Whats Your Audio / Home Cinema Setup?

[Ridox2JZGTE]

Sorry if this a bit off topic, still about audio, I was given a very rare portable cassette player today by a relative, the real owner has passed away a few years ago. It's a National Matsu****a WAY Stereo Cassette Player, with external power supply system, original headphone ( broken sadly ) and an original belt clip attachment.

It's working, the LED lights on, when I plugged in my headphone, and move around the volume, I can hear noises. But when I inserted a cassette, even if I press play, forward or rewind I can only hear motor noise, but the cog won't turn at all. It uses depressed cog system to rewind or fast forward, when I open the tray and depressed it manually, I can only hear motor noise, but no turning, the same happens when I press play. So, could it be the belt ?

I am bit worried about opening it up, it has lots of mini screws and too old

If this is inappropriate, I'll open a new thread

It's in pristine condition, even the buttons and battery compartment looks like new.

 

[DQuaN]

As some may have seen in the recent purchase thread I picked up some home AV stuff today.

B&W 685 S2
Yamaha RX-V675 AV Amp
Marantz UD7007 Bluray/SACD/CD/DVD Player
Chord HDMI
Triangle Speaker Stands

These complimented by my exsisting 46HX803 Sony Bravia, Chord Carnival Silver Screen speaker cable, Apple TV 3rd Gen and PS3.

I posted some rushed pics from my phone in the purchase thread. I'll try and get a good shot or two next weekend.

View attachment 133799

Nice!

I have a Yamaha RXV-373 and I love it. How are you finding yours?

 

[Sprite]

Nice!

I have a Yamaha RXV-373 and I love it. How are you finding yours?

Very nice. If I'd have had the cash I'd have gone up a few models because they had a £1000 model for £500 but I couldn't stretch to that. I don't remember the exact one.

I'm hoping to add a phono stage and turntable to the set up soon. I was a little gutted to find out the amp doesn't have a phono stage as part of it.

Sounds outstanding especially with stereo music which I know AV amps don't normally do well. But playing HD audio from Blu-Ray or uncompressed FLAC files from a HDD with Pure Direct mode on and it's a beautiful and rich sound. Very musical.

When I had a demo of the system at the shop the guy was surprised himself by the sound it produced. How much was genuine and how much was sales patter I'm not sure.

 

[Moglet]

I did a bit of an upgrade! The TV in this photo is from the living room at the minute, a new one will be on the way soon. It's only entry level stuff but it suits my needs perfectly and sounds great in the new gaming/cinema room.
The setup is mostly Cambridge stuff as I wanted it to match but the rears were only available in oak finish. Turns out they look really nice at the back of the room with a hint of brown to match the drawer/cabinet fronts. 👍

-Pioneer VSX-323-K (Low power I know, but it's been fine so far)
-Cambridge Audio S70 floorstanders
-Cambridge Audio S50 center
-Cambridge Audio S30 rears
-Cambridge Audio Aero 9 sub (500w internal amp helps here)
-Cambridge Audio Ultra Micro wiring
-Mission Stancette stands
-Samsung 42" LED TV (unsure of model)
-PS3
-PS4
-Xbox 360
-Xbox One
-Wii U
-Alienware M14X

and I've made up my own Ikea Besta combination of shelves, drawers and stands in Bamboo Brown/Black. I'm currently waiting for the sofa from the living room to be replaced with our new recliner corner unit and once that's done I'll have the old one in here to accompany the bean bag and single recliner I'm having. I'll post more photos once the room is tidied up a little, but for now here's the basic setup:

 

[Sprite]

Those CA speakers look neat and tidy, very unobtrusive. Sound good?

 

[Moglet]

I haven't had much to compare them to but they sound good to me! The sub drops very very low and blends with the floorstanders really well. The surrounds are nice and punchy, too.

 

[Sprite]

I'm thinking of one of these with two shelves plus the base. They come to about £900.

Atacama Elite Eco 12.0

 

[Small_Fryz]

Very nice. If I'd have had the cash I'd have gone up a few models because they had a £1000 model for £500 but I couldn't stretch to that. I don't remember the exact one.

I'm hoping to add a phono stage and turntable to the set up soon. I was a little gutted to find out the amp doesn't have a phono stage as part of it.

Sounds outstanding especially with stereo music which I know AV amps don't normally do well. But playing HD audio from Blu-Ray or uncompressed FLAC files from a HDD with Pure Direct mode on and it's a beautiful and rich sound. Very musical.

When I had a demo of the system at the shop the guy was surprised himself by the sound it produced. How much was genuine and how much was sales patter I'm not sure.

The 675 is a lovely receiver and I have sold and setup quite a lot of them.
Sadly as you found out its only the models above it (775, 1075, 2075 etc) that run the phono outputs, that being said you can get Turntables with built in pre-amps.

I did post these in the purchases thread but thought I'd update them here too.

Finally got my surrounds in (ended up changing to the FXi-A4's due to not being able to source any FXi-A6's in Australia. Also picked up some lovely speaker stands and a new entertainment until in order to house the massive CSi-A6 centre

Got an old audiophile friend who has 4 turntables sitting around his house doing nothing that he has acquired over the years and hoping to flog one that works to add to my setup .

Specs again.

Polk ATi-A9 Floorstanders
CSi-A6 Centre
FXi-A4 Surrounds (setup in Dipole mode)
DSW PRO660 Subwoofer
Denon AVRX4000 reciever
Samsung BDF8500 Blu-ray/HD Recorder
PS3
LG 60LA8600 60" TV

Seriously very very happy with this setup, purchased a high fidelity blu-ray today and it just sounds simply incredible. The surround sound in movies are also brilliant and I honestly cant help but buy a handful of my favourite blu-ray's every time there is a sale on, just to re-experience them through this setup .

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

@Moglet and @Small_Fryz Those setups look fantastic. Nice and clean. Excellent job especially with the limited space.

I have spent the last month working on an entertainment center of my own. I will post a few in here too. Comfortable seating for 3. I also had very limited space. Everything was custom including custom ottoman, custom table and legs, custom fans for cooling, dust filtration system, a lot of custom work.

I dedicated an entire thread of the build process with all the details including about 50 pics here.

 

[Moglet]

Nice work on the cooling setup and dust filtration! I'm still trying to fix the radiator that can't be turned down in my room. I've also got quite a few photos ready to upload to a thread similar to yours, especially after getting the sofa in last night:

I've still got the shelving to put up yet, and since the new sofa in the living room is much bigger than our previous one

we're getting a new TV in there so I can have our current 42" Samsung in the games room

 

[TB]

Update time.

Projector - BenQ W1070 chucking a 163" image
Left and right speakers - Sony SS-AV33
Center - Sony SS-CN550H
Sub - Yamaha YST-SW105
Surrounds - mix of Niles (came with the house) and Monoprice 8" in ceiling speakers
Receiver - Onkyo TX-NR616
BR player - fat PS3

Seating.

View attachment 86417

Screen. Or lack thereof.

View attachment 86418

View from the drivers seat.

View attachment 86419

I can see the four front speakers being upgraded in the future but for now, I'm quite pleased with it. Especially for the price a company wanted for a vastly inferior setup versus what I was able to do on my own.

Update again.

The two Sony SS-AV33s (left and right channels with (2) 6" woofers and a 1" tweeter) have now been moved out of the theater to be used with the plasma as I couldn't stand the TV speakers any more. The theater is now enjoying the company of a pair of Cerwin Vega DX5s sporting a 12" woofer, 6" mid and 1" tweeter. They go down to about 30Hz so they aren't earth shattering but they are a huge improvement in the sound field presence department. I'm extremely happy with the room now but, as always, will be on the hunt for that next good deal, likely a better sub.

Bonus - the TV sounds MUCH better with the Sonys, too.

 

[Shaun]

but, as always, will be on the hunt for that next good deal,

It never ends.
Nice acquisition though.

 

[Agent_47]

i'll have to post a couple pics of my sony ps-x5 turntable and some old records my parents gave me

 

[OwensRacing]

Oh hell yes!!! So how far from Michigan are you. : )

2hrs roughly.

 

[Sprite]

Some better shots of the B&W 685 S2

 

[Agent_47]

Phillips/Magnavox Reciever & Speakers

Sony PS3

Sony 50-disc CD changer

Sony PS-X5 turntable/Audio Technica AT95E cart/Pyle Pro PP444 preamp



Sony used to make some great equipment. Hard to believe nobody else here has a turntable on their audio system.

 

[12thgear]

Sony used to make some great equipment. Hard to believe nobody else here has a turntable on their audio system.

Don't worry. We're here.

 

[Sprite]

I'm planning on a TT.

The Rega RP3. I personally don't like glass platters so I have my eye on a few upgrades too including a Delrin platter and a upgraded sub-platter both from groovetracer. Also the upgraded belt & PSU from Rega and the MM phono stage from Rega and last a Grado reference platinum cartridge. With some cables from Chord it's comes to 1800+

 

[12thgear]

I installed my carpet tiles earlier in the week. I received my BDI Casata cabinet today and lined it up. It's a really nice piece of AV furniture. I haven't placed all the gear yet, but I did set the speakers and TV up to get a feel for how it looks. So far I'm digging it.

 

[Mikeybc]

Since my HT setup is out of commission for a while I put my new HT reviever that was collecting dust into the dining room system, running in 2ch pure direct mode it sounds much better than I thought it would. Driving an old pair of Rega 2 speakers with it. It's much better than the old 33 wpc Luxman reviever.

 

[Sprite]

Since my HT setup is out of commission for a while I put my new HT reviever that was collecting dust into the dining room system, running in 2ch pure direct mode it sounds much better than I thought it would. Driving an old pair of Rega 2 speakers with it. It's much better than the old 33 wpc Luxman reviever.

I run a HT receiver in 2ch also pure direct and I love the sound, especially with FLAC and Blu-Ray 2ch audio. I run it from a USB for FLAC so the signal stays nice and clean up to the point of the DAC, then it's out the back to the speakers.

Those Rega 2's look so awesome. I'm guessing the sound a treat.

 

[12thgear]

Since my HT setup is out of commission for a while I put my new HT reviever that was collecting dust into the dining room system, running in 2ch pure direct mode it sounds much better than I thought it would. Driving an old pair of Rega 2 speakers with it. It's much better than the old 33 wpc Luxman reviever.

That's a classy looking stereo setup. I also wish more speakers these days were front ported. Either way I'd pull them forward a bit if there's space to do so.

 

[Mikeybc]

I run a HT receiver in 2ch also pure direct and I love the sound, especially with FLAC and Blu-Ray 2ch audio. I run it from a USB for FLAC so the signal stays nice and clean up to the point of the DAC, then it's out the back to the speakers.

Those Rega 2's look so awesome. I'm guessing the sound a treat.

Thanks, Unfortunatly this is the older model 1403, it doesn't have the USB in

The Regas sound pretty nice...especially for a 32 year old speaker. The speaker company that built them (Edon Acoustics of Ottawa) later became Camber after they lost the rights to use the Rega name.(whole debacle there) They are easy to listen to but then they aren't the most revealing or detailed speaker either. Your B&W's would sound far more revealing and transparent/open.

That's a classy looking stereo setup. I also wish more speakers these days were front ported. Either way I'd pull them forward a bit if there's space to do so.

Thanks, I totally agree they should be pulled out from the wall but they'd just be in the way, this system is mainly for background music upstairs so its not a real concern. The main stereo is in the basement.

 

[Agent_47]

Man Cave: Theater/Gaming Room

Details:
•60" DLP
•PS3
•Tritton Pro
•Denon 3113ci 7x 125 watt RMS
•Klipsch Reference
•Towers - 8" horn / dual 8" drivers
•Center - 6" horn / dual 6.5" drivers
•Surrounds - dual 6" horns / 6.5" driver
•Rears - 6" horn / 6.5" driver
•Subs
•PSA Dual 15" sub (Front & Rear fire) - 750 watt RMS
•MK 12" sub - 150 watt RMS

2ch= 1150 watts RMS
5.1 = 1525 watts RMS
7.1 = 1775 watts RMS

PSA sub plays down to 10hz this thing literally shakes the walls at 20hz test freq.

Very very pleased with how it turned out.
Going for another PSA

As well in this Room is my Racing Rig.
•Custom Rig
•3x 24" Asus Monitors
•3x PS3's
•iRacing Purpose built PC
•2x Buttkicker Gamer 2
•Tritton Pro+

And now pictures:

what case you got on that pc?

 

[TB]

what case you got on that pc?

Looks to be a Cooler Master HAF XB.

 

[Sprite]

Sorry for the large post of vids but some small clips of the new speakers, amp and BD/CD/DVD player being tested.











http://youtu.be/hl8vn_P7qCI

 

[Shaun]

@Sprite do you have any intentions of incorporating the 685's into a surround setup?
Or are they staying solely as a stereo setup?

 

[Sprite]

@Shaun well once I move into my own place they will indeed become part of a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. That all depends on how big the room is and room type.

My other half has agreed we can have a dedicated room. I'd really love a pair of 802 diamond as my fronts so they can act as surrounds and 2ch but 18k is pushing my luck ;D

 

[Mikeybc]

@ShaunMy other half has agreed we can have a dedicated room. I'd really love a pair of 802 diamond as my fronts so they can act as surrounds and 2ch but 18k is pushing my luck ;D

Nice to have a wife who understands this 2ch hobby. A dedicated listening room should give those 685's some breathing room and allow them to really shine. They also seem to have a pretty good bottom end for a small speaker.

What did you use to record those videos ? they actually give some scope of the sound when I play them with good headphones through my laptop. I uploaded a couple videos of my 2ch system in the basement to YouTube and the sound was abysmal , I promptly deleted them out of embarrassment. I used an iPhone 4s.

 

[Sprite]

@Mikeybc I actually used an iPhone 5 to record the videos. I was also surprised by the recording. My partner is very understanding when it comes to my hobbies, she isn't a huge music fan either but she loves movies so the promise of a good 5.1/7.1 and she is happy.

The room they're in is a little small but I've given them plenty of room albeit a little too much at the back but I hate boomy sound. A dedicated room will help a lot with the soundstage. The bottom end is very good and they can dig deep for a bookshelf and convey a good sense of speed and attack.