Hifi/home cinema set up, work in progress!

[motile rod 2]

Here's my set up, used mostly for music but with the odd film and a bit of gaming. There's still a lot of stuff I need to buy, a decent hifi preamp, bigger front speakers, a stand for the tv, a decent blu ray player, a projector screen and to ceiling mount the PJ.

Hifi kit:

Front speakers - Monitor Audio GS10
Rear speakers - Monitor Audio RS6
Power Amps - Audio Research VS55, Arcam P1000
AV Amp/Processor - Marantz SR6003
DAC - Musical Fidelity KW DAC
Transport - Arcam MS250

As well as custom design milan 4 hifi rack, custom design rs300 speaker stands, QED qunex 3 RCA cables and QED silver anniversary xt speaker cable.

Visual kit comprises a 40 inch samsung M87 tv, Optoma HD800X projector, PS3, 360, Wii, sky + and a PC (quadcore q6600 @3ghz, nvidia 8800gt etc.)

Sorry for the poor quality pics!

Rear speakers and projector. And yes, 6 remotes.

Blu-rays!

Feel free to offer any suggestions. Enjoy!

[Legacy]

Damn that tube amp looks nice. They really are works of art I reckon!

The rest of your setup looks very good too, although your TV is definitely begging for a new stand

What's it like to have the bookshelves as fronts and floorstanders as rears? The GS10's are a step-up in quality and price I know, but for movies you might be better off with the more bassy RS6's as fronts. I guess there is no way of doing that without sacrificing music quality though...

Impressive setup nonetheless, good job!

[v o l u m e]

That Hifi must sound mint

[Stoatman]

All that amazing kit and a rubbish camera !!

Great set-up - it deserves some better pics quick smart.

[motile rod 2]

Originally Posted by Legacy

Damn that tube amp looks nice. They really are works of art I reckon!

The rest of your setup looks very good too, although your TV is definitely begging for a new stand

What's it like to have the bookshelves as fronts and floorstanders as rears? The GS10's are a step-up in quality and price I know, but for movies you might be better off with the more bassy RS6's as fronts. I guess there is no way of doing that without sacrificing music quality though...

Indeed, I initally bought the gs10's to act as rears with my rs6's when my old rear speakers broke. I had my heart set on gs20's in the long term when I could afford them, so looking ahead I thought I'd bite the bullet and get gs10's. But I found they sounded so much better than the rs6's that I had to use the golds as the main speakers. I lose a bit of the mega deep bass on film soundtracks but the gs10's are still capable of producing a surprising amount of deep bass for such a small speaker, not too far off the silver floorstanders. Since I listen to music much more than I watch films, it makes sense I suppose.

Sometimes I switch back to the rs6's as fronts, they always surprise me initially by how good they sound. But after extended listening they tend to fatigue the ears quite easily with the slightly harsh treble. The midrange also sounds quite dull in comparison to the golds and I find myself skipping tracks quite often when I wouldn't with the golds.

And yes, I'm desperate for a tv stand. That's actually an old bedside table the tv's sitting on. Unfortunately due to lack of funds I need to do things in stages, I'm looking at the bigger picture! But that means certain things like tv stands and digital cameras sometimes take a back seat, for the time being. Maybe soon, we'll see.

[motile rod 2]

Just an update, I've finally added a proper hifi preamp, a musical fidelity A5cr. The strange thing is, it doesn't initially sound much better than the marantz av amp for preamp duties. It sounds cleaner than before, but I feel like I've lost a bit of the valve-y sound I had.

Maybe it's because the preamp stage in the av amp is low gain or maybe even passive, so I hear the other components more, I dunno. The MF preamp adds a full 12dB gain, and I can definately hear it's sonic signature which isn't as good or at least to my liking as some of my other components. It's early days I suppose, and I think it looks pretty good.

[IWC Dopplel]

I'm a big fan of Audio Research

[Mad Mr H]

Great kit,

Valve amps are very sensitive, I see you have damping rings on some of the valves, But that the entire amp sits on the main hi fi stand.......

Valves pick up microphonic sounds and amplify them I would suggest trying to lift the valve amp up off the main kit, wall mounted is good, in another room is better !!!

What you might be hearing is a gain in areas rather than a loss, so a gain in bass response will dull the mid - Maybe?

With all these changes people often mention they hear different things, and this is why sound is so personal - For me test equipment is the only way to know if you have "better" acuracy in reproduction, your ears will tell if its different. Same kit in a different room different sound.

I agree with buy the best of any one item you can afford, then work towards the next, this does leave some items way behind others but in the long term I think leaves you with a better system.

Nice setup , Dont worry about the camera !!! you cant hear the camera.

Andy.