Finished! My setup

[shooter]

Paul Hobbs:
Crooked is an absolute classic, all time fav, and grateful to it for introducing me to Aesop Rock.

Second that. I never followed Aesop's tunes even after the Evil 9 stuff though; any recommendations?

 

[Paul.]

Its obviously more hip-hopy than Evil9, but Daylight off of the Daylight EP, as well as 'Five Fingers' and 'None Shall Pass' off of the album 'None Shall Pass' is great.

 

[Anonymous]

nice set up

have you got anything under your center speaker to stop any unwanted vibrations from your rack, when i had my 5.1 set up i used tenderfeet and they worked a treat, there are lots of other products you could use, just an idea

 

[vinod_david]

Very nice room and lovely setup.

 

[Paul.]

THESTIG08:
have you got anything under your center speaker to stop any unwanted vibrations from your rack, when i had my 5.1 set up i used tenderfeet and they worked a treat, there are lots of other products you could use, just an idea

Thats a good suggestion, I have nothing under the centre speaker at the mo. I'll add it to list of things to do.

 

[Anonymous]

THESTIG08:

have you got anything under your center speaker to stop any unwanted vibrations from your rack, when i had my 5.1 set up i used tenderfeet and they worked a treat

snip

Would those be Herbie's by any chance?

 

[Paul.]

Oh Ballbags.

My hifi happiness didn't last long, I've been forced to move! Does not want! I haven't found the right place yet, but my system is taunting me by sounding exceptional... It seems to really be in to De La Soul at the mo, I can live with that

So... Since I have to tear it all apart anyway, does anyone have any advice/critiques for me to change? So far on the list I have...

Isolate centre speaker

modify column so AV amp can recess all the way back in the cabinate

All help appreciated, may as well make a positive out of this bothersome experience. (if you haven't noticed, I love my house! Does not want!)

 

[Paul.]

I finally got round to cutting a big hole in my AV rack so the Onkyo can fit inside. I have fitted the door, it all looks tidier now. The sub is on a slab of marble, and the speakers are back on spikes and tiles. This is mainly to make the shop downstairs life a little better, although the slab under the sub did tighten things up nicely.

Best upgrade to my system ever has been my recliner! Never under estimate comfort on your systems sound quality. Picked up a harmony one as well, like it a lot.

Positioning isnt ideal because of the mantle, but it sounds alright. Thanks to the carpet and high ceilings it actually sounds better than my old house.

A number of comenters suggested isolating the centre speaker, and I've half done it. I cut a bouncy ball in half and put them under the front of the speaker. I did this to angle the speaker upwards more towards the listeners ears.

Finally, here is the whole I cut in the back with an enormous amplifier hanging out...

Turns out I didnt need to reinforce the centre column, it was plenty strong enough even with a 3" by 7" hole cut in it. Think that about covers this update.

 

[CnoEvil]

:beer: :bounce: :rockout: .....enjoy

 

[BenLaw]

Your system and room are looking great Paul, congrats

Any other changes planned or are you done for a while?

 

[Messiah]

Looks very nice!!

 

[Paul.]

Thanks chaps, I apreciate it.

I have two resistors showing up in a few days so I can repair my amps dead lcd screen, so I need to pull the amp out and rip that apart. Bizarely, It was cheper to buy 200 off of ebay than it was to buy 2 from RS or Farnell, due to either postage cost or minimum orders. So if anyone with an Onkyo x05 or x75 needs some resistors, give me a shout.

I think its a nicely balanced system at the mo, cant see me doing anything major to it anytime soon. I have given up on having a system thats great for Stereo and AV, but dont have space for two sytems, so I think I may look in to a head-fi system around Christmas I used to really want a Marantz or Arcam AV amp, but I think the Onkyo sound is better for AV, even though its not so hot for music. I think I may invest in an Airport Extreme at somepoint as I am fed up with flakey low power routers.

 

[Paul.]

Here is the bit thats broken!

See the tiny resistor to the left of the 8 pin conector on the right? That needs to be replaced with bigger resistor. There is a second resistor just out of view. Like I said earlier, I a have 200 of these resistors, so if anyone needs some just let me know.

Whilst I was in here, I thought I would take some more unique system photos

These pics are from the HDMI board.

You regularly see pictures of the enormous aluminium heatsinks in the Onkyo 8 series amps. What you dont usualy see is just how mucky the backs of those heat sinks are because of all the heat transfer paste!

Here is the back view of the heatsinks, 7 channels of amplication, 14 connections to the massive heat sink.

 

[atanakata]

Well done. Enjoy the new player If you are to upgrade the TV, I am sure that you`ll be looking at the new Panasonic`s as they`ve been brilliant apparently, but if you like The Samsung design , I can not reccomend enough the UE46D-6530. Brilliant telly , with stunning picture, and it`s fully-loaded. It has got EVERYTHING...and is so SMART. It is computer in a TV box. It wirelessly streams music and videos from my PC in the other room and via the optical out goes to the receiver and Bingo, you listen to music in the lounge ,while the source is in the study for example...Download a film,stick it in the USB port and the integrated player does everything. Or add an external HDD, and you can record TV programs . But the best thing is the picture -it`s amazing...

 

[Paul.]

I think I'm pretty settled on the Panasonic 42GT30. By the time I can pay for it the GT40 will probably be out

 

[plastic penguin]

I finally got round to cutting a big hole in my AV rack so the Onkyo can fit inside. I have fitted the door, it all looks tidier now. The sub is on a slab of marble, and the speakers are back on spikes and tiles. This is mainly to make the shop downstairs life a little better, although the slab under the sub did tighten things up nicely.

Best upgrade to my system ever has been my recliner! Never under estimate comfort on your systems sound quality. Picked up a harmony one as well, like it a lot.

Positioning isnt ideal because of the mantle, but it sounds alright. Thanks to the carpet and high ceilings it actually sounds better than my old house.

A number of comenters suggested isolating the centre speaker, and I've half done it. I cut a bouncy ball in half and put them under the front of the speaker. I did this to angle the speaker upwards more towards the listeners ears.

Finally, here is the whole I cut in the back with an enormous amplifier hanging out...

Turns out I didnt need to reinforce the centre column, it was plenty strong enough even with a 3" by 7" hole cut in it. Think that about covers this update.

Gorgeous looking set-up. Your room dimensions look pretty similar to mine. How do you find the bass from the MAs?

Enjoy!

 

[Paul.]

The bass is nice actually, after a long period of fettling. I have about a foot behind the right speaker, and a foot and a half behind the left speaker. All sounds pretty tight, and I rarely switch the sub on for music now (only wanting the extra kick for hip hop)

I was expecting the fireplace to do horrible things, but I seem to have enough distance for it not to affect the rear ports. Mayby it's the cast iron construction, who knows, but the balance is spot on now.

 

[plastic penguin]

Monitor Audio really do make cracking looking speakers. My speakers are roughly 12" from the back room, and you're right, I've had to fettle with my speakers numerous times to achieve the 'sweet spot'.

I'm hoping to download some of my pics over the next couple of weeks...

 

[Anonymous]

hey paul been reading this thread ohh by the way nice set-up ive just ordered should be delivered next weds my new panny 42" gt30 tv and like you have ma br5's front ma br centre im at mo also using brfx's as surround back l+R with br2's as sl & sr but moving and going to alter as decided after reading on here that height speakers add another dimmension so going to use the pr off br1's i have (never been out box yet) as height speakers and bi-amp the br5's and use brfx's as sbr & sbl . i notice you dont have the brw10 sub ... how good is REL T3 sub and how much ..? im running them all through a onkyo tx-nr708 but as tv 3d might think off replacing for new 3d receiver and also replacing panny dmp-bd85 blu-ray but still searching for what to go for on that front any idears...?

rob

 

[Anonymous]

hey paul been reading this thread ohh by the way nice set-up ive just ordered should be delivered next weds my new panny 42" gt30 tv and like you have ma br5's front ma br centre im at mo also using brfx's as surround back l+R with br2's as sl & sr but moving and going to alter as decided after reading on here that height speakers add another dimmension so going to use the pr off br1's i have (never been out box yet) as height speakers and bi-amp the br5's and use brfx's as sbr & sbl . i notice you dont have the brw10 sub ... how good is REL T3 sub and how much ..? im running them all through a onkyo tx-nr708 but as tv 3d might think off replacing for new 3d receiver and also replacing panny dmp-bd85 blu-ray but still searching for what to go for on that front any idears...?

rob

 

[Paul.]

If you are happy with your amp, I would do what I did and buy the Panasonic BDT-310 bluray. Its dual HDMI outs mean you can bypass the amp with the video signal and only send audio to the amp. Obviously havent got the 3D TV yet (I want your TV ), but wanted to be prepaired for it.

Second thoughts... I thought the 708 was 3D capable? If it is save your cash and buy the BDT-210, exactly the same as the 310 minus one hdmi port.

The Rel T3 is very good for a smaller room and suits the BR series well. My main problem with the BR sub was the lack of a High Level Input. High Level Inputs are much better for music than standard sub cables. I picked up my T3 for £250 as it was discontinued and heavily discounted. You could look at the Rel R-205 instead, which is heavily discounted at Sevenoaks at the mo... It is a closed box sub rather than a passive radiator type like my T series, so I wouldnt want to guess what it sounds like. BK, MJ, B&W and Monitor Audios own Silver series get rated very highly on this forum.

http://store.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/products/productdetail/REL+R-205+%3Cp%3E+Sub+Woofer+%3Cp%3E+%28Save+%26%23163%3B361%29+%28Last+Few+Available%29/part_number=R-205/1765.0.4.3.40360.58514.0.0.0?pp=8&

 

[Paul.]

I've got a new thing, w00t I got my Panasonic BDT-310 today, looks good so far. My short review... I need a new TV! The image quality looks fractionaly sharper than the PS3 fat, but I think the TV is the bottleneck so can't really comment untill sometime next year when I upgrade. Sound quality is noticeably more detailed than the PS3 fat when bitstreaming on the 310 and letting the amp do the decode.

Will report back when I have had more time to play with settings etc and watched a few more films.

 

[Anonymous]

sorry my mistake not 708 but i've got 807 which i'm happy with as i love the networking as stream all my music through speakers . i noticed the BDT-310 has twin hdmi outputs but although my panny dmp-85 is a good player the speed is quite frustrating thanks for sub idears i;ll take a look at them

rob

 

[Anonymous]

sorry my mistake not 708 but i've got 807 which i'm happy with as i love the networking as stream all my music through speakers . i noticed the BDT-310 has twin hdmi outputs but although my panny dmp-85 is a good player the speed is quite frustrating thanks for sub idears i;ll take a look at them

rob

 

[atanakata]

Hiya Paul,

I noticed that you`re using Nakamichi banana plugs . Are they any good , and did you get them from E-bay ??? I am looking at those and wonder if they are ok ? :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8PCS-24K-Nakamichi-Speaker-Banana-Plugs-Connector-/110477071163?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19b8f2533b#shId

Cheers