Home audio & video: How to battle the wife?
How to battle the wife?
by VermVerm - 10/12/07 8:08 PMHere is the situation. My current set up is a crt 32 inch mammouth. The audio is provided by a Pioneer vsx-455 c.1996. I still like it and it runs fine on my pre-hd system. I have 4 big box speakers, the towers have two 12" KLH and the rear have two 15" KLH. It was great for college and I could make it bump at your house from here in Indy with them. But the deal is, I get my flat screen on the wall and she gets rid of the big box speakers. So, do I need to upgrade from the pioneer vsx to have the theater room setup audiowise for the HD experience. Or do I keep the Pioneer and spend the money on some kicktail small surround sound speakers?
.....
by givemeaname - 10/12/07 9:59 PM In reply to: How to battle the wife? by VermVermyou know the speaker model numbers? Those are monster speakers, got a moster room to go with it? You have a center speaker & do you know the lows of the towers (may not need a sub with those).
That is an old receiver (I was still in high school then) & has no real surround sound (110w x2 stereo, 110w x3 pro logic, 55w x2 surround). A lot has come, even just this year with the release of DTS-HD, DT-HD & DTS-MA.
If your happy with the speakers, keep them, you will mostly regret it if you dump them!!!
Save the speakers & invest in a new reciever that has DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD & more, you can get one starting around $700+, price will be dropping for the holiday shopping. If you don't have one get a matching center speaker, around $300+ for that & maybe a sub if needed.
Why the bigger speakers in the back?
Battlin the Wifa
by Iboughtbeta - 10/12/07 10:15 PM In reply to: How to battle the wife? by VermVermNever battle the wife. Use stealth and diplomacy grasshopper. Ok she wants the large speakes out, say, "What ever you want dear". Get somewhat smaller ones but not so small that they can't move air. See Guttenbergs article about speakers. Get some great speakers that lack bass and don't bump. Take her with while your shopping. Make it her idea. Take her sappy favorite movie to demo the new Rotel RSX-1058 reciever. DO NOT PLAY IT LOUD IN THE STORE. It will play plenty loud when you are home alone. When when you get extra cash buy a earth shaking bass speaker with a built in amp to add to your system. Wet grass lays down as the mower passes and stands tall when the sun shines. Peace bro.
I guess the speakers..
by BassBinDevil - 10/12/07 10:16 PM In reply to: How to battle the wife? by VermVermWell, if you go for a new receiver, you'll be able to enjoy discrete surround sound from Dolby Digital and DTS, and presumably that uncompressed audio on HD-DVD and BluRay. But, receivers with HDMI switching are still kind of expensive, so it might be wiser to wait a year or so and get more for your money, and good Dolby Surround from a high-quality 2 channel analog source (like Laserdisc, VHS HiFi, or HD discs) can sound better than bad Dolby Digital.
Small speakers aren't going to deliver the bass you're used to, so you'd need a subwoofer. And since your receiver doesn't have the separate .1 subwoofer output and bass management (ability to steer bass away from the small speakers to the sub), you need a sub with speaker-level inputs.
When you have a .1 output from the receiver, there's more ways to improvise a sub: you could use your big house speakers as subs, and power them with any receiver or amp you have lying around. Down the road you could upgrade the amp and build some real subs (see the forums at avsforum.com and diyaudio.com for ideas).
VermVerm, immediately declare surrender publicly as to the
by NM_Bill - 10/14/07 7:36 PM In reply to: How to battle the wife? by VermVermbattle of the sexes. Due to importance of the issue, you must go underground & be sneaky. Don't be obvious, but invest some time in really buttering her up. Yes, it amounts to setting her up. You should be supportive & attentive. You want to win the war without any real battle.
I suspect I, too, would be very attached to the old KLHs. You are not technologically up to date & probably not rolling in disposable income. First two priority items would be a modern receiver & good quality center channel speaker.
Receivers are great values these days. Actually, modest priced ones can do the job very well. If investing in a receiver for the next decade, look into the new Denon 2308CI. List price is $849. Being hot off the press maybe 10% of is all you could expect until about next July model changeover time. The 2308 will future proof you as well as can be done. Onkyos are very popular with folks here. I just happen to believe (& c/net reviews concur) the rock solid Denon quality is worth the extra.
You need a large physical size center channel speaker to blend well with your existing big boxes. I don't have any center channel research on hand at this time. With true surround most of the audio most of the time still comes from the center, but in this situation the front L&Rs are in effect downgraded as the center takes over as primary speaker. It is the most important single speaker in a surround set, so invest in a very capable one.
OK, OK, I realize the vision of a new big flat screen is how this whole problem got started. Small surrounds will not have kick ass sound. You would need a sub woofer, but you have four big box KLHs now.
So, money priorities are up to you. Yes, TV #1. Good speakers, old receiver has no current features - that is disposable. The new receiver can be from $250 on up. I suggested the Denon 2308CI as kick ass. Good quality center I'm guessing merits investing $400 .
To keep the big boxes she would like to see gone, you must truly grease her wheels with non-obvious investment in the relationship. I am not kidding about the being supportive & attentive to her world concerns.
How to fight your wife
by jonnybones - 10/14/07 9:39 PM In reply to: How to battle the wife? by VermVermBring her into the store with you. 95% of the time, guys can get their wives to go along with whatever mischief they are planning if they come with. here is why: Wives feel they need to be a part of all major decisions. Even if she is off in lala land while talking to the saleman/woman she is still involved in the process. In the rare case that she feels the need to pay attention, you can show her crappy speakers that are small and look nice, then show her "big ugly speakers" that sound awesome. Even if she is not technologically inclined she can still distinguish good sounding speakers (or good looking TV's) from bad ones. For icing on the cake, bring in her favorite CD to demo when you do this.
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
