RE: Re: Home Cinema basements?

["Rob Mouser" <groups@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have to agree with all Marks comments there. I installed an MRC44 for a
friend recently and it "does exactly what is says on the tin". He
has two
young daughters (8 and 12 I think) who were fully compliant with the wall
pads within 1/2 day!
I was also very surprised at the quality of the composite video even with
the 22" LG LCD in the family room. However we did keep with RGB for
the
plasma in the lounge.
Sound quality when coupled with the contractor series Sonance (CR101)
ceiling speakers is excellent.
If you are serious about interfacing with other systems then the MRC88 is
the way to go, it's a loooovely piece of kit. You get 8 inputs, 8 outputs
(6
powered) and it has an independent RS232 port. With one of the more recent
firmware releases the second RS232 programming port can also be configured
for use giving 2 RS232 ports. The unit can be fully controlled by RS232.
A very nice piece of kit, BUT.........pricey!

Cheers

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: mark_harrison_uk2 [mailto:mph@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 05 November 2004 12:09
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Home Cinema basements?



--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "markttay" <markttay@h...> wrote:
> I like the look of the Xantech multi channel amps -
> anyone using them?

I've got one of the MRC44s in the office at the moment.

It's a surprisingly well thought through solution. The only problem
I've found to date is that, out of the box, the RS-232 interface is
only suitable for configuration, not control / source switching on the
fly, which means that fitting it into a more sophisticated environment
might end up relying on IR.

However, the default touch panels are straightforward to use, the IR
routing works well, and the fact that it's an "all in one"
solution
means that there aren't the standard problems of _HAVING_ to interface
it to other things.

I initially thought it was quite expensive, until I started looking at
the prices for standalone IR distribution, touch screens, amplifiers
and so on.

The installation / configuration software (Windows only) is a bit of a
big to use. Despite the cheesy title "Dragon Drop (TM)", it isn't
actually, erm a drag-and-drop interface. However, significantly less
"IT effort" required for it than, say, a Homevision.
Significantly
more "IT effort" required for it than, say, a pair of KAT
modules.

For my own selfbuild, which I don't mind being a bit "Heath
Robinson",
I'll probably go with a matrix switch at line level, some CAT5 baluns,
and local amplification (bear in mind that I own quite a lot of
amplifiers around the house anyway.)

For clients, I don't have any moral dilemnas recommending the Xantech
product. It works well.

Regards,

Mark