My surround system is more complete now that I finally have a sub, it arrived today so I’ve been breaking it in by watching the best scenes from The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor, Star Wars etc.
The sub is a Klipsch KSW-12, not a foundation rattler, but a deicent midrange sub. The rest of my setup is Bose 301’s in the front and Bose 201’s for surrounds. My center is a Bose VCS-10 (which I hate). I’m not a huge bose fan, but the 201’s were a gift and I just built from there, adding matched speakers as I could afford it.
But now the problem is my receiver feals very inadequate. You see, I bought my reciever about the time that dolby digital 5.1 came out; my reciver was “dolby digital ready” but requires an external decoder. So I bought a DVD player that has the dolby digital 5.1 decoder built in, and it feeds my reciever with 6 RCA’s (yeah, no optical in on the reciever either). Problem is, the only line level subwoofer control I have over DVD’s is through the DVD player. So, I can’t adjust the subwoofer (other than overall volume with the rest of the system) without stopping the movie and going into my DVD players setup screen. I want to be able to quickly boost up the bass on Star Wars, but not have it so damn thumpin for Van Wilder – write that down.
Still worse yet, I have to manually adjust the outputs on the sub when I switch from TV, DVD, X-Box , CD, or the radio. (plust the dolby digital out of my x-box is only decoded as pro logic). It’s all very annoying. Worst of all, I can see my roommate blowing the thing out because the settings are so touchy. (eg, volume of 5 on the x-box, but 9 for movies).
So, it’s time for a Dolby Digital 7.1 receiver and I may as well throw in a progresive scan DVD player. I like this Onkyo receiver and while I’m at it, this Onkyo DVD player should match it nicely.
Anyone want to buy my Kidney so I can afford ’em?
