Dome's house: JBL demonstrations in LA

[Titanium Dome]

Oh, by the way I can’t attend as there is something like 17,000 miles between England and southern California.

Sorry to hear that. I was holding a spot for you, just in case.

Unfortunately I don't have a video cam, though I do have a small portable Web cam. The audio is terrible, however. Plus, once this event starts, I'll be too busy to think about video.

If someone wants to volunteer...

[JBL 4645]

Sorry to hear that. I was holding a spot for you, just in case.

Unfortunately I don't have a video cam, though I do have a small portable Web cam. The audio is terrible, however. Plus, once this event starts, I'll be too busy to think about video.

If someone wants to volunteer...

Well that’s nice to have spot open for me, unless of course I scored on lottery for a few grand for plane ticket.

Come on now, Dome, video is for documentation. this is an Event! I trust you have an SPL db metre? If not rush out buy a cheap SPL db metre they work great once connected to the pc audio input, I use mine on the pc as the webcam microphone is dreadful sounding.

Set the webcam up in corner looking down or slightly across the room. Place the SPL db meter about middle and set the weighting or run a few tests with different weightings to get a balance that’s not too boomy or has to much treble.

Get a long lead to run from the room to pc or better still laptop pc.

Placing it at the back tends to pick up boom in the bass.

[scott fitlin]

Doug, you and I share some common ground when it comes to audio and music, we have had good conversation here on the forum, I do wish I could make it out there to hear your new system. Your level of enthusiasm just tells me you got the goods, and I really want to hear what you have! At a later date, I might just PM you one day and say Hey I am in town, and lets go out for some great food. I have always enjoyed our conversations online, so in person should be equally good if not better, as we do share some common ground with our audio and music.

Anyway, you know I have been running some HALO amps on my horns and tweeters, and so far, I find my amps to be VERY good. REALLY powerful, but very finesseful, and clean, and totally quiet, no background noise, etc! My mid horns are sounding superbly clear, no glare, or harshness, notes jump out with authority, yet refinement.

I kind of think you might get Widget to let you play with a pair of the big HALO JC-1 mono blocks. Myself, tomorrrow, I am going to take my A-21, and switch it to bridge mono operation, and drive one of my double 15in TAD loaded basshorns with it, to get a glimpse of what the big HALO's might do in my system, as I am seriously looking at SIX JC-1 to power my 15,s! So far, what I am doing with the amps I have already, I am really happy with them. Without a doubt, for me, these are the most refined HIGH POWER amps I have ever had in my system, and tomorrow I will find out what they can do for the low end, well a small portion of the low end in my system. I am finding that as powerful as my A-21 is, they never make my 2in horns shout, bark or bite! Notes are incredibly clean, smooth, and detailed, without becoming shrill or brash sounding.

I will tell you my 1st impressions of the A-21 in bridge mono on low end tomorrow. My TAD woofers, are comparable to your JBL. For sure, what they say about the A-21,s strength in it's midrange I agree with. I am happy with what I have so far, and the price of this brand is nice, the build quality is GOOD! Sound quality is excellent, maybe this could be a possibility for you, too? And, with you being there, and near the Widget, and the Widget being a HALO dealer, and so on, and so forth. Of course, yes there are brands of amps that are even more pedigreed, but I am finding my money well spent thus far.

Food for thought.

[Titanium Dome]

One spot left for Saturday. Any takers?

[glen]

Hi Dome,

If that last open spot is still available I'd like to claim it.

Been very busy for months, missing the fun on the forum.
Can't think of a better way to jump back into Lansing-Land than hearing your great systems.

Glen

[Titanium Dome]

Hi Dome,

If that last open spot is still available I'd like to claim it.

Been very busy for months, missing the fun on the forum.
Can't think of a better way to jump back into Lansing-Land than hearing your great systems.

Glen

And the last spot is filled!

[louped garouv]

And the last spot is filled!

too cool of you TiDome....


I hope everybody there has a most excellent adventure!

[boputnam]

Thanks for the generous plan - but for me, another gig weekend.

I'll await the reports from the field. Rain check(s)...?

[Titanium Dome]

too cool of you TiDome....


I hope everybody there has a most excellent adventure!

Thanks for the generous plan - but for me, another gig weekend.

I'll await the reports from the field. Rain check(s)...?

I'm a little nervous about it. It's a long way from being how I want it with the K2s, but I know I'll get lots of feedback.

My hope is to implement any suggestions I consider "not crazy" over time as my bank account recovers.

[JBL 4645]

I'm a little nervous about it. It's a long way from being how I want it with the K2s, but I know I'll get lots of feedback.

My hope is to implement any suggestions I consider "not crazy" over time as my bank account recovers.

What from the K2.

I like the cosmetic elegant sleek look finish of the K2 just don’t have that sort of money lying around.

I’d still video the gathering and I wouldn’t sweet it Dome, its bound to get positive and negative feedbacks, mostly positive I would think.


For the home cinema demo, you need to select a DVD or coughing bluray with lots and lots of dialogue panning and plenty of bass to sub bass to enveloping surround effects to show that can deliver smooth dialogue pans from centre to left and right and slightly in-between half pans.

Not many films around today that show this off. I’d look for classic selection Alien dvd 20th anniversary edition is a good show-off with plenty of now and dialogue panning over LCR.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is another with stereo surrounds.

My Fair Lady, lots! Of dialogue panning!

Bass heavy weight champions, like Titanic! The Matrix! Die Hard! Transformers!

The Matrix well reach down to 20Hz Titanic just tickles the near end depths of 20Hz Die Hard a bit shy of the 20Hz mark, more less around the 30Hz mark, Transforms, load of bollocks of film, it has I think a few or just one scene that gets down near 20Hz I think it’s the helicopter scene approaching the Pentagon for brief few seconds.

[Altec Best]

And the last spot is filled!

Can't wait for all the observations of the equipment and really looking forward to it.

BTW: Everyone who is going Have a Great Weekend !!

[Titanium Dome]

For those who RSVPed, I look forward to seeing you. I feel like I need another week to get ready, but...

Anyway, I'll be providing you with a light lunch, and there'll be beer, too! As a bonus, there's a little attendance gift you can take home.

If you want to bring music or video, just keep it reasonable, since you'll have to sit through the demo first. Then after lunch I'll probably have two or three systems open for use for your own discs. Just don't get me kicked out of the community!

See you tomorrow.

[JBLAddict]

First, a HUGE thanks to Doug for opening his home and toys to a good sized group today. Also for supplying all the fixin's for a bona fide Chicago style hot dog, which I don't get much these days since leaving my hometown years ago

There was a very well organized itinerary to move through the systems of mention, with calibrated listening levels (thanks Doug for holding an SPL meter during each segment) and duplicate demo DVD-A's for each setup, so the comparisons were normalized.

The PS 5.1 was everything I hoped for and much better than I really expected. The all Ti dome PT800 was a reall audiophile treat, and absolutely has me second guessing my choice to go all L series when I could have gone this route--wow, talk about clean airy high ends, speak to you vocals, with unwavering bottom end from the 4-PS1400s and two HTPS-400s....if I had this setup I'd remain plastered to those couches with all my SACD and DVDA for days on end....definitely my next move up the chain is this series

The XPL200A was something I've read extensively about but figured while great in the day, no longer relevant. Expected very little from this setup and boy I could not have been more wrong! When GT said the "killer combo of the Ti mid and tweeter", he wasn't kidding, and it's still very relevant. Doug stated that the DX-1 made the night and day difference, but either way, these are very special speakers, and while the MF/HF was almost shockingly good, the bottom was fantastic, any weakness in the mid-bass I read so much about was undetectable to me. Maybe the Citation electronics and custom DX-1 deserve the credit, I'll never know, but man I wish I had a pair

The S/2600 had a little tech difficulty from the amps, but nonetheless, their character was evident. They had a very smooth, mellow sound with a lot of "weight" but clearly lacking the fine detail of the other systems. I could easily spend a great deal of time listening to them, but the fact that they were horns was evident.

The Syn One HT was insane, I figured it would be a cool thing to have, but completely underestimated the power that two 18" subs would deliver and how phenomenal the action and dialog would be from the SAM1/2. While the cannon blasts were going off in Master and Commander, the sunglasses hanging from my shirt were literally rocking back and forth, the rear/side action from the S4Ai's makes in clear why they're in the Syn line. This was a true movie theatre, but with refined dynamics to boot. Watching movies on my Lseries HT is going to be tough coming from that.

Last, the K2. The right words are hard to find, you just had to be there Power, dynamics, finesse, detail, air, articulation, all the "superlatives" as Bob Costas would say, and this minus the ultra high end Pre/Amp that one would typically find. As I told one of the guests, and I mean this honestly, if I had these at home, I'd be finding reasons to ditch work early to come home like a desperate addict, and staying up way later than anyone should every night. They have the ability to make good music great, and take you into the music experience in a way other systems just can't match. For those who haven't heard them, it's worth finding someway, somewhere, to get the opportunity, the impression they leave is a life experience, and Doug's one lucky guy.

Sadly, Doug supplied each of us with a copy of the DVD-A used today, to compare our home systems. Looks like I have no choice now but to start greasing the upgrade skids at home....

Finally, thanks to Grumpy who spent a huge amount of time helping to setup the systems, notably the K2, and all the past working helping with the Two Jim's theatre. Was great to meet him, a genuinely nice guy with tons of knowledge and willingness to share it.

[Altec Best]

JBLAddict Thanks for the update.It really sounds like it was a great time.A whole lotta fun comes to mind.

[Titanium Dome]

It was great to see Tony, Dave, and Glen again. They represented the Lansing Heritage membership with real class. It was interesting to see the interplay between them and the AVS LA Home Theater Group. More on that later.

Thanks to the excellent resources on this site, my owners manuals, and a little research, I put together a guide sheet for the day. Thanks especially to Greg Timbers and Techbot (you know who you are) for the wealth of facts at our fingertips. The order on the reference sheet is more or less he order we followed, which meant a lot of stair climbing on four different levels of the house (well five if you want to get super technical).