I was bedridden for a long time. Now that I am feeling pretty well recovered I'd like to optimize things. Cheap end with HDMI 2.1 and HDCP 2.3 This Denon for $280 if you want 5.2: https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs670h-rb/denon-avr-s670h-5.2-ch.-x-75w-8k-av-receiver-w/heos/1.html This Denon for $320 for 7.2 https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs770h-rb/denon-avr-s770h-7.2-ch.-x-75w-8k-av-receiver-w/heos/1.html The 660 and 760 are both slightly cheaper and older, they have more legacy analog ports, the newer ones have a better OSD and USB power *70  *60  For Dirac... This Onkyo https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/onktxnr7100-rb/onkyo-tx-nr7100-dirac-9.2-ch-x-100w-thx-8k-a/v-receiver/1.html is the cheapest ($600) Dirac enabled receiver on A4L and is otherwise hugely overkill/future proofed as a 9.2 For $800, stepping up to this Onkyo https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/onktxrz50-rb/onkyo-tx-rz50-dirac-9.2-ch-x-120w-thx-8k-a/v-receiver/1.html or this Pioneer https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/pionvsxlx505-rb/pioneer-elite-vsx-lx505-dirac-9.2-ch-x-120-watts-a/v-receiver/1.html would give you Dirac + a full set of preouts
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Mar 21, 2025 17:28
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I like to listen to vinyl because it's a pain in the rear end to get setup and it's more of a hassle than it's worth to try to skip songs on an LP. I have a decent Fluance RT83 turntable hooked up to a cheap 90s receiver/cassette/cd player with floor speakers. I'd like to pick up a higher quality receiver that'd let me incorporate streaming of some sort. Ideally, I'd like something that works without the need for a remote and would let me specify playlists using Apple Music. If I make it too easy to flip through songs, I will end up doing the same poo poo I do on my phone where I end up skipping past a dozen songs because my impulse control is poo poo. So I want to have to get up and physically change the track on the receiver. That way, I can listen to entire albums similar to the way I am forced to when listening to vinyl. I am aiming for middle of the road when it comes to price/quality. Ideally, I'd pair it with speakers suitable for a medium sized bedroom/office space for ~1kish if that's a reasonable budget. I will never use this for any reason other than listening to music. At most, in addition to the turntable, I may eventually pick up a different CD player to pair with it. I am reluctant to go with recommendations from YouTube because I don't know what is trustworthy and there is a ton of audiophile pseudoscience floating around. I have so much hearing loss that most of those tiny details are going to be lost of me. Does anyone have recommendations on where I should start my search?
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Apr 5, 2025 02:18
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Hekk posted:I am aiming for middle of the road when it comes to price/quality. Ideally, I'd pair it with speakers suitable for a medium sized bedroom/office space for ~1kish if that's a reasonable budget. I will never use this for any reason other than listening to music. At most, in addition to the turntable, I may eventually pick up a different CD player to pair with it. https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series-pairs/products/sierra-1-v2-pair I've had the v1 of these speakers since 2009, sooo good for music
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Apr 5, 2025 02:25
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Fozzy The Bear posted:https://ascendacoustics.com/collections/sierra-series-pairs/products/sierra-1-v2-pair I've been using V2, they're another $600 or so but it's worth the extra in my opinion. I love them, use them for home theater and for music.
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Apr 5, 2025 09:16
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Listerine posted:I've been using V2, they're another $600 or so but it's worth the extra in my opinion. I love them, use them for home theater and for music. Just to be clear and not confuse the OP. I have the Seirra-1 V1, you have the Seirra-2 V2, I'm recommending the Seirra-1 V2, but the Seirra-2 V2 is what you recommend. 
Fozzy The Bear fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Apr 5, 2025 |
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Apr 5, 2025 16:16
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I know Ascend speakers are great but the naming and the fact that they have five different models between a $900 and $1700 is kinda baffling. Like, make some choices, guys.
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Apr 5, 2025 16:33
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