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SpeleoFool
675
Feb 22, 2019
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Home setup:
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Speakers: Sonus Faber Cremona 5.1 system (4x Cremona towers, Cremona center, Cremona sub) Main A/V Stack: McIntosh C2600 Vacuum Tube Pre-Amplifier McIntosh MX122 A/V Processor McIntosh MC8207 Home Theater Amplifier Sources / Chains: Roon -> Mac Mini -> Ayre QB9-DSD (USB) -> C2600 (balanced) Roon -> Google Chromecast Audio -> RME ADI-2 DAC (optical) -> C2600 (balanced) Arcam DV79 -> C2600 (RCA stereo) Arcam DV79 -> MX122 (RCA 5.1, for DVD-Audio) Headphone Stacks: C2600 -> Stax SRM-727II (balanced) -> Stax L700 C2600 -> Massdrop x THX AAA 789 amp (balanced) -> all the headphones Screens: Sony VPL-VW600ES -> Stewart Studiotek 115" 2x LG 65" OLED TVs (OLED65C7P) Gnome: Jim With Hands in Pockets (aka Gnome Chompski) Misc: Furman IT-REF 20I power conditioner
VTI BL series racks Speaker "stands" are custom-cut pieces of granite from a place that does countertops Monster speaker cables (for aesthetic purposes) Balanced cables by Monoprice Roon ROCK running on i7 NUC 8x8 4K HDMI matrix switch (w/ web control) by No Hassle AV Various XBox consoles (pictured: OG 360, Slim 360, Day One X1, X1X Scorpio Edition) Wired gigabit ethernet throughout
Feb 22, 2019
DenonFanboy
825
Feb 23, 2019
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SpeleoFoolYou are my sempai!
Feb 23, 2019
VRacer111
491
Feb 23, 2019
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SpeleoFoolThat is a beautiful setup you have there!
(Edited)
Feb 23, 2019
jonRock
150
Feb 26, 2019
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SpeleoFoolFuck the movie theater. I wanna go there lol.
Feb 26, 2019
nick_t
186
Mar 7, 2019
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SpeleoFoolWhy are you so rich ?!
Mar 7, 2019
Arguelles
10
Mar 7, 2019
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SpeleoFoolWhile you have an expensive array of items, it does look a bit of a mess. Your screen is big enough to lower a bit, you can flank it with standing speakers on each side with the middle speaker right below it.
Mar 7, 2019
SpeleoFool
675
Mar 7, 2019
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nick_t"Why are you so rich ?!" Normally this is the type of comment you're probably not supposed to respond to on the Internet, but on the off-chance I can impart some life-wisdom, here goes:
  1. Because I was anything but well-off growing up, and I committed myself to making life choices that enabled a degree financial security (e.g., academics, self-study, etc.).
  2. Because I've pursued a career in engineering and worked my way up to a Principle Engineer position that pays well.
  3. Because I live in a place with a relatively low cost-of-living, so I don't throw away all of my earnings on excessive mortgage or taxes.
  4. I'm not old; I'm a "veteran of life." :-) IOW, I've been around long enough to get established and accumulate a little "fun money."
  5. No kids. Life choice. Don't judge.
  6. Because I spend my money on what's important to me, and I don't on what's not. My wardrobe is mostly Walmart jeans and $10 t-shirts, and I drive a 19-year old truck.
  7. Because the picture you're looking at is the result of over 15 years of slowly accumulating and upgrading gear, not a spree purchase. :-)
#6 is really the key to winning @ life, IMO. I dumped this much money into my theater setup because I care so much about music and gaming, and I have for my entire life. It's a uniquely good investment in myself because of my own personal passions. I spend nothing at all on a lot of other things that are important to other people (TV service, sports, fashion, going out, etc.), because those things are not important to me. I'm happier for it.
Mar 7, 2019
nick_t
186
Mar 7, 2019
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SpeleoFoolSo you are fortunate and gifted in life. But you made a lot of compromise. in exchange of multimedia and audio
Mar 7, 2019
SpeleoFool
675
Mar 7, 2019
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Arguelles"While you have an expensive array of items, it does look a bit of a mess. Your screen is big enough to lower a bit, you can flank it with standing speakers on each side with the middle speaker right below it." I appreciate what you're saying, but that's probably mostly a trick of perspective of the photo. I took that shot from off to the side to fit the whole width of the setup into the picture. To do the same from the front would have resulted in big stripes of floor and ceiling in the image. From the main seating position, everything looks more or less as you've described: speakers flanking the screen (kinda--more about that in a second) and middle speaker just below. Here's a cropped view from head-on (this was from before I finished setting up my Xboxes on the right, but you can see that the height of the one console still fits just below the screen:
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The screen is precisely sized to maximize a 16x9 aspect ratio on my wall. It's a custom order from Stewart. The limiting factor is height. Although it may appear there's too much room at the bottom, that's because these photos were taken from a standing position. When you're seated, the bottom of the screen is just above the center channel + AV stacks. Still too busy? Yeah, maybe. But an A/V closet wouldn't work in my room, and I need all that music + movie + gaming equipment. And my gnome. Works for me. Meanwhile, if the speaker placement still seems awkward, it's not. They're exactly where they need to be. There are 3 things going on here that aren't obvious from my original pic:
  1. Horizontal separation makes a perfect equilateral triangle with the center seat of my sofa
  2. Distance from the wall is partially to eliminate sound reflections from speaker rear ports
  3. This is a 5.1 setup with all speakers equidistant from the main seat.
Here's a picture of the custom spreadsheet I made to work out the positions of everything:
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The diagram is just a static image for reference, but it's a good approximation of the layout of the room. I used the formulas at the left to fine-tune positions of the speakers so I could come up with the measurements I needed to make sure they were perfectly positioned. So, if there are slight compromises in the aesthetics, they have been made to optimize sound quality. Trust me--the results are worth it.
Mar 7, 2019
SpeleoFool
675
Mar 7, 2019
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nick_t"So you are fortunate and gifted in life. But you made a lot of compromise. in exchange of multimedia and audio" Fair assessment. Although being fortunate and gifted has not been about circumstance as much as it has been about creating opportunities for myself and taking advantage of them. Knowledge is one of the few things in life that nobody can take away; I've spent my whole life learning, and I've been able to turn that into a marketable skill that few others can compete with.
Mar 7, 2019
nick_t
186
Mar 8, 2019
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SpeleoFoolYes true, but its still remained the fact you are lucky and mostly fortunate. FACT and you cant denied so just accept it. Dont worry, I respect you and am not jealous of being poor. But at least I have a food and house living the luxury life (basic necessity).
Mar 8, 2019
CommonSenseUsed
28
Mar 8, 2019
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nick_tDon’t confuse effort with luck.
Mar 8, 2019
Heavyboxer
380
Mar 8, 2019
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SpeleoFool5. No kids. Life choice. Don't judge This!
Mar 8, 2019
GunsOfBrixton
911
Mar 9, 2019
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SpeleoFoolNice! I appreciate a well thought out setup that meets its design target. It sounds like you've tailored this system to its intended audience (you) and minimized the spend on aspects that aren't important. I suspect others focused on the dollars spent might not realize just how effectively minimalist your setup is. As to the visuals, I think it's maybe less a trick of perspective that one of scale. When I realized what model those OLED screens were, and that ONE of them is the center of my relatively large HT setup - and they are dwarfed by that center screen, I was pretty floored realizing how big your setup is. Again, well done!
(Edited)
Mar 9, 2019
VRacer111
491
Mar 9, 2019
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GunsOfBrixtonYeah, projectors will change your perspective on things. The maximum size I am able to comfortably fit in my space is 110" screen which is what I upsized to from a 92" one. Gaming and movies really are a different experience on a projector screen with well setup sound system and 110-120" is pretty much the sweet spot for front projection setups... My 110" setup actually has better picture quality than the 92" screen did due to too much light being thrown for a 92" sized screen... upgrading to the 110" gave better contrast and darker 'blacks'. SpeleoFool has a really great projector in that Sony... Sony makes EXCELLENT projectors!
(Edited)
Mar 9, 2019
jammuu
54
Mar 16, 2019
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nick_tWhat is the point of this comment? "You were born with 10 fingers and 10 toes, you're lucky and mostly fortunate." "You weren't born in the slums of a 3rd world country during war time." Thank you for adding so much value to this conversation. The man worked his butt off and made careful decisions to achieve something you wish you could, but didn't. Just appreciate art for what it is.
Mar 16, 2019
nick_t
186
Mar 16, 2019
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CommonSenseUsedIts both !
Mar 16, 2019
nick_t
186
Mar 16, 2019
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jammuuAppreciate what art ? You call that art ?! As for of your comment towards me, you are right. At least am alive with enough food to eat. But compare to certain people, I am hopeless with wealth. But I do what I can to enjoy luxury as well.
Mar 16, 2019
DPantigoso98
0
Nov 21, 2019
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SpeleoFoolQuick question: Why no PlayStations? You clearly have the money for them, and you're missing out on exclusives like inFamous, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Spider-Man, God of War, etc. You can even use XBox controllers now with an update that's coming out. I'm sure your only constraint is time, since you must work a lot in order to be able to afford all this.
Nov 21, 2019
SpeleoFool
675
Nov 21, 2019
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DPantigoso98I've got a PS3 around here somewhere, lol. Nothing against PlayStation, but I got wrapped up in the XBox platform first and enjoy playing for achievements. I know I miss out on some great PS (and PC) experiences, but I've got more games than I could ever play on the XBox platforms alone--there's no shortage of great AAA and indie gems to experience (along with plenty of chaff, lol). Anyway, it's achievement hunting and chasing stats that have kept me locked in to one platform. I've always played this way (play all the games, beat all the games). Even back in the day I had a list on notebook paper of NES titles that I had "completed," and I think that topped out around 300? I'm somewhere north of 800 completions on XBox and very close to 100% completion. I track my stats @ TrueAchievements (which has sister sites TrueTrophies and TrueSteamAchievements, FWIW). I also (occasionally) keep a blog there. I've been trying to expose the achievement-hunting community to good audio. ;-) https://www.trueachievements.com/gamer/SpeleoFool P.S. Good to know about the controller compatibility (thanks!). If I have one nitpick about PlayStation, it's that I like the layout and ergonomics of the MS controllers better. I own a device called CronusMax that supports simple macros, but also enables cross-platform controller compatibility. I picked it up to use my 360 fight stick on the X1 version of Mortal Kombat X.
(Edited)
Nov 21, 2019
DPantigoso98
0
Nov 21, 2019
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SpeleoFoolOh, I get you. I also love achievement hunting, but I prefer having multiple platforms so I can experience as many games, as fully as possible. It's why I have a PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS4 Pro, X360 (Star Wars R2-D2 edition) and a gaming PC; all of which I've amassed through either my uncles gifting them to me, or buying them myself in the case of the PS4 Pro and the gaming PC. I use my PC for shooters (mouse and keyboard is just king, no comparison), but I also love playing RPGs and stuff (Bloodborne, Sekiro, Skyrim, etc.) and in fact Skyrim is the only reason I have an XBox. Back when Skyrim's DLC first came out, it was nowhere to be seen on the PS3, since all the DLCs took around 8 months more to get to PS3, I bought an XBox lol. Haven't touched it since I completed it 100% because I already had ~8k hours of it on PS3 and PC. I personally prefer the Dualshock 4 over the X1's controller (even the elite) because I find them too heavy and clunky for me. Could also be because I grew up playing Crash on the PS1 so I'm just used to them. I'm glad that you have a lot of games to go. However, I'd still advocate for you to buy a PS5 or PS5 Pro when it comes out (it's rumored to have FULL backwards compatibility, all the way to PS1) just so that you can, eventually, experience those great exclusives you're missing out on. Someday you'll have time (lol). Best wishes and hopefully those guys in the achievement hunting business listen to your audiophile tips and suggestions :D
Nov 21, 2019
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