Owner Impressions, Delivery Times and Things to Do While You Wait

Mr_Superstar · « **Reply #380 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 09:59 pm »

Quote from: floresjc on 28 Oct 2009, 08:42 pm

vintagebob -

I wasn't expecting it to be that heavy either. Although I guess its not way off the mark when you consider the amount of packing, but I never really considered packing to be heavy. HT2-TL's are what, 95lbs each, so thats 200 right there, the sub's another 150. Not sure how heavy songtowers are, but I figure 4 of them is probly a couple hundred pounds. Yah so, lots of cardboard.

And my floor is fine. In the basement its concrete with carpet, and the HT2-TL's are the only things coming up to the main level.

I believe my SongTower's were 95lbs for the pair.

Nuance · « **Reply #381 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:03 pm »

Congrats, buddy! What a glorious weekend this will be.

Since your basement is concrete you'll get a lot of low end enforcement/extension due to room gain. The less "lossy" the room is, the better the bass extension and power should be. Those things are going to rock down there, and the HT2 TL's won't be too shabby upstairs either.

I assume the subwoofer will also reside in the "man cave?"

The ST's should weigh about 55lbs each from what I remember.

floresjc · « **Reply #382 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:11 pm »

Yep, sub is going in the basement too. I don't have a big enough house to have a man cave, although our basement is pretty close, video games, speakers and electronics everywhere. But my wife enjoys it as well, she's a big fan of watching movies and she has her favorite Xbox games as well.

Nuance · « **Reply #383 on:** 28 Oct 2009, 10:31 pm »

A wife that plays Xbox? To cool!

The subwoofer should get very good low extension with cement floors (carpeted). A non-lossy room will sound different than your room upstairs, so I am curious to see how the ST's compare downstairs to the HT2 TL's upstairs. I suspect the HT2 TL's will sound more open and airy throughout the mids and highs, but the bass response down stairs will be superior (Duh - you have a subwoofer, haha).

mathgeek97 · « **Reply #384 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 01:28 pm »

Don't dismiss the HT2-TLs ability to move air. This past weekend I was watching Kung Fu Panda with the kids. At the "Skidoosh" scene my jaw dropped.

I was hardly playing at anything close to reference levels, but still, I didn't expect my beautiful, musical towers to dig so low. And, yes, Josh's uber-Rhythmic-sub will be in a different league in the bass department, but for casual movie watching, who needs a sub?

Nuance · « **Reply #385 on:** 29 Oct 2009, 06:31 pm »

^ Oh, I know, I've heard them without and without a subwoofer. As far as "who needs a sub" goes, we'll agree to disagree (especially for movies).

vintagebob · « **Reply #386 on:** 3 Nov 2009, 11:56 pm »

UPDATE

I ordered/installed an OPPO 980H to use as a CD transport for my Insight DAC. This replaces an old Panasonic RP-91 DVD player that has in the past struggled to read some DVD-A audio discs and more recently the Jennifer Warnes Hunter CD Remaster Gold release.

I originally tried to use my OPPO BDP-83 as both a Blu-Ray player via HDMI and as a CD transport via Digital Coax but I found that setup caused problems when going back to multi-channel stuff I guess because of the HDMI handshake? Anyway this post is just a FYI for others that may be pursuing this path. I don't think that this is an OPPO issue but just an HDMI "feature".

I'm really enjoying my system and I'm glad that I got the HT-1s for my surrounds. They really work with multi-channel stuff, especially Blu-Ray codecs like DTS-HD, etc.

I'm glad to see everyone else is getting their stuff!

vintagebob · « **Reply #387 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 12:17 am »

Talk to us sedah! What do you think of your ziricote forest?!

sedah · « **Reply #388 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 04:57 pm »

Forgot to bring my phone's patch cable in to work today... so pictures will have to wait.

hmmm... actually, going to go start another thread. Lots to say...

Nuance · « **Reply #389 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 06:40 pm »

^ Cool. Can't wait!

vintagebob · « **Reply #390 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 09:21 pm »

floresjc,

Is it true what I hear about the brown outs in your area?

JK

I hope you are enjoying all of your STUFF!

floresjc · « **Reply #391 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 10:15 pm »

I'm enjoying myself allright. Still recovering physically from the unloading and cleanup. The sub is a beast although it took me a couple days to figure out all the settings in my Oppo, receiver and on the sub itself to get it to where I want to be. Never had such a flexible piece of equipment, has a lot of options for such a simple function.

topround · « **Reply #392 on:** 5 Nov 2009, 11:38 pm »

My son with some Salk speakers.
OK OK they are not Salk, but at least his shirt is.

Mike

vintagebob · « **Reply #393 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 02:33 am »

Quote from: floresjc on 5 Nov 2009, 10:15 pm

I'm enjoying myself allright. Still recovering physically from the unloading and cleanup. The sub is a beast although it took me a couple days to figure out all the settings in my Oppo, receiver and on the sub itself to get it to where I want to be. Never had such a flexible piece of equipment, has a lot of options for such a simple function.

I'll be interested to hear how you like the AVA Double 440 and HT2-TL combo.

I still have an itch to get an AVA Double 440 and use the Double 240/3 for the other 3 channels.

floresjc · « **Reply #394 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 10:50 am »

vintagebob -

The 440 and the HT2-TL go together like PB&J. I will admit that I haven't spent very much time with the 2 channel setup. I've spent the vast majority with my SongTowers and sub doing the movie thing and home theater pass through. I will probably spend some significant time this weekend (starting tonight) with the HT2-TL's. From what I've heard so far, its a great match, and I really like all the reserve power. I never get past maybe 9 or 10 o'clock on the volume level on Frank's preamp and its playing pretty loud. I use the Low Gain toggle as well alot, and I'm probably going to leave it on all the time for fine tune volume control. I've cranked it up fairly high as well, and the music gets louder, not messier.

I think the only concern I'd have about mixing a 440 and a 240/3 is perhaps volume leveling. It seems like the 440 is going to drive a speaker louder with less gain than a 240, and so you might have some uneveness in your 5.1 sound field. But maybe the effect is negligible or you can use the trim levels to compensate.

avahifi · « **Reply #395 on:** 6 Nov 2009, 02:07 pm »

All AVA Insight and Ultra amplifiers have the same gain, a voltage gain of 25. Thus they will all provide balanced output in a surround sound system, up to the limits of their power ratings.

The new Ultravalve all vacuum tube amp has lower gain. We are thinking about offering a lower gain version of selected Insight amplifiers to match that for bi-amp or surround sound use.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

vintagebob · « **Reply #396 on:** 7 Nov 2009, 03:38 pm »

nhotumlum just informed me that his HT3s with HT3 Center (South American Tineo) are on their way to him and should arrive next week.

Enjoy!

Jon65 · « **Reply #397 on:** 8 Nov 2009, 07:57 pm »

Please add me to the list. I ordered a pair of SongTowers, a SongCenter, and a SongSub on October 7. Perhaps Santa will deliver them? Will the SongSub fit down my chimney?

Jon

vintagebob · « **Reply #398 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 01:04 am »

Quote from: Jon65 on 8 Nov 2009, 07:57 pm

Please add me to the list. I ordered a pair of SongTowers, a SongCenter, and a SongSub on October 7. Perhaps Santa will deliver them? Will the SongSub fit down my chimney?

Jon

Done! What are you doing to get ready?

Jon65 · « **Reply #399 on:** 9 Nov 2009, 03:01 am »

Quote

Done! What are you doing to get ready?

Trying to explain to my wife that speakers that arrive on pallets are a GOOD thing!

Other than that, just letting the anticipation build.

Jon