response 3 of 47:

May 5 02:14 UTC 2002

I think all DVD releases where THX did the sound have that.

response 5 of 47:

May 5 14:15 UTC 2002

Well... if you want to get really involved with home audio, I'd personally
stay away from Radio Shack.  The staff won't necessarily have a clue, and
depending on your price range you'll be able to get better equipment
elsewhere.  (If your price range is the kind of price range Radio Shack
carries, you're better off getting used higher-quality gear; if you have
serious money to spend, you want to go to a specialty store.)

response 7 of 47:

May 6 13:21 UTC 2002

Radio Shack does sometimes have rather high-end components, although probably
by accident.  Some years ago they had a small speaker (the "Minimus-7", I
think) which some audiophiles were quite fond of.  There was even a kit you
could buy to improve the tweeter or something.

response 9 of 47:

May 6 13:34 UTC 2002

I don't know your area at all, but if there's some community out there where
rich Seattleites spend their weekends, I'd start with its yellow pages.  Or
do a Google search on "NAD, "Arcam", or "Paradigm" and whatever words you
think might find you an audio store in your region.  Those brands can
sometimes be found very cheap used, and there usually isn't anything wrong
with used high-end audio gear except scratches on the case.

Hmmm... well, if Kennesick is near you, there's a place called Quicksilver
Audio (www.quicksilver-audio.com).

response 11 of 47:

May 6 20:48 UTC 2002

I am happy with the stuff we find at rummage sales and the curb, that often
only needs the switches cleaned.  Receiver, tape deck, speakers at the curb.
$5 receiver at a church sale.  Big speakers are now cheap because there are
good small ones.  Put your own ad in the paper for old stereo equipment.

response 13 of 47:

May 7 09:06 UTC 2002

resp:9  How the hell did you hear of Kennewick or Quicksilver?  It's a 
fairly long-time staple of my hometown (yeah, I used to live there).

Kennesick.  Hehehehe

response 15 of 47:

May 8 04:02 UTC 2002

Well, I also know there are other places, but yes, that's a biggie.

response 17 of 47:

May 8 15:40 UTC 2002

Also, a buck spent on better speakers is worth ten spent on anything 
else.

Don't let anyone sucker you into paying for really expensive speaker 
wire or interconnects.  In the case of interconnects, as long as 
they're well shielded and have good connectors, you're fine.  In the 
case of speaker wire, the only thing that really matters is that the 
wire gauge is correct.  (i.e., large enough that you don't loose 
excessive amounts of power.)  There have been double-blind tests that 
showed audiophiles couldn't hear the difference between super-expensive 
exotic speaker cable and ordinary zipcord from the hardware store, and 
there's no physics that says they should be able to.

response 19 of 47:

May 8 23:10 UTC 2002

I don't agree with the "speakers are too good for the other components"
argument.  I suppose shitty speakers would sound better somehow?  ;)  Buy good
speakers, and if you then don't like your whatever else you can buy a better
one next year.  

(Caveat:  It's possible that the really good speakers are less efficient than
the OK ones, and therefore need more power which the amp may not have.  I'd
buy that argument.)

Yeah, don't spend any real money on interconnects.  Buy the basic cables at
Radio Shack (cheaper than Meijer, last I looked), and use lamp cord or
whatever for the speakers.  I used to read rec.audio.high-end years ago, and
some people were claiming that *thinner* speaker cables sounded better!  Some
people also swore by Romex, that AC stuff in the walls of your house.

response 21 of 47:

May 9 01:06 UTC 2002

You can get speakers cheaper if you are not trying to play things very large
or very bassy.  Or get good headphones.  I find the antenna is the most
important thing when listening to radio.

response 23 of 47:

May 9 14:39 UTC 2002

Re #20: Usually interference isn't an issue with speaker wires because the
signal levels are so high.  The exception is when the speaker wire acts like
an antenna, and picks up a nearby amateur radio operator or AM station.  If
you do decide to use shielded speaker wire, follow good grounding practices
-- ground the shield at one end, and only one end.  Ideally you want your
system grounded in a "star" pattern -- all the ground connections should
come back to a single point.  That can be hard to achieve, though.  I have a
problem with mine because the computer is grounded through its plug, and the
VCR is grounded through its cable line, and both are connected to the same
amp.

#22 sounds like an equalization problem -- the Denon amp must have had
excessive low-end roll-off.  I don't have any equipment a serious audiophile
wouldn't turn up their nose at, though, so the amount of advice I can give
is fairly limited.  I will say that NAD will forever have a special place in
my heart for running a campaign with the slogan "Go NAD!" ;)

response 25 of 47:

May 9 23:27 UTC 2002

Funny we should be having this conversation now.  Today I was trying to 
fix a noise problem with a some powered computer speakers and concluded 
that the office they were in was just flooded with RF noise.  The little 
stereo mini cord by means of which the computer audio was fed to the 
speakers was acting like an antenna and doing it waaay too well.  I 
unplugged the cord from the computer and held it up and you could clearly 
hear at least a couple of radio stations playing through the speakers.  I 
told the person whose office it was to try wrapping the cord in aluminum 
foil.  Or wallpapering in it...