Post Your Home Cine & HiFi Kit...

Somnambulist · 28 Feb 2013 at 14:21

Marvt74 said:
Would it not be sensible to combine the speakers so use your stereo speakers as the fronts for your AV setup? Sure you could pick up an additional Focal CMS50 as a centre, or even easier if DIY building a pair.

Seems like a lot of speakers otherwise to me, especially as you mention the room isn't huge.

The DIY ones I have no idea how they'll turn out, and they're omni's so if anything I'm toying with the idea of using them as rears for now. The Focals I can sell for good money to fund the Opals, and as they're active it seems wasteful to buy an AVR when I wouldn't use the amplification, but then AV pre/pros are ludicrously over-priced given they're targeted at the high end... it's way more plugs and cables too!

At the moment the idea of x3 LS50's at the front and the DIYs at the rear seems good, actually! Eventually I'll have more than one room for all this stuff so the 2 channel will become the desktop/nearfield system, the 5.1 will be the main room and the DIYs in the bedroom or something.

Looks like someone is already on those Opals btw, never mind. I was going to buy them from SoundsLive on finance anyway seeing as they do 12 months interest free.

Martynt74 · 28 Feb 2013 at 14:26

Have you any plans for your DIY build? I've not seen many people trying to design/build Omnis. Most tend to go for the more general 2-way designs. Be interesting to see.

I'm already thinking about upgrading my Shahinians. The obelisks just look superb!

Somnambulist · 28 Feb 2013 at 19:01

Yeah there's a build log here (me and my mate and his mate are doing a pair each, taking on different roles based on our skills):
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/linkwitzpluto

They're self-powered so I can use the pre-outs of the Anthem and then bi-amp the front three for moar gainz, potentially.

You have to pay Mr. Linkwitz for the plans, then depending on your skill level you can either do what we did, which is just buy the bare PCB and do the rest yourself, or you can purchase a complete board and work from there - it's all quite fiddly I have to say, but fun. The plans are pretty cheap and I'd feel bad for Siegfried giving them out for free, since he just designs the speakers (the Orions and LX521's are some of the best loudspeakers ever made) and doesn't make any money from them except selling the plans and finished PCBs.

Somnambulist · 28 Feb 2013 at 19:12

This is them btw:

No need for stands. Ours will look much less cheap than this as we have fancy-pants wood bits and bobs, and we're painting the PVC pipe. I think they should work well as rears tbh, although it's a bit of a waste of their potential!

neodude · 2 Mar 2013 at 15:24

Angel_Rex said:
I hate to say it but why would you spend 1500 on a tv unit and only 150-200 quid on a budget amp.....

I fail to see what the cost of my TV unit has to do with what amp I would buy. I got the 414 because I didn't require any of the features on the more expensive models.

413x · 2 Mar 2013 at 17:40

Plus nice tv units are lush!

neodude · 2 Mar 2013 at 18:00

al4x said:
Plus nice tv units are lush!

Exactly!

Angel_Rex · 2 Mar 2013 at 18:27

neodude said:
I fail to see what the cost of my TV unit has to do with what amp I would buy. I got the 414 because I didn't require any of the features on the more expensive models.

Just to intervene, more expensive amps have better dacs for sound quality not just features.

neodude · 2 Mar 2013 at 19:07

Angel_Rex said:
Just to intervene, more expensive amps have better dacs for sound quality not just features.

Indeed. And the 414 has the same Burr-Brown 192 kHz/24-Bit DAC as the top of the range 818.

Angel_Rex · 2 Mar 2013 at 20:20

Fair play

Without knowing the amp I couldn't judge. For example, I have a denon 3803 with 2 per channel. I've recently heard a few amps that just haven't sounded as good that were only a few hundred quid.

My bro is after a cheap amp, ill point him towards the 414 many thanks.

neodude · 2 Mar 2013 at 20:45

It's highly recommended. At a push the one thing I think I might want would be the THX certification seen on the higher models. But that's more a want than a need tbh.

Angel_Rex · 2 Mar 2013 at 21:53

Im no audiophile but I consider thx to be over rated!

Angel_Rex · 2 Mar 2013 at 21:55

I wish I had known about the 414 two days ago, a mate just bought a yamaha 673 for 403!

zuludawn · 3 Mar 2013 at 12:41

Delivery this morning new TV cabinet

BDI Casata 8629-2 Black Oak
BDI 9970 Arena Flat Panel Mount

Samsung 64" D8000 Series 8 Plasma TV
Sky 1 gig
Denon DBP-2012UD (blue ray)
Apple TV
PS3

Cyrus DAD 3
Pre aCA 7
AV Master 8
3 power amps
2 PSX-R

Monitor Audio RX8, RX Center, RXW12 Sub, (mission rears but getting some RX6's)

Plus my bargain Samsung Touch control RMC30D1P2 £27 off Ebay (watch TV on the remote, totally pointless but cool)

Tudders · 3 Mar 2013 at 16:54

Nice set up Zulu, loving the Cyrus kit, very tidy.

neodude · 3 Mar 2013 at 19:52

zuludawn said:
Delivery this morning new TV cabinet

BDI Casata 8629-2 Black Oak
BDI 9970 Arena Flat Panel Mount

Looks familiar

Nice unit innit?

zuludawn · 3 Mar 2013 at 19:58

neodude said:
Looks familiar

Nice unit innit?

Yes extremely well built, wanted one when i saw yours but said i would not pay that much for one. But after looking everywhere its the only one that would house the rx center, so i didn't have much choice after that lol.

Cyclone · 3 Mar 2013 at 20:19

Very nice zuludawn, very nice. The settee is in the wrong place tho

zuludawn · 3 Mar 2013 at 20:32

Cyclone said:
Very nice zuludawn, very nice. The settee is in the wrong place tho

Same one is on the back wall for viewing, have to fill the room with something

Cyclone · 4 Mar 2013 at 00:09

had a feeling you might've had something else to sit on