Post photos of your systems/rooms here! (Part 15)

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Halloween Jack, Mar 28, 2015.

  1. SirMarc

    SirMarc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cranford, NJ
    I like looking at my gear, would never hide it
     
    Manimal, Kristofa, CowFish and 2 others like this.
  2. EddieMann

    EddieMann I used to be a king...

    Location:
    Geneva, IL. USA.
    System #2 here...Merry Christmas all!

    [​IMG]
     
    33na3rd, cobbler, Bob_in_OKC and 29 others like this.
  3. Sprague Dawley

    Sprague Dawley Forum Resident

    Location:
    Japan
    duuuude, all that white,you need some Sonabs!

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    Manimal and athenarecords like this.
  4. CowFish

    CowFish Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Carolina
    Plastic Beach is an amazing album, a master piece IMO.


     
    Wired4Fun likes this.
  5. Ntotrar

    Ntotrar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tri-Cities TN
    General dust removal.
     
  6. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    That is no problem.

    Sewell makes a product called BlastIR Classic, which is a IR (Infra Red) Emitter and Receiver Kit.

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    Extend and Route Remote Control Signals
    The BlastIR is designed to get your remote control's signal to where it needs to go. Since remote control signals (IR) need "line-of-sight" to work, you will need this extender if the equipment you're trying to control is not in sight. You'll need to extend your IR signals, especially if your TV is wall-mounted.

    Sewell's IR extender kits provide all the parts you need in one convenient package to send an IR signal from the comfort of your couch to wherever you store your equipment.

    [​IMG]

    How This Works
    This kit includes an IR receiver, a connecting block (which also serves as a signal repeater), and IR emitters. The IR receiver is a small inconspicuous device that you can mount on your HDTV's bezel or anywhere else in the room where you will want to point your remote. It is small and very easy to hide, but must be in line-of-site to your couch (or wherever you will be sitting when using your remote control). This receiver receives your remote control's commands and sends the signal over 3.5mm mini stereo wire to the connecting block (which you can hide behind your wall).



    The connecting block then actively repeats and sends the same signal through all IR emitters connected to the block. Four emitters come with the kit and each emitter features two "eyes". Each eye blasts out the same IR signal, and you can tape them directly to your equipment or simply fix them to a nearby shelf or wall (or even the back of the door of your video closet).

    This will set you back $33.95. Your closet awaits your gear!
     
    CowFish, Manimal and timind like this.
  7. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    That is such a nice room. Everything is warm and inviting.
     
    Manimal and EddieMann like this.
  8. AlmanacZinger

    AlmanacZinger Zingin'

    Location:
    The Land of Zaat
    I'd like the look of my gear a whole lot more if Schiit offered their products in black. That cold, space age silver does not match my wood carved, earth tone decor at all. I'll talk all day about by my Schiit...but showing it off is a different story.
     
    33na3rd and Rickchick like this.
  9. PTgraphics

    PTgraphics Senior Member

    I have a Infrared Receiver that I used to use. Was not cheap when I bought it but I guess these things went down in price. I used it while my kids were small so I could close the front doors of my equipment cabinet (the back is open so it didn't get hot). Mine is a Stealth PP-1RM by Audioplex Technology. It now sits unused. This particular model did not interfere with TV's or vis versa, can't remember.
     
    timind likes this.
  10. William Bryant

    William Bryant Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nampa, Idaho
    A few changes to my electronics. I'm very pleased.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. hifisoup

    hifisoup @hearmoremusic on Instagram

    Location:
    USA
    I'm amazed that included in this thread are so many systems highlighting 'vintage' audio gear. Very cool! :)
     
    arisinwind, Manimal, e.s. and 6 others like this.
  12. Davey

    Davey NP: CLARAGUILAR ~ Figura (2024)

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    It's cause most of us are just too cheap to buy new gear :)
     
    mrz80, Manimal, 56GoldTop and 8 others like this.
  13. Clay B

    Clay B Forum Resident

    Over time I'm starting to come to the conclusion that your statement is probably more accurate if you substitute the word "smart" for "cheap".
     
    mrz80, Manimal, Dennis0675 and 3 others like this.
  14. Davey

    Davey NP: CLARAGUILAR ~ Figura (2024)

    Location:
    SF Bay Area, USA
    Well, sometimes it's smartest to buy vintage, and sometimes the smartest move for a person is to buy new with a warranty and dealer network behind the purchase. Sometimes for me the smartest move has been to buy a slightly used piece in near mint condition for a huge savings. I think it's all good, and I have audio gear that spans many eras. If vintage is the smart way to go for you, nothing wrong with that, there's been great gear produced in all eras, and I think this thread, refreshingly, shows that pretty clearly.
     
    CowFish, Manimal, BD2665 and 6 others like this.
  15. William Bryant

    William Bryant Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nampa, Idaho
    And sometimes you set your eye on something in 1987 when it's the latest greatest but have to wait till 2017 when both it and yourself are "vintage" to get it. I'd been wanting a Magnum Dynalab FT-101 for thirty years!
     
  16. cordobaman

    cordobaman Rich Corinthian Leather

    Location:
    Erie, PA USA
    Just like my B&O Penta speakers. Used to sell them in an electronics shop up to 1990, could never afford them. Scored a pair about 4 years ago on Craigslist.
     
    Manimal, Ron P. and CrazyCatz like this.
  17. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    I posted this on another thread but thought I'd pop the current set up in here too. This is pretty much it - Quad 9as actives, and a Cambridge Audio 752BD universal player (bottom left).

    The Quads come with the same DAC used in the company's Elite series CD players and 65w/35w to each bass driver and tweeter. Connectivity is provided via a Fisual optical cable to the TV and Fisual line level interconnects to the 752BD's analogue outs.



    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2017
    CowFish, MATT0404, 4xoddic and 25 others like this.
  18. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I just set up an Imgur account. I would like to share some pictures with the forum members of our audio system in the lobby of the Fort Lauderdale Beach Inn.

    I would like to illustrate the evolution of the lobby/audio and visual (HT) room.

    The interior of the motel was remodeled back in the fall of 2008. The small 20-unit motel opened back in 1957 and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

    The funny thing is, that I used to look at this room, shortly after remodeling and think that there was no way that anyone could get even halfway decent sound out of the room, which was nearly empty after the remodeling. This property is all concrete and plaster. The walls and floors were plastered, the floor is tile over concrete and there are a lot of glass windows.

    I set up a couple of speakers next to the Ikea TV stand (which is holding the TT, in this photo). I was surprised when I discovered that it didn't sound as horrible as I had expected it to.

    Somewhere along the way, I figured out why. While the original walls and ceilings were plastered, during the remodeling, they were sprayed with knockdown. While it give the appearance of plaster, it appears to be a thick latex type of substance, which tends to absorb, rather than reflect sound. Also, it is rough textured, which adds a great deal of surface area to the room, and acts as a diffuser.

    The photo below was taken shortly after the beginning, which was in 2011. I believe that this picture was taken in 2012.


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    The very first piece of equipment was a iPod speaker dock, shown, sitting on the table, to the right of the lamp.

    (this photo was taken from behind the front desk of the motel, the Atlantic Ocean is about 500' directly behind my position).

    A longtime friend of mine, who was going through a divorce at the time, sold me the DLP rear projection TV, that he purchased in 2006, for $200, came along next.

    The TV/Audio stand, I found at Home Depot, for $99, after looking at more expensive options, which were not what I had envisioned.

    The next piece of equipment was a GLi Pro TT from DAC Industries. It was purchased before I had any amps or speakers. My friend had a mini-bay warehouse and his next door neighbor was doing some spring cleaning and gave him a large box of LP's that he had sitting there for years.

    This box of LP's, sat in storage at my place for several years. What was I going to do with them? I hadn't even seen a TT in so many years, since the 80's.

    I had wanted a TT to do needle drops. While I was not familiar with the Crosley name at the time. I had seen them in the big box stores, and thought, OMG, I can't even fathom placing one of those tonearms on any record that I have ever owned.

    So, I ended up with the GLi Pro. which worked for the purpose that I wanted it to and didn't sound nearly as bad, as I thought that it might! This one had regular RCA outs from the cartridge and did not have a built in phono pre-amp and it did not have any provisions for use with USB, just a simple, TT.

    My next purchase was a pair of Polk speakers which NewEgg had. I was initially looking at the Monitor 60's, but my "bigger is better" approach to speakers, led me to move up to a larger speaker than I needed for this room. At $200/ea., the Monitor 70's were only $75 more than the Monitor 60's (both the better looking, Series II).

    Since I didn't even have an amp yet, I bought a small $20 Lepai amp to use, until I could buy a real amp. But, while not strictly Hi-Fi :), it didn't sound half bad, considering...

    I did end up buying a pair of Monitor 60's, as I had plans on using them in the bedroom. But, since I had not yet made room in the bedroom, I decided to use them as rear speakers, both for 2-chanel stereo and for HT. After I acquired the Peachtree Nova, I used the Lepai, as a temporary amp for the rear speakers. Afterward, I bought a $99 Sherwood 100-Watt receiver from Amazon, to power the rears.

    Next up, I liked the Peachtree iNova, but, at the time, back in 2011, they retailed for $1,800. Most of which was because it had a chip from Apple, where a plugged in iPod, could take a digital AFLAC file off of the iPod and bring it into the iNova's ESS Saber DAC, which was their top of the line DAC, at that time. While this was an excellent feature, I don't own any Apple product, so, I would be paying for an unnecessary feature.

    I found that they offered the Nova, which did not have the iPod dock and the next DAC, while still a late model ESS Saber, was a slightly less expensive chip, then their top of the line. It was $1,300, at the time, but I was able to secure a refurbished unit for $900.

    A few years ago, Klipsch brought out a nice speaker line, known as the Icon series, the tower speakers were the WF-35's, and have a nice real wood veneer. They retailed for $1,500 a pair before they were discontinued by Klipsch. After that, NewEgg was offering them at liquidation pricing, for $600/pr.

    Since I was already using the Monitor 60's for rear speakers, I decided to buy a pair of the WF-35's for the bedroom.

    When they arrived, I thought I would give them a try as front mains. I found them extra bright, as compared to the Monitor 70's that I had been using. After going back and forth, testing both sets of speakers, I decided to buy an external power amplifier. At that time, Emotiva had placed their XPA-2 on sale for 15% off, so I bought one for $690 (It is still my front channel go-to amplifier. It runs 250-Watts into 8-Ohms and 400-Watts into a 4-Ohm load.

    In the end, I ended up hooking up both front sets of speakers in parallel. They complimented each other real nicely and for the two pair, I had only an investment of $1,000 total. The two sets running together sounded nicer than most of the single speakers that were in the $1k price range.

    I added an Emotiva UMC-1 processor, a mono 250-Watt center channel amplifier and a Polk center channel speaker. I already had an inexpensive CD and a refurbished Blu-ray player. There is also a $49 close out Sony streaming box, which I use for Pandora One.

    The corner wall where the gear is clustered is 6' further back on that side, than the back wall is on the right side. Making it ideal for placement of the audio and video components.

    The picture below is taken from the south side of the lobby and you can see how the west wall is on an angle.




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    The last piece that was added at that time, was a Polk PSW-505, 12" 300-Watt sub, that was added for HT.

    Right after receiving it, we were watching Batman Begins, and for an inexpensive sub (IIRC, I paid about $229 for it). It had the rear window vibrating, during the movie. A friend that was watching the movie with me commented, "its almost scary".

    F.Y.I., Amazon is currently offering this sub for; Polk Audio PSW505 12-Inch Powered Subwoofer (Single, Black), $197.99.

    It is perfect for a single sub HT and it is not bad for music.

    The car, is my 2002, Mercury Grand Marquis (with currently 32k on the clock), which is worth today about twice as much as I bought it for, back in 2013.

    First LOOK, more to come...

    S&G
     
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  19. Ron P.

    Ron P. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Taos
    Lovely.
    If you are in the Scottish Borders are you more in England, or say English if you are from there?

    My Dad was born and raised in Dundee but I'm curious about the Scottish Borders.
     
    Brother_Rael likes this.
  20. Ron P.

    Ron P. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Taos
    My Classe Audio DR_15 is from the era when I sold them in 1995. It was my favorite amp. Surely could not afford the $2800. for one then. Got this one from Audiogon, in like new, barely used condition for $850. four years ago and I LOVE it!

    ...Also my Pass Aleph Pre is from the same era. Also bought about four years ago...for $1200. Also love it! It was $4200. new in 96. Way out of my price range then......and now actually.
     
  21. NOS300B

    NOS300B The Moon Queen

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    This is the humble hi-fi in my bedroom. I plan to move it to the short wall shortly.
     
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  22. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    You're very much in Scotland here Ron. :)
     
    Ron P. likes this.
  23. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    nice! excellent "organic" diffuser!
     
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  24. hifisoup

    hifisoup @hearmoremusic on Instagram

    Location:
    USA
    I sold them here in the Midwest too. I'd love to see a pic of them. I always thought they were a high-end best-kept-secret.
     
    cordobaman likes this.
  25. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Here are some more photos...

    A slightly different angle.

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    A little bit tighter shot of the TV stand / audio rack.

    [​IMG]

    The Polk Monitor 70's Series II towers are on the outside and the Klipsch WF-35's are the inner pair of towers.
    The center channel is a Polk CS2, with dual 6" drivers and a 1" silk dome tweeter in a MTM arrangement.
    On the left of the center, bottom to top is a $29 DVD, used as a deck, a DirecTV SAT box, and the $49 Sony Streaming Box, connected to the DAC inside of the Peachtree Nova through a digital optical connection. On the right side of the center is a refurbished Samsung Blu-ray player, that was about $79, at the time.

    Bottom shelf right, is the Emotiva XPA-2, generation 1. The two 8-Ohm speakers are running in parallel, so there present a 4-Ohm load on the amp, which is rated at 400-Watts into 4-Ohms, the power amp weighs 72-lbs.

    The bottom shelf left, is the Emotiva XPA-100 monoblock 250-Watt amp, to drive the center channel speaker.

    On top of the XPA-100, is the Emotiva UMC-1 processor, which is connected to the Texas Instruments DLP rear projection TV, via HDMI and the audio is routed to the the Peachtree by analog and by digital outputs/inputs.

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    The Peachtree Nova, serves as a central point of control, with both digital and analog inputs.

    I use it for source switching (the three input buttons on the right are analog and the rest are for digital sources.

    There are two optical inputs and two coax inputs. In addition, there is a USB input.

    Here is a closer look at the Peachtree Nova, integrated amplifier.

    Note; the inboard power amp section is being bypassed in favor of the outboard power amps.
    The volume control is an analog pot. Once a digital signal gets past the ESS Saber DAC, the rest of the audio chain is pure analog.

    The unit has a nice feature on the digital side. The LED rings around the source selector buttons "twinkle" to simulate rotating lights when not synced to a digital signal. Once a digital signal is synced, they no longer twinkle but remain lit in place. This is a very valuable feature when trouble shooting a digital signal.

    Here is a closer look at the Peachtree Nova, which is a nice looking addition to the room,

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    Note the 1/4" headphone jack on the bottom right.

    Here is the Dac Indistries GLI Pro Turn Table, which appears to be made by Music Hall. It does a decent job for what it is. I only play used records on it, as it was originally purchased to just do needle drops, without harming my records.

    I don't play anything that is new or in pristine condition on it.

    [​IMG]

    Below the TT, sits a Sherwood 100-Watt stereo receiver that I purchases from Amazon for $99.
    It powers the two rear Polk Monitor 60 Series II towers for both 2-channel stereo and HT.

    Having two inputs, one uses the standard connections to power the left and right rear speakers, while in HT mode. When I'm after a more immersive 2-channel stereo experience, I switch inputs and take the pre-amp output from the Nova's pre-amp output.

    But, I reverse the left and right RCA cables for use in the stereo mode. This way the right front signal is directed to the left rear tower and vice versa.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2017
    Cliff, 33na3rd, Bob_in_OKC and 15 others like this.

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