Show your audio systems!!!

[ste2425]

Never used a surround system like that. I've always been a Hifi bloke. Onestly what's the surround effect like? Is it effective on a small room like a living room or bedroom? Sadly I don't have the space for my old pioneer separates system but would still like a nice sound system. How much space would you say they take up?

Used to own this lovely thing

Sadly I managed to kill it extremely gutted. Posted a thread about it on here actually now I think about it

[jbl-series]

125 watts 7.1 Av receiver. The heart of my Home theater system..Has lots of HDMI inputs and inputs for your Ipod or Iphone. Lots of clean power..

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by jbl-series

125 watts 7.1 Av receiver. The heart of my Home theater system..Has lots of HDMI inputs and inputs for your Ipod or Iphone. Lots of clean power..

Have you tried the "presence" outs? Most Yamaha amps these days have them, but I find that very little audio content is placed with them. Could be my model of amp though..I got a 7.2 8160, but the front panel is near identical to the one you posted.

[agent00skid]

A bunch of terrible images of my audio systems.

For when I'm lazy or outside:
Laptop in-built.


For my gaming rig:
Monitor in-built.
Buttkicker Gamer2.


On my laptop, used mostly for music:
2 Fostex PM0.4n.
1 Fostex PM-SUBn.
Audio 2 DJ sound card (Lower right of satellite pic).
DiDock (Not pictured).

Sound card->DiDock->Sub->Satellites.

[ste2425]

Originally Posted by agent00skid

A bunch of terrible images of my audio systems.

For when I'm lazy or outside:
Laptop in-built.


For my gaming rig:
Monitor in-built.
Buttkicker Gamer2.


On my laptop, used mostly for music:
2 Fostex PM0.4n.
1 Fostex PM-SUBn.
Audio 2 DJ sound card (Lower right of satellite pic).
DiDock (Not pictured).

Sound card->DiDock->Sub->Satellites.

Nice collection of coke cans

Bet that printer rattles a little on that sub and what is that exactly in the second to last picture? Bit to blurry to make out but my mind is running wild with various types or microphones or stands



dug this out of storage for a play with Great little thing. Sadly it must be a bit damp in the loft as the paint has started to bubble slightly in places

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by ste2425

what is that exactly in the second to last picture? Bit to blurry to make out but my mind is running wild with various types or microphones or stands

It's a Buttkicker subwoofer. You attach it to your chair and it outputs vibrations instead of sound, so you can hear the bass but a person standing a few feet from you cannot.
Not sure if it actually works that way, but that's what I was lead to believe.

[3870x2]

So where in the hell do I get a nice small tube-amp audio system? I would really like one, they sound amazing, but they are crazy expensive at best buy.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

So where in the hell do I get a nice small tube-amp audio system? I would really like one, they sound amazing, but they are crazy expensive at best buy.

What price range are you looking in?

[3870x2]

$50 to $150, it is going to be mostly for my desk at work, so not terribly loud or large. An optional headphone boost would be a plus.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

$50 to $150, it is going to be mostly for my desk at work, so not terribly loud or large. An optional headphone boost would be a plus.

Strictly headphones or speakers as well?

[3870x2]

speakers are the priority, headphones optional (I will eventually get me a headphone amp, but if this does both, that would be great)

Mostly I'll be plugging my phone up to it to play music (possibly computer too)

[ste2425]

Originally Posted by Random Murderer

It's a Buttkicker subwoofer. You attach it to your chair and it outputs vibrations instead of sound, so you can hear the bass but a person standing a few feet from you cannot.
Not sure if it actually works that way, but that's what I was lead to believe.

ohhhh ive seen things like that for drummers who use electronic kits but still want to feel the vibrations of an acoustic kit

This is what i replaced the Pioneer SA 520 with, a SA 620 :P



running through these

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

speakers are the priority, headphones optional (I will eventually get me a headphone amp, but if this does both, that would be great)

Mostly I'll be plugging my phone up to it to play music (possibly computer too)

Alright. I'll have a look around.
I may not be able to get back to you for some time, work. It also doesn't help we have a useless 2 hour meeting today
EDIT: forgot to ask, you a DIY'er? I.e., if I found a kit, would you be able/willing to put it together, soldering and all?

[3870x2]

Originally Posted by Random Murderer

Alright. I'll have a look around.
I may not be able to get back to you for some time, work. It also doesn't help we have a useless 2 hour meeting today
EDIT: forgot to ask, you a DIY'er? I.e., if I found a kit, would you be able/willing to put it together, soldering and all?

I am an intermediate solderer, and a great DIY'er.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

I am an intermediate solderer, and a great DIY'er.

Well, that opens up your options a bit, but it still looks like you'll have to go hybrid rather than all-tube to keep it in your price range. The cheapest I could find after a quick search that was all-tube was $229 and it was a measly 2.5W per channel.

[WhiteNoise]

I have a lot of audio grear as well as video. I bought a second house so I no longer have a dedicated home theater but my theater equipment is setup in the garage for now. My goal is to re-do the garage to make it a dedicated HT room with space for my Harley.

I will run over to AVS and find my gear thread there and post my equipment.



Home Theater
Equipment:

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 (1080p Projector)
Elite Screens R120WH1 Fixed Projection Screen (120" 16:9 AR)(CineWhite)
Onkyo TX-SR605 (7.1)
Directv HD DVR Model HR24 (SAT Box)
Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player
PS3 FAT 120GB
Belkin PureAV power conditioner
Tripp Lite Isotel 6 Ultra Surge Suppressor
HTPC (Intel c2d E8600@ 3.3GHz, 4GB DDR2, 8800GT 512, 800GB HDD space, Win 7 64 bit) TosLINK & HDMI to Onkyo

HT Speakers:

Infinity Beta 40 (fronts)
Infinity Beta C360 (center)
Hsu Research VTF-2 MK3 (sub)
Polk Audio Monitor 40 (sides)
Polk Audio Monitor 40 (rears)

Using 12 AWG Rockford Fosgate wires throughout.




Living room:

Samsung Series 7 LED DLP 61"
Directv model H25 HD SAT
Sony dav-dz170 DVD home theater systems (5.1)
Xbox 360 w/ Kinect


(Office) Two channel music listening Equipment:

Samsung Series 6000 40" LED LCD (used for console gaming, TV viewing, and PC duties)
Harmon Kardon HK3490 (handles my stereo music listening and PC/console dutes)
Rotel RDV1092 (DVD/CD player)
Directv Genie model HR34 SAT DVR HD (handles entire house for DVR functions)
Belkin PureAV PF30 (power conditioner)
Xbox 360 Elite 120GB
PS3 Slim 250GB

Stereo Speakers:

Hsu Research HB-1 MK2
Velodyne CT-150 (sub)

Using 12 AWG speaker wires throughout.



Cans:

Grado SR325is (for music listening bliss)
Sony XB700 (When I want extra bass)
Sony MDR-V6 (general stereo listening / night time gaming)
Turtle Beach EarForce 2 5.1 headset (gaming)
Sennheiser rs120 wireless headphones (when I need to move around)





A few pictures of my unfinished and WIP garage...

[punisher186]

HD555, I don't own any speakers. Eventually I'll get Audioengine A5's.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by punisher186

http://img.techpowerup.org/130110/f.jpg

HD555, I don't own any speakers. Eventually I'll get Audioengine A5's.

Ah, a fellow Sennheiser fan. Good man!

[punisher186]

Originally Posted by Random Murderer

Ah, a fellow Sennheiser fan. Good man!

Only paid $85 shipped for them, brand new. Great value.

[3870x2]

Who isn't a Sennheiser fan. I am not a fan of cloth ear pads.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

Who isn't a Sennheiser fan.

Most Grado fans, lol

[freaksavior]

Originally Posted by Random Murderer

Most Grado fans, lol

I Love my Grado's but I also like my brother Sennheiser. Great headphones for the price.

I would however like to compare some higher end Sennheiser. . .

[cdawall]

Originally Posted by 3870x2

Who isn't a Sennheiser fan. I am not a fan of cloth ear pads.

I am not a Senn fan.

[Random Murderer]

Originally Posted by freaksavior

I Love my Grado's but I also like my brother Sennheiser. Great headphones for the price.

I only said that because in my experience over at Head-Fi, it seemed there was a great divide. People loved one or the other and were biased as hell, and there were very few people who loved both.

Originally Posted by freaksavior

I would however like to compare so higher end Sennheiser. . .

Haven't had a chance to hear the HD800s yet, but I have the HD650s. If there is any improvement in the sound at all(which I've heard there is), then they must be heavenly.
That being said, I can say I hadn't really "heard" most of my music until I listened through the XS708b(and another amp I have that I haven't posted yet) with the 650s. They are absolutely incredible. Even more so if you do a quick, reversible mod. All you have to do is disassemble the ear cups(you don't have to remove the drivers) and replace the stock ear foam with a layer of pantyhose. The pantyhose aren't really necessary, you can just remove the foam and get the same effect, but putting the pantyhose there re-provides the protection from debris to the drivers. You would think that Sennheiser would have used sonically-neutral foam(maybe they did), but doing that mod sort of lifted a veil off of the high-end. At first, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I reversed it, putting the foam back in place, and there was definitely a difference.
Also, in my experience with various Sennheiser sets, they seem to sound best and really "sing" when amped by a tube setup. There have only been two solid-state amps I've heard that give the same silky smooth, warm tone that you get with tubes on a pair of Senns. One is the Purity Audio KICAS Caliente(mighty underrated if you ask me), the other is the aforementioned amp that i've yet to post. It's a blast from the past('80s) and I wish luck to anybody looking for either, lol.

[3870x2]

Originally Posted by cdawall

I am not a Senn fan.

We all make mistakes. Its what you do when you pick yourself up, realize you were wrong, and fix those mistakes that makes you a man.