Official A/V Thread

Kristian Meller

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That's a great setup. Awesome TV ;) It does look a little 'naked' around the setup though; is that something you plan to do something about?
 

thirdkind

Chin's Bartender
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It does look a little 'naked' around the setup though; is that something you plan to do something about?

I moved in about 2 months ago and I'm only now getting around to buying furniture and other house stuff. That's why all the media is piled up on the floor; the TV stand was the only thing I didn't sell off prior to moving (and I'm going to replace that with something from these guys).

If you look at the reflection on the screen, you can just barely make out a deck chair on the left side, which is my only seating at the moment :)
 

Neo Ash

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I used to have a Music Hall MMF-5, but sold it when I got laid off along with the rest of my gear at the time. I kept all my vinyl though. Looking forward to getting back into it again at some point. Is Music Hall still a great option for entry-level audiophile turntables?

Great table. They have the MMF-5.1 out now. I would take a Music Hall for sure.
 

Kristian Meller

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Since I've dissed third's setup, I thought I might put mine up for ridicule:

setup130710.jpg
 
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Kristian Meller

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I bought a used Acoustic Reality eAR 202-REF power amplifier that arrived today. Really nice piece of hardware, and it really does seem like there's more control of my speakers now, than my Marantz SR4001 had on its own. It's quite obvious that more detail gets through when I listen to teh musics. It uses a technology called ICEpower, which is a bit controversial, but the biggest knock I can seem to find is that it's too neutral, and merely amplifies, rather than colouring the music in the process. I found that my setup was warm enough as it was, so I just wanted 'pure' amplification, and it definitely hasn't disappointed me.
 

Kristian Meller

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It's a really nice amp. I've moved on to the second CD now (The National - Boxer), and I immediately noticed more detail and just generally better sound quality. I'm no audiophile, so I'm not used to describing this stuff.

The amp is easy as hell to connect, no BS extra features and on top of it all it uses practically no power at all when not in use, so there's no turning it on and off all the time. Has something to do with that there ICEpower tech.
 

kernow

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When you put my power amp in standby it just changes the LED on the front from green to red :tickled:

So naturally I just turn it off.
 

Kristian Meller

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What kind of speakerwire do people here use? Just the cheapest stuff you buy 50 feet of at a time, or some of the more serious stuff at $10-50 for each three feet? (I'm used to the metric system, so I'm not sure how y'all measure your speakerwire)
 

kernow

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Mine was £200 for 2.5mtr pair, usually £369, hey I had money at the time, cough. Won't ever be replacing it though.

Just get some from monoprice really, its probably all the same pretty much, omg cable wars time.
 

Kristian Meller

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I upgraded to AudioQuest Type-4 yesterday, which I paid $15/m for. I don't have high-end speakers or high-end anything else, except for the Blu-ray player I guess, so I figured that should cover me until I upgrade other parts of the setup.
 

kernow

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Yeah, thats fine really, spending much more is pretty much stupid :emb:
 

Neo Ash

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What kind of speakerwire do people here use? Just the cheapest stuff you buy 50 feet of at a time, or some of the more serious stuff at $10-50 for each three feet? (I'm used to the metric system, so I'm not sure how y'all measure your speakerwire)

DH Labs Silver Sonic's Q-10 Signature

Just purchased a $150 3 foot IEC power cable a few days ago....:emb:
 
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kernow

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Its amazing what a bit of fiddling with speaker positioning will do. Before I had them all measured out and equal distance and angle wise, today I moved them a bit further apart and toed them in a bit more to face me a bit, its sort of a skewed triangle as I sit to one side, and it sounds amazing. The room and positioning is really important but quite often its ignored.
 

Metal Slugnuts

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So I just got a Yamaha DDP-1 AC-3 RF demodulator for my laserdisc player but my POS reciever (HTIAB, yeah it's ghetto) only has two channels of input. I've been looking to get an actual receiver for quite a while now and this is the final nail in my current POS's coffin. The DDP-1 manual suggests the Yamaha RX-V2090 since some of the DDP-1 features are preset to function with it but that one's too spendy for me ATM. Is there a budget 5.1 receiver that I should look out for? Also, in case I run into something locally what are some decent 5.1s that I should look for?
 

Neo Ash

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So I just got a Yamaha DDP-1 AC-3 RF demodulator for my laserdisc player but my POS reciever (HTIAB, yeah it's ghetto) only has two channels of input. I've been looking to get an actual receiver for quite a while now and this is the final nail in my current POS's coffin. The DDP-1 manual suggests the Yamaha RX-V2090 since some of the DDP-1 features are preset to function with it but that one's too spendy for me ATM. Is there a budget 5.1 receiver that I should look out for? Also, in case I run into something locally what are some decent 5.1s that I should look for?

Onkyo and Yamaha are both good choices. The Yamaha will do a little better job on the video side.

If you want to take things up a notch look at a used NAD. Cambridge Audio is another good one. The NAD and the Cambridge will offer superior audio quality.
 

Nesagwa

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Ok, heres a question. I might be looking to buy a 20ish inch LCD tv to replace my old CRT tv.

What would be my best bet for something that would also support VGA / DVI, HDMI, Component, Coax, all that jazz. Preferably something I could hook both my computer up to and my PS2 or NES if I felt like it. A standard VESA mount so I can hook it to my monitor arm would also be preferable. Probably $250 max.

I dont know much as far as which ones would be good for gaming, especially with older systems.
 

Neo Ash

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Ok, heres a question. I might be looking to buy a 20ish inch LCD tv to replace my old CRT tv.

What would be my best bet for something that would also support VGA / DVI, HDMI, Component, Coax, all that jazz. Preferably something I could hook both my computer up to and my PS2 or NES if I felt like it. A standard VESA mount so I can hook it to my monitor arm would also be preferable. Probably $250 max.

I dont know much as far as which ones would be good for gaming, especially with older systems.

On a TV that small, older systems should look pretty good. Keeping the budget in mind, I'd say a Vizio would be your best bet.
 

sammybean

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What would you guys recommend for a sub-$500 receiver? I had a Denon AVR-789 that I really enjoyed, though I know there's better out there. I've got 4 Mirage omnisats and a Mirage center whose model name escapes me. I don't need this year's model or anything. Also in need of a decent sub recommendation, as my Polk PSW110 died (it was my budget solution for not having a sub at all)
 
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