Note: The Home Theater Audio and Video pages have been
merged. (Both have the same info now. I did not
delete one of the pages because there are external links that
would be destroyed.)
Since writing this article,
I have added a Sony VAIO WMC computer with DVD changer to my
entertainment system. Click here
to see my review of the unit.
I have been wanting some new speakers for two channel
audio and I finally found some that I liked. These are the
well received Monitor RS6 speakers with a Rosenut finish.
One of the things I really like about them is the size.
They are the perfect fit under my Apollo Turntable shelf.
I have my NHT SB2s stacked on top of them because I still use
the NHTs for multi-channel audio. I thought about adding a
couple of the smaller Monitor Audio speakers and a Monitor Audio
Center Channel, but I prefer having all of the same speakers in
the front and the back (with the exception of the center
channel). The thing I love is that the Denon receiver
automatically detects the audio to determine if it is 2 channel
or multi-channel and directs the signal to the correct speakers.
This is a fantastic feature that makes the process dummy-proof.
;-)
The pic below has a link to a better pic with labels that are not as jumbled together.
The new setup (March 2008)
I am now using a Sony Bravia SXRD KDS-60A3000 60" 1080p Rear
Projection HDTV as the display. I decided to go ahead and
jump in before they were all gone. Sony has decided to
stop making rear projection sets and the next best thing is
plasma (mainly the Pioneer Kuro) and I am not a fan of the
plasma technology. Also, I do not mind sitting my TV on a
shelf because I have so much stuff that needs to be hooked up to
the TV.
Now that I have had the 60A3000 for a couple weeks, I can say
it has the best picture I have seen anywhere. The colors
are spot on and the thing is unbelievably bright. When fed
a high def signal, I am not sure you can do much better at this
size. I
would probably prefer a projector and a 100 inch screen, but
that isn't practical in my living room.
Shelf with TV" Wii signal bar (wireless and wired) and PS3
eyetoy
Top shelf , below the TV: Playstation 3, Oppo DV-980H
Universal DVD player,NHT SC-1 Center Channel Speaker,
Atari 10 in 1 TV game, Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 Plus
Digital Video Recorder, Directv HR20,
JVC JVC HMDH30000U HIGH DEF DVHS VCR
Bottom shelf: Roku M1000-B Soundbridge, Sony VAIO VGX-XL1 Digital
Living System, Wii, Wii games, Wii, Behringer SRC2496
DAC, Monster Reference PowerCenter HTS 3500 MKII, Super T-amp
(not currently in use), Denon AVR3808CI 7.1
Channel Receiver
Next to TV: ,Project Debut III Turntable, Bellari VP129 tube
amp, Project Speed Box II, 8 oz of Lava, Tivoli PAL Tuner .. all
sitting on an Apollo Wall mounted shelf
Below mounted shelf: NHT SB-2 (I
have four of these in the setup), and Parts Express high mass
speaker stand. Not seen is a an Outlaw LFM-1 sub
ABOUT THE SETUP:
If you have read my site, you know that I care about sound
quality and video performance. In this setup, I believe I
have managed to get both to some extent. Of course, there
are still some things I "need": Floorstanding
speakers, better DAC, Roku M200 or Squeezebox Duet. Once I get
those few things added, I might need find a new hobby. :-)
Recently, I bought a Denon 3808CI receiver so that I could
get rid of a ton of wires and take advantage of some of the
newest audio formats. The benefit to this receiver is that
it can perform updates via the web. To me, this was the
biggest selling point over the similarly priced Onkyo.
The receiver also has 4 HDMI inputs and a ton of other features.
With the new setup, I also wanted to get rid of the large
rack that was taking up a lot of floor space. By moving
most of my components under the TV, I can add a set of floor standing speakers to the setup in the future if I decide to go
that route. I want floor standing (full range or
close to full range)
speakers for listening to two channel sound and then I will keep
the NHT SB2s for surround sound. The best of both worlds!
The Denon actually has a mode that will allow a 5.1 + 2 channel
configuration. This is a really cool feature because the
receiver will take any two channel source and play it on the two
floor standing speakers and it will automatically take any
5.1 source and play it on the 5.1 speakers.. sweet! Now I
just need to decide which full range speakers I want to buy.
My top choices right now are B&W 683 speakers, Monitor Audio RS6
speakers, Axiom's M80s, Paradigm 100s, and Rocket RS1000s
(note: I bought the RS6 speakers).
I am currently creating a short list and I plan on visiting a
couple of local dealers to see if they have any that I can
audition. I also need to raise some money before I even
start that process...LOL
SPEAKERS:
A couple of years ago, I had the
Energy Take5 speaker system in my home theater. These speakers
were considered the best small speakers available for movies for
several years, and a few magazines used them as their
benchmark. The small sub (eXL-S8) was a great compliment to the
speakers, too. Despite the great sound of this system, I
decided to move up in speaker quality and get something that
would sound dramatically better with music.
The
NHT SB2 speakers were the winner after
a long process of selection. I wanted a somewhat inexpensive
speaker that had great sound and was not too large. I also
wanted
deep bass as part of that package. One other major
qualification was an 8-ohm nominal impedance. This was a
requirement for the speakers to perfectly compliment my Denon
3300
receiver I had at the time. This particular requirement ruled out other great
brands like Epos and Dynaudio. The next choice was whether to
buy the SB2s or SB3s. This decision was difficult because there
was not a huge difference in cost and the SB3s are capable of
dipping down to 39Hz and the SB2s are only capable of reaching
down to 51Hz. This is a pretty big difference in bass response,
but I also liked the smaller form of the SB2s and their ability
to be mounted on the wall (if desired in the future). I have
also read that the SB2s have a more balanced sound than the
SB3s. It was a tough decision, but I chose the SB2s because I
knew I was going to buy a new subwoofer to take care of the deep
bass, and the SB2s had price and size in their favor.
I also bought an NHT SC-1
center channel
speaker. I considered using five SB2s, but decided to buy four
SB2s and one speaker specifically designed for center channel
material. This was an easy choice because it is the recommended
speaker to tonally match the NHT SB2s.
SUBWOOFER:
The tiny Energy eXL-S8 was a great
compliment for the small Take5s, but it is no match for the
NHTs. Therefore, I was now on a search for an affordable sub
that could rock the house. I narrowed the field to several
great brands: SVS, Velodyne, Hsu, and a few others. While I was
researching, I found the
Outlaw LFM-1 and really liked it. The
problem was that it was out of my price range. Fortunately, I
searched at the perfect time, because they were offering the sub
for $180 off their normal price, due to a small cosmetic
defect. This sub will literally crack the foundation of your
home if your not careful! It has a long-throw 12" driver for
deep bass extension.
COMPONENTS:
I also have a Roku Soundbridge M1000 in my main setup and it is
actually my main choice for music. It streams music from
my computer and hooks up to a DAC that feeds my receiver.
I use a program called Slimserver to access my files over the
network. The M1000 can also access Rhapsody Music Files
over the network. It is a great little device.
The Roku M1000-B can be controlled by any wi-fi
compatible gadget so I usually use my iPod Touch to control it. This
works great, but I may exchange the M1000-B with a Squeezebox
Duet that has its own remote. I am not in a big hurry and
I have not really decided if it is worth the money. I now
have an iPod Dock sitting right next to my favorite seating
position, so this setup is actually working great. The
benefit of the Squeezebox Duet is that it can play Rhapsody
files when I am not signed in on a computer. That is a
pretty good upside, but I am not sure that it is worth $399.
The Sony PS3 is one amazing unit that
Sony has been made even better with many firmware updates. The
fan is somewhat loud, so it may not be the best music device.
I also added an Eyetoy. This is a fun little gadget that
enables the user to play games by moving their body around.
It will also allow me to check into my home with the PSP and see
what is going via any wireless connection. Very
cool...although the video is not the best and they seem to want
to fit the video feed into a fraction of the screen size.
Also the PS3
is a great match for my HDTV. The picture quality from Blu-ray
is fantastic. Also, the Denon receiver can accept the HDMI
output from the PS3 and transport the new lossless audio
formats. For me, the PS3 is the ultimate entertainment
device. The versions I own play games, SACD, upscale DVDs,
play Blu-ray discs, have an internet browser, connects to the
Sony site for free downloads, works as a media server via its
internet connection, etc.... Nothing comes close to the
number of features. Heck it will even allow you to connect
to it via a PSP when you are away from home. This means
you can play movies, music and look at photos that are on its
hard drive or that it is connected to via its media server
functions.
I also have a Behringer SRC2496
DAC/ADC. I use this with the Roku to feed my Denon
receiver an
analog signal. (I need to compare it to the Denon's
internal DACs at some point.) My intention is to add
a higher end DAC, but there are almost too many great choices on
the market right now (Logitech Transporter, Cambridge 840C, Lavry DAC, Benchmark DAC1, etc..) and each offer something that
I like. In any event, the Behringer is a great DAC for the
money and will also work as an upsampler and/or headphone amp.
Eventually, I will move it to a place near my favorite sitting
area and use it to feed headphones.
The Oppo 980H universal player is fantastic. It costs
around $169 and will play SACDs and DVD-As along with DVDs and
other forms of media. With one HDMI connection to my
receiver, I can get a great DVD upconverter and multichannel
sound from hirez sources. The player is also supposed to
make a great transport for feeding an optical cable into a DAC.
I may eventually use this for playing CDs when I upgrade to a
better DAC.
The Wii is a ton of fun! The Sports games are great for
when I have friends over, but they are also pretty fun when you
just play against the machine. While the Wii is not the
great media machine that the PS3 is, it does make for some
interesting "game play" that is open to all ages.
I recently started playing Super Mario Galaxy and it is a blast!
Of course, the Sony Viao Digital Living System still holds an
esteemed place in my setup. I use it mainly as a server
for my Roku M1000s, but it is nice to be able to jump on the web, view
photos on my HDTV, play Rhapsody or Yahoo music, watch movies,
etc.... It is really worthwhile to have a dedicated media
computer in any home theater. I reviewed it
here. I have it feeding my DAC
and also have a separate line out going to my receiver from the
Turtle Beach Sound Card.
As you can see (on the left), it comes with a wireless
keyboard and a 200 DVD changer. I used the changer to
batch burn all of my CDs into lossless format. This was
almost worth the price of the computer!
The addition of sound from my computer to
my home theater dramatically increased my music options. While
I am a fan of great audio sound, I am a music fan first, and
even though some of the music services that I like have
compressed sound, it has given me the ability to listen to over
a million albums in my living room.
Rhapsody Music Service,
which I subscribed to over a year ago, mainly supplies these
additional music choices. For ten dollars a month, they
allow me to subscribe to music just like subscribing to a cable
movie channel. I have also subscribed to the
Yahoo
Unlimited music service which uses a higher bitrate. I
am hoping to drop Rhapsody in the future, but right now their
service is much faster than Yahoo and does not have nearly as
many bugs. Therefore, I use them both right now.
ANALOG CORNER:
I also have a section that of my HT that I call "Analog
Corner". I have an Apollo Wall stand that is supposed to
eliminate vibration caused by having the turntable on a regular
stand. I like that idea, but I mainly went this route to
clear up some floor space. The problem with a setup like
this is that you can see the power cables running from the stand
to the floor. I am working on a solution for this, but
luckily my TV is close enough to the wall mount that the wires
are already partially hidden.
In the photo, I have my Project Debut III turntable on the
top shelf. On the second shelf, I have a Project Speedbox
II. The Speedbox makes sure that the platter is turning at
the correct speed and it also has a button for switching between
33 RPM and 45 RPM records.
I also have a Bellari VP129 tube amp that I use as a preamp
to my receiver. My Denon receiver does have a phono input,
but I prefer this setup for the sound quality. The VP129
also has a headphone output for those times that I want to
listen without bothering anybody. With a tube amp, I also
have the ability to change out the tubes to get a different
sound.
While this is a relatively inexpensive turntable setup, I am
very happy with the sound that I am getting. It is
possible to spend more and get something even better, but I am
completely content with the performance of this setup.
I also have a Tivoli PAL radio on the shelf.
Aesthetically speaking, I thought it would look great with the
other red stuff on the shelf. Also, I have not had time to
setup the AM/FM antennas on the Denon receiver, so this was put
in place for convenience. The Tivoli may have a permanent
place in this setup because I really like the sound quality of
its tuner. However, I need to see how it compares to the
Denon after I get it setup properly. You will also
see a Lava Lamp on the shelf. It is actually red, but the
color was washed out in the photo because of its light source.
More later...
Below is my old setup...I will move this to a separate page
when I get the info above completed.
June 29, 2007 -
Decided to take a
picture of my most recent setup. Anyone with an interest
in audio knows that these things can change quite often.
Pictured:
Samsung 61 inch 720P DLP
Under TV:
Monoprice HDMI switcher, Xbox, NHT SC1, Playstation2, Directv
HD Box (for mpeg4), JVC HD VCR, Sony PS3, Scientific Atlanta HD
DVR, Nintendo Gamecube, , and copper box component video switch.
In the jumble of wires behind the copperbox is an ethernet
router for various stuff above.
Behind the TV is a CinemaQuest Ideal-Lume.
Rack:
Custom made headphone stand, Senn HD580s, Project Speedbox,
Project Debut III, Super T-amp, Acoustic Research TDS 202 and
Russound AB-2 Table Top Dual Amp/Speaker selector (behind TT),
wood block, Denon AVR3300, Radioshack Remote Control A-B Switch,
Bellari - VP129 Tube Phono Preamp, Outlaw ICBM (bass manager),Behringer SRC2496 DAC, Bravo D1 DVD Player , Yamaha DVD-C750
Universal DVD Changer, Sony VAIO VGX-XL1 Digital System (200 DVD
changer in separate room attached with firewire), M-Audio CO2
Coaxial - Optical Bidirectional Converter, Vbox Catseye ( USB
HDTV Tuner), Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Roadie, Maxtor 250GB
external hard drive, Monster Reference PowerCenter HTS 3500 MKII.
NHT SB2 mounted on parts express high mass speaker stand.
Not seen: Outlaw LM-1sub and 3 more NHT SB2s (for surround
sound).
The Denon receiver is the center of the
audio world at my home. I bought this product because of all
the great reviews that I read and also because it had an eye for
the future. While I doubt anyone will run out and buy this
receiver after reading this article, I do believe that the way I
have integrated it with other products may be helpful for owners
of similar receivers.
SPEAKERS:
At the beginning of this year, I had the
Energy Take5 speaker system in my home theater. These speakers
were considered the best small speakers available for movies for
several years, and a few magazines used them as their
benchmark. The small sub (eXL-S8) was a great compliment to the
speakers, too. Despite the great sound of this system, I
decided to move up in speaker quality and get something that
would sound dramatically better with music.
The
NHT SB2 speakers were the winner after
a long process of selection. I wanted a somewhat inexpensive
speaker that had great sound and was not too large. I also
wanted
deep bass as part of that package. One other major
qualification was an 8-ohm nominal impedance. This was a
requirement for the speakers to perfectly compliment my Denon
receiver. This particular requirement ruled out other great
brands like Epos and Dynaudio. The next choice was whether to
buy the SB2s or SB3s. This decision was difficult because there
was not a huge difference in cost and the SB3s are capable of
dipping down to 39Hz and the SB2s are only capable of reaching
down to 51Hz. This is a pretty big difference in bass response,
but I also liked the smaller form of the SB2s and their ability
to be mounted on the wall (if desired in the future). I have
also read that the SB2s have a more balanced sound than the
SB3s. It was a tough decision, but I chose the SB2s because I
knew I was going to buy a new subwoofer to take care of the deep
bass, and the SB2s had price and size in their favor.
I also bought an NHT SC-1
center channel
speaker. I considered using five SB2s, but decided to buy four
SB2s and one speaker specifically designed for center channel
material. This was an easy choice because it is the recommended
speaker to tonally match the NHT SB2s.
SUBWOOFER:
The tiny Energy eXL-S8 was a great
compliment for the small Take5s, but it is no match for the
NHTs. Therefore, I was now on a search for an affordable sub
that could rock the house. I narrowed the field to several
great brands: SVS, Velodyne, Hsu, and a few others. While I was
researching, I found the
Outlaw LFM-1 and really liked it. The
problem was that it was out of my price range. Fortunately, I
searched at the perfect time, because they were offering the sub
for $180 off their normal price, due to a small cosmetic
defect. This sub will literally crack the foundation of your
home if your not careful! It has a long-throw 12" driver for
deep bass extension.
UNIVERSAL DVD PLAYER:
One of the products that I really wanted
was a universal DVD player. Luckily, I owned a Denon DVD1600
that I sold on Ebay, and it covered nearly the entire price of a
universal changer. I purchased the Denon mainly for the picture
quality, but I never used it for movies after I bought a Vinc
Bravo upscaling DVD player. Therefore it was expendable. This
allowed me to buy a universal player that could handle DVD-Audio
and SACD albums. The search started with checking out the
cheaper single disc players, but I soon decided a changer would
be more fitting my lazy lifestyle. Onkyo and Yamaha were the
only two choices I found after searching for a while. The Onkyo
had very little published information, but I was able to find a
review of the
Yamaha
C750 changer. It was an overwhelming “thumbs
up”, so I decided it would be worth the risk. I am very happy I
chose it because it performs music like a champ. There was one
major downside and that was the preset crossover for speakers
that were set to “small”. “Small” is a setting on the DVD
player that chooses the bass crossover point. In this case, the
Yamaha had a preset level of 120Hz and that is WAY too high!!
In other words, it would send very little bass to the individual
speakers at this setting. The only other choice was to send all
bass to my NHTs, and that did not seem like a logical choice.
Therefore, I needed some more help.
BASS MANAGEMENT:
Anyone that it interested in multi-channel
sound from SACD or DVD-Audio has heard of bass management. This
is the downside to using small speakers that are incapable of
handling the deep bass response that is found on many albums.
For most digital formats (DD or DTS), the receiver has the
ability to process the signal and send it to your speakers at an
adjustable crossover point. However, most multi-channel DVD
players for SACD and DVD-A require 6 analog cables. These
cables feed into the multi-channel analog jacks on an equipped
receiver. Most receivers do not have the ability to adjust
crossover on these analog jacks, so the signal bypasses the
receiver’s bass management controls.
The solution for this problem is a new
receiver or an outboard bass management system. Since I am a
fan of Outlaw Audio, I decided to give their ICBM Bass
management
system a try. It is a box that goes between the receiver
and the universal DVD player. The 6 analog outputs on the
DVD player are fed into the ICBM, and then 6 analog outputs from
the ICBM feed into the receiver’s multi-channel input jacks.
The ICBM gives much more control over the bass that is sent to
the speakers and sub. It can be “dialed in” at crossover
frequencies: 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 Hz, and bypass. This
gives independent control over each speaker. To set up my
system, I listened carefully to the sound after dialing into
80Hz and 60Hz. The 60Hz was the winner for the SB2s and I
set the SC-1 at 80Hz. Somewhere around 70Hz would have
been mathematically perfect, but 60Hz works very well at
integrating the speakers with the sub. I also bought a
Radio Shack SPL meter to make sure each speaker had the correct setup. The
best way to properly setup your speakers is to buy an
Avia or
DVE DVD and run through their speaker setup menus. As a side
note, I also used the discs to calibrate the picture on the TV.
DIGITAL INPUTS:
My Denon receiver came with 4 digital
inputs – 3 x
toslink optical, 1 x
coaxial. This was a lot of
inputs when I first bought the receiver, but is not nearly
enough with my current
setup. Digital inputs are used for
almost every new device that passes video. Almost all DVD
players and new cable/satellite boxes come with an optical or
coax digital output. I bought an outboard component
video/digital audio switchbox to help with all of the extra
digital and component needs. A
Copperbox, which supplies
switching for four separate products was the best way to move
sound and video to my receiver without having to unplug and plug
in different devices. The Copperbox has a sensor that detects a
new signal and then switches to the component that was turned on
most recently. After owning this product for a while, I would
have chosen a remote operated unit instead to work into remote
macros. The sensor is not the best way to handle audio and
video and quite often I have to get up off the couch to manually
select the proper device by pushing in the corresponding
button. This is not a huge problem, but one that is worth
mentioning if you are in the market for this type of device.
With the Copperbox, I have now expanded my digital inputs by
three. I also bought a small
3 Way Digital Audio Manual
Optical Toslink Mini Plug Selector Switchbox, because I did not
have an available digital input left open for just the TV sound
on the Copperbox . This is my current setup on the Copperbox:
The Copperbox output is then fed into the
component input and optical input on the receiver. This leaves
two more optical inputs on the Denon. I use those for my
HD
Tivo and my
Bravo DVD player. The Coax digital was being used
by my Linkplayer networked DVD player. The digital inputs were
all being used, and I wanted to add my computer audio to the
mix.
PC AUDIO:
After purchasing a DLP, I decided I wanted
full computer capability in my living room. My
Creative
Audigy
soundcard has the ability to feed a coaxial signal to an
outboard
receiver. Unfortunately, my Linkplayer was using the
coax input on my receiver. This required some sort of
switchbox. The Copperbox was full, but I could have plugged one
more digital optical device into the 3 Way Digital Audio Manual
Optical Toslink Mini Plug Selector Switchbox that I was feeding
into the Copperbox. This did not seem like the best solution,
because I was planning to use the computer a lot. I decided to
buy a
Remote Control A-B Switch from Radio Shack. This device
is usually associated with switching coaxial VHF/UHF-TV signals,
however, it can also be adapted for coax digital switching. I
bought three
RCA Female to "F" Male Adaptors. This made it
possible to attach normal coax digital cords (RCA) to the cable
coax inputs (“F”) on the switchbox. This works perfectly, and I
was able to program the A-B codes into my remote control.
The addition of sound from my computer to
my home theater dramatically increased my music options. While
I am a fan of great audio sound, I am a music fan first, and
even though some of the music services that I like have
compressed sound, it has given me the ability to listen to over
a million albums in my living room.
Rhapsody Music Service,
which I subscribed to over a year ago, mainly supplies these
additional music choices. For ten dollars a month, they allow
me to subscribe to music just like subscribing to a cable movie
channel. I have also subscribed to the much cheaper ($60 for a
year)
Yahoo
Unlimited music service. I am hoping to drop Rhapsody in the
future, but right now their service is much faster than Yahoo
and does not have nearly as many bugs. Therefore, I use them
both right now.
If those services were not enough,
XM Radio
now has made its service free via the computer to its
subscribers. I hardly ever used their computer service., but
since it has been available in my living room, I have listened
to it much more often. The Internet also gives the user
hundreds, maybe thousands of music radio stations and
“Podcasts”. If this is not enough variety, I can also listen to
my own albums (nearly 20,000 songs) using iTunes or any number
of the other media players. What I am interested in is the
ability to play a lossless format in my living room, and now it
is possible. I have several albums in FLAC (lossless compressed
format) and wav (lossless) that can now be played using Winamp
or Phatnoise music manager. I have a lot of work to do to burn
all of my CDs (over 1,000) to my computer in a lossless format,
but it will be worth it in the long run.
ANALOG AUDIO:
In addition to the multi-channel audio
inputs on my receiver, Denon is one of the only receiver brands
to still offer a phono input. This made it much easier to play
vinyl records without having to buy an external phono stage.
The two-channel vinyl sound is still pleasing to my ear, and I
purchased a
Pro-ject Debut III turntable this year to play some
of my old records. While vinyl has some downsides compared with SACD or even CD, the romance of putting needle to record is a
luxury that more people should experience. The sound quality
can be astonishing.
DVD PLAYER AUDIO:
I have mentioned that I have a network DVD
player, but I did not go into detail about all it can do.
Without having my computer on, it can play back movies, music,
and
slideshows from a networked attached storage unit or a hard
drive attached to the USB plug on the front of the
Linkplayer.
This allows me to watch movies in DTS or DD5.1 surround or
listen to any of my albums without ever leaving the couch. The
sound of action movies will literally rattle you out of your
seat, while the music playback options are never ending.
The network attached storage unit that I
mentioned is connected to the Internet, my main computer, and a
wireless router in my computer room. The wireless router in my
computer room is connected via Ethernet cable to a separate
router in my living room. The living room router has an
Ethernet connection to my PS2, Linkplayer and Xbox. This
provides me with game play and Internet downloads for the game
machines and many other options for the Linkplayer (most
importantly firmware updates).
HOME THEATER ACCESSORIES:
The many accessories that I have in my home
theater are also worth mentioning. For PC control, I have a
wireless remote
that came with my
ATI HDTV All-in-Wonder card.
I also have a Logitech MediaPilot USB wireless keyboard.
It is a great keyboard with thirty feet of range and recharges
on a USB connected docking station. The keyboard also has
a remote control option that lets you to do some basic tasks in
your home theater. It can turn on the TV, receiver, and
cable box, and adjust sound or change channels with just the
keyboard. I recently ran a
long USB 2.0 cord from my computer to my home theater so I
could mount the keyboard in my living room.
Remote controls are the key to making a
complicated home theater setup a breeze to use. I have two
decent remotes. One is an
older Pronto remote
that uses a B&W
LCD display for controlling all the devices. It is very easy to
add icons for favorite channels, and it is simple to program. I
also have a
Home Theater Master MX-700 hard button remote. I
prefer this remote to the Pronto because the buttons can be
easily operated without looking at the remote screen. It is not
as pretty to look at, but it is much more functional in my
system with DVRs and Tivo. It can learn codes by pointing
another remote at it or by downloading functions from the
company’s database. It also has the ability to learn codes from
my Pronto remote. It is very sophisticated and requires a
computer for setup. Not for the beginner!
One item I bought that seems a little silly
is the
CinemaQuest Ideal-Lume. This is a fluorescent lamp that
sits behind the TV and provides ambient lighting to prevent
eyestrain, improve color perception, increase picture detail,
etc. There are many upsides to using one of these lamps, but I
mainly wanted it so I would not trip over the dogs if I had to
get up during a movie.
I also have a great pair of headphones in
my living room for listening to music at night. The Grado
SR60
headphones are one of the most popular in the audiophile
community. They offer great sound, comfort and a relatively low
price. I also bought a headphone extension cable for listening
across the room.
For my games, I have several accessories.
The most important would be the memory cards. However, I also
have wireless controllers for the Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2.
These things work great and I can avoid having my dogs run into
the wires and chew on them while I am trying to play.
To wire the speakers, I used relatively
cheap
monster flat cables. I also sprayed them with
Deoxit D5
Power Booster, which cleans, enhances, and protects electrical
connections. To wire the sub, I used
Bluejeans
coaxial audio
cables. The components were wired using several different
brands. I do not think specialized wire makes a big difference
in video performance, so I did not go out of my way to buy
super-expensive wiring. I also bought some wire management
products, but I have not had a chance to use them yet.
The audio component rack is a black
Sanus
Systems NF206 Natural Furniture A/V Stand that I bought to match
the height of my old Hitachi TV. I also bought a stand for my
Samsung DLP that would coordinate with the Sanus stand. After
doing a lot of research, I found the great, reasonably priced
Nea
Moda Wide TV Stand at Circuit City. This stand was one of the
few I found in black for less than $800. It was also the
perfect height for my needs. Parts
Express high mass speaker stands flank my system and offer ample
space for my speakers. These particular stands are heavy and
can be filled with sand to make them even heavier. The only
drawback is that the speaker stands do not have any wire
management features. Therefore, it is difficult to hide the
speaker wire. The best solution would probably be a combination
of painting the wire black and using an
adhesive to connect the
wires to the stand.
As you can tell, I am very happy with the
audio sound quality and music selection in my home theater. I
feel the NHT speakers combined with the Outlaw Audio sub make a
huge difference in sound quality whether the sound is coming
from movie or music sources. While the entire system is
complicated, it was worth every second I spent picking out every
item.
UPDATE
(3/24/06) - I wanted to mention the fact that I recently
integrated the Super Sonic T-amp into my main system. I
ran the audio to the T-amp using the headphone output on my
receiver. I also bought a Russound AB-2 Table Top Dual
Amp/Speaker selector. This enables me to use the front
speakers with just the T-amp or just the receiver. It also
makes it easy to use the sub with the T-amp. Additionally,
I added a Sound Enhancer TDS202 from Acoustic Research to the
T-amp setup. This was to get a fuller less compressed
sound from my digital music (XM Radio, Rhapsody, internet radio,
etc...).
I also have a Behringer SRC2496
DAC/ADC. I use this with the Roku to feed my Denon
receiver an
analog signal. (I need to compare it to the Denon's
internal DACs at some point.) My intention is to add
a higher end DAC, but there are almost too many great choices on
the market right now (Logitech Transporter, Cambridge 840C, Lavry DAC, Benchmark DAC1, etc..) and each offer something that
I like. In any event, the Behringer is a great DAC for the
money and will also work as an upsampler and/or headphone amp.
Eventually, I will move it to a place near my favorite sitting
area and use it to feed headphones.
UPDATE
(3/24/06) - I wanted to mention the fact that I recently
integrated the Super Sonic T-amp into my main system. I
ran the audio to the T-amp using the headphone output on my
receiver. I also bought a Russound AB-2 Table Top Dual
Amp/Speaker selector. This enables me to use the front
speakers with just the T-amp or just the receiver. It also
makes it easy to use the sub with the T-amp. Additionally,
I added a Sound Enhancer TDS202 from Acoustic Research to the
T-amp setup. This was to get a fuller less compressed
sound from my digital music (XM Radio, Rhapsody, internet radio,
etc...). 
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