I suppose it's because Marantz is more well-known for its hi-fi amps and therefore its AVR should perform better in its audio department than others?

What I meant is using AVR to output front L-R to another dedicated hi-fi setup for the AV duty, and use the hi-fi setup for audio without the AVR.
That is if you can only setup the gears in one place, and do not have space for separate front speakers for both AV and audio.

So there's no decently priced AVR that can do 7.1.4 or 7.2.4 on the market yet? Need at least 13 processed channels, and 7 powered channels will do. Hands itchy already, with the recent bonus.

Below RM10k?

Out of the 3, only the Marantz can do 7.2.4. The Yamaha and Denon can only do 7.2.2 or 5.2.4.
The search begins...

Front speakers - place the tweeter at ear level when you are seated at your throne. Normally problem with the centre speaker as it will block the screen from your view if placed at that height. And yes, you can place it lower and tilt up the front baffle towards you, unless you have an old centre speaker like me with the front baffle sloping upwards (or downwards if placed above the screen the other way round). Mine is Castle Keep.

Surround speakers - normally place the tweeter at 2 feet above ear level. This is ambiguous because we should also consider how far away the speakers are.

Search the web for speaker placement guides, there are plenty.

Yes.
On marble, granite, timber or tiled floor, just place the spike on a coin to protect the floor.

Some equipment such as subwoofer come with such discs.
For my other speakers stands and racks, I didn't bother to go hunting for them. Just punch an indentation in one-cent coins and they are as good. One-cent coins are pretty useless nowadays anyway.

I supposed HT bypass means connection to the power section bypassing the control or pre-amp section, right?

We cannot generalize that 3-ways is better than 2-ways. In fact, the crossovers (2 crossovers for 3-ways, 1 for 2-way, and none for full-range driver) introduce undesirable distortion to flat response that we try to achieve.
In the final analysis, a speaker that is well designed irrespective of how many drivers it deploys should sound better than another that is not.

The bolts securing the drivers to the speaker cabinet need to be tightened regularly. Actually not really that regular, once every one or two years will do. Reputable speakers should come with their own tools for doing that. I believe Monitor Audio provides Allen keys for such purpose.

The drivers are subject to vibration, a lot of it, and the bolts become loose. You will be surprised how loose some the bolts have become over time.

My first PC was running DOS 2.1. I think the 5.25" floppies should still be lying around somewhere.
But then again, my first encounter with computer was using punch cards, coding in Fortran.

I was on 8088, with 8087 maths co-processor. And I paid S$1,100 for the 20MB hard disk.

I believe I had said the following before somewhere in this or other Lowyat forums.

The only palatable explanation for good audio cables I found is in The SuperCables Cookbook by Allen Wright. Allen passed away a few years ago.

In mid-90s, Octave Electronics brought Allen to Malaysia and had a presentation on the theory and DIY audio cables. Octave stocked the necessary materials for such DIY projects.

The book includes a technical paper detailing the science and maths behind good audio cables. Basically, the cables, both interconnects and speaker cables, should be single-core and as thin as possible. The connector materials should be as thin as possible too.

I don't think it catched on, maybe because you lose bragging right when you go for cheap DIY cables.

Sometimes, audiophile is very much about bragging.

This post has been edited by skeelee: Aug 5 2016, 01:40 PM

The time it takes for electromagnetic signal to travel from the amp to the speaker driver is negligible compared to the time sound travel through air from speaker to your ears. Calibration software can not pick up the difference.

However, for stereo, the difference in speaker cable lengths can give rise to significant phase difference between the left and right channels, and adversely affects the stereo imaging.

Mmm, whenever I see your name in tracking notice, I won't open it until I find time to read. TLDR?

Hey, James, you misunderstood. I read all your posts actually. Just that I have been hearing this ad about TLDR on BFM lately, and think there could be others who might skip long posts. No offense intended.

Keep them coming, I am sure there are many like me who enjoy reading your posts, especially the experience you shared in them. Cheers!

Why view the absence of detachable power cable negatively? It means one less contact point that will give rise to sound degradation.

If need to change to another power cable, just solder the new cable directly to the equipment. Much better off this way.