Student AV system/office on light steroids

[admin_exported]

So I finally got rid of my old 5.1 Sony "all inclusive" system and got me some goodies!

The sound system is currently like this:

Mac Pro -> Marantz PM6003 -> XTZ 99.26

I will get myself a DacMagic for christmas, and then the sound system will be like this(woohoo!):

Mac Pro / Macbook Pro 13" -> Airport Express -> DacMagic -> Marantz PM6003 -> XTZ 99.26

I just got the speakers and the amp today, and even without any burn in they sound great. And the XTZ's are known to need a loong time to burn in!? This can only become better, especially with the DacMagic 😀

It's a fairly small room, wich is my bedroom, cinema, office and chill-out zone. I'm really looking forward to getting my own appartement so I can give the speakers a bit more space 😉

The projector is a Infocus X9, the screen is a curtain from Ikea. It's far from perfect, but right now it works wonders! I only have one issue with the setup as it is, and that is my Mac Pro only have two outputs for screens, so I have to switch one out whenever I'm gonna watch a movie.

 

[Messiah]

Looks good

 

[Miggs]

Looks very good.

Miggs

 

[Anonymous]

i have to say i wish i had that projector in my room. How big is you room as i have a my setup in the spair room and a screen like that would give me the biggest smile in the world 😀 also what projector was it?

 

[Anonymous]

ramzijw:i have to say i wish i had that projector in my room. How big is you room as i have a my setup in the spair room and a screen like that would give me the biggest smile in the world 😀 also what projector was it?

The projector is an Infocus X9, and it's ceiling mounted about 320cm from the screen 🙂

720p resolution and I couldn't be happier with it! I also got it at a great price here in Norway, + I guess my GF won't have a projector in the appartement when we buy something together, so I thought I'd get it now as I live with 3 buddies while we study 😉

 

[dave_k]

How are you liking your XTZs? I'm tempted by the 93WMTs and would appreciated your thoughts...

Cheers,

Dave

 

[Anonymous]

dave_k:
How are you liking your XTZs? I'm tempted by the 93WMTs and would appreciated your thoughts...

Cheers,

Dave

The XTZ's are great so far. But I've heard that they need somewhere between 100 and 200 hours of burn-in so I'm looking forward to hearing them evolve. My friend has the 93WMT's and although I haven't a/b tested the two speakers side by side they sounded very good when I listened to them. He uses them as rear speakers in his surround setup, but we compared them to his fronts, the XTZ 99.38, wich is a pretty unfair comparison, but they still sounded good. For the price you really cannot go wrong with the 93WMT's. The XTZ sound to me sounds really clear, crisp and neutral(this goes for the three speakers I've listened to: 99.26, 99.38 and the 93WMT). They are not my first pic for partyspeakers, but when it comes to hifi sound they are awesome! Female vocals sound better than I thought possible, even when I'm used to my Westone 3 IEMs.

A thing that puts me off the 93WMTs is the glossy finish. It's really, really nice if you're not like me and don't mind dusting them off every other day. But me and glossy black don't go very well together. Haha.. I guess that says more about me than the speakers!

 

[dave_k]

Sounds like that glossy finish will go well with my dusty glossy back TV stand and dusty glossy TV rack then!

Seriously though, thanks for your comments about these speakers, much appreciated.

Any thoughts on what would be a good amp for them for an appropriate price?

 

[Anonymous]

dave_k:
Sounds like that glossy finish will go well with my dusty glossy back TV stand and dusty glossy TV rack then!

Seriously though, thanks for your comments about these speakers, much appreciated.

Any thoughts on what would be a good amp for them for an appropriate price?

I'm no expert, but I've heard they need quite a powerful amp to play their best. But I use the cheap but awesome Marantz PM6003 with my 99.26's(wich should need even more power than the 93's) and it sounds great. I thought it was better to buy the best speakers I could afford + a reasonable amp, and then upgrade the amp in 10 years or so if I feel the need for more power. The Marantz won in one of the categories in this years What HiFi awards. So I guess it's a pretty good amp for the money. I was deciding between the Marantz, Cambridge Audio and the Nad in £300 range, and I went with the Marantz after reading the review.

To my un-trained ears the XTZ's and the Marantz seem like a great match 🙂

 

[idc]

Great looking setup there. Have you considered something for the speakers to sit on? I have seen a huge thread on another forum with photos of PC based setups and many use plinths or feet of some sort.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:Great looking setup there. Have you considered something for the speakers to sit on? I have seen a huge thread on another forum with photos of PC based setups and many use plinths or feet of some sort.

That is a great idea. I remember looking at your headphone setup and wanting some granite plinths, but I'm not exactly sure where to buy them here in Norway, I'll check with my brother who just re-built his kitchen, maybe he knows a place. 🙂 worth looking into!

Btw. when the speakers and amp is burning in. Is it any problem leaving them on for days at a time? I work, and study so there is quite a big part of the day when I'm not at home and the speakers just keeps playing music(not very loud). (The amp isn't especially hot when I get home). Hopefully I'm not hurting the speakers or anything

 

[Anonymous]

AWESOME SETUP!! You can add more photos of all the room? I wish I could take the cue..

Thanks