saw the following Coutrs promotion in todays STAR paper :-
1) Pioneer HTPR 55  (AV receiver + 5.1 speakers) at RM2999
    free panasonic 32" LCD TV THL 32C26K worth RM1399  + HDMI cable
             
2) Pioneer HTP520 SW (AV receiver + 5.1 speakers) at RM3299
    free Samsung 42" plasma TV PS42C430 worth RM2499 + HDMI cable
Package consists of:

VSX-520 – Multi-Channel AV Receiver

S-ES3TB – Speaker System

S-RS3SW – Power Subwoofer
do you think is a good  deal ?? I am interested in the Package no 2 (with free samsung 42" plasma TV)



http://www.pioneermalaysia.com.my/product_details.php?id=393

but 920 definitely over my budget...

actually i prefer 5.1 instead as i will locate it at living area only...
may worse that i may locate all 5 speakers on top of my TV cabinet... that why i dont think for 7.1...

or i should go for Onkyo HT-S3300 instead? but bad that it come with passive sub... 

as your experience, can i pair 580 with onkyo skf 330f? any possibility bottleneck 580's performance? i read thru the pioneer catalaog which i got from harvey norman, seem todoroki setup seem should be cheaper but i dislike floor stand design and used some space... still prefer alike S3300's speaker size...

r u joking? 

i tried to use media player > HDMI > TV > RCA > Hifi, the audio quality very unclear
end up, i do direct from media player > RCA > Hifi, the audio quality crispy than TV 1000% even though stereo mode

hence one of my neighour used high end 3.1 floor stand speaker paired with AV receiver (cost him Rm8k last 2 year ago as info), the audio quality definitely enough to posion me... unless i have a dedicated AV Room for sure will located surround speaker at other location...

yup as what my neighbour comments, some of small speaker are stronger and louder than floor stander, but still small speaker lack of drivers to create different frequencies with proper sound... correct me if wrong... anyway, i still prefer small speaker as i dont need the loudness and look neater...

but i guess i have no choices for surround effects with 2 rear speakers unless i can mount both speakers on my ceiling but the height almost 11 feet, wondering i can heard anything or not...  but if i install with speaker stand, i worry my baby may hurt accidentally...  any advice?
i have no other choices lo bro... i looking for the receiver which can support HDMI IN and most of them support 5.1 and above, dont have any 3.1 or 2.1... unless i planned for clean music only for vocal/concert type like Teresa Teng type, i will go for tube amp which only 2.0/2.1 but for sure cost a bomb easily if planned for good vocal, as heard from my boss that hi-end cable can cost easily Rm2k-5k and one of his business partner spent RM200k-300k for AV whole system...   

anyway, i did a survery around and most probably end up with pioneer HTP-820SW, is it good enough to start with? i guess i have no other choices as budget constraint, otherwise i will go for better & smaller speaker ...

Hi mate, Pioneer 820 vs Onkyo 508 , which one give betetr sound quality ? How much is Pioneer 820 now ?

my sofa seat located at the middle of living area, so no wall behind the sofa and it is walking area, that what i afraid of the speaker may hurt someone if it fall down... 

u means 3300 or 330? about the cross u means the audio crossover? still learning here...   as refer to the 3300's manual, frequency range of sub between 80-150hz and speaker between 80-20khz... so thought that 120-150hz can generate from sub and speaker right?

actually htp-820sw's ES3 speaker have any differences with todoroki speaker? as i know todoroki more for explosion which wasnt my taste... as checked the latest catalog of pioneer, seem the specification no different at all between ES3 and torodoki, so wondering the ES3 will have more clarity since it located at different category?

actually i looking at onkyo 308 previously, but all of onkyo required to get additional dock for iphone/idock and cost some money there... so i maybe rather invest it into 820 as it built in... hence quite difficult that to find good speakers with reasonable price to pair with 308... hence, i'm noob... so that why i go for htp-820sw...

i did a fast audition 2 channel stereo between
onkyo 508 + MS carnial set + good cable
Pioneer 520 + todoroki set + stock cable
with same CD music...

508 + MS: music quality quite adequate, vocal and bass quite balance, impressed for this setup...
later i try 520 + todoroki, the bass damm deep even though without subwoofer and cant heard the vocal clearly too, my ear felt a bit unwell bcos of the deep bass from front speaker only... 

wondering will the amp (508 & 520) & cable (stock & good) made the huge differences?
or what i heard from audition is the real differences between MS carnival and todoroki?

i did try at style laser just now... but 520 located at the groud open area, quite shame if asked to move 520 to 1st floor to test with carnival... chinese young guy (Lee as believe) said that the 508 is almost same quality with 520/820... so nothing i can comments much as he is the expertise in this field...

anyway, no understand for this statement "the torodoki is far worse than the MS carnival didn't have as much clarity as the MS carnival"... u means have pros and cons between both? as tested carnival have more clarity (maybe bcos of 508?) compare with todoroki, but todoroki more for louness and bass (wasnt my taste)... but of cos over my budget seriouly with pair with carnival... need few months saving from now... 

The Sub I used is come in standard package from htp-rs55. The model of Sub is S-RS3SW. It comes with 2-pin power cord only.

The humming noise is there also even the source cable from AVR is unplugged, and the power cord length is just standard length, don't think is >20ft. I had tried to connect it using other power point in my house (without source cable plugged in), same humming noise also.

One thing I noticed is that if the source cable is plugged in, the humming noise changed a bit, something like softer. If I touch the screw of the Sub, nothing change on the humming noise. But when source cable is unplugged and when I touched the screw, the humming noise become louder. According to technician that this is caused by grounding problem.  I don't know anything about grounding.  Is this the truth that caused by my house grounding problem or the technician just bluffing to me...

Oops...i mean Pioneer

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Added on October 1, 2011, 7:06 pm

That is what I thought too.  But I just notice it do not have Audyssey but Pioneer's own MCACC.

What I like it that it have iControlAV2 for iPhone and iPad and supports AirPlay.  It even have bluetooth.

But how is the Class D Direct Energy HD amplifier?

For any room correction solution there are normally 4 adjustments needed:

1. Distance
2. Crossover (related to bass management)
3. Trim or dB level
4. Equalization

I know MCACC does 1-3. Does it do 4?

The benefits of XT32 are not only limited to "a very poor room with lots of room gain". All rooms, even a larger one will cause some variation in the freq response. Have you ever used a tool like REW to graph your sub/room? Quite interesting.

Also, you shouldn't only be looking at the issue of room gain but also freq dips. Both should be addressed. One thing I would check with MCACC is whether it even equalizes the sub, some say it doesn't. Some say it only equalizes down to 60Hz. If true that is a major limitation to me. I'm not arguing about whether MCACC or Audyssey is better but just about functionality; if MCACC doesn't eq the sub then that is a major loss of functonality (like the low end Audyssey 2EQ).

You're assuming the LX75/85 is the better sounding receiver. No doubt being the top end Pioneer models they can sound good. But would it sound better than equivalent Denon/Onkyo models, I don't know. Have not compared them.

Was about to ask u if u like the MRX but knowing that u hv certain standards for music am not surprised to hear that u are modding the MRX.

Its the same here. I am yet to find a multi channel AV amp that can come close to a proper pre/pro combination for music. Thats my opinion.

On the multiple approaches for room equalization that yamaha, pioneer, onkyo, denon, anthem all take....all the solutions try to address one thing, how to compensate for the typical person on the deficiencies of the room. Most 2 channel purist will not use them for serious listening and will rather try to fix it via room treatment of positionining whenever possible.

In my opinion, unless u hv a crap room, the area where the equalization can play a part is in the low end. A lot of detail is lost when the subwoofer or the low end is set up wrongly. Now, the setting of the phase knob in subwoofers is typically the same as the distance that most AVRs have. The distance setting is most important in multiple channel setup so its interesting how ARC does not set distance, so I will need to read up on that. Also in my opinion, trying to equalize above 2kHz is meaningless.

Each one of the equalization methods have their pros and cons, Audyssey seems to do a good job in the low end compared to the rest of them. MCACC has the ability to tailor a lot of stuff after the auto correction is done, YPAO I am not so sure as I hv not seen it used in a long time. ARC seems to also very good especially the one that comes with the D2V.

I never use the Onkyo (nor the Marantz/Denon for that matter) that I hv for serious 2 channel music. It just sounds so flat and digital (with or without equalization). For 2 channel music integration of the sub to my mains, I use the phase knob on my sub to ensure proper integration. It is good to understand the limitation of ur mains to get the sub integrated well. The F15 that I hv does it pretty well in my ears...

For movies, dual subs make it difficult not to use at least an EQ to at least ensure that they are both in phase (of course this can be done manually, but its a real pain trust me). Getting the phase of both subs playing together is crucial to ensure u are actually benefitting from dual subs compared to just having 1.

Auto EQ is also a marketing tool, some of the lower end ones don't do much its just another 3-4letter word that manufacturers stick on the amp to show that they have more features.

Audyssey has its drawbacks and is far from perfect. It has difficulties is finding the -3dB of the subwoofer and has been known to boost below the -3dB point in the subwoofer. Its implementations of the Dynamic Vol,EQ has been known to pass excessively high SPL signals to the subwoofer channel that causes pops, plus in my opinion it does not do a post equalization ping of the speakers to see if anything is out of the ordinary.

ARC - I'm not sure. I am tempted by the D2V to see if it is neutral for 2 channel listening compared to my pre-amp.

MCACC does not do too much equalization in the low end but is also known to boost low end to cause bottoming out of the subwoofer channel.

EDIT: I just read that u would need to set the speaker distances manually in the Anthem Amps...so that makes sense.

Yup!  He is very impressive with your system and always ask me why the gun shot in Die Hard 4 can't shake the couch in his setup( avr 4311 and also dual sub ). I just tell him that he is audition the one of the best setup in this forum ( The LFE in Htkaki system is ) . You never know what you are missing until you audition the good one .

+1

Expensive avr (not mine. Later kena tembak) does come with better DSP chips.

aw.... That's too bad. Ain't it?

It is about time that we need talented people like you to show those Japanese and Western countries of what we are capable of producing rather a bunch of clowns that our country is well known for.

We should seriously come out with a stereo int amp or say pre power (since those dunno wot algorithm ain't available) that could put those high end brands to shame. Send a unit to Stereophile and let them be surprised by what we , err others here ( I know zero abt DIY ) can do with the skill and deep knowledge.

It is about time for one truly Malaysia Boleh!

Please let me know the contact to buy the pioneer sc lx85. I'm keen to buy

Wow... LX-87 is really something... Its output power is awesome (among the highest).... but run so much cooler as compare to Onkyo 5010 
Pioneer really know how to make magic... 

Haha,

U can quell an upgrade urge once or twice but AFAIK, once u start tinking abt it - its bad news liao..
I 'pendam' my urge for an XT32 audyssey processor [AVR] solely cos I hv 2 subs n 'feel' like l needed an avr wif one but wif ATMOS - l aint even tinking abt it..
Tinking abt tat.. de multiple sub EQ feature is now no longer a feature anymore since ATMOS came ..

How tastes change..
D

non upgradeable by updating firmware....demmmm