Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS8's (and cast) just keep on amazing

see there, we are making you a better person by the minute..er, by the post at least.

bigjohn

fastlane, you said you were going to add the Marantz. I am going to purchase the Denon 3805. Isn't the Denon sufficient to run the HT?

Before I go any further, whether you liked Master and Commander, or didn't, I mean no insult to your tastes or preferences. This is not a question of whether the movie is "good," or "bad," but rather a question of "I liked it," or "I didn't like it," and why. You do NOT have to be wrong for me to be right, and vice versa.

I eagerly anticipated this movie. I love this genre, and grew up reading pirate, and sea stories (Kidnapped, Robinson Crusoe, Horatio Hornblower, etc.) I also enjoy comparing a movie to the book (usually, but not always, the movie comes off second best because of the inherent differences in the media). So, I borrowed the book from the library a few weeks before the release of the DVD. As the release date neared, I kept thinking "Boy, I hope the movie moves along better than the book, I can't slog my way through this thing." I never did finish the book, and that is a VERY rare thing, for me.

I preferred the movie to the book (at least I didn't have to turn the pages). I found it visually, and aurally a real treat, and the movie is worth seeing if for no other reason than that (and I WILL see it again BECAUSE of that). Plot-wise, I was less bored by it than the book, but only marginally. Like the book, it just didn't hold me. I'm an old guy. I was weaned on plot driven movies. If the plot, and dialog don't measure up, even though the technical aspects of the movie sparkle, I'm not going to care for it.

I was disappointed by this movie. How large a part my expectations played in that disappointment is difficult to assess. It's so easy to over hype oneself into a disappointment. If you enjoyed the movie, you were NOT wrong in doing so. I envy you because you had a better experience than I did. I'd be grateful if you wouldn't come back with the "You were bored by this? Boy, you must've been bored by 'this,' and 'that' movie" comments, because I was no more wrong with my reactions than you were with yours. It's all a matter of taste.

My QS8s, however, DID make this movie sing.

The Denon is an unbelievable receiver. It is a huge improvement over my Sony 2ES receiver that it replaced. I believe this has more to do with the upgradeitis bug than anything. I was originally going to go with seperates using my 2ES for the pre pro but I really wanted to go 7.1 and the Sony didn't give me that option. I also really liked the idea of PLIIX on the 3805. Now I know everyone has their own opinion but since running 7.1 I would never go back to 6.1. I was running a direct radiating speaker directly behind the listening position (my couch is about 3' from the rear wall) and it was too disctracting. Some people advocate the use of direct firing for the rear surround but in my experience this is better used in larger rooms where you are quite a ways from the rear surrounds where the sound has a little time to spread out. I like the diffused sound of the QS series when placed close to the listening position. Running this setup I get a little more natural sounding rear sound the envelopes the listener no matter if you are in the sweet spot or not. Sorry to get off topic, back to the original question. The 3805 even though rated at 120X7, I bet is lucky to be putting out 65 per channel when all are driven. During demanding passages in action scenes I truly believe seperates will greatly improve the sound. Maybe someone who has seperates now can comment on the before after but I have heard it summed up like, "the sound is fuller, even at lower listening levels", "the bass is tighter", "the high's are crisper", etc. If you were scraping by to afford a HT system the Denon would do everything you ever needed it to but if you have a few extra bucks to spend I don't think you would regret going to a seperate amp to power everything. At least that's how I am justifying it. LOL

Thanks. I have an old receiver (Kenwood 8010). Could it be used to accomplish the same thing?

I am not familiar with that particular receiver. As long as it has preouts it will work.

Actually I found the critics of M&C to have some good points. These books were tremendously popular but I'd hazard a guess as to where (England?). The books are slow going but detailed. They do not have dramatic finishes of grand resolution. I got a lot out of the film because I liked the detail of life on the sea where you have a good contrast between isolation and cooperation. IOW I got sucked into the movie because I wanted to be and that's exactly how we end up liking or disliking movies. I can easily understand if someone was disappointed in the action. It was good but there was not a lot by today's standards. Action, by today's standards is a greater portion of film, even the more dramatic films.

Peter Weir was the director so you can see from this list if he's a possible favorite or not.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)



Truman Show, The (1998)

Fearless (1993)

Green Card (1990)
... aka Green Card (1990) (France)



Dead Poets Society (1989)

Mosquito Coast, The (1986)

Witness (1985)

Year of Living Dangerously, The (1982)

Gallipoli (1981)



Plumber, The (1979) (TV)

Last Wave, The (1977)

"Luke's Kingdom" (1976) (mini) TV Series

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Cars That Ate Paris, The (1974)
... aka Cars (1974)
... aka Cars That Eat People (1974) (USA)

Homesdale (1971)

Three to Go (1971)

In reply to:

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Master and Commander (even though I thought the movie SUCKED) was awesome to watch

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I agree, but I had a booger of a time with the British accents! I'm not the only one, I was at a party the other night where we got to talking about the movie and a LOT of people mentioned that they also had problems understanding the dialog because of the accents.

Oy! Avoid films made/set in scotland. Now there is an accent that I find hard to follow! I rented a movie recommended to me by netflix called Orphans (dark comedy). They had accents so thick subtitles on turned on by default.
They were speaking English and I needed subtitles.

jr

Personally, I enjoy the accents. It takes awhile, but you catch on...