I love my Amplifier

Ok I just had to add this about the wiring mishaps that occured.
Due to the shear number of components and the number of different connections (and the limited space in the back of the Cabinet), I managed to hook a few things note quite right.

1. Hooked the Optical Cable for the X-Box to the input for the Digital TV box
2. Hooked the X-box and Gamecube to the wrong inputs.
3. Hooked the Digital TV box to the wrong Optical Input.
4. Hooked the Centre Speaker to the Centre Rear.

Fortunately it's was only a few clicks through the menu that managed to solve the problem. The Yamaha has the option to reassign inputs which allowed me to re-assign the incorrect inputs. (Apart from the Centre speaker which I had to change the plugs) Much easier than searching through the maze of wires at the back of the amplifier.

Rewiring.... Yes Again!

First of all I'd like to point out it is really hard to find the motivation to blog while I've been on holidays... Afterall, it was Christmas and there were so many cool new toys to play with that the Blog seemed to be more of a chore. (I'll blog about the cool stuff I got a little later)

This blog entry is however to broadcast the joy at my new re-arrange (yes I know.... "again"!)

Essentially this was brought on by the fact that the stand that was holding my TV was about to break and I wasn't so keen on having that come crashing to the floor.

After a lot of debate on stand type/colour/size/availability we finally (see also Nessa) decided on a stand from Harvey Norman a bit after lunch, picked it up from the warehouse at 4:30, put it together and have completely rewired the stereo (and got baskins) by 10:30.

And the Finished Product!

And My Proudest Feature... the wiring!

Not to Mention the Hidden Consoles (note newly aquired X-Box in Right Cabinet)

3 sleeps until Christmas.

It's only 3 sleeps until the Jolly Fat man in the red suit is due to drop off his payload of gear under the tree, although there is already a pretty impressive pile gathered at the base of our tree at the moment.
As this is about my only chance to avoid my current technology ban I am a bit disappointed not to see a PV1 (see Subwoofers in the round) shaped present under the tree... Maybe it will be there on Christmas morning :)

Christmas Cubing!

So It may not yet be Christmas yet but the Cubing for Chistmas has already started. I traded some of my existing games in for a crack a at new multiplayer RPG. Valavien and I stubled across X-Men Legends. After a bit of research on gamespot.com we discovered it had a fairly decent Multiplayer component to keep us going over the Christmas break.

The game invovles you traveling around in a Party of X-men which allows your friends to pick up a controller and take over one of your party. The only problem we've discovered is the AI component gets harder with each player you add. Looks like we might need some more practice before we ALL take on the forces of evil.

Just what Every iPoder Needs for Christmas

Ok I'm the first to admit that dispite all the limitations and sound quality issues with MP3s, ipods are awesome toys. Being able to carry 40Gb worth of music and/or photos around in your pocket is pretty neat.

But I did stumble across a cool new accessory for your Ipod if you're worried about how you're going to play you music when you get it home.

The Bose® SoundDock™ digital music system was specifically designed to expand and enhance your enjoyment of the music stored on your iPod® or iPod mini. Just slip it into the docking cradle for the Bose sound your favorite songs deserve. The iPod charges as it plays, so you enjoy music without interruption. Its sleek, slender design fits almost any room’s décor. And the included remote lets you control the SoundDock system from across the room.

It's an awesome little docking station for you Ipod with much better sound reproduction than most of the other equivalents around.

Bass Testing :)

I managed to get around to watching a few DVDs during the week and managed to spot a few surprises. I'd seen Close Encounters (of the third kind) as a kid and only had vague memories of the story line, although I could remember the 5 note theme. I picked it up at a HMV sale as it was a classic Sci-Fi film I thought I should have in my collection. I was suprise to find that this movie would fit into my Test DVD collection. The audio track is DTS and comes in with a thundering bass section around 20:23 in the movie. Definately a track that would test out any Sub. Due to it's "Thundering" nature it's a great test for levels of control as it would quite easly sound wooly or distored on a less capable sub at a decent volume.

New Music...

We had a bit of a CD buying spree on the weekend. Ness was pining for a bit of a techno hit and we hadn't bought any dance music for a while. We picked up a copy of Ministry of Sound: Annual 2005, it made for pretty good beating background music for our trip up (and back) to Toowoomba. It has most of the big dance hits of the year and most of the mixes are just what you'd expect from a Ministry Compolation.

Also whilst in HMV I pick up a couple of CDs that I'd been trying to track for a while. Nerd's Fly or Die was on a sale table for a pretty good price I couldn't resist. I haven't given the whole CD an audition yet but the bass lines on She Want's to Move is always good for a kicking test of your system's timing.

I also picked up Verve: Unmixed simply because it's a great collection of Jazz tunes.

Christmas List

Ok I've been bugged enough to get my Christmas list up. (apparently the list of DVDs and Cube Games wasn't enough)
So here goes. (I'll get around to putting some more stuff up here....)

DVDs....
The Wish List (it's pretty close to up to date)

Games and Stuff....
An X-BOX :) but I'm on a technology ban so the best I'm hoping for is some EB vouchers.



Car Stuff....
MD Case for the car.
New steering wheel similar to this.


Hifi Stuff...
Jaycar MiniSub

Harmony Remote from Logitech.

IXOS XHV704 (1713) Component Video 3 RCA to 3 RCA

Bike Stuff...
Cycling Jersey

Bike Pump (with French Valve)


Music...

JONES, SHARON AND THE DAP KING DIPPIN WITH
RUSSELL, ALICE UNDER THE MUNKA MOON
POLYPHONIC SPREE TOGETHER WERE HEAVY
MUSIC WELCOME TO THE NORTH

Christmas Viewing

Nessa picked up this little gem on Saturday that I think will get a bit of a run on Christmas day

Multi-Sub Theory

It's hardly the Theory of Relativity but I believe that this theory would make a significant difference to the effect of a home theatre.

From What HiFi's Sound Advice Pages on Subwoofers.

The whole point of a well-sorted sub is that it just sounds like your main speakers have greater bass extension. Oh, and better imaging and greater three-dimensionality. Disconnect your main speakers and it'll seem strange to you that the almost imperceptible murmurings from the sub can make such a difference, but they do.

So obviously bass extension on your main speakers is a good thing, however having a dedicated LFE channel subwoofer doesn't always mean the sub will be chiming in to help out your main speakers in the bass department.

For example when you have a surround receiver (specifically Yamaha's can't comment with any great authority on any others) setup in stereo mode and your speakers set to "Large" the Subwoofer on the LFE channel isn't fed any signal. Obviously you don't want to set floor standing speakers to "Small" and reduce bass signals going to them altogether. The same holds true when you are in Surround mode, there are often cases where signals similar to that driven to the LFE channel are present in the other channels which would benefit from the additional drive of a Subwoofer.

This got me to thinking, higher end receivers/processors have pre-outs which allow you to connect additional power amps to the system. These could also be used to drive active subwoofers with built in crossovers. This would give you the low end drive in your music in Stereo mode as well as an additional kick in Movies.

The same theory could be applied to other channels in the surround setup as well, allowing you to have a dedicated subwoofer for centre and surround channels.

Of course I'm still on a technology ban so it will remain an untested theory for some time :)

Surrond Sound at the Grammys

The nominees were announced the other day as part of the 2005 Grammy Awards. Not normally one that takes much notice of the Awards I did stuble across an interesting category. Among the list were the nominees for "The Best Surround Sound Album of the Year". The list featured 4 Surround Sound Super Audio CDs and 1 DVD Audio production released during the past year.

The Nominees Are...
Musically the nominated Surround Sound albums cover a wide musical spectrum with performances by Roxy Music, Ray Charles & Friends, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Bonnie Raitt. Here is the list of nominees and the technical artists behind each 5.1 Surround Sound mix:


Avalon
Roxy Music
Super Audio CD Surround Sound
(Virgin CVIR 83871 SA)
Surround Sound Producer: Rhett Davies
Surround Sound Mix Engineer: Bob Clearmountain
Surround Sound Mastering Engineer: Bob Ludwig


Genius Loves Company
Ray Charles with Norah Jones, James Taylor, Diana Krall, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis & Van Morrison
Super Audio CD Surround Sound
(Concord Records/Hear Music SACD-1033-6)
Surround Sound Producers: John Burk, Phil Ramone & Herbert Waltl
Surround Sound Mix Engineer: Al Schmitt
Surround Sound Mastering Engineers: Robert Hadley & Doug Sax


Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor & the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Super Audio CD Surround Sound
(SFS Media 821936-0004-2)
Surround Sound Producer: Andreas Neubronner
Surround Sound Mix Engineer: Markus Heiland
Surround Sound Mastering Engineer: Markus Heiland


Nick Of Time
Bonnie Raitt
DVD Audio Surround Sound
(Capitol Records 99316)
Surround Sound Mix Engineer: Ed Cherney
Surround Sound Mastering Engineers: James Guthrie & Doug Sax


Raise Your Spirit Higher
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Super Audio CD Surround Sound
(Heads Up HUSA-9083)
Surround Sound Producer: Martin Walters
Surround Sound Mix Engineer: Martin Walters
Surround Sound Mastering Engineer: Paul Blakemore

I think my vote will be in for the Ray Charles Disc!

Slack Setup

So I admit, I've been pretty slack (blog wise that is) I haven't posted much this week. I haven't had much time to work on my system this week or check out new gear, work has been pretty crazy and I started a new show which had rehearsals this week.

As a result the system is still half setup. Valavien brought over my dB Meter to help me setup the speakers in the new arrangement but we didn't even get around to that. He's since taken it home so he can setup his new gear which should arrive today (which I can't wait to hear!!) .

I haven't even had much time to listen to some new tunes... but I'll get there shortly!

Socks, Jocks and..... Universal Remotes

There is nothing more frustrating than having to switch remotes when you to Change a CD track, change TV station, turn down the volume etc... (with the possible exception of Sock and Jocks on Christmas day... unless of course they are Astro Boy themed... but that's another story)

There are a few solutions around though... some are designed to make controlling your devices easier, like the Harmony Remote from Logitech.

Quick and easy set-up by connecting the Harmony Remote to your home computer via USB.
Create an account on HarmonyRemote.com, and follow step-by-step instructions to tell us about your configuration. It's as easy as picking your components from lists and supplying us with the component's model number. Download the configuration to your Harmony Remote by attaching it to your Windows or Mac PC via the supplied USB cable.

Amazingly simple operation of any home theater.
Once your Harmony Remote is configured, it can control your entire home theater system with one button press! Using Activity buttons labeled "Watch a Movie", "Watch TV", "Listen to Music" and "More Activities", your Harmony Remote can send all the right commands to your entertainment system without requiring you to program a macro.

How Does a Logitech Harmony Remote Compare to a Basic Universal Remote?
In a word, the Logitech Harmony Remote is easier: easier to set up, easier to use, easier to update. The table below lists four of the most common remote control tasks and shows how you accomplish them with a Logitech Harmony Remote and a basic universal remote. Overall, the Logitech Harmony Remote saves you time and hassle.

The other alternative is hardly the "easy to use" solution... but we love it anyway!

The Nevo SL remote is basically a purpose built PDA for Remote controlling, it features a 3.5” LCD display, built-in Wi-Fi, 17 configurable buttons, and a rechargeable Li-Ion battery. The Nevo SL runs on a pocket PC software platform. A Wi-Fi enabled remote could give you complete program listings while you’re multitasking away in some other part of the house. It runs on Pocket PC and despite the obvious need for numerous resets (being MS based!) it would be an awesome gadget!

Re-wire.... Continued

Well I started the re-wire on Satuday morning. I was one Digital Audio Cable short as I now had Digital Audio on my DTV STB. I'd temporarily stolen the cable from my Mini-disc player. I managed to arrange the purchase of a new cable, despite the current technology ban, so I set out in search of a new Digital Audio cable. I had noticed that the IXOS XHD608 had won the award for best digital coaxial cable in the What Hi-Fi Awards 2004. As I was only going a short distance I decided I would get one to upgrade the audio lead for the DVD player and demote the Optical cable to the MD Player.

Despite my scepticism on the improvement a digital cable upgrade could offer (it's digital... surely the signal isn't going to change with a better cable) It did actually sound crisper and the bass was more defined... It may be due to the fact I went from Optical to Digital which does remove the need to go from Electrical->Optical and back again....

Christmas Cube

Life has been pretty slow for the poor ol' Game Cube. Although there are quite a few new games coming out, most stores are well and truly over selling the gear and rarely get any new games in. The only real hope to get any decent new games is from online stores such as DVD Crave and Game.Net (a UK store that ships here)
It looks however that for Christmas there will be at least a last ditch effort to get the sales up for the Cube..

Although I still have quite a few on my list I haven't got around to purchasing!