ZVOX and my tale of losing wires

RATS
Recently, my receiver’s HDMI board croaked and I had to replace it (sending it to my son at college - those kids need to listen to music on REAL SPEAKERS). As I was looking at the rats' nest of wires running back there, I started dreading the upcoming receiver swap. I ended up purchasing an Oppo Blu-Ray player (refurb/outlet - but these things are built like a tank!) that allowed me to get a few items out of the cabinet, I replaced the receiver, and I ordered some new HDMI cables from MonoPrice (great prices and quality) that were shorter and reduced the length of cables hanging back there and that eased my dread. I will talk about the choices I made there in another post.

WHAT’S THAT (HORRIBLE) NOISE?

You would think there is an alternative, and there is - consolidating your speakers into a soundbar. If you have replaced your TV with a flatscreen, you were probably shocked at how bad are their speakers. Yes, we thought the speakers on our old tube TVs were bad, but nothing prepared me for flat panels. It’s really just a matter of physics - if you can’t move the air, you can’t make the sounds. And with today’s panels that are skinnier than a fashion model with a tapeworm, there is barely room for connectors, much less decent speakers.

BARS AND BOXES
Hence the popularity of soundbars. They usually have 3 speakers and many have an amplifier, and they are made to complement your TV, especially if hung on the wall, but in their quest for fashion, most sound bars begin to limit themselves in the same way as skinny TVs - they get too thin. In my bedroom, I had an old set of Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers (satellites and a bass module that powers everything) that I had hooked up to the cable box and the DVD player via the headphone outputs, but they were getting a terrible humming noise that I couldn’t get rid of no matter where I hooked things up and placed the bass module. Plus, I missed the center channel speaker, which would allow me separate the dialogue from the effects - and my ears are not getting any younger.

So I started listing my options:

• Purchase a really nice set of amplified speakers, like something from Audio Engine
• Purchase a receiver and a 2.0, 2.1, 3.1 set of speakers (the .1 is the bassmodule/subwoofer)
• Purchase a receiver and an passive sound bar or an active soundbar with or without a bass module

OR...

• Purchase one of those new fangled ZVOX speaker thingies I’d been reading about in my audio magazine.

I didn’t want to go with the Audio Engine speakers because I wanted a center channel.
I didn’t want to go with the receiver and speakers because of the cost, the mess of wires, and the number of boxes.
I didn’t want to go with the Soundbar because that was getting me too close to the original problem - skinny speakers and I didn’t want to get a bass module for those lower octaves.

MY SOLUTION
That left me looking at the ZVOX speakers. What can I say, I like the underdog. ZVOX is a small New England company (and I respect the old New England speaker builders) that have if not invented, then at least popularized the all-in-one speaker pedestal. This is like a soundbar, except that it’s much deeper - deep enough for the unit to act as a TV stand, and deep enough to include a 6 inch speaker to act as a bass module. It is also clever enough to learn your volume commands from most remotes, so if you have a simple setup and are using your cable remote to control everything, you don’t have to add to the remote clutter in this setup.

I ended up purchasing their ZVOX 555 on a decent sale, and was able to send the audio from my BR player, TV and media box via optical and coax, and hook the video up to the TV for each box via HDMI. Yes, I have a few extra connection cables, but no speaker cables and no receiver!

So how does it sound? Well, it sounds pretty good. The sound is balanced - without the treble or bass being too prominent. I appreciate the center speaker and the Dialogue Enhancement feature that emphasizes the center (dialogue) channel, especially when the volume is low - perfect for the bedroom.  I even use it to listen to streaming audio from Pandora, Music Choice (from my cable company) and my own music via UPNP/DLNA through the BR player. It sounds so good that when I was reviewing my setup in the living room (where I have a full 5.1 setup), I seriously considered chucking it all and replacing it with the top of the line ZVOX box.

I ended up sticking with the status quo 5.1 system because on weekends and some evenings (if no one else is home and the windows are closed), I’ve been known to cue up some Mahler, Gershwin, or my favorite - Hilary Hahn (Hilary Hahn's website, Hilary Hahn on YouTube) and crank it up to Symphony Hall levels - and that takes a decent amp and some big, efficient speakers. I’ve also been known to crank some Stones or the Who on occasion.

I’d be curious to know what kind of setup other people have done in their main viewing/listening space, or in their bedroom - especially if it is creative or new.

Comments are open below.

(while writing this I was listening to “Abby Road - the mono masters” in FLAC. The Beatles ROCK!)

Is the Food Indutry telling us the Truth? - Peanuts

I was reviewing the list of recalled peanut containing items on the FDA website, and I was surprised at the variety of stores represented in that list. If you read the descriptions of the PCA factories, they were pretty wretched. Anf the guy who runs them is a real sleazebag. Willing to do anything and break any laws and take advantage of the system in any way possible to make a penny.

You would think that only the real cheap brands would us his products - the ones that are looking at the way to undercut similar products in cost and quality. But a review of the stores and chains affected reveals otherwise. The list lists premium brands such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, where you pay a pretty penny for your healthy goods. It also lists in-house brands like Price Chopper that you might expect to not have the very best (but still more than adequate) ingredients.

So you have to ask yourself - if everyone is using the same cruddy ingredients (and in this case, they were), how much is it worth to pay a premium for your groceries? Are the organic store brands as good as the organic Whole Foods or Trader Joe's brands? And where is all that extra money going to when you pay extra for the premium brands?

I guess the choice is up to you, and caveat emptor!

The Simple things - radio?

There is a lot of talk about this being the digital generation. I'm not so sure. I think that the generation that grew up in the 80's is the real digital generation - they built the thing - the current group only consumes it. But that is a topic for another blog. I want to talk about the importance of analog media.

Like radio...

...and I am not talking about internet radio, or satellite radio or HD Radio. Just plain old Marconi radio.

I did 2 things recently that relate to that. I wanted to listen to the radio on my big stereo, and I wanted to listen to radio in the dining area and kitchen where I occasionally work. So I went to Radio Shack and bought one of their radio/TV antennas and attached it to the home stereo. It sounds pretty good! I can even pick up the local commercial classical music station that is rather weak. But the really impressive occurrence is that my kids have started listening to the radio stations and discovering new music.

Now my kids mostly listen to CDs/MP3s, or their Mp3 Player, or Internet radio or even tunes on YouTube, but this was new for them again and somewhat exciting.

You would have thought that we had gotten cable, the way they spent time in the family room. The only thing that they complained about is the number of commercials. Who doesn't? Except for listening to NPR, I guess commercials are the norm. But they have discovered music and groups that they never would have heard.

The other thing I did was buy one of those table radios from Cambridge Soundworks. It sounds really good, has a decent antenna, and even has a little remote. Not sure if it sounds better than Bose, but it does the trick for a lot less. Again, it is great to listen to music while I work, and we even have a little nice music while we eat dinner.

All in all, adding music to the home environment has been a pleasant improvement to the TV, or kids walking around with phones on their ears or whatever.

I recommend trying to add some nice music to your environment and seeing what happens.

Let me know your experiences.

Birthday Activity - Rug Doctor?

So this week is my birthday, and when my wife asked me if there was anything special that I wanted to do, I said I wanted to clean the carpets in the family room and dining room. I know, pretty exciting, but the new dog and the old dog and the yucky cat have all contributed to creating ugly stains on the carpet and it was getting a little embarrassing to have people come over - and have to apologize for the stains.

Besides, I paid good money for that carpeting, and I did not want it ruined in 1 year.

So my son and I went over to the Stop and Shop and rented the Rug Doctor - pretty cheap - $25. Then we got the cleaner - not so cheap, $20 bottle for about 4 rooms (we were only doing 2), plus some pretreatment for about $9. In total, about $50.

It fit in the back of the minivan and we lugged it inside, mixed the soap with the hot water, read the directions, did a little play acting and let it rip.

UGH! The stuff that was sucked out of the carpet was nasty... N-A-S-T-Y! The water that was sucked out was just BLACK! We were grossed out, but also kind of happy that it was coming out and also pretty impressed with how it was all working. I mean, c'mon... it's kind of a guy thing. You got to use a noisy machine, mix all sorts of potions and in the end, things are even clean!

So, did it get all the pet stains (pee and cat gak)? Yes. Would we rent it again? Yes. Was it expensive? Not really?

It worked well, it just took a long time because in order to keep it small and light, the unit only holds about 2 gallons of water, so you have to keep emptying it and refilling it. About an hour for a regular sized room.

They have a wider Rug Doctor that covers more space at any one time, but because we were going around table legs and bookcases, the narrow one was better. If we were emptying out a large room that was pretty regularly shaped, I would probably use the wider unit to make it a little faster.

Unusual present, but worth it.

Household Flub

So you know, when starting a houshold project, you should think it through all the way, or read the documentation.

For example:

The clocks were changing, so it was time to change the filter in our water filter for the kitchen. As an aside, I recommend these under sink filtration systems over those carafe-based ones (read Britta) or faucet mounted ones. They are cheaper over the long run, and the filters last longer since you only use them when you want, and the filters are larger and hopefully more efficient.

Anyway, the filters are in big cartridges, kind of like a very long oil filter. There are 2 of them, a particulate filter and a charcoal filter. To change the filter, you unscrew the holder for them, take them out of the holder, drop in a new one and screw the holder back into the unit.

So I grabbed the wrench, grabbed a towel to catch and drips and reached under there and started unscrewing. The astute handyman will notice that I skipped a step - I should have known better. I forgot to shut off the water supply to the sink. What ensued was just what you imagine - the water started to drip as I loosened the holders, then it became a stream and then a torrent of water spurting from the joints. It was like a Three Stooges episode, except I was playing Curly.

I squawked for my beloved to bring another towel and to quickly reach under there and turn off the valve at the angle stop.

Fortunately, it worked, and with no more Stooges moments.

The moral is, before you start mucking around on a home task, or any task, either read the documentation, look it up on a reputable online site, or site back for a moment and go through the process and see if you can find any flaws in your plan.

Or else you might be going, "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" and getting poked in the eye.