Void

Cheers guys I ran the setup twice and was very,very careful with mic placement, background noise etc. Will try it again but maybe limit the seating positions. The settings it came up with just didn't "do it" for me and I can't tell whether that's limitations of the product in my environment or my ears (or both). I guess my other concern was the amount of digital processing going on, specifically my subjective opinion that all the processing was having a negative impact on the sound. I'm of the school that less is more when it comes to signal manipulation...

Hi all I just purchased a Marantz nr1403 with Audyssey MultiEQ to replace an old HK 5.1 receiver. I use Energy 2.1e bookshelf speakers for front main and rear surround, Energy EC-200 centre and Ritcher Thor MkII is the sub. The Energys have a pretty flat response down to about 45Hz. Now the Audyssey auto setup was a breeze, and seemed to work fine in terms of detecting/setting everything up. However, when I demoed a movie (Dredd on BR at reasonably high volume) the sound was dreadful- vocals too low, bass exceedingly boomy and surrounds over active. CD music was bad too- the mid range just seemed sucked out. So I spent pretty much an entire day investigating. First thing I noticed was that it had set all my speakers to large so bass became a problem once added to the sub output. The only thing it seemed to detect accurately were the speaker distances.The various dynamic EQ settings had strange effects, from uneven vocal levels to (even more) overwhelming bass at low volumes. What i discovered in the end was that turning all Audyssey processing off, setting speakers to small, manually setting the crossovers, bringing up the centre channel level, dropping the surround levels and running the receiver in "direct" mode vastly improved the sound. Suddenly the soundstage was seamless, vocals clear, bass tight and music sounded full range. A noticable step up from the HK and that was no slouch. I understand what Audyssey is trying to do but wondering if it is more effective where you have unmatched speakers, or speakers with non-linear frequency response/poor room acoustics? Or is it possible Audyssey has given me a flat response but I just can't appreciate it? Definitely underwhelmed after all the positive feedback i've read. Fortunately a manual config, using Audyssey config as the basis, has worked well.

I've got Energy 2.1e bookshelf speakers for front and rear L\R, which are around the 1993 mark if I remember correctly. Still in perfect condition, no deterioration of the surrounds that I can tell. The front 2 I brought new, the rears from a mate who brought them at the same time on my recommendation. My centre is an Energy AC-300 from the late 90s. My sub is a Thor Mk2, not sure how old these are but again it's in great condition, picked this up at a garage sale for $100...couldn't believe my luck:-) With my ears getting older i'm not in a hurry to replace anything...it's all nicely timbre matched and should last a while yet hopefully.

Picked up Star Wars OT for $32 from JB Ask for an online price check though, it's listed for $40 online but still ticketed at $69. With the 20% off that's as cheap as you can get anywhere:-)

Big +1 for 9, aside from U-571 probably the most bass i've ever heard in a movie

Yep and loving it. Captures the feel of Star Wars much better than the new movies at least.

Thanks for the heads up...this is an awesome show

Our plasma is wall mounted above a gas heater. Never had any issues as the temp never rises above about 28 degrees C even when heater is on full...the plasma itself generates more heat than the heater below it:-) The fan on the heater should direct most heat away from the wall, and the flue takes care of the rest. Probably worth firing up the heater for a few hours and measuring the temp on the wall first just to be on the safe side.

Noticed that issue on my 7160 as well, but hardly use the EPG so it's a"non-issue" for us really. The wife and kids always use the Sunday mail TV guide even though the TV and the PVR have EPGs... That is really the only "issue" with the 7160- once the firmware is up to date, and with a couple of TAPs covering some additional functionality, it's a great unit.

I've currently got a Wii connected to the main plasma (Panasonic 09 model) Very occasionally I will see image retention on the blank screen when I change source but it goes as soon as an image replaces it (ie, the pixels change). No worse than when the wife leaves the PVR on pause and I see temporary IR of the status display...again its' gone immediately on a screen refresh. IR has never been an issue or concern for me, having said that i'm about to get an LCD specifially for gaming (only because I want the kids playing games in the family not on the main system).

JBs pricing makes no sense... Some items have gone up, some have gone down. Not everything has been marked up (in fact from what I could see in the Rundle Mall store, many had been marked back down again after recent increases) If you're in the market for a blu ray player there's still some good bargains to be had, got a mate picking me up Avatar ($10), Fantastic Mr Fox ($10) and I,Robot ($6)...can't complain about that:-) But then they have Star Trek 2009 listed for $48!!!...will grab that one from Amazon UK...

I wonder if this is a typo in the product description? The normal DVD version is 4 disks, the blu ray i've seen both 4 and 3 disks in the product descriptions on various sites. So i'm not sure there is a 4th disk in the BR set... If there is it must be extras- Solar System is 2 disks (5 episodes) and Universe is 1 disk (4 episodes) btw I have Solar System and it's great- good HD picture, excellant music and engaging presenter. Didn't learn anything new but enjoyed it nonetheless.

I wonder if this is a typo in the product description? The normal DVD version is 4 disks, the blu ray i've seen both 4 and 3 disks in the product descriptions on various sites. So i'm not sure there is a 4th disk in the BR set... If there is it must be extras- Solar System is 2 disks (5 episodes) and Universe is 1 disk (4 episodes) btw I have Solar System and it's great- good HD picture, excellant music and engaging presenter. Didn't learn anything new but enjoyed it nonetheless.

No wonder I could never find it locally:-) So I got a UK copy from Amazon UK about a month ago- under $10. Picture and sound (even though lossy) is excellant. One of those rare movies that stays with you for weeks afterwards...

Yes the 7160 has the option to add padding to timers.

10 days from order to delivery here...pretty good Interesting I had exactly the same experience- the Band of Brothers tin and 2 other BRs loose in an unsecured cardboard "box", one end of the box was actually open, can't believe it made it all the way from the UK without a disk falling out...

Thanks Ozboy Just ordered Band of Brothers box set, Hellboy 2 and The Road...grand total $45 Aus Awesome

It's unlikely LOTR will ever be converted to 3D. There was a lot of old fashioned trickery involved in the special effects especially the use of forced perspective (for any interaction between Hobbits and normal sized folks), which would just be a mess if converted.

We've got a very similar room size/viewing distance We got a 50" Panasonic plasma which sure looked big up on the wall after the 76cm CRT...but you very quickly get used to it (when we watch Blu Ray now we push the lounge chairs to within about 1-2 metres of the screen). I was initially looking at 42" until the wife said why not go the 50" bless her... If I was buying now i'd go for a 65" Panasonic

The fact that the article doesn't agree with what you wrote elsewhere regarding HDTV ownership and sound quality obviously escapes you...

And Eli Ungar-Sargon gives these exact reasons why he thinks it's a fail too, way back in Jan (a long time in tech): http://technmarketing.com/random/the-top-f...-has-no-future/ next time maybe just paste link or present as quoted otherwise people might think you wrote it...like I did initially.

Most people are happy with DVDs and that is a fact. Most people don't even have newer 1080p resolution high definition TVs, another fact. Most are also not eager to fork out 400-500 dollars for the player, plus start paying an extra $10 per movie. If you had done any research at all you would know that players can be had for under $100 and new release movies are typically only $5 more than their SD counterpart. And as for "most" people don't have 1080p screens that may be true at the moment...but have you seen any SD displays in the big electronic stores lately? What exactly do you think "most" people are buying, 51cm Conia CRTs from Kmart?

DVD to Blu ray we get 1. Slightly better picture... I see a vastly better picture on my 50" full HD plasma. Even my wife and kids can see it. As many other consumers will also be discovering. Although I hear the argument (over and over) that "no-one is interested" this is completely anecdotal. Sub $100 players, and new releases that are only $5 more than SD DVD...many consumers that I know want to get the best out of their massive HD screen and BR is the best way to get that currently. Blu Ray market share would not be steadily increasing otherwise... If you only see a slight improvement you might as well bow out gracefully and stick to DVD- at least the lack of clarity will wash out that film grain that you so dislike. And you don't mention sound. I'm guessing this is because you can't actually experience it. Not that I think you'd be impressed, given you prefer DD to DTS... why hasnt apple adopted it?... same reasons.. its a downgrade for consumers.. and a backward step! No...simply cost. And not offering optical drives (of any format) is also a way of keeping their products ultra thin:-) You do know of course that Apple sits on the Blu Ray Association Board of Directors?