A few weeks ago I upgraded the receiver in our dedicated screening room to the Pioneer SC-07. Its almost identical SC-27 replacement is now showing up and we couldn’t resist the close-out price on the SC-07s. Outside of the obvious never ending desire to upgrade I was looking for two features my old receiver lacked.

The first being Dynamic EQ or in the Pioneer’s case THX Loudness Plus™. This allows you to maintain the dynamic range one would hear at reference level when you are listening at levels well below reference. For a complete understanding of the gory details you can use the provided link. I also wanted the ability to store more than one set of room correction settings. The SC-07 uses MCACC and allows for six and you can choose up to three different methods of room correction logic.

After an untold number of times running MCACC followed by a few movies I am more than happy with the upgrade and feel the difference between what I sold the old receiver for and the price I paid for the SC-07 ended up being a sound decision. Although during the course of the upgrade I ran across something that improved the sound even more and it didn’t cost me a penny.

I was so impressed with how well MCACC corrected the speakers and room deficiencies I took a closer look at my room’s environment. I have a few acoustical panels and the room itself works well. However the very top of my speakers were shinny black plastic (they lift right off) which would reflect the light from the screen if I placed them within several feet. Because of this I had always placed them too far apart well beyond the recommended 24 – 28 degrees.

I knew this wasn’t ideal and it was hurting my audio performance so I came up with a solution. I could see the plastic caps would easily lift off and I would be left with bare wood. A few cans of flat black spray paint and the reflections would be gone!

After a day or so of letting the paint dry I ended up moving the speakers in roughly 6 feet (3 feet per speaker). To verify reflections wouldn’t be a problem I projected a 100 IRE image and the speakers were as hidden as the rest of the room. Since I was redoing the fronts I figured I might as well take a look at the others and see if there was anything else I could do to improve their performance. For reference I visited Dolby’s Home Theater Speaker Guide and based on their recommendation I relocated the rear surrounds and pointed each speaker directly towards the focal point (sweet spot).

I had reviewed their site and others over the years and taken the information into account so I wasn’t starting from scratch. But this time I let their recommendation dictate my speakers placement not the room. Why not it’s a dedicated screening room!

After my manual room correction it was time to rerun MCACC. First pass reported the left front was an inch further away from the focal point than the right front and all of the other speakers were good to go. Next pass was a winner and it was time to sit directly in the middle of that focal point and see what all of my manual labor resulted in.

Before the reconfiguration I was completed satisfied with the sound and didn’t expect a dramatic difference. It certainly wasn’t a night and day difference although it was easy to spot. Sounds were more clear and directional and pans were smoother. I felt like I had a direct connection to each sound and could easy hear where it was placed. Previously it sounded almost as good however it felt muted in that the sounds were more generally placed in the room. To sum up the difference I would say everything is now in sync. The audio track is being presented as it was recorded as I can hear the quietest details, follow the sounds as they travel from speaker to speaker and even at lower levels the audio comes alive as never before.

Looking back I have to admit the best upgrade was reconfiguring the speakers. It improved the listening experience more so than the receiver upgrade. Certainly it wasn’t as fun as tweaking a new receiver but getting better results without spending a penny (except in my case a couple of cans of spray paint) can’t be over looked.

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If you are a bargain hunter Amazon is one of the places you need to visit. Their Home Audio and Theater Outlet department generally features last year’s models at great close-out prices. Most often we will recommend going with the latest and greatest but at times that simply means it’s a different color, offers little or no improvement over last year’s model and on the rare occasion the older model actually performs better.

When hunting be sure to keep an eye out for speakers, amplifiers and AV receivers as they seldom see dramatic changes from one model year to the next. Especially with speakers! With AV receivers be sure it offers enough HDMI inputs and the latest HD decoding and you should be good to go. 

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We have always loved the Boston Acoustics sound and believe we can pick out a set of their speakers almost instantly. To our ears they have a fullness or presence other speaker brands lack. This makes them perfect for home theater as it delivers the soundtrack right into the middle of the room. The movie comes alive as you feel the sounds surround you and take you deep into the storyline.

Now the Boston Acoustics sound might be as important in a clock radio but fortunately for Boston Acoustics everything else is just as outstanding. Great looks, a strong tuner and a ton of other features ensure you’ll love Boston Acoustics almost as much as we do for home theater.

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Until June 14th you can save 12% off MartinLogan speakers. Sure they cost a lot but they look and sound even better.

Click Here for Great Sounds

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The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988

Although I prefer John Mellencamp’s later albums if you only know his music from truck commercials The Best That I Could Do is a great introduction to his early years. Billed as Johnny Cougar when his first album of covers was released in 1976 called Chestnut Street Incident little did it look like this singer and songwriter would become a major force in the music industry.

First he won the public with hit after hit and as he matured the critics were won over by his continuing heartfelt lyrics and passion. His band has been performing for over thirty years and with almost as many albums to pick from we guarantee you can find a few to relate to and appreciate regardless of your age or taste in music.

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Join the Parade

As I write this post I’m occasionally glancing over at a hard to find 1991 promotional poster featuring Marc Cohn. If you have ever listened to Marc Cohn sing you can pretty well guess what the poster looks like. The colors are muted, his image is soft and it looks so simple yet complex at the same time that it defines his song writing style perfectly.

I can go no further without saying one should listen to every album Marc Cohn has released. You may know him for Walking in Memphis which all by itself won him a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1992. That album has eleven tracks and I can remember the lyrics to each and every one.

His voice is soulful and haunting. Even more haunting is his lyrics as they have the powerful ability to be so easily understood that they instantly transform you. Listening to one of his songs is like examining a part of your life that he has chosen to bring to the surface.

For examples take Silver Thunderbird and Strangers in a Car two tracks from the same album. The former will have you endless reflecting on your father and the later questioning every one of your past relationships.

Join the Parade is Marc’s first studio album in almost 10 years and comes after years of life-changing experiences. Including being divorced and remarrying, writer’s block and being shot in the head during an attempted carjacking. We look forward to catching up with Marc and whether we like it or not we will be forced to catch up with ourselves at the same time.

Now back to listening to Marc’s albums over all of these years he has only released four along with two limited editions sold at concerts. Certainly you can squeeze them in as I’m pretty sure they will more beneficial than seeing a psychotherapist not to mention a lot less expensive.

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Night Moves 

Bob Seger’s Night Moves plays like a rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood. As such it brings back a time one can’t help but remember. Hopefully fondly! The album is so tight every track feels like a continuation of the previous one and before long you’ll be lost in the memories of your youth.

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Audioengine 5 – PC multimedia speakers for iPod – 45 Watt (total) – 2-way – black

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For a limited time Sonos is offering savings of $149 to $199 when purchasing one of their bundles. Our guess is this is a direct result of the fantastic free applet Sonos has released for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows them to virtually replace their remote.

We have used Sonos for years and as slick as the new iPhone/touch remote works we still think you’ll find good use for the Sonos remote. It’s water-resistant (great for outdoor usage), a wonderful party passer to let guests select their own music, and much less likely to leave your house with one of your family members leaving you without any remote!

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OPPO Digital, Inc. is about to release their first Blu-ray player the BDP-83. Known for making the best up-converting DVD players their Blu-ray player will be just as popular. It carries on their tradition with stellar DVD playback and supports both SACD and DVD-Audio. Making it a universal player priced at least a thousand dollars less than its competition.

The player uses Anchor Bay’s (DVDO) award winning Video Reference Series technology for image processing which insures you’ll get the best possible image whether it be DVD or Blu-ray. The player also comes with 7.1 analog output and will stream supported media files such as MKV.

List price and availability (around May 18th our guess) hasn’t been announced yet. Those luckily enough to have been selected for the Early Adoption Program paid $499. Hopefully it will be priced the same for the rest of us but don’t be surprised if it ends up being $599. If DVD performance is important to you or you’re looking for a universal player it will be a bargain at either price.

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Read Our Take on the OPPO BDP-83

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