My first B&W's **PICS**

[Speed3]

Hey guys this is my 1st post. I sold my Polk Rti12's and purchased A pair of Cherry 683's through work and finally got them yesterday. Here is a teaser pic, Click To Enlarge!

[Tommy]

Nice, can't wait for more. What electronics are you using for these beauties?

[Speed3]

nothing special right now just a denon 2307ci waiting for rotel to release a processor that can handle new the new audio formats. since we our an authorized dealer that's probably what I will go with along with rotel amps. though the integra 9.8 looks appealing right now but we don't sell integra so I can't get it at cost.

[Opus007]

Congratz on your purchase.I also own a pair of these and my feelings on them is Awesome :T Especially for the price they can not be beat. ;x(

[sandalsocks]

nothing special right now just a denon 2307ci waiting for rotel to release a processor that can handle new the new audio formats. since we our an authorized dealer that's probably what I will go with along with rotel amps. though the integra 9.8 looks appealing right now but we don't sell integra so I can't get it at cost.

Can't the rsx-1058 handle the new HD DTS/Dolby? Its expensive but its out there.

[Speed3]

No nothing yet from Rotel supports TruHD, uncompressed PCM 5.1-7.1 and DTS HD. There was a unit a Cedia this year that does this but i forgot the model.

[jack667]

I too have the 683 speaker, and it is absolutely incredible. The next upgrade I make with B&W will jump the 700 series entirely, most likely to the 803S.

Enjoy

[hifiguymi]

No nothing yet from Rotel supports TruHD, uncompressed PCM 5.1-7.1 and DTS HD. There was a unit a Cedia this year that does this but i forgot the model.

That is not entirely correct. The RSP-1069 and RSX-1058 will do all audio except Dolby TrueHD and dtsHD via the HDMI inputs. That includes uncompressed PCM up to 7.1 channels.

Eric

[WI Rotel]

nothing special right now just a denon 2307ci waiting for rotel to release a processor that can handle new the new audio formats. since we our an authorized dealer that's probably what I will go with along with rotel amps. though the integra 9.8 looks appealing right now but we don't sell integra so I can't get it at cost.

Here is the letter I got from Rotel regarding the issue:

Rotel is working with Cirrus Logic to develop models with the ability to decode these various new formats however it may be a moot point. All the new players being released have several good options to port the audio to the current Rotel receivers and processors. New features being added to the discs are making it almost essential that the decoding be made in the player and not in the receiver although this does constrain the system to 5.1 or 6 channels. The Interactive disc features appear to be only functional when using the LPCM feature making it the preferred connection for audio.



The speed of evolution in the player market and the discs is placing greater emphasis on keep the decoding technology there rather than porting it to a receiver or processor.



It’s unlikely that Rotel will have a either a player or processor that will support dts-HD or Dolby TrueHD until sometime in 2008.


These new formats and HDMI have someway to go before they reach stability.



I have attached a couple of documents for further information regarding HDMI if you desire to read them.



Best Regards,

Mr. Shane Kea

Rotel Service Supervisor

B&W Group USA

[RebelMan]

Although I dont quite understand how that is going to "work" my guess is the player will simply send the decoded signal through the pre to the respective channel??????? If someone knows please feel free to expand on the subject. :T

You got it. The player will decode the signal into LPCM which the Rotel can then process across the HDMI wire. Of course you'll need to be sure the HD player of choice provides that as an option and many do. But most HD players will not decode any dtsHD signals but they will pass them and some (one in particular) will not decode any of the new audio codecs at all including Dolby Digital+ and TrueHD.

The interactivity touted by the HD-DVD and soon to be Blu-ray specifications is a grossly overrated feature IMO. I suspect history will repeat itself when all processors will feature built-in decoding of the new compression algorithms.

[gostan]

Congrats on the new speakers. They look and sound great for the $$.

Personally, I would rather decode Dolby True-HD and DTA HD MA in my pre pro rather than in a cheaper player. The extras being touted as so wonderful that require decoding in the player are MIA or lacking in necessity.

Just my opinion.

[RebelMan]

Just my opinion.

Nope, we share the same opinion Stan. :B

[gostan]

Nope, we share the same opinion Stan. :B

Yes we do RebelMan. 8)

I backed my opinion up by recently selling my HDMI 1.1 based Anthem D2.

[WI Rotel]

Yes we do RebelMan. 8)

I backed my opinion up by recently selling my HDMI 1.1 based Anthem D2.

Al the same reason to wait it out :M Patience, not one of my virtues!

[Xavier]

A add a pair of 683 at home for testing, courtesy of the Portuguese B&W reprensentant and I can say that this speaker did surprise me. Its capacity to resemble the sweet personality of the 802D's FST drive at such low price puts it at a hard to beat competitor rank.

Enjoy!

[jlr_1304]

Congrats on the new speakers. They look and sound great for the $$.

Personally, I would rather decode Dolby True-HD and DTA HD MA in my pre pro rather than in a cheaper player. The extras being touted as so wonderful that require decoding in the player are MIA or lacking in necessity.

Just my opinion.

Decoding in the player or in the pre-pro is the same. It's all in the digital domain.

hdmi 1.3 is just marketing.

[Mark-n-b]

But what about HDMI1.3 being able to pass 30-bit, 36-bit, and 48-bit xvYCC /Deep Colour video and also auto lip sync features? So although 1.3 is not necessary, it is not just marketing as these things alone are good features to have.

I believe that decoding should be performed in the amp/processor. If in the future other forms of entertainment use these HD codecs, and they probably will, then we want to pay for the decoding hardware once and not many times. Personally, I don’t care for "interactive" content.

It's never a right time to buy anything, but for the first time in many years, I feel that an amp/pro containing dts and dolby HD lossless decoding and using HDMI 1.3(a) are reasonably mature products that should last longer that we have been used to.

[sandalsocks]

As far as the new color stuff, from what I read, the players and disc must be able to process them. Legacy phddvd and blueray players won't be able to read the disc properly. If thats true then I don't see xvYCC /Deep Colour being used b/c of the format war and confusion.

Even if you want decoding in the amp/processor you may not get a choice in the matter. From what I understand the way blueray and hddvd disc are made it won't allow the players to send the new hd dts and hd dolby directly out of the player. The dts and dolby will be converted to lossless PCM with no loss of quality. Only a few older blueray disc will send the codec unconverted.

This is the hype and marketing that jlr_1304 was mentioning. The features of hdmi 1.3 probably won't or can't be used even if you had it. Check out this link. Hopefully its ok to post a link to another site.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/High-Def_FAQ/Joshua_Zyber/High-Def_FAQ:_Is_HDMI_1.3_Really_Necessary/853

[jlr_1304]

Current hd-dvd/BR dont support deep color anyway.

The only advantage i would see for hdmi 1.3, for now, is the lack of player capability to output DTS-MA in the LPCM format. Just for that, i envy those who have a capable pre-pro or receiver that are enjoying dts-ma.

When more player will be able to output lpcm dts-ma, then there's no point in upgrading to a HDMI 1.3 receiver/pre-pro.

[WI Rotel]

One quick point I'd like to make about HDMI 1.1. It supports all HD sound formats, that was part and parcel of the original HDMI specs. HDMI 3 purports to support even higher video bandwidth for higher than 1080P and deep color (whatever the hell that means). The fact is that it supports things that don't even exist yet and that I doubt will ever be needed. I am using a new elite KURO set and can attest that the picture is as good (sometimes I think even better :B ) than REAL LIFE :E . All that using only 1080i signal (from an Xbox no less). I sincerely doubt that any future format will be able to improve on that unless its Star Trek's Holodeck.
My advice is to completely ignore HDMI versions, specifically, as audio is concerned and to view the supposed video "improvements" in the format as just marketing.