This is really nice (HT Picture)

[Alptraum]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: orion7144

Apex, are those holes in the rack for running cables?

Yeah, they are. Much cleaner that way, but I'm not going to bother with that until the HT is finished. Running wires through there is kind of a pain, so I want to do it once and for all. Each glass shelf there holds up to 200lbs, except for the top and bottom ones, which can hold 300lbs each. Loaded with equipment, that thing is seriously heavy. I can't wait to be done with it all. My theater is a bigtime mess right now.

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Very nice equipment btw. Apex, what kind of cables do you use? I hope you don't have that uber expensive $9,000 speaker cable or I may just have to drool a bit.

The cables are a mix. They're mainly audioquest though. There's some clear cables, bettercables, some silver stuff, some fiber optic DVI cabling, etc. All and all, it's less than $3000 worth of cabling.

And no, I didn't pay for the vast majority of it. I'm more of a video guy than an audio guy, so that's where I spent my money when I absolutely had to.

Audioquest is great stuff. I use their Midnight+ for speaker wire and mainly their Ruby for interconnects, I have some Tara Lab interconnects as well though.

 

[ndee]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
I like mine better.

haha, whatta POS

 

[ndee]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Mine has a screen that pulls down, don't knock it. My tv is still teh king.

actually my east asian studies prof is king. he has a 60in HDTV hooked up to some crazy receiver. with a progressive DVD ... but his speakers are what is king

he has a Mirage Center speaker. its at least a foot ling i think it had dual 6s in it and a tweeter its powered by a 200 w adcom amp

hes running 2 mirage subs. these things are huge about the size of a small table. easily a 3ft cube. thing they are 16s down fireing. each powered by its own adcom 500 watt amp

his 4 speakers are magnipans. thoes magnetic pannel ones. the medium sized ones. bouy 6-7 feet tall. each powered by a 300 watt adcom amp.

god damn thing is teh BEST system ive ever heard and ive been to pro HT places a bunch

its just insane teh sound quality is unmatched

so how did you have to pay?

 

[bsmithy]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I wish it was mine.

whats with that sig?

 

[DPmaster]

Apex,

You have any experience with the Anthem AVM 20 pre-amp? I've been looking into pre-amps for awhile, and it looks like a really nice pre-amp for the price. Any recommendations? BTW, nice amp. The Adcom GFA-7807 was the EXACT model I was looking into for powering my HT.

 

[StageLeft]

That's so sweet.!

 

[Muadib]

Sweet stuff.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Looks nice, but the cables beg to be hidden. Then it could be a magazine shot.

 

[GreenGhost]

That must be the guy's garage TV. Do people seat in Walmart's $10 plastic garden chairs?

 

[randomlinh]

man, that looks so dull tho... equipment is nice... wiring could be hidden...

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
Of course, but imo, when switched to balanced, the only difference *I've* notice were an increase in decibel... I'd say about three, and there were more noise, if I increase the volume with the RCA inputs, then it sounds almost the same to me. The discernable differences are almost negligeable.

For my system, I would need the A-51, the A-21 and the C-2 (don't really care much for the C-1).....to properly drive all my speakers...
I would need another year for that to happen

EDIT: there were talk of a 7 channel amp, but I don't know if they're gonna go through with it... The idea was to match up with their controllers, but I guess they figure it would be tooooooo bulky and heavy

. Like all the other shiets are not!

I've found switching to balanced really lowered the noise floor. I guess you tend to hear it more with some speakers than others (it's more noticable on my Aurum Cantus speakers with ribbon tweeters than the Atlantic Technology 370 THX Ultra's that I had which have cone tweeters).

The A51 and A21 are definitely a step up from the A52 and A23. Great choice. What speakers are you using?

Personally, I'd go for the C2 over the C1 as well, as long as it was my money. The screen is convenient, but I'm not sure that's worth the price difference. You might also want to consider listening to the Lexicon MC8 & MC8b though, but that may be my own personal bias. Logic 7 absolutely rocks.

Originally posted by: DPmaster
Apex,

You have any experience with the Anthem AVM 20 pre-amp? I've been looking into pre-amps for awhile, and it looks like a really nice pre-amp for the price. Any recommendations? BTW, nice amp. The Adcom GFA-7807 was the EXACT model I was looking into for powering my HT.

The Anthem AVM20 is great for the price. I'd say it's my favorite piece at that price point (~$2500), though I do admit that others have argued for the B&K Ref 50. The Anthem is flexible, musical, and well made. They've made big leaps forward in the firmware too, despite earlier bugs. I would suggest skipping over Anthem amps though, as I don't think they perform as well as others in their price category. ATI & Adcom are two of my favorite low cost per watt multichannel amplifier manufacturers. Something may be coming to shake up the market around this price though, so if you don't have to buy now, it might be worth holding off just a bit...

 

[opticalmace]

pft, bland

 

[Thraxen]

pft, bland

Clean

 

[spidey07]

not very theater like. Looks like a hospital.

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: Apex
What speakers are you using?...

Nothing special, just a full set of Veritas 2.4i for front, 2.2s rear, 2.0s center/surrounds(side speakers). I currently have a Klipsch RSW-10 for a sub, thinking about adding another one to make 7.2.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: ndee

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Mine has a screen that pulls down, don't knock it. My tv is still teh king.

actually my east asian studies prof is king. he has a 60in HDTV hooked up to some crazy receiver. with a progressive DVD ... but his speakers are what is king

he has a Mirage Center speaker. its at least a foot ling i think it had dual 6s in it and a tweeter its powered by a 200 w adcom amp

hes running 2 mirage subs. these things are huge about the size of a small table. easily a 3ft cube. thing they are 16s down fireing. each powered by its own adcom 500 watt amp

his 4 speakers are magnipans. thoes magnetic pannel ones. the medium sized ones. bouy 6-7 feet tall. each powered by a 300 watt adcom amp.

god damn thing is teh BEST system ive ever heard and ive been to pro HT places a bunch

its just insane teh sound quality is unmatched

so how did you have to pay?

ehh? pay what

 

[Jeff7181]

To all the people who say the room sucks... he spent all his money on the HT equipment and doesn't even have enough left to buy a picture or a potted plant =)

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: Apex
What speakers are you using?...

Nothing special, just a full set of Veritas 2.4i for front, 2.2s rear, 2.0s center/surrounds(side speakers). I currently have a Klipsch RSW-10 for a sub, thinking about adding another one to make 7.2.

Good choice, I like that series Energy. Shouldn't be too hard to drive.

I'm getting a new sub soon. I have an Atlantic Technology 370 THX Ultra one (15"), but it's being replaced by this:

SVS B4+ with four 12" drivers, 2500w RMS amp

It's taking a little while to build, because they're custom color matching it to the rosewood of my surround & rear speakers:

Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 Deluxe, Rosewood

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: Apex
It's taking a little while to build, because they're custom color matching it to the rosewood of my surround & rear speakers:
Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 Deluxe, Rosewood

How do you like those compare to Martin Logan?

 

[dmurray14]

I've always loved this theater: http://www.fatbulldog.com

 

[SunnyD]

It looks so sterile.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

How do you like those compare to Martin Logan?

It depends on which Martin Logan. Ribbons do sound a bit different from Electrostats. They're far easier to drive, and less picky about placement (electrostats have to be very far from walls, and driven with quite a bit of juice). I've only heard a few of the Martin Logan series, but my favorite of the ones I've heard is the Odyssey.

There's kind of a funny story behind the Aurum Cantus speakers. Have you heard of Red Rose Music? It's a company owned by Mark Levinson, kind of high end stuff. Anyhow, this is their basic music speakers:

Red Rose Rosebud II, at $3500 per pair

Apparently, Aurum Cantus supplies to Red Rose. Aurum's Leisure 2 (standard) is the equivalent speaker. The Leisure 2 Deluxe, which I purchased, has an improved cabinet with sloped real wood sides, improved mid voice coil, bigger mid magnet, and some improvements in the crossover. We got them on a group buy from China (where they're actually manufactured) for $450 per pair after all of the shipping and taxes and stuff.

 

[remagavon]

/wants another group buy.. sweet Jesus.

 

[spidey07]

apex,

I've got an all martin logan setup. 4 requests and a theater. Given enough power (3 aragon 8008bb) and a good room it is simply jaw dropping. But they do take a lot of placement work.

But maggies and logans are a breed all their own. You either love 'em or not. I just have to get rid of this dang big 65" box that is screwing up my soundstage.

 

[Danman]

Mmmmm......that is quite nice.