Speaking of which I'm still looking for a used Mac Powerbook/iBook or PC laptop for Andi (windsparrow). It should be as cheap as possible, but still able to surf the 'net and do her online courses. Perhaps even have a DVD drive, but we'll see.
I'd like to find her something along the lines of a G3 Pismo or better, or a Pentium II/III Windows machine. Basically not too old that parts are scarce, and not too new that it's over a $300-$400 maximium budget. Any funds saved can be used for her move to Minnesota, (should she choose to...)
I'll be stepping up my search now.
Jessica:
If you can't justify a 6.1 system, I'd recommend still going for an Onkyo HTiB, rather than the Yamaha. You can get a refurbished Onkyo S670 5.1 system for about the same price as that Yamaha from Amazon. You could probably check out the dealer they are partnering with directly, too, and read about inputs and whatnot. My guess is, it's almost as good as the 770.
ETA: Huh. Oops. That link is actually for a refurbished 770 system, not 670. Still, for that price you could get the 770 and just not plug in the back-center speaker (the receiver will allow you to specify 5.1 instead of 6.1)
Or, you could check out this Refurbished HT-S570 5.1 system, which is cheaper than either. Though I'm not sure about its power, where these HTiB's shine is more in the sound quality (clarity) - how loud do you want your speakers to go?
ETA Some More: Looks like the S570 has the same power rating as the Yamaha for the satellites, and is actually higher for the subwoofer (150 Watt instead of 100 Watt), and it looks like it has pretty similar inputs, including 2 digital audio inputs, 1 multi-channels input (in case you ever get into DVD-Audio or SA-CD audio), and 4 normal a/v inputs. Neither of them have component video or s-video input/outputs, but if you run your DVD video straight into a TV, that doesn't matter. Plus, it looks like the Onkyo has some front inputs, which is great if you have a video game machine, for example, that is sometimes plugged in and sometimes not. I'd say that the refurbished S570 is almost certainly a better deal than the Yamaha, unless you can find it, too, refurbished and even cheaper.
ETA Even more: Oh man! In comparing detailed specs of the Onkyo S570 and the Yamaha YHT-150, I noticed something pretty important: the Yamaha satellites use full-range drivers only, while the Onkyo satellites have a combo woofer/tweeter setup. You may not know what this means but, in a nutshell, it means the Onkyo satellites are almost guaranteed to be MUCH higher quality than the Yamaha ones, with much greater clarity both in the midrange and the high range. Also, the Onkyo satellites have bigger woofers, for louder midrange sound - on movies, that's important. Finally, the Onkyo has an 8" driver in its subwoofer, which most enthusiasts would consider inadequate, but the Yamaha has an even worse 6.5" driver - that won't push out loud, clear bass at ALL.
Basically, in comparing these specs, it's clear that the Onkyos are a FAR superior set of speakers, and that refurbished price is fantastic. Make your own decision, naturally, but the Onkyo
will
sound better.
I wish I 1) had a TV setup warranting this kind of sound system, and 2) I wasn't emigrating to Spain within 3 years.
I can't justify anything electronicy - no new TV, no new sound system, etc. Stupid regionalisms. (and stupid poverty)
Careful with the reading of Spec sheets Nova they often do not tell the whole story. Multidriver cabinets do not guarantee a better sound. They add the need for a crossover, in the case of those most likely a passive one, and if not well built they introduce a dip in frequency response at the crossover point. Also if the drivers are not aligned in space then they will add phase cancellation to you audio which is also a problem. When I get home from Toronto tonight I'm sure I'll write some more on this. My advice on home systems is to always go and listen to them. Pick the one that has the sound you like. You will often be surprised to find that it is not the one with the stellar looking spec sheet.
So, while we're talking about sound...
You know how, when you're planning to build a house you believe you can do anything? This is that fun part of the process. So the SO is going all craxy (it's funny, buffista usage of this, 'cause his nom du net is actually craxydog with that spelling) planning his portion of the house which is, of course, the studio.
Later for fun I'm going to post our current Sims version of our plans, for critique, but for the purposes of this discussion, I'll summarize. The studio is a room roughly 8' x 14', but with one open wall (to be filled in or not with movable acoustic foam, maybe dressed up like a shoji screen. It's got a closet to double as a vocal booth and a big picture window that goes into the living room. We'll be running boxes through the walls to allow use of the living room for a full band, the guest bedroom across the not-hall as an isolation room, and of course the vocal booth/amp closet. It'll be slab on grade, so we're thinking of floating the floor. And of course, two of the walls (it's in phase II of our planning) will be straw-bale, so super-insulated and pretty absorbent acoustically. We may offset the studs (if there are any) on the remaining wall, but it's all closet space on its side or the other, so prolly not necessary. The SO's running the numbers now to get the standing frequencies worked out.
Then we're going to run through to the other side of the wall so the living room can be used as a listen-back space. So, prolly some sort of surround sound speakers there, that can be tied into either the household sound system or the studio monitors.
So, sound geek(s), got any suggestions? Advice?
Almare, the iPod seems to be like the TiVo: people who have them don't see how they ever lived without them.
This is such an embarrassing question, but I can't puzzle this one out. I installed a trivial little freeware program (or plug-in, possibly) on my iBook whose entire function is to make sheep bounce along the address bar of my web browser when I go to a new page.
It's no big deal, it's not causing a problem, but now I'm really tired, and I cannot for the life of me find it to uninstall it. I tried googling every possible combination of "sheep / mac / apple / freeware / OS X / download" because I figured if I could find the damned thing, at least I'd know what to search for on my system.
No luck.
It's a longshot, but -- any suggestions?
Liese, how thick are these straw bale walls going to be? Because an 18 inch thick straw bale gives an insulation value of R26. That is a lot better than most homes have, but I'm not sure it qualifies as super insulation. Of course, if you are talking 36 inch thick walls, which is not uncommon with straw bale construction...
