Pioneer Plasma and Artison Speakers

[edungar]

We've been dealing with a local Sound Advice store (part of Tweeters) and the salesman has made two suggestions to us.

For a Plasma unit either the Pioneer Elite PRO910HD (which he has in an open box at 20% discount) or the PRO1000HD. I've looked at the specs and the 910 looks like more capability and better video. Either one (43" or 50") will fit in our room.

We were looking at Monitor speakers but he suggested the Artison speakers that attach to the side of the Plasma and have a grill cover that matches the Plasma unit. Visually this would be much better in our room but I can't evaluate the sound (except from their web site).

Any thoughts on either of these two items?

We're also looking at a Yamaha receiver (either the RXV 1400 or the 750 which he claims is virtually the equivalent of the 1400 for about $150 less). Thoughts here would also be appreciated.

[Worf101]

You don't attach speakers to your monitor, no matter how big it is. You want them spaced so as to give you optimal separation for the multi channel effect. Unless the screen is measured in feet, this will not happen. Where will you put your center channel? Will you hear an effect go from left to center to right with the fronts literally attached to the monitor? That's the MAIN consideration ! Not looks... Sigh... don't do this man, if you do you're obviating the whole reason for the speakers in the first place..

Da Worfster

[woodman]

We've been dealing with a local Sound Advice store (part of Tweeters) and the salesman has made two suggestions to us.

For a Plasma unit either the Pioneer Elite PRO910HD (which he has in an open box at 20% discount) or the PRO1000HD. I've looked at the specs and the 910 looks like more capability and better video. Either one (43" or 50") will fit in our room.

We were looking at Monitor speakers but he suggested the Artison speakers that attach to the side of the Plasma and have a grill cover that matches the Plasma unit. Visually this would be much better in our room but I can't evaluate the sound (except from their web site).

Any thoughts on either of these two items?

We're also looking at a Yamaha receiver (either the RXV 1400 or the 750 which he claims is virtually the equivalent of the 1400 for about $150 less). Thoughts here would also be appreciated.

It blows my mind how salesmen can come up with such bizarre, off-the-wall recommendations as they do. You asked for "thoughts" about the two items he's trying to get you to buy ... well, here you are:

First off, the plasma displays that you're looking at are something that I wouldn't recommend at all, for several reasons, which are:

a. plasma displays are still a relatively new technology and haven't been around long enough to have any concrete eveidence to their reliability and life expectancy, and

b. they're only able to display Hi-Def programs "natively" that originate in 720p format, which is NOT the most common format in use for HDTV. The 1080i which is the format most often used must be "down-converted" to match the plasma (or any other fixed-pixel display) display's pixel layout, and

c. they're still FAR too expensive (even with a 20% or 30% or 40% discount) to represent anything even vaguely resembling value when they're compared against the other technologies out there in the marketplace.

As far as the speakers go, I concur wholeheartedly with Worf on that one. Speakers MUST be positioned properly in order to get the full effect of today's wonderful cinematic multi-channel sound formats. Putting them right alongside the video display is not the way to achieve that. I strongly suspect that the salesman's pitch for those speakers was motivated primarily by a better profit margin (for him and the store) rather than a concern for what would be in YOUR best interests

As to the receiver, the Yamaha is by far the best choice, but to suggest saving a mere $150 by getting a 750 rather thana 1400 because they're about the same is nonsense. Sure, the 750 has most of the same features and similar wattage "specs", but they are definitely NOT the same receiver. If they were, it would make no sense at all for Yamaha to build both. Gimme a break ... a LARGE break at that.

Hope this helps you