aktick

Picked up my Rockets (av123.com) and MFW-15 sub today at Yellow Freight. Worst part is I'm not even going to be able to hook them up for a month or so when I move into the new house. Took the speakers out just to inspect, the MFW is staying in that box until it comes out for good. I'm not sure how a 3 foot tall speaker is going to work as a surround, but we'll see. These things are just gorgeous. Keep in mind I'm going from a $250 Onkyo HTiB to these, don't plan on buying speakers again anytime soon.

523 lbs. shipping weight :


Two 850's for main fronts (http://av123.com/component/page,shop...t/Itemid,37/):


Two 450's for rear surrounds, that's just a dirty lens, not a mark on the speaker (http://av123.com/component/page,shop...t/Itemid,37/):


"Bigfoot" RSC200 center (http://av123.com/component/page,shop...t/Itemid,37/):


And an MFW-15 sub - http://av123.com/component/page,shop...art/Itemid,37/ .

Dog was excited too!

dick_grayson

very nice

Spiky

Bring 'em over here for a month. I got space.

Brian Shannon

I have heard lots of good things, be sure to post a review after you have them up and running

Jediturtle

You are going to be one happy guy when you crank those babies up for the first time. Even more so once they break in a little...they smooth out a bit more after a few hours on them. But even right out of the box, they are awesome speakers. Congrats!

aktick

Any advice on receivers? I'm not sure if I should have a separate amp for something like this, or if just a simple AV receiver will work fine? They'll be used for Blu-rays, gaming, and HDTV - not much straight music use.

Some recommendations I got elsewhere - Onkyo 606 & 806, Denon 1909, Pioneer 1018, Yamaha 663, Marantz 4003 & 5003.

Surely plenty to filter through.

I'm looking for 3 HDMI inputs ideally (Blu-ray, 360, DirecTV), and of course something that can handle all the new audio codecs. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make if the HDMI just did video passthrough or if it had a scaler?

Spiky

Video passthrough usually means audio passthrough, too. And you don't want that.

I would want a separate amp for good speakers, although many people get by with receivers. My advice would be to get a receiver with full preouts. Then you can upgrade to a separate amp later if you like. Unless you have the budget to go full separates right away. That can actually be pretty inexpensive with pieces from Outlaw Audio or Emotiva, and you obviously don't mind buying from Internet companies.

Raul3

You should at least go with a medium class receiver so the Onkyo 606, Yamaha 663, etc. should be discarded.
I've read really good things about the Denon 1909 if you don't want to go that high in price. I was actually looking at the Harman Kardon 254, since I really love HK but then found out about all the issues with HDMI. All the people were recommending the 1909 instead.

Oh and I don't have anything against the Onkyo 606 or the Yammie, it's just that for those speakers you need something a little bit better.

aktick

Aaah, good to know.

So preouts are a must. Got it.

My brother-in-law actually just got the 1909 with his ELT setup from av123. It was kind of a pain to setup all the inputs (I got nominated to do it all since he's much less tech-savvy than even me), but the Audyssey automatic calibration did a really good job and we only had to make some very minor adjustments. So that was nice. And av123 actually carries Denon at close to wholesale prices. Maybe I'll call and get some pricing on them. Any other Denon offerings to consider in the mid-price ranges ($500-800 I guess)?

Most of this is Greek to me - does the 1909 have preouts? http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/4241.asp

Raul3

From the picture of the back, yes, it has 7.1 preouts.

MrVette99

Wow! Very pricey. You quite possibly have more money in one speaker then I have invested in my reciever, plus the dvd player, plus 6 speakers and the subwoofer.

You going to get ultra expensive speaker wire ~ $10/ft?

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Produ...V810BF&tp=2191

aktick

Actually they were much less than the individual prices shown on their site - I ended up paying about $2,200 for the whole 5.1 setup. Which hopefully is the last $2,200 I spend on speakers for YEARS. I might end up adding 2 surrounds to make it 7.1 at some point though.

Monoprice.com for all my interconnects, including speaker wire. A tad cheaper than $10/ft.

Spiky

That's actually a good price for those features. I might add, virtually useless features.

Get some 12AWG or larger bulk wire. You might be surprised how many feet you really need if you do a clean installation, in-wall and whatnot. I burned through 100' and had 2 speakers left last time I upgraded, had to use old stuff for those 2.

MrVette99

Very nice. The speakers look fantastic and should sound incredible. Now, I understand the dogs excitement.

aktick

So I talked to av123, and apparently they are going to start carrying Marantz products in addition to Denon. The Denon 1909 I could get for under $500 before shipping (it retails for $650). No prices yet on the Marantz products, though if they are close to the same % off of retail as Denon, I may have to lean towards the 4003 for $450 or less.

Anybody have a Marantz receiver?

Spiky

Marantz and Denon are now related, so that makes sense. Marantz makes great-sounding amps, but they always seem to do something stupid.

I've been looking at preamps and they have a beauty. But its Audyssey setup does NOT work when using HD surround modes. So it's basically off the list.

B.A.

I like what I have seen from Outlaw, but they are still using DVI instead of HDMI.

Whatever you do - don't under-power your setup.

OneCall has some nice deals on the Denon2808 and Onkyo806.

How do you plan on setting up your Bigfoot?

aktick

That's a good question. (: Not really sure yet, as I don't have the room yet.

I think ideally I'd have enough clearance to put it on a stand below the screen, angled up a little?

aktick

So apparently that Denon (1909) does NOT have full pre-outs, just a sub pre-out. Should it be taken out of consideration because of that?

SoSpacey

Look at receivers that are a little beefier. The 1909 and even the 2909 are somewhere around 25lbs.

Look at the Yamaha rx-v1800. 130w/channel and weighs in around 45lbs.

Whatever you do, do not waste those speakers on an underpowered receiver. May as well saved your money.

I love Outlaw products (although Home Theater Forums obvious pimping of them turned me off to them) but they usually come without a lot of features as some other brands.

B.A.

I was going to recommend the perfect solution (and cheap to boot), but it looks like the stands have been discontinued. I will see if I can find them anywhere.

Spiky

Outlaw would be more a consideration to me on the amp side than the pre/pro side. Because they make such strange feature choices.

Well, if you want to consider a slow upgrade path to separates, it really isn't appropriate. But that may not be your intent, the Denon should be a good product in the price range. You can always spend more to get more.

aktick

Cool, please do. I think av123 sells a stand just for the Bigfoot, but I'm assuming they charge an arm and a leg for it.

Thanks, I'll do more looking. Seems like anything real beefy is over $1,000 though - $1,000 is the absolute max I'd consider spending now, so we'll see what kind of deals I can get. Still waiting on prices from av123 on Marantz.

I'll have to see what ends up falling within my budget. Of course I'll be sacrificing something at this price point, but if I can get something that will be more future proof, great. If not, I'll just have to make do with what I can afford for now and upgrade in a couple years.

SoSpacey

The Yamaha RX-v1800 can be had for under $800 from an authorized dealer.
130w x 7
45lbs
4 HDMI
All decoding on board

The only flaw is the upconverting from analog sources. which i dont even notice since i dont think i use it.

gimmepilotwings

Why don't you get an Onkyo 805 for around $500 shipped, (maybe a bit more) and a Emotiva amp for about $500 shipped as well?

You get all the codecs, and even more power than the 130w from the 805.

I'm waiting on the next shipment of Rockets next month and this is the path that I am taking.