Whats Your Audio / Home Cinema Setup?

[MatskiMonk]

I've been out of the Hi-Fi industry for around 20 years and I still miss it, still remember selling these.....


http://www.hi-fi-insight.com/pioneer-a400-integrated-amplifier.html


...by the truck load.

Scaff

I chuckle at the A400 - we had one once, that we'd taken in px, I think it was in our christmas sale for about 3 years straight, not sure how we finally got rid of it..!

 

[1KNm)]

Bose Cinemate GS Series II 2.1 Virtual sound

If you're like me and you do not want cables over your living room to the back speakers, then I'd recommend it. Gives crisp sound, well balanced sub, IMO.

People do tend to diss Bose, but any of them who tried convincing me for what my money could buy with the worth of the Bose,

i would never:

1 - Have any room for it

2 - want my living room to look like its designed by big boxes and cables with bad design

3 - In an apartment you cant use all of that money spend because your neighbors would kill you or you'll end up paying the bills like me anyway for loudness (60 euro / securitas visit).


CON with the BOSE system is that it leaves you wanting DTS... badly....👍

 

[12thgear]

I'm not a Bose fan, but all that matters is that you enjoy it. There's a reason lifestyle systems sell so well. Most people think A/V gear is an eyesore. Plus, a proper 5.1 or 7.1 system can be a real pain to set up. Mo' speakers, mo' problems.

I have a home theater system that performs quite amazingly, but there's no question it dominates the room.

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Bose? Oh lawds I wish I could get one of those. I work in an Electrical Retail store, and Bose have a rule that if you want to stock a Bose product, then you must devote X amount of floorspace to them.

Best I've seen? Some crazy-ass guy at our Lowestoft branch built up a 7.1 full HD projector cinema extrrrrrravaganza that blew the hairs off my chinny chin chin.

Oh, and I have a Walkman X-1050, cos iPods are so mainstream.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Bose? Oh lawds I wish I could get one of those. I work in an Electrical Retail store, and Bose have a rule that if you want to stock a Bose product, then you must devote X amount of floorspace to them.

Best I've seen? Some crazy-ass guy at our Lowestoft branch built up a 7.1 full HD projector cinema extrrrrrravaganza that blew the hairs off my chinny chin chin.

Oh, and I have a Walkman X-1050, cos iPods are so mainstream.

B & O were way worse than Bose for that kind of thing, B & O wanted over half our shop and an eye watering stock commitment, since they only made 2 or 3 good products we dropped 'em. Bose used to pretty much sell itself so we never minded giving them plenty of space, and their POS was half decent which always helps...

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Simple fact is we're an independent. An independent that covers the whole of Anglia, but independent nonetheless. We have one specialist Bose store in Newmarket, because it's a higher class area than most other branches.

Trust me, the genetic driftwood that come into my Yarmouth branch think Philips is the epitome of sound quality. Upselling is an uphill struggle.

 

[Scaff]

Have to be honest I personally can't stand Bose and hold B&O in every lower regard.

Don't get me wrong some of the stuff they make looks great, but it terms of actual value for money and sound quality neither brand perform well, again B&O in particular.

What they do offer is what I tend to call 'interior design' systems, in that they are an easy way for some to make a room look good with the minimum of effort and often with actual performance being a lower priority that other factors.

With a little bit of work and a lot less expense I personally believe that you can get set-ups that can look as good and blend into a room just as well, but without the audio sacrifices.

That said, for me function comes over form everyday of the week, my Musical Fidelity amp is no looker, but I'd put it up against anything B&O put out for Hi-Fi.


Scaff

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Well yeh, anyone knows the really good tech is ugly as hell! XD

But I like Pioneer as a happy medium, and to veer off-topic slightly, their plasma TV range was simply sexy...

 

[Casio]

Have to be honest I personally can't stand Bose and hold B&O in every lower regard.

Don't get me wrong some of the stuff they make looks great, but it terms of actual value for money and sound quality neither brand perform well, again B&O in particular.

What they do offer is what I tend to call 'interior design' systems, in that they are an easy way for some to make a room look good with the minimum of effort and often with actual performance being a lower priority that other factors.

With a little bit of work and a lot less expense I personally believe that you can get set-ups that can look as good and blend into a room just as well, but without the audio sacrifices.

That said, for me function comes over form everyday of the week, my Musical Fidelity amp is no looker, but I'd put it up against anything B&O put out for Hi-Fi.


Scaff

While I don't want to tell people what they can and can't buy. If you have space concerns you can buy any number of serious quality bookshelf speakers which take up like no space and look amazing, particularly for the price most people spend on BOSE/B&O...

And let's not get started on Dr Dre headphones....

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Oh, I can only imagine how terrible those Dr Dre's are.

Not that I'm exactly topping the board, but I'm more than happy with my Sennheisers. CX-300II to be precise, they go well with my Walkman for on-the-go listening, don't really listen to much music when I'm static.

 

[Scaff]

While I don't want to tell people what they can and can't buy. If you have space concerns you can buy any number of serious quality bookshelf speakers which take up like no space and look amazing, particularly for the price most people spend on BOSE/B&O...

Quite agree, when I did my dad's set-up I used Monitor Audio R45's....

...in Rosewood, with a hidden Rel sub.

Blends in perfectly with his decor, looks good, doesn't cost the earth and sounds great. Prior to that he did have a Bose set-up and quite frankly it sounded horrible and cost twice as much.

And let's not get started on Dr Dre headphones....

Please don't.


Scaff

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

Ahh, are those the Monitors that have the Tweeter in the rear? We got a couple in, not sure if they're the same.

Sound pretty intriguing as a concept if they are.

 

[Scaff]

Ahh, are those the Monitors that have the Tweeter in the rear? We got a couple in, not sure if they're the same.

Sound pretty intriguing as a concept if they are.

They are and while they can be a bit demanding in regard to placement, in that they need to be near a wall to bounce the tweeter sound off, they pack quite a punch for the size.

Use a set for my rear's as I can get away with quite a bit in terms of my Hi-Fi, but my wife does have issues with large speakers for the rear.

Mine are in the Piano Black lacquer finish, which looks great and are matched to a pair of R90's at the front and an R180 for the centre.

I chuckle at the A400 - we had one once, that we'd taken in px, I think it was in our christmas sale for about 3 years straight, not sure how we finally got rid of it..!

You should have grabbed it for yourself, still a sought after amp and still great sounding. It inferior successor (the A-400X) regularly fetch £150 on e-bay, not bad for an amp that was around £200 new.


Scaff

 

[MatskiMonk]

With a little bit of work and a lot less expense I personally believe that you can get set-ups that can look as good and blend into a room just as well, but without the audio sacrifices.

What we found with B&O was that for the money you could get something that sounded better (typically Meridian or Quad), of you could get similar quality for a lot less. The Beovision Avants sold well (this is going back a while), but some of the other products were hopeless, a 4:3 TV with built in CD-i player... for four grand!

You should have grabbed it for yourself, still a sought after amp and still great sounding. It inferior successor (the A-400X) regularly fetch £150 on e-bay, not bad for an amp that was around £200 new.

Now you mention it, It may have been the X version. I normally reserved my second hand bargain hunting for LS3/5A's however

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

They are and while they can be a bit demanding in regard to placement, in that they need to be near a wall to bounce the tweeter sound off, they pack quite a punch for the size.

We've had quite a bit of interest in them, but being limited in demo space, can't fit them to the wall to test them. The whole concept of having the tweeter be precisely out of phase to bounce off the wall and become in phase is simply genius.

 

[MatskiMonk]

The whole concept of having the tweeter be precisely out of phase to bounce off the wall and become in phase is simply genius.

Is that how they're supposed to work?, only it seems like a really iffy way of acheiving a normal sound? I'd guess in reality it may have more to do with keeping the design compact without resorting to a concentric tweeter.

I'm always sceptical of manufacturers claiming to be bouncing sound around when it comes to phase adjustment.. when they design the unit they have no knowledge of the distances, angles, or surface materials involved in the speakers placement, how can it work?

 

[CoffeeGrunt]

I dunno, I was told the brackets are supposedly perfectly distanced so when the reverb bounces back, it's in line with the the bass driver in the middle. This from the MA rep himself, after I picked up the speaker and gave him my trainee salesman "the heck is going on with this thing" shpiel.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I dunno, I was told the brackets are supposedly perfectly distanced so when the reverb bounces back, it's in line with the the bass driver in the middle. This from the MA rep himself, after I picked up the speaker and gave him my trainee salesman "the heck is going on with this thing" shpiel.

Dunno, the geometry doesn't stack up to me, but, as with any Hi-fi, the most important thing is that it sounds good to the listener that paid for it.

Also, I wouldn't trust any rep, repeat what they say, but never believe it!

 

[Casio]

Keep us posted, Casio. I have all my gear behind the couch. I have speaker terminals in my wall near the receiver and at the front of my room, and ran my wiring under the floor. Since you're already in the basement, you may be looking in wall, or maybe behind/under the baseboard.

A bit slow on the update, but it's coming along.

Got a free second hand couch, scored a rug, and got a ghetto projector stand.

Stand is just one of those shelving units from the hardware store, cost me $36, can't go wrong with that. Will also move the amps onto it. I'm thinking I could also get some more particle(chip) board and make it a bit more cabinet-like for next to no outlay.

This is the main set-up in the new place with the Dali's up front. As you can see my house is pretty bright and fluro. 👍

And as started in another thread. Got a set of AudioTechnica AD700s which I'm very happy with.

 

[Shaun]

but, as with any Hi-fi, the most important thing is that it sounds good to the listener that paid for it.

Some of the best advice you'll ever hear. 👍
Doesn't matter if your speakers cost $200, $2,000 or $20,000 a pair, if you like the sound of them go for it and buy them.

Cheers Shaun.

 

[AudioSpark]

This is my TV setup:

There are two rear speakers that I should have set up, but being as this is a cheap and cheerful 5.1 system that I got at a bargain £10 it's not digital optical, and it have the cables from each speaker going into a really elaborate Frankenstein of wires and jack adapters. I'm not complaining though because when I crank the volume up it sounds amazing for what I get. Plus the blue ambient light is rather nice.

 

[bass264]

This is my TV setup:

There are two rear speakers that I should have set up, but being as this is a cheap and cheerful 5.1 system that I got at a bargain £10 it's not digital optical, and it have the cables from each speaker going into a really elaborate Frankenstein of wires and jack adapters. I'm not complaining though because when I crank the volume up it sounds amazing for what I get. Plus the blue ambient light is rather nice.

Just a little suggestion, don't have the subwoofer right next to your PS3, it can damage it.

 

[AudioSpark]

Just a little suggestion, don't have the subwoofer right next to your PS3, it can damage it.

Hmm, good point, I never really have the sub loud or bassy enough to cause any serious vibration next to the PS3, the joys of living in a flat with annoying neighbors.

 

[Casio]

A subwoofer with a light, now I've seen everything.

 

[tezster]

Here's my budget HT/gaming setup

55" Philips LCD
Pioneer AVR
Klipsch speakers for L/C/R, Energy for surrounds and sub (I've recently added a subdude isolation platform and bias lighting for the TV).

And of course a PS3 (w/ DFGT on a wheel stand).

 

[AudioSpark]

Here's my budget HT/gaming setup

The hell is your budget?!

 

[MatskiMonk]

Here's my budget HT/gaming setup

.. and your signed Tara Maclean CD?

 

[AudioSpark]

A subwoofer with a light, now I've seen everything.

Personally I wouldn't opt for the blue LED in the sub, but where I used to work I picked it up for £10, not really worth tuning my nose up at.

 

[tezster]

The hell is your budget?!

I guess 'budget' is relative? Ballpark figure about ~$2300ish for the entire setup (not all at once - upgraded over time). To put things in perspective, the first HDTV I bought in 2005 cost me north of $2600+tax i.e. well above the cost of my entire system now.

.. and your signed Tara Maclean CD?

I have to admit, GTP is the last place I would expect someone to point that out - but good eye!

 

[AudioSpark]

I guess 'budget' is relative? Ballpark figure about ~$2300ish for the entire setup (not all at once - upgraded over time). To put things in perspective, the first HDTV I bought in 2005 cost me north of $2600+tax i.e. well above the cost of my entire system now.

Has to be lol, because I'm nudging £500 (yes, five hundred), that's INCLUDING the PS3. Saying that my TV is mini, coming in at 22", upgrading to a 40" minimum come christmas, but your setup dwarfs mine! Pretty damn envious, very nice tidy setup there mate!