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Another month…another favorite movies list…this time for Thanksgiving. With a stomach full of turkey and fixins and a house full of friends and family, I can’t think of a better way I would like to spend my Thanksgiving holiday than watching a good movie. Here are my favorite thanksgiving movies:
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Members of AVSForum have posted their impressions of Denon’s newest budget ($369 MSRP) dvd player. The DVD-1920 features HDMI 1.1, DCDi by Faroudja deinterlacing, and Burr-Brown PCM-1738 192kHz/24-bit audio DACs which is quite impressive for this price range.
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A member of AVSForum has posted detailed impressions of JVC’s latest hybrid amp receiver, the RX-D702.

the audio quality of the receiver is excellent to my untrained ears. There is no hiss at high volume levels during quiet movie passages, and I hear no distortion during very loud house rattling passages.

View AVSForum thread

Al Wooley of RAW Acoustics has posted pictures of one of his customer’s speakers built from the Adire Audio Apex kit. Each Apex speaker features a RA104.5 ribbon tweeter, three CSS WR125S mids, and four Adire Extremis woofers aligned in a WMTMWWW configuration with the third WR125S mounted on the rear and run full range.
View Audiocircle thread
View Apex product page

There is a Denon AVR-3806 Receiver owners thread on AVSForum; members have commented on their experiences with Denon’s new budget receiver.

The good: SACD playback — the multichannel sound reproduction is wonderful (source is a Denon 1920). Also, Audyssey equalization has improved the acoustics considerably in my oddly-shaped home theater.

The bad: I’m sad to report that the 3806 does not synch up with the HDMI input from a Comcast/Motorola 6412 DVR either (DVI output converted to HDMI via DVI-HDMI cable). HDMI from the Denon 1920 DVD player works fine. Fortunately, my TV has two HDMI inputs, so no worries yet. However, such an expensive receiver should not have trouble synching up with garden variety (HDCP-enabled) DVRs. That’s not acceptable.

The ugly: 1) the manual. Never been a big fan of Denon manuals, and this one is no exception. There seems to be no logic to the organization. 2) Human interface design. I spent a frustrating half hour trying to run the auto-equalization scheme. Turns out that you start the sequence by pressing the left-arrow key rather than the “enter” key like all other menus everywhere on the planet.

View AVSForum thread

A member of the AVSForum has posted initial impressions of Onkyo’s newest THX Select2 receiver. The Onkyo TXSR803 is a 7.1 receiver that produces 105W/ch; it includes 2in/1out HDMI 1.1 switching and auto speaker set-up using an included microphone.
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Dan Wiggins of Adire Audio has shared some interesting information about the many manifestations of driver distortion in a thread on the Sound Illusions forum.

4.4% THD is quite audible! In fact, THD in the 1% range is just entering the audibility limits. I know folks like to talk about 10%, but that’s for objectionable not audible. A THD level of 4.4% will definitely be audible, while a THD level of 1% will be on the edge of audible – if you can detect it, it will be extremely faint.

Dan Wiggins discusses how Adire’s XBL^2 technology reduces driver distortion; there is also a resulting discussion on the AVSForum.
View SoundIllusions Forum thread
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There are a few threads on AVSForum where members have shared their experiences with the Velodyne SMS-1. There is also a thread comparing the feature-set of the Velodyne SMS-1 with the Onix R-DES.
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View AVSForum comparison thread

A member of the AVSForum and a dealer of NHT speakers has posted impressions of two new speakers from the Classic line, the Absolute Zero and Two. He has received one of the new Classic Ten subwoofers also.

The Absolute Zero has tonal balance that is brighter and more detailed than the SB1, with a bigger soundstage, but with a marginally warmer balance than the M5. It is very nearly the performance of the M5, but less than half the size and price. It pays a wonderful tribute to the original SuperZero. The Two offers deeper bass and output. Compared to the SB3 at the same price, it is clearly more detailed, a little lighter but tauter in the bass and, again, a bit warmer than the M5. I’d argue that the Two matches the performance of the M5 in most ways and may have a better overall tonal balance. It has more of that “fun” sound, somewhat missing on the SB2, that made the SuperOne a classic. What is most obvious is how they clearly enunciate vocals and pick up every syllable.

The impressions of the new speakers were posted at the end of the fifth page of the forum thread.
View AVSForum thread

Ikka, a member of AVSForum has posted the results of a comparison between SVS’s budget subwoofer, the PB10-ISD, and Axiom Audio’s monster (in size and price) subwoofer, the EP600. The Axiom subwoofer has a sophisticated DSP that controls its frequency response and supposedly reduces distortion. Comparing all the objective data (frequency response, power compression, max SPL at 10% THD, bandwidth linearity, group delay, and ETF spectral decay), the $1750 Axiom EP600 gets its ass handed to it by the $430 SVS PB10-ISD.
View Subwoofer Comparison
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