Your Personal HT Secrets?

[werewuf]

I owned a Pioneer Pro-940hd 42" for eight months, it somehow decided to keep the channel 2 logo in the bottom right corner (image retention, I never paused this tv for long periods, go figure). My wife said she didn't really notice it unless she looked for it, but it bugged me. I talked to the store manager where I purchased it and he said he would give me $1700 on a trade. My wife went away one weekend last x-mas to LA to see my step-daughter and I returned the 1st TV and now own a Kuro Pro-950HD. My wife never noticed. (although every once in awhile she says "that sure is a good picture")

[JohnGalt]

* $1 HDMI cables work just as well as multi-hundred dollar HDMI cables.
* $1/foot bulk 12 ga. speaker wire is every bit as good as speaker wire costing hundreds (or thousands) of dollars.
* For speaker wire runs inside walls use the same wire you'd use to wire a 15A circuit.

[DavePS3]

I always found that running Mono or Stereo DVD's sucked. They sucked worse in Pro-Logic2 where you cannot adjust sub or LFE level without messing with the sweet spot control settings on the actual sub SO...

I took the two channel out from the DVD player to a stereo input in my receiver. I took an older Fostex surround sound matrix unit and took 2 channel out from Monitor out on the back of the receiver (tape out works too) and into the Fostex. Then I ran a second pair of speaker wires from the Fostex to my rears using banana plugs so anytime I have a mono or stereo DVD or Blu-Ray, I simply switch out the two rear sets of wires, turn on the Fostex and switch the receiver to analog. Sounds complicated? Not at all. The resulting sound is KILLER, I have total control over the rear level in terms of output - even greater than in digital surround mode and my sub sounds like it should - thick and warm. Without this set-up, I hate listening to 1 or 2 channel discs.

[rarredoa]

Originally Posted by werewuf

I owned a Pioneer Pro-940hd 42" for eight months, it somehow decided to keep the channel 2 logo in the bottom right corner (image retention, I never paused this tv for long periods, go figure). My wife said she didn't really notice it unless she looked for it, but it bugged me. I talked to the store manager where I purchased it and he said he would give me $1700 on a trade. My wife went away one weekend last x-mas to LA to see my step-daughter and I returned the 1st TV and now own a Kuro Pro-950HD. My wife never noticed. (although every once in awhile she says "that sure is a good picture")

DUDE!!! You're awesome!

[Nathan P]

I don't own any HD gear yet its all SD
but after being on this forum for a while it now performs a lot better than it did

[IMind]

My speakers are sad.

I still use the Technics speakers my parents gave me for Christmas when I was 14 (I'm 34) for my front left and right channels and crappola Sony center channel and two "Acoustic Research" for rears that I got for a song... and an open box Tivoli subwoofer.

I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to drop a bundle on a real 7.1 setup.

[guitarist155]

my speakers came from a htib and my sub is passive and powered by the htib amp connected to my receiver

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by yellowblanket

this is actually my real set up

I love the downfiring sub!

[red_5ive]

I picked up a Yamaha RX-V1800 primarily because it can apply dynamic range control (proprietary) to all multi-ch sources (PCM, True HD, DTS, etc.) and not just the traditional DRC that is part of the Dolby Digital spec (I often watch movies at night and don't want to wake my family). However, having owned 2 previous Yamaha flagship models I wasn't very happy with the overall sound quality of the 1800 as compared to their flagship units. My plan from the beginning was to eventually use the 1800 as a pre-pro, but I was so unhappy with the sound quality I plugged the pre-outs into the 6-ch inputs of my Yamaha RX-Z1 flagship. As I was doing this I actually thought to myself, "I can't believe I'm doing this. People would laugh for sure if they found out." I didn't tell a soul I wasn't expecting much, but I was actually very surprised at the outcome. I had this setup for about a month until I finally picked up an amp.

[Zman2k2]

I don't have any surround speakers. My wife doesn't want them in the living room.

[Woody]

Originally Posted by yellowblanket

this is actually my real set up

My favorite is the accoustic panel in the cormer.

[Gallis]

hopefully you all already know this...Keep your sub in a corner for more bang

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Zman2k2

I don't have any surround speakers. My wife doesn't want them in the living room.

Hook 'em up, and keep HER out of the living room.

[Hecmor]

The only reason i have a blu-ray player is b/c it came free with the tv.....

[pbparham]

I set my system up on a temporary basis, placing the equipment in a hidden and very difficult location above and behind my big screen in a converted closet. Only after had rolled everything back into place did I realize that my wiring is reversed on my rear-speakers. I've been to lazy to pull out the equipment to fix it, but I am the only one who notices, and work has been busy....

[Galley]

I cancelled my DirecTV HD service, so all I have now is BDs on my PS3 and HD podcasts on my Apple TV.