Talk me out of Satellite & HDTV???

Bob_Skurka · Dec 28, 2004

SneakyPete, I have satellite in one of my cars. I love it too. It was given to me as a gift by my employees. I wish they had given me the Delphi unit that pops out and can be hooked up inside another car or the house, but I got mine before those units were available.

Daryl, the TV is a DLP unit, 4th generation TI chipsets, near as I can tell the best picture quality I can get. Voom offers their install for $1 for 3 rooms. Not exactly free. But close. Voom is not installed yet. I'm waiting for the installers to set the appointment. At this point I am getting a little testy with them and may go to DirecTV if Voom can't get the install done quickly. The local shop that does both Voom & DTV has all the DVT equipment in stock and can do it on a moments notice. Voom is on order.

By the way, I also switched speaker systems. The Harmon Kardons I had on order are now on backorder so I cancelled them. I switched to Paradigm speakers, the cost is about double but the sound is amazingly better. Given the size of the room, I'm really glad I stayed away from BOSE and now I am glad my HK system is unavailable. The laws of physics favor larger speakers in larger rooms and while mine are still fairly small units, they produce much better sound than the tiny boxes of the other brands.

Right now I am just frustrated with the whole thing. I have some parts but not the whole system. So it is not complete and I can't get the full experience . . . YET.

sneaky_pete · Dec 28, 2004

( SneakyPete, I have satellite in one of my cars. I love it too. It was given to me as a gift by my employees. I wish they had given me the Delphi unit that pops out and can be hooked up inside another car or the house, but I got mine before those units were available.)

Mine is a JVC unit that is portable, yet has a bigger screen (and bigger letters) than the Delphi units. I have a docking station for the car, but haven't installed it yet - I may not until a longer trip than the commute to town.

( By the way, I also switched speaker systems. The Harmon Kardons I had on order are now on backorder so I cancelled them. I switched to Paradigm speakers, the cost is about double but the sound is amazingly better. Given the size of the room, I'm really glad I stayed away from BOSE and now I am glad my HK system is unavailable. The laws of physics favor larger speakers in larger rooms and while mine are still fairly small units, they produce much better sound than the tiny boxes of the other brands.)

It's always frustrating how speakers sound great in that little itty bitty sound room at the hi fi store, but different when you get them home in a bigger room. One of these days when I'm rich and famous, I'm going to spend some real money and get a really worthwhile sound system, and pay to have someone come out and demo the speakers in my house.

Bob_Skurka · Dec 28, 2004

One of these days when I'm rich and famous, I'm going to spend some real money and get a really worthwhile sound system, and pay to have someone come out and demo the speakers in my house. 

Pete, no need to be rich or famous . . . the home theater store I'm working with does that for FREE with no obligation to buy! But if you do buy speakers from them they will be expensive, these guys only carry the "good" stuff. But since the lovely Mrs_Bob is currently out of town visiting her family, I have a "window of opportunity" to get a nice system installed and then just blame it on that good ole boy St. Nick /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

bmac · Dec 28, 2004

Bob,

As I am planning a home theater for our new home, I'd be interested to know what Paradigm speaker system you went with. As I'm not sure I have a discriminating ear, I'd like to take advantage of the research you've done in this area as I'm beginning to think you do have a good ear for quality.

Bob_Skurka · Dec 28, 2004

The Cinema 90 front speakers, the Cinema ADP dipole speakers for the rear channels, Cinema CC for the front channel and the PDR 10 Subwoofer. At least that is what I have for the moment. They are letting me use these for 30 days and they offered to upgrade the demo with Cinema 110 series for an extended demo if I want to try those. The 90s are pretty darn nice. If I take an upgrade, the rear channel speakers would stay the same as would the subwoofer. The center and the front right & left would be the only ones swapped out. I am NOT inclined to shake the walls when I watch movies, but if I was that type I would upgrade to a larger Denon (probably the AVR985) and then go up to the 110 speakers as a MINIMUM and much more likely go up to their ATOM or even larger. The Atom is still fairly small, but again I am not a volume junkie.

I love Denon equipment and strongly recommend it, the Denon receivers use seperate amplifiers for each channel. Also, if I was to upgrade, I would still keep the Denon DVD755 deck that I have now. Going up from there is a monumental jump in complexity and I just don't see spending $700+ for a DVD deck that gives me features that I won't ever use. The 755 is better than 98% of the decks on the market today, provides higher resolution, and is about $250. Great picture, modest price, ease of use.