Official A/V Thread

Outside of the Darbee crap there's a few other slight changes that make the D(ick) model a little better. Get it if you can spare the money, but still, turn that Darbee crap off completely.

If you decide to get the regular 103 model (is it still available?), remember to use HDMI out 2 for video output. HDMI out 1 has ever so slight DNR that can't be turned off.

I ended up getting the 103D...Its pretty awesome player! I tried the Darbee & seems to add more detail, why dont you like it?

It is IMPOSSIBLE to add more detail than there already is. Think about it; how would it be possible?

Kristian Meller said:

It is IMPOSSIBLE to add more detail than there already is. Think about it; how would it be possible?

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Perhaps he just meant that it revealed more detail.

Also impossible. The Blu-ray player, unless badly engineered (which is not a problem with Oppo), will send out all the detail on the disc. An algorithm in the HDMI chain or the player is not going to help his display "reveal more detail". It may seem like it, and a lot of people are definitely being fooled by this Darbee crap, but it's all complete and total BS.

Kristian is right, the Oppo is already a reference player on the highest quality digital format we have. Assuming the TV is properly calibrated, if you messed with the image at all you are making it look some way other than the director intended. On most of the reviews I saw, on the pictures that showed the "improvement" it looked like the brightness and contrast were way off on the TV set itself and the Darbee was just correcting a bad calibration.

didn't realize y'all were talking about video

Here we go, the best 4:3 television experience money can buy.

TV: Sony Trinitron KV-32FS100
Receiver: Sears AM/FM Stereo 8Track Play/Record System Model 400.91605 600
VCR: Panasonic Omnivision PV-V4522
DVD-R: LG DVD Recorder DR1F9H
LD: Pioneer LaserDisc Player CLD-V2600
Speakers Soundesign Full-Range 0632B 52 8ohm
switch 4 port composite switch

Everything works except no audio from DVD-R. DVD-R is not currently connected in a way that it can record anything. It is in place primarily for the ability to play full screen DVDs and also VCDs. Audio goes through the sources into the VCR, through the tv and into the receiver. This is done so that the overall volume can be controlled with the TV remote. Built-in TV speakers are disabled.

Connection diagram


Price history...


Large pictures

So i have had the Oppo 103d for a few weeks now & man it produce a really nice picture. I used to watch my downloaded movies through my laptop & it gave a shitty dark picture & now they look pretty amazing.

Anyway, here is the Darbee thing...To me there is subtle differences without it. Not sure if its me justifying the price or the picture is artificial enhancement, i really dont care...It looks great.

Blew out my Grados. Don't forget to turn down your amp when you set you turntable needle down.

terry.330 said:

Blew out my Grados. Don't forget to turn down your amp when you set you turntable needle down.

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Damn that sucks, how high did you have your amp turned up? I've never heard of a needle drop blowing anything out.

About 90%. I must have bumped the knob because I never listen to anything that loud and always turn the volume back to zero when I'm done using it.

Damn Terry, that sucks dude. Just look at it as an excuse to by even more badass set of headphones.

Yes. ALWAYS mute or switch sources before cueing an album. I wouldn't dream of doing it any other way. Most people don't realize the stress that those thuds and thumps can place on mid/bass drivers. Often people are unaware of the stress; this is especially true if they always keep the grills on. I have witnessed extreme woofer excursions when a person failed to hit mute.

did not know that about cueing an album. glad my speakers have not blown, i will definitely modify my habits from here forth.

A few months ago, I finally added a tuner to my setup. I didn't think it would get much use, but wanted to give it a try; I was totally wrong.

I recently added a Magnum Dynalab MD205 Signal Sleuth. I was simply interested in seeing if there would be any noticeable improvements. After inserting the 205, the improvements were shocking. Stations that were previously totally out of range are now very listenable, even the weakest stations now sound great and even better if I flip my tuner to mono mode. This thing is clean! No unwanted distortion or trash; this was one of the things that shocked me the most, I was certain it would dirty up the single. Boy was I wrong. If you enjoy listening to FM, this is a must try piece of gear. Pair it with a good tuner and a quality antenna and you'll be set. This thing is great and by leveraging the meters like those found on a Magnum Dynalab tuner, it become shockingly good. The ability to tweak and fine tune the single is insane. Now, lower power NPR stations sound great. On stronger stations, I usually put it in bypass mode. With strong stations I have not noticed any negatives with it actively amplifying; for example it takes the single from a 9 to a 10 on the meter without degrading the sound.

Damn Ash, that tuner and sleuth setup is crazy cool!
Is that the antenna you were talking about just above the tuner in the photo?

Tried listening to baseball games on it? Looks badass to say the least.

Long overdue "system update" so to speak.

I set out at the beginning of the summer with the goal of a new record player in mind to replace a really junky Audio Technica ATLP120 table I had bought on Amazon about 6 years ago.

After talking a bit with Neo Ash and reading loads of internet posts on the subject I went to my local Hifi shop and listened to a Denon and some Music Hall tables and ended up purchasing a brand new Music Hall 5.3. -A huge upgrade over the old Amazon.com special I had before. much quieter noise floor, and stable in the shaky environment that is my living room that is equipped with a floor like a wrestling mat.

New MMF5.3 record player:


I had bought one of those Bellari red tube preamps to go with the MMF5.3, but no matter what I did it buzzed like a SoB. I returned the gimmicky Bellari and bought a U-Turn Pluto Preamp to hold me over until I found better- the Pluto was much better in the buzzing department, but a little less full sounding then the Bellari, but I would say the Pluto was still an overall improvement in definition from my Marantz AV preamp's built in phono stage...

Things got real when Ash found me an ebay listing for a pre-owned AcousTech PH-1 Premium phono stage. The price relative to the Bellari and Pluto was steep, but compared to a new phono stage from Sutherland Engineering I got the PH-1p a little less than half price.

I am very happy with the PH-1p and it has been a drastic improvement over the previous budget phono stages - even my hard to impress flac file playing friends have remarked how clear and detailed it sounds.

Sneaky Sutherland:


Moon shot:


Preamp Pr0n:


Gold!!


Living Room with Both TVs firing:


Straight on System Attack!

Dope. Keep that TT covered though my 5.1 is a dust magnet.

Sold my Schiit Valhalla headphone amp. Redundant since I got my Peachtree amp that has a built in headphone stage. Not as full or warm sounding but much cleaner.

Also if anyone wants an acrylic platter for a Rega or MH table on the cheap hit me up.

terry.330 said:

Keep that TT covered though my 5.1 is a dust magnet.

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Yeah the piano black definitely needs a wipe down from time to time. Dust cover came off for photo time, I leave it on usually.

Rest of my kit is mostly supplied by Neo Ash: Bryston 2blp amp, and the anchor of the set up: Rega Appolo CD Player.
Found my Marantz Av preamp on the cheap after learning about audiogon from Ash. Everything sounds real nice- have to give him major thanks for all his help and advice.

The Marantz is a little too complicated for a stereo setup, but it does an OK job of sorting everything that comes at it from the turntable to the Ps4. It does not support 4k pass through which is a bit of a bummer. And it can get a little tripped up with the Ps4 and the whole hdmi handshake thing on occasion.

But does it goto 11?

K-2 said:

Damn Ash, that tuner and sleuth setup is crazy cool!
Is that the antenna you were talking about just above the tuner in the photo?

Tried listening to baseball games on it? Looks badass to say the least.

Click to expand...

That's the one. Magnum Dynalab SR100. They go for around 50 bucks. It uses a 75 ohm input, but an adapter is included if you need one.

Most of my listening is NPR; lots of great music content.

I've always wanted to try out a MD tuner, it's just never been in the cards for me. Have heard nothing but great things though and they still support their old gear including upgrade paths. You don't see that very often these days.

K-2, nice pickup on that Music Hall. I used to have the OG MMF-5 and it was a phenomenal TT. I'm sure you'll enjoy that TT for a long time, with the included cart that table is a no brainer IMO.

Sorry, I'm not baller like some of you guys but I was pretty happy yesterday. I've had this SX-828 for years but it needed a little bit of TLC, so it was living in the basement with my other unfinished projects. For some reason yesterday I got a hair up my ass to finally take care of it. All of the switches and pots were scratchy, so it just needed a deoxit bath, but on this particular model the pots are hard to get to (you have to take the unit half apart to get at them) so I had been putting it off. Anyway it's done now, and the only issue that it still has is that the "stereo" indicator lamp is burned out, but I have a replacement. This sounds so much better than the BPC amp that it replaced. Now I just need to find some nice desktop/bookshelf speakers to go with it, as the ones pictured are just some big-box store home theater speakers that someone gave me.

The SX-828 was actually the top-of-the-line receiver in Pioneer's product line in 1972, and cost about $480 back then (which is almost $2500 today). Crazy. I actually have my rooftop antenna hooked into it, and combined with its excellent tuner I can pull in just about any FM station under the sun. Would be cool if I had a nice AM antenna I guess, but I can listen to baseball games with my satellite subscription.

The headphones that Ash gave me for Christmas also sound about 10x better with this receiver than they did with the BPC POS. Thanks again, Ash!

Jibbajaba said:

View attachment 38668

Sorry, I'm not baller like some of you guys but I was pretty happy yesterday. I've had this SX-828 for years but it needed a little bit of TLC, so it was living in the basement with my other unfinished projects. For some reason yesterday I got a hair up my ass to finally take care of it. All of the switches and pots were scratchy, so it just needed a deoxit bath, but on this particular model the pots are hard to get to (you have to take the unit half apart to get at them) so I had been putting it off. Anyway it's done now, and the only issue that it still has is that the "stereo" indicator lamp is burned out, but I have a replacement. This sounds so much better than the BPC amp that it replaced. Now I just need to find some nice desktop/bookshelf speakers to go with it, as the ones pictured are just some big-box store home theater speakers that someone gave me.

The SX-828 was actually the top-of-the-line receiver in Pioneer's product line in 1972, and cost about $480 back then (which is almost $2500 today). Crazy. I actually have my rooftop antenna hooked into it, and combined with its excellent tuner I can pull in just about any FM station under the sun. Would be cool if I had a nice AM antenna I guess, but I can listen to baseball games with my satellite subscription.

The headphones that Ash gave me for Christmas also sound about 10x better with this receiver than they did with the BPC POS. Thanks again, Ash!

Click to expand...

Jibs, are you kinding? That's a sweat and sexy receiver! Clean retro looks that don't look outdated, and the wood cabinet sets if off. If I wasn't on the wrong coast, it would be awesome to give it a listen. My dad has a similar Pioneer, now I'll have to find out the model next time I'm over to visit. That was a very nice receiver that was neck and neck with what Marantz had to offer. Let me know if you need any help while speaker shopping.

I'm jeleous of your rooftop antenna; I should do that one of these days.

Glad to hear you are still enjoying the cans!


P.S. - Just great...now I'm gonna end up shopping vintage receivers.