Project: Home Cinema Theatre...

[bsodmike]

I posted sometime back about the amp I decided to use and have actually got a part of this system in place:



It took about an hour for the furniture people to assemble the 'media centre' as I like to call it. At the top is the center speaker (B&W LCR600) ; next level down you can find a switch, adsl modem/router, the amp and PS2 ; Mac mini under the plasma on the left ; in the two open shelves there will be a VHS deck and Satellite receiver on the right (already pictured above).

Couple shots of the amp:





Initial connections:



Quite a bit will change in December when I add the front, rear and sub to the setup and clean up the cabling etc. Everything is connected to a Riello 1KVA 'true-sinewave' UPS.

As for the cabling used most of the interconnects are by QED as are the speaker cables.

Connections:

The following interfaces on the amp have been setup as follows:

(video switched with audio)

DVD -- Coax 1 (to M-Audio Sonica USB connected to the Mac mini, video direct to the TV's DVI interface)
VDP -- Optical 1 (PS2)
DBS -- Optical 2 (Satellite receiver)
VCR-1 -- composite video, phono audio to VCR deck

(audio only)
Phono -- to Airport Express
CD -- Coax 2 (to G5's M-Audio Rev 7.1 soundcard)

Monitor Out --> to TV (AV1)

There are composite leads from the VHS and Satellite receiver connected to their respective 'video-in' connections.

[Howard]

Those black optical cables look strangely similar to the ones I use

Nice setup

[six5tring]

Whats the denon amp like... currently have a couple of denon systems and trying to decide weather to use one for my surround or go for the yamaha's. I find my systems to currently be a little too smooth but thats probably due to the mission speakers - six

[bsodmike]

Tbh I couldn't have asked more from this amp. It has features I'd probably never use (such as the tuner..I'm just scared it'll get fried by lightning...) and initially never intended to swap video signals either but am glad I can do it.

The remote is awesome. Right now I've programmed it to control the plasma as well as the Sat receiver. I may end up programming some of the essential functions of the PS2 remote in...

I would have appreciated if the manual explained that the binding posts *had* little plastic tabs that prevented the use of banana plugs due to some EU regulation and that you can actually remove these tabs...but I figured it out the hard way.

Howard: The top one is a Monster cable and the lower (more silverish) is a QED optical cable

The Silvery coax cable is a *custom* 10m QED cable made by Superfi and the purple one is a SR75 coax lead.

It is gonna look very pretty with 10 airloc plugs connected in...*drool* haha.

[Jonny M]

You spent money on co-ax cables?

[bsodmike]

Is that a bad thing? You make your own?

Ohh, the SR75 I've had for some time. I only got the 10m lead made up...

[bsodmike]

I'm back home for the holidays and managed to bring the subwoofer home with me (the ASW675) and I ended up shipping the DM602 S3s home for around £340 :-o

I've got it all hooked up and more or less tuned. First impression: WOW. This system has tons of power to offer and the clarity is astonishing. I'm really glad I went with this receiver as I seem to be filling up all the available inputs...

The remote's learning function has been abused to the extent that it now controls the TV, Satellite receiver and soon enuff the VCR (I know that this is legacy, but Mom wants it ). I didn't bother learning the PS2 functions but I might program them in, only a few are needed for basic DVD control. I use it to play R2 DVDs, while the Mac mini plays all R1 DVDs.

Seems like I'll be able to interface the gamecube and xbox360 as well (when needed)...

I had to leave the DM601 S3s behind with my buddy Tom as I was really over weight and ended up checking in around 55kg of luggage of which 32kg was the sub and its suitcase.

As improvements to the system I may end up swapping the receiver - plasma cable from composite to component. I'd think that S-Video (digital) is better than composite (analog) ?

I've already decided to pass the output from the xbox360 directly to the Plasma's component1 input.

Edit: I'm a muppet. For the past few days I've been plagued by an issue with my sub. It would *randomly* cut-out, so I decided to run a few tests to try and isolate the problem. I tried everything under the sun, from keeping it cool to patting it, screaming at it and finally I switched it off and connected it directly to the mains supply so that it bypasses the 1kVA UPS it was initially connected to. So why a UPS, well it makes sense, the sub doesn't need to be run off a battery but this unit does offer very good power conditioning BUT......only 4.6A @ 240VAC!

...it is operating perfectly right now...but I need to look into a power conditioner that can source at least 12 - 14A @ 240VAC.

--Mike

[bsodmike]

I maybe onto something here. I *think* that the sub is defective and B&W is looking into resolving my problem. I may have to send it to Singapore for repair - the driver it self is great.

The problem lies with the circuitry that drives teh voice coils. The only thing that I haven't tested is the 'power cord' per say. I'm not using the power cord supplied with the sub, but instead a regular PC IDC jack power cord. Yes, it has a 10A fuse but it would have blown if I had driven the sub excessively and it hasn't. This unit should be allowed at least 13A, and I think the original cable from B&W has a 14A fuse (need to check this)..but this is only if one plans to really drive it hard, and this isn't my case...at least for now

I have tested everything, tried a different coax, tons of different settings on the receiver (it isn't the receiver) and even done a 'thermal' test to isolate thermal shutdown. Right now the sub and receiver share the 1KVA UPS while all the other stuff have been shifted onto a 600VA UPS, so this should allow for more headroom.

I'm getting operational times of 1hr 25mins to 1hr 40mins (max) and I hope that B&W can help sort this out.

--Mike

[Jonny M]

Is that a bad thing? You make your own?

Ohh, the SR75 I've had for some time. I only got the 10m lead made up...

Well it's digital, so you can use pretty much any cable with it.

[bsodmike]

Ok wow, I removed the amplifier and all the circuitry from the sub and couriered it to Singapore. B&W is sending me a new module from Hong Kong tomorrow :-o!







--Mike

[behappier]

Is that a picture taken in its final location or is it in "the lab" before the proper location ? Does not seem very cosy!

[bsodmike]

Oh that's on top of a desk in my room. It's still a mess slowly being converted into a Home Theatre. Still missing the 'must have' couch...

Tommorrow I'm off to look at tall cupboards with glass shelves, with each shelf lit (if possible)...something elegant and fairly large. This will house my ton of DVDs and books. I saw this @ Audioholics and it looks perfect:



but I think I'll probably end up going with a traditional sofa...It will eventually get there

--Mike

[Jonny M]

So what do you do for money then?

[Howard]

Yeah I was wondering that


I really fancy one of the new Logitech Harmony remotes

[bsodmike]

Well, I'm kinda short on it right now, considering that I've got this system more or less ready now heh. Plan to order a Denon DVD-1920 tomorrow, and hook it up via 6-RCA cables for SACD compatibility. The next model up that supports the Denon 3rd Link is the DVD-3910 that costs £900 and these formats might change rather soon with BluRay and HD DVDs around the corner...

--Mike

[bsodmike]

I just sacrificed my order of the Xbox360 in favor of the Denon DVD-3910 which supports the Denon 3rd Link (With DVD-A and SACD playback). It is also close to a top end DVD player. I'm going to connect this to my component interface #2 directly on my plasma :rock:

Costs £900 RRP, but considering all the moolah I've given Superfi I got it down to £720. And added on a QED Qunex SR-CV

On the subwoofer front, B&W HK has shipped the amplifer today (wee) and it should arrive by the 28th :-o

--Mike