Hi I'm new

cfrizz

I just wanted to get your assessment of my setup.

Sony KV-32XBR45 TV
Denon 3802 Receiver
Rotel 855 CD Player
Onkyo TA2600 Tape Deck
Pioneer 47A DVD
Sony SLV-799HF VCR
Polk RTA-8T Main Speakers
Boston 920 Center Speakers
Boston PV600 Sub Woofer

I just switched my interconnect wire from CD to receiver to
Monster Cable 850I (I'm hearing stuff out of my cd's I never heard before!!!!) That was $80.00 well spent.

I would love to go to full surround, but as it is, I'm already shaking the walls & floor when an explosion happens.

Any other tweaks I can add that you can think of?

Thanks.

George Grand

Hi, I'm old. I like your choice of CD and cassette machines.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

dave shepard

Originally posted by cfrizz
I just wanted to get your assessment of my setup.

Polk RTA-8T Main Speakers
Boston 920 Center Speakers

I would love to go to full surround, but as it is, I'm already shaking the walls & floor when an explosion happens.

Any other tweaks I can add that you can think of?

Thanks.

Going full surround will not change the way things shake but will add to the effect of being in the middle of all the action. You have main speakers and center speakers(?) you have more then one center? I would get some rear speakers and enjoy.

Dave

cfrizz

Originally posted by dave shepard
Going full surround will not change the way things shake but will add to the effect of being in the middle of all the action. You have main speakers and center speakers(?) you have more then one center? I would get some rear speakers and enjoy.

Dave

Hi Dave. Whoops that should be speaker for the center channel. I would love to get rears, but my neighbors would probably demand my eviction!

cfrizz

Originally posted by George Grand
Hi, I'm old. I like your choice of CD and cassette machines.

George Grand (of the Jersey Grand's)

Hi George. Thanks. They are both almost 14 yrs old. They and my Sony Phono & Polks are the only things I kept from my 1st serious attempt at building a good system. And out of those only the CD & speakers get any kind of a workout!

George Grand

I have an Onk TA-2056 that I bought used, and it is one FANTASTIC sounding cassette deck. Get the right recording, and it sounds like a cd.

That Rotel 855 was all the rage awhile back and I almost bought one, but stumbled onto something else (also used).

George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)

Airplay355

your neighboors wont demand your eviction. getting surround speakers isnt going to add content to what you are hearing. it might make something that is already there more easily heard but surround information is not erased if you do not have surround speakers.

the surround channels information is sent to the mains if you have the surround speakers set to off/no on your receiver. correct me if im wrong.

kureboy99

cfrizz, you might not agree with me on this (since you just bought your monster cables) but, I would suggest re-cabling your setup if you absolutely cannot get rear speakers as an upgrade. Monster cable is not that great. Check out Bettercables.com, they have pretty down-to-earth prices on some very nice cables...I used to have Monster's back in the day and then upgraded to these...sounds honestly like you got new/better equipment and can make older stuff sound very nice. Anyway, just a suggestion...and yes, I am a cable loon

cfrizz

Thanks Kureboy. I am now looking into recabling my setup, and I will definately look into that website. Any Suggestions as to what kind of cable I should get.

Also, would getting one of those fancy power strips by Monster or someone also make a difference? If so which one?

dorokusai

www.usedcables.com

www.audiogon.com

www.signalcable.com

www.bluejeanscable.com

www.canare.com

HBombToo

Welcome to the club and Iand I see your an individual of very good taste. The RTA-8T's are fine speakers!

HBomb

cfrizz

Thanks for the welcome HBomb, it's nice to meet another RTA-8T owner.

Wow Dorokusai, thanks for all of the websites featuring cable! The Blue Jean looks like the most affordable, the only question is do they make a good product. Any owners of their cable out there? Let me know what you think of them.

Demiurge

Welcome

kureboy99

cfrizz, I've heard only positive things about Bluejeans cable...they make pretty good stuff at very affordable prices. Elementcable (elementcable.com) also makes good cables at good prices and they are supposidly good cables as well. A good place to find out information on cables is from other users at: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/cables/bbs.html . I have been going here for years now and have gooten nothing but great advice. It's easy to get caught up in "Cable Land" out there since some cables range in the $5K+ range. Again, from my experience, getting super expensive cables isn't always best and doesn't yeild the best results either. I'd say for the high end, since you are looking for affordable cables, I would go with BetterCables but if you want to get cables that are a bit cheaper but still beat out the Monsters, I'd go with the Bluejeans, Elementcable, or CobaltCable setups.

On power conditioners, power strips, I'd stay away from Monster. I had my share of the Reference Series Power Conditioners and they just killed the sound...it was like someone honestly threw a blanket over my speakers...then I got the Panamax MAX5500 for a steal and my system can now breath freely. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to clean up their AC power...it has a torroidal power supply that yeilds unhindered AC power (though clean AC power) to your amp, digital components, etc.

Anyway, these are my suggestions...just want to steer you in the right direction from the get-go since many of us have been playing the "trial and error" game which can become very expensive. Hope this helps...happy listening.

cfrizz

Thanks Kureboy. I appreciate all of the info & assistance.

kureboy99

NP, happy listening...