Who has the best hi-fi set up on Pistonheads????

[jackal]

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Edited by jackal on Thursday 24th January 09:53

[robbyd]

But don't forget - cables, interconnects, and especially speaker cables, all sound the same - all you need is some bell wire at £1.50/m...
Ha ha!!! (joking, of course)

[jackal]

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Edited by jackal on Thursday 24th January 09:54

[Mark.]

[zed4]

My latest setup. Modest compared to some on here!


AV by danyeates, on Flickr


AV by danyeates, on Flickr


AV by danyeates, on Flickr


AV by danyeates, on Flickr

[shakotan]

beoman69 said:

its a flueless gas fire by superior fires in black glass and aluminuim to match the b&o

Or, if you prefer, an overpriced Focal Point Fires unit you can get in B&Q for much less, with a different name slapped on. [Can you tell who I used to work for?]

[zed4]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Oh sorry, yes. I read it on my phone and thought I must open it on my computer later and forgot.

Yeah, it looks great. Make sure you post up pictures once it's built!

[JayEll]

completed in 2011 in an outbuilding. Bar and Cinema
I was going to put up my own thread with details of the project, and pics, but why not chip in on here in the meantime

Can't load pics up on here from work, they will come later.
Here's the equipment:
- Projector Screen: SMX Pro-Line 120" (137" diagonal) acoustically transparent
- Projector: JVC D-ILA X7 (THX cert. 2D and 3D)
- 8 times JVC 3D glasses
- Speakers: (all Artcoustic) Spitfire Venue (L/C/R), Spitfire Sub (3 of them), DF65-50 (surrounds), Superstar Passive (2 of these, making the system 7.1 but mainly for music in the bar end).
- AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR5008
- 5 times Artcoustic PA-260 Multi Purpose Power Amplifier (1 for each sub, 1 for each Superstar)
- BluRay Player: Sony BDP S780
- Sky+ HD
- Mac Mini (music server)
- Internet: Airport Extreme Base Station
- XBox 360s
- Cabling: Speaker wire is all Cat6. To reduce the loss of quality for a 20m+ HDMI lead, I ran the Cat6 for visual too, via a CE Labs baluns system.

[beoman69]

shakotan said:

Or, if you prefer, an overpriced Focal Point Fires unit you can get in B&Q for much less, with a different name slapped on. [Can you tell who I used to work for?]

I will sleep well tonight,thanks for your inside knowledge.I am off to tell my dad his new audi is a overpriced volkswagen which he could have bought cheaper,the prices people pay for badges these days?

[OldSkoolRS]

JayEll said:

completed in 2011 in an outbuilding. Bar and Cinema
I was going to put up my own thread with details of the project, and pics, but why not chip in on here in the meantime

Can't load pics up on here from work, they will come later.
Here's the equipment:
- Projector Screen: SMX Pro-Line 120" (137" diagonal) acoustically transparent
- Projector: JVC D-ILA X7 (THX cert. 2D and 3D)
- 8 times JVC 3D glasses
- Speakers: (all Artcoustic) Spitfire Venue (L/C/R), Spitfire Sub (3 of them), DF65-50 (surrounds), Superstar Passive (2 of these, making the system 7.1 but mainly for music in the bar end).
- AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR5008
- 5 times Artcoustic PA-260 Multi Purpose Power Amplifier (1 for each sub, 1 for each Superstar)
- BluRay Player: Sony BDP S780
- Sky+ HD
- Mac Mini (music server)
- Internet: Airport Extreme Base Station
- XBox 360s
- Cabling: Speaker wire is all Cat6. To reduce the loss of quality for a 20m+ HDMI lead, I ran the Cat6 for visual too, via a CE Labs baluns system.

I'll look forward to seeing those photos. I have a more modest setup in my living room (I would love a proper dedicated room, maybe one day). I have the new X35 used with a Lumagen Radiance VP, Isco lens and the little Darbee processor and a small (compared to yours) 112" wide 2.35:1 screen.

When I've done some tidying up I'll take some pictures of mine, but maybe I'll leave it a good few posts after yours since it isn't anything like the 'best set up on PH' but I like it.

[JayEll]

OldSkoolRS said:

I'll look forward to seeing those photos. I have a more modest setup in my living room (I would love a proper dedicated room, maybe one day). I have the new X35 used with a Lumagen Radiance VP, Isco lens and the little Darbee processor and a small (compared to yours) 112" wide 2.35:1 screen.

When I've done some tidying up I'll take some pictures of mine, but maybe I'll leave it a good few posts after yours since it isn't anything like the 'best set up on PH' but I like it.

Doesn't sound like there's anything not to like about your set-up either

The good thing is that I have been fortunate enough to have an outbuilding to dedicate to it. It's a fantastic cinema, but it converts into an awesome bar for up to 60 people, with a great big projector screen to show graphics or video to in the background of a big evening.

Here's a couple pics of the finished article..

[OldSkoolRS]

What a great room and bar. Nice to see a dedicated room that isn't decorated in magnolia too. I'm extending my screen pelmet to make a 'transforming' effect: Light by day and then drop down black velvet curtains for film watching, to try to improve the image quality without making the living room look too dark for daily use. I'll post pictures once I've done as hopefully there will be a few more pictures between yours and mine by then.

[clived]

JayEll, the room looks great, but it seems a real shame to have put all that time and effort in and then present the material at the wrong aspect ratio...

[OldSkoolRS]

I make 120" wide and 137" diagonal a 16:9 aspect ratio: Assuming that he watches 2.35 with black bars top and bottom, then it is presented in the correct aspect ratio. Just that 2.35:1 will be smaller than 16:9 rather than larger as in my 2.35:1 set up. It doesn't look like he has the width to have a 2.35:1 screen and maintain the same image height as he has now anyway.

[JayEll]

OldSkoolRS said:

I make 120" wide and 137" diagonal a 16:9 aspect ratio: Assuming that he watches 2.35 with black bars top and bottom, then it is presented in the correct aspect ratio. Just that 2.35:1 will be smaller than 16:9 rather than larger as in my 2.35:1 set up. It doesn't look like he has the width to have a 2.35:1 screen and maintain the same image height as he has now anyway.

You're right, it is a 16:9 screen. The pictures are not showing it right is the problem here. I took the pics on a Canon 40D, and the file sizes were far too big to go on here. I'm on a MAC and couldn't figure out a decent way of making them smaller. So I opened the Paintbrush app and shrunk them, but it didn't keep the aspect. You can see it more in the pic of the speakers, in that they're oval, not round. Whereas they're actually all 10 inch round cones .
I went for the 16:9 set up as I had the room, and wanted Sky and XBox at full screen. I watch 2.35:1 films with the bars top and bottom. Believe me, after the expense, which was around £40 on the equip, I wouldn't be sitting there watching a stretched screen

We debated a lot over the colour choice down there. We needed it dark for the cinema, but wanted it "lively" for the bar aspect. Aubergine was chosen and we're very happy with the results. Everyone always comments on the colour. Having a dedicated building gives you a lot of freedom.

[OldSkoolRS]

JayEll said:

Having a dedicated building gives you a lot of freedom.

I'm sure...I wouldn't be messing about trying to hide black curtains when not using the projector if it was a dedicated space. I think there might be a typo though as if it's £40 then I'll have two.

[JayEll]

OldSkoolRS said:

I'm sure...I wouldn't be messing about trying to hide black curtains when not using the projector if it was a dedicated space. I think there might be a typo though as if it's £40 then I'll have two.

haha.. or I'm worried the missus will read this .. £40k and I had a friend source, so that was with discounts. The budget wasn't anything like that, but then I went to the Artcoustic showroom and, well, that was it... money spent.. oops

[Vipers1]

Hi Guys,

Great thread, this may not count but I couldn't resist, this is how my hifi has grown over the last few years and shows how dangerous this hobby can be and how it can change your life.

I started of with a Bose system, then went onto Monitor Audio, then Arcam with PMC Speakers and finally a PMC/Bryston system, then somehow, I still can't quite figure it out, maybe having an understanding wife isn't always a good idea, last year we sold our house to free up the equity to open a hifi shop, now all I have at home is a Sonos Play:3 but have ended up with the below which I guess is my HiFi Set up

http://hifilounge.co.uk/take-a-tour

Please feel free to have a look round but please don't touch anything there are actually a couple of mistakes on there if you can spot them.

[jackal]

Vipers1 said:

Hi Guys,

Great thread, this may not count but I couldn't resist, this is how my hifi has grown over the last few years and shows how dangerous this hobby can be and how it can change your life.

I started of with a Bose system, then went onto Monitor Audio, then Arcam with PMC Speakers and finally a PMC/Bryston system, then somehow, I still can't quite figure it out, maybe having an understanding wife isn't always a good idea, last year we sold our house to free up the equity to open a hifi shop, now all I have at home is a Sonos Play:3 but have ended up with the below which I guess is my HiFi Set up

http://hifilounge.co.uk/take-a-tour

Please feel free to have a look round but please don't touch anything there are actually a couple of mistakes on there if you can spot them.

Nice one Vipers, best of luck with the new venture ! Looks like a really nice location.

It's a shame that you don't do the Dynavector electronics as well. Someone needs to really push these properly in the UK, incredible value and knocks anything from Linn/naim into a cocked hat.

[clived]

OldSkoolRS said:

I make 120" wide and 137" diagonal a 16:9 aspect ratio: Assuming that he watches 2.35 with black bars top and bottom, then it is presented in the correct aspect ratio. Just that 2.35:1 will be smaller than 16:9 rather than larger as in my 2.35:1 set up. It doesn't look like he has the width to have a 2.35:1 screen and maintain the same image height as he has now anyway.

I wasn't looking at any measurements - just the fact that what should have been round on the screen is oval :-) Which has now been explained ;-)