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Took most of Saturday to assemble - the hardest job was to labelling all the wires so we don't get it wrong. The next hardest job was assembling the new cabinet (named "Gecko" - pretty appropriate, since I feel about as decadent as Gordon Gecko), finally the A5 power amps are REALLY heavy!The preamps and power amps are all new and therefore need a suitable burn-in period before they will sound their best, but already things are looking promising.
Notice the "hole" on the bottom left reserved for the HTPC. The Silverstone LC14M case hasn't arrived, so you will notice the HTPC in the "old" case (Antec Sonata) tucked on the bottom right next to the surround left speaker. The PDA is an Asus A730W running NetRemote - it's currently used as a remote control for the HTPC over Wi-Fi (driving Media Center as well as Windows Media Player) - eventually i hope to use it to drive the whole system via an infra red transmitter connected to the HTPC.
Overall quality in stereo (via A3.2cr preamp) is good - definitely an incremental improvement over the Denon in terms of better detail and wider soundstage. Also the bass seems a lot more well controlled.
I'm surprised by how good sounding the Cary is. Switching between the Cary doing digital decoding and analog output via the a3.2cr, i could not tell the difference - maybe i didn't need to buy the a3.2cr after all. And listening to movie soundtracks is a real revelation - everything seems so much better defined - i keep hearing the "atmosphere" of the soundtrack in terms of ambient noise that i never noticed on the Denon.
Multi-channel on the TA-9000ES preamp also shows a huge improvement - the slight "softness" in SACD high frequencies is completely gone - everything comes through with brilliant scintillating tones. In fact, the overall sonic signature is a bit too bright for me - but I suspect this is the typical Sony sound prior to burn-in - I remember my XA777ES was the same when brand new so I'm hoping some of the brightness will come down eventually.
What was really surprising listening to 5.1 and 7.1 was just how much more "solid" and well defined the sound was - it's now obvious the denon was adequate in stereo but hopelessly underpowered in m-ch, and the A5's are finally revealing just what the B&Ws are truly capable of.
So, even though it's early days yet, I'm currently having a BIG smile on my face! It's a nice early birthday present (my birthday is on Monday)
Unfortunately, the vinyl playback has been a bit disappointing to date. The glass cabinet may be very pretty to look at, but glass unfortunately is highly resonant. You will notice in the photo I've tried to dampen it using superballs between the glass platform and the cabinet, and also sorbothane sheets between the turntable feet and the glass platform, but the playback is still not as good as on my old cabinet (with lots of isolation tweaking). I might try doing more isolation tweaking, but my fallback plan is to replace the glass platform with an MDF block (suggestion from sister in law).
I'll update my system details on the Asylum in the next few days ...
Follow Ups:
C.T., where'd you say that you live?
I've found butcher block works extremely well in situations like yours. Place a maple butcher block cutting board directly under the turntable. Whether you want to put Sorbothane or superballs between the butcher block and the glass, or maybe some simple cork pads, is a matter for experimentation. Try holding the butcher block in the store with one hand and rapping it with your knuckles (not to hard- it hurts!), and you'll hear how dead it is. They come in different sizes and thicknesses in cookwear shops or the equivalent depending where in the world you are. They also look nice.
will try that - makes a lot of sense.
at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Any reason why you are going with the LC14M? I just about got it.. but may ditch it for the LC13 and an MCE remote. My understanding is the iMon remote does not lend itself well to universal remotes and is built into the case (not necessarily what I want). Would be curious on any thoughts you have here... thx for the pics by the way....
i'm hoping the front panel buttons will be useful ...not planning to use the imon remote. i hear the codes are not "learnable" :-(
i've got the standard MCE remote, but planning on retiring it and using my PDA running Netremote to drive the HTPC.
Congrats on the new setup Christine. I am especially curious about the Cary processor. Would you elaborate some on how it sounds as a basic preamp? Does it have analog pass through allowing you bypass all processing and how does it sound in this mode as a basic two channel analog preamp?
i'm not using the cary processor as an analog preamp at all - i am only feeding digital inputs into it (plus the analog 7.1 from the HTPC which i haven't setup yet).but i've been told its a good analog preamp with full digital bypass. it certainly sounded very impressive at the showroom in analog mode listening to a cary cd player.
as a digital surround processor, it's very basic but meets my needs. supports all the dolby and dts modes including pro logic IIx which i need for 7.1. doesn't have fake cheesy surround modes, or dubious THX certification or ultra 2 modes. doesn't have dolby headphone.
it has no fancy digital interfaces, such as IEEE1394 or HDMI, but i don't really need them since my system is mostly analog except for watching movies.
No doubt the surround modes are better but the last time I went head-to-head with a different processor (last year's Arcam offering), the Proceed pre-amp stage still kicked but. I almost wish I had gone withe the AVP2 but then again, I wouldn't have the Meitner at this point.
i ruled out the AV8 because it uses the older generation CS49300 DSP which doesn't do DPL IIx. And the S/N specs are awful - only 98dB which is barely better than 16 bit.The new AV700 looks interesting, but has a few gotchas. The DACs used aren't the best, and it doesn't do HDMI audio (only video switching). It also doesn't layer DPL IIx on top of DTS.
The hot DSPs at the moment are the TI DA610 and the CS49500 - unfortunately not many units out there. I was looking at the Harman Kardon 635, but the analog preamp quality is poor, and the unit has some problems sticking in 7.1 mode.
poor (just-starting-out-dealer) probably had no idea how much I liked my AVP. It's replacement going to have to be pretty darn good. I've heard none of the Lexicons are very good as preamps in comparison (great surround modes though).I may not be happy with anything less than Levinson No. 40 but I can't afford this anytime soon. Halcro ? still $$$$. I'll probably tough it until the Proceed craps out (and even then I might be able to get it repaired for far cheaper than a suitable new pre/pro).
yeah you're right - i auditioned the lexicon mc-8 and wasn't impressed - it sounded no better as a preamp than a harman kardon receiver (but the harman kardon was like 1/5 of the price)you should try the cary cinema 6 out - don't be fooled by the relatively low price, like you i've been hunting around for a long time and this is the first unit i liked that i could actually afford. unfortunately, no balanced ins or out but then my power amp doesn't do balanced either.
I'd much prefer to take advantage of balanced outputs, though this is gonna cost. Not too many 5/6 channel balanced pre/pros out there... Sunfire ? Halcro, Theta (??), Meridian ?$$$),
out of those lot, meridian or theta is likely your best bet. not so sure about halcro or sunfire. there's also integra research rdc7.1 and halo c1.i've decided that the prepro market is too thin to really support up to date models. you may not have noticed this, but even the cheapest receivers tend to have better DSPs and support for more formats than very expensive pre pros. because these pre pros don't sell in large volumes, they tend to be several generations behind in technology, and that's inexcusable.
if didn't find the cary, i would have bought either a denon or a harman kardon receiver for use as a pre pro.
The best sound for the money is to be found in pre-pros from Sunfire, Anthem and Halo, not in multichannel preamps and certainly not in receivers. The installed market in North America is very heavy to pre-pros and they not only have current features, but frequent firmware updates.
... and i meant it. i haven't heard them, and unlike some people, i don't judge an equipment until i've heard it.and my comment on pre-pros relate to the DSPs, which are several generations behind what's available in even the cheapest receivers. that's a statement of fact, not opinion. there are NO pre pros out there based on the ti da610 chipset or the cs49500, but there are several AV receivers.
i have heard the lexicon mc-8, and compared it with a harman kardon dpr2005, and i don't think the difference in quality is significant enough given the price difference. this is an opinion though, not necessarily shared by everyone.
... just in case anyone is wondering why i care so much about the DSP, they do make a difference in the quality of the digital processing.as a rule of thumb, the more horsepower is available for DSP, the better the overall quality of the digital section. more horsepower translates to more precision used for DD/DTS decoding, which leads to smaller quantization errors caused by truncation/roundoff (this is not just a theoretical benefit, i can hear differences between DD done in 24 bit fixed point vs 32-bit floating point). 64-bit floating point is the ideal and will result in nearly "transparent" digital processing with no degradation of sound quality.
more horsepower also leads to more taps used for digital filtering, and the ability to run more digital filters, which improve the quality of bass management and room eq.
Basically, at this point in time, given that the latest gen DSPs are starting to offer 64-bit floating point, it would be silly to spend a lot of money on pre-pros based on out of date 24-bit DSPs.
Halo, Sunfire, Halcro, Meridian are using the Freescale platform, which is fundamentally 24-bit. Meridian, of course, has done their own proprietary code development and run their DSPs in 48-bit mode, but i'm not so sure about the others.
Lexicon is still using a 24-bit processor for DD/DTS decoding, but at least is using 32-bit floating point for bass management and Logic 7.
Compare that to the Denon AVR5805 and Harman Kardon AVR635, both of which are using the latest generation TI DA610.
What really lets the receivers down is the generally poorer quality of the analog preamp section, plus higher noise levels. But if you look at the specs of supposedly high end pre pros, they don't measure any better in terms of noise levels, and that concerns me.
What would be a better approach is to buy a relatively cheap receiver with good noise level specs, rip out the power amps, upgrade the power supply, and mod the analog pre amp section to improve the audio quality. I suspect that would give a better result than a typical "high end" pre pro.
which will yield an audible improvement (potentially huge), and stop worrying about the number of bits in the DSP used to convert low resolution sources.
you will understand why the number of bits used to decode Dolby Digital (which is what the majority of DVDs use) will yield a significant improvement in the decoding quality. Also, why floating point processing will be better than fixed point.and can you explain exactly why buying a wall shelf for the turntable will improve the playback of DVDs?
In general, I really don't think the quality of DVD sources requires more than 24 bit floating point architecture. By the way, I listened to the AV8 when I bought my "new" system, and it was by far the weakest of the pre-pros I listened to: the 5.1 analog sounded particularly bad. The Lexicon MC-8 didn't impress me much either. There are (or were) some much more impressive pre-pros you haven't mentioned: Bel Canto, EAD and Sim Audio (modified EAD) in particular.
*** I really don't think the quality of DVD sources requires more than 24 bit floating point architecture ***There is no such thing as "24 bit floating point architecture" - that would imply a 15 bit mantissa and 8 bit exponent plus a sign bit, which is clearly not enough to process 24-bit words.
The minimum required to process 24-bits resolution in floating point is a 32-bit representation.
24-bit fixed point is susceptible to round-off/truncation errors - and requires very careful scaling of intermediate results and a 48-bit accumulator. The Meridian approach of doing it entirely in 48-bits is a smart one, but requires twice the processing power.
But if you examine the link that i provided, even a casual numerical analysis would show that the algorithm is very difficult to implement in 24-bit fixed point. A bad implementation could easily reduce the accuracy of the final result to around 8-12 bits. Even a 32-bit floating point design is susceptible to quantization if care is not taken. A 64-bit implementation is ideal because it allows full 24-bit resolution to be carried throughout the entire processing chain with absolutely no danger of truncation even in pathological situations.
*** There are (or were) some much more impressive pre-pros you haven't mentioned: Bel Canto, EAD and Sim Audio (modified EAD) in particular. ***
I haven't heard them, which is why i haven't mentioned them. EAD and Sim Audio are still based on the 24-bit Freescale DSP though, don't know about Bel Canto. In general, I would stay away from any Freescale design apart from the Meridian. In addition to the 24-bit issue, Freescale doesn't provide certified DSP decoding libraries, unlike the other manufacturers, so you either have to rely on an in-house development team (very expensive R&D - hence the high cost of Meridian), or outsource to an outfit like Vinci Labs. I have nothing against Vinci Labs - they do good work, but it reduces the differentiation across models, and I would question their ability to sustain innovation given their limited R&D budget compared to someone like TI. Look at their ability to offer room eq, for example, it's still "coming" but TI and Cirrus Logic have working implementations. And someone like Audyssey isn't likely to write code for a 24-bit platform - it will be nearly impossible to optimize something as complex as that in fixed point.
I haven't opened up my Cary yet, but I suspect (based purely on the specs) that it is using the CS49400 DSP - not a bad chipset, and comes with a good DSP library, but not the latest and greatest. And there are some annoying quirks in the Cary implementation - no DPL2x layering on top of DTS for example.
PS - You may want to do a search on the Vinyl Asylum. A wall shelf doesn't necessarily improve vinyl performance, it depends on your house and your turntable. The general idea is that in a house with a wooden floor (or if you system is on an upper floor), the walls offer better rigidity and avoid floor vibrations. I nearly bought a wall shelf a few years ago, but based on advice from knowledgeable vinyl inmates, I'm glad I didn't since it's debatable whether it would have yielded an improvement in my situation (my house is built on a concrete slab).
I always assumed that the Motorola 56000 processors supported 32 bit floating point.
it took a lot of effort for Meridian to program them in 48-bits, since it involves maintaining intermediate results in two parallel sets of registers.I doubt that any other manufacturer have done similar - maybe in pockets of the code, but not all the way through.
Which really means it's highly unlikely you are hearing anywhere close to 24-bit resolution on these devices. Those are "marketing" bits, but processing quantization errors reduce the accuracy to not much more than 16 bits at best.
What are pre pros? During this part of the thread I have been trying to figure it out, but without success.
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Christine: Looks great! A couple of questions, though. Isn't the Sony surround preamp you have a TA-P9000ES? (I also have one, though mine is in black.) I agree that this is a fine unit. My other question is about calibrating your Sony LCD projector. I have
the older model, A Sony VW-10HT. How did you calibrate it? Did you go into special menu's to adjust the gain & bias for each color channel?
yes, the m-ch preamp is the TA-9000ES, which is available in gold in australia (just like the xa777es).In terms of calibrating the projector, I use SMART III (www.smartavtweaks.com) plus a light meter.
SMART III should work on your 10HT with a CC30R colour filter (i know, because the instructions has a section specificaly on the 10HT). you do need to go into the service mode to set bias and gain, and if necessary, you may even need to go into factory mode to set gamma and colour uniformity across the panel.
Christine: Thank you for taking the time to reply. I'm afraid all of that is a little too technical for me, but I appreciate your response.
the instructions are actually very clear, and you don't need to understand any technical details because the software actually prompts you what to do at each step (i.e., increase red gain by 23, decrease blue by 56, increase green bias by 2).it's fascinating watching it figure out what settings to change, and then successive measurement rounds get closer and closer to spec until it finally says "congratulations, you're done!"
Watched the DVD using the DTS 6.1 ES Discrete soundtrack, after adjusting for speaker levels and distances on the Cary.All I can say is, wow! I've never heard the soundtrack this good before, not even at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington NZ which was equipped under Peter Jackson's supervision for the premiere.
I can hear reverb on the dialogue, and the reverb decay and ambience is different from scene by scene and location by location. I can also hear that the orchestra plays pretty much continuously in the background, not just when the music swells up. Also, the sound effects like the Nazgul scream, explosions, thunder rolls etc. are just awesome!
The imaging from the rear speakers are superb, i can hear subtle pans in foley effects behind me, so it's not just something coming from the left, something from the right, and something directly behind. and of course front imaging is excellent, even minor details like footsteps track the location of characters on screen.
i also just finished recalibrating the colour temperature of the LCD projector (the colours have drifted somewhat due to bulb age, the lamp is reaching nearly 2000 hours and everthing had a bit of a green tinge) and the picture quality is fantastic! The 11HT projector calibrated, and using a CC40R filter IMHO still stands well against the latest DLP projectors, and there's no rainbow effect :-) Despite the bulb age, contrast is still pretty good, around 400:1 (real world figure, as opposed to brochureware specs) based on my latest measurements.
SACDs are amazing on this system. Titles that I thought were so-so on my previous system really come alive in the new system. Even CDs sound wonderful. So far, the only thing that sounds bad are LPs. I'm hearing quite a bit of inner groove distortion - looks like I still need to experiment further with vibration isolation, and maybe seriously consider replacing the glass platform with an MDF board.
It's amazing how a good system can make even mediocre music sound wonderful. For fun, I put on Peter White Glow - an album I've always thought was so-so and music bordered on muzak. Wow, this album sounds positively electrifying in the new system! I originally put it on as background music, but ended up listening to the whole album!
My system changes have been in the room treatment area. Blocking off the windows in the front half of the room plus relocating the carpet so the (heretofore-too-short) speaker spikes actually touch the floor and moving the speakers back seems to have significantly improved bass response and definition and makes the sound "livelier";I'm also raising the floor on the back half of the room (to make it level with the kitchen floor) which will allow 2nd row seating with unobstructed view of the display. I'm also apparently getting better bass impact in the second row but this may because the surround speakers are coupling "better" (?) through the wooden raised floor. This probably slightly compromises hi-rez multichannel. Adding HT seating would more seriously compromise MC audio.
for good imaging, i have nothing in the front between and around the speakers and the projector screen to maximise reflections from the front wall, which reinforce the stereo soundstage.for the rear speakers, i try and dampen as much as possible. there's two thick curtains covering nearly the entire rear wall (except for a sliver in the centre for the surround back speakers), so i get no reflections from the front channels, and none from the surround speakers. this is absolutely crucial to get good pinpoint surround imaging.
the right wall is completely obscured by my equipment rack, which "diffuses" reflections. there is no left wall, it opens out into the rest of the living room.
in terms of your surround speakers interacting with your raised floor, you can try decoupling them completely by using sorbothane. sorbothane is a great vibration isolation material, and i've found many uses for it (for example, my centre speaker is sitting on a set of sorbothane blocks).
In the meantime, the front speakers are still several feet in front of the front (secondary) display. The center speaker probably does more "damage" to stereo imaging then the current decrepit RPTV. Haven't tried yet to decouple the rear speakers from the floor; I'm still in construction mode. The debate now is whether I should hire a professional to install carpet (being strapped for cash makes me hesitate). I'm also leaning towards putting left over R13 insulation in the space between the "stage/risers" and the tile floor; gotta finish boarding up the remaining windows firsts.7.1 is going to be tough; this requires a new processor, two new amp channels, and two new speakers and I'm loath to dump a still-working Proceed AVP pre-pro.
true 1080p projectors that are affordable are just around the corner - wait a few months or so.The biggest flat panels just ain't big enough for me :-)
My next major upgrade will probably be in 3-5 years time, when 1080p projectors should be cheap, and surround processors supporting the new DD+ and DTS-HD formats for HD-DVD and Bluray should be out (hopefully by that time we'll know who the winner of the format war is as well).
The flat panel would be for "non-serious" viewing. Can't waste $500 FP light bulbs watching CNN. Alleged 2000 hour bulb life means $0.25/hour of FP watching.
but plasmas have fairly short life expectancies too? I can't remember what the specs are in terms hours until the brightness decreases by half, but you could easily be spending $.50-$1 an hour watching plasma :-( the new panels are a lot better, but i would dare say it's a lot simpler and cheaper to replace bulbs every few years than a whole new panel.projector bulbs last a lot longer if you minimise turning them on and off. so watching CNN all day will actually decrease the per hour cost. An installer told me projectors that are left running all day tends to to have bulb expectancy around 3x-4x (eg. you get about 6000-8000 hours out of them).
I'm making do with decrepit old (non-HD) RPTV holding out until I don't have to pay a price premium for an HD display (could be waiting a good while though).Also can't hurt to wait to see the long-term reliability data on various flat panel technologies.
you could try DLP RPTVs - 1080p ones are already out. they have the same bulb life as front projectors though. LCD tend to have relatively poor black levels - may not be a problem if you always have ambient light though.
Christine, why is the B&W pictured so close to the wall and behind the cabinet? I have the 7xx series, very similar, and I know they sound better with a lot more room behind and to the sides. Also, try to avoid any objects between each speaker, the sound will merge better. B&W make every effort to avoid directivity, which means the sweet spot is large and the sound diffuses very widely, but the constraint is that front neighbouring objects are a problem. Wooden floors are also a big problem, make sure you isolate the speakers correctly, and try to tilt them back slightly to align the drivers.
the speaker is in that position because that is the best spot for it, after experimentation with various positions. it's actually not "behind the cabinet" - it's adjacent to it (probably looks that way because the angle tricks the eyes), and there is no obstruction of the speaker drivers.the cdm 7nt series are rear as well as front ported, and according to b&w needs to be about 1 foot away from a wall. this is certainly confirmed through trial and error as well. you lose a lot of bass if you move them away.
the cabinet is probably too close to the speaker, but ironically probably a good idea, since it minimises hard reflections from the side wall. you must remember, the rules are different for surround speakers compared to front speakers - you actually don't want reflections (unlike normal stereo speaker positioning where reflections from the back wall reinforce and expand the soundstage).
the "wooden floor" is not a problem because it is not a true timber floor, just a "simulated" one (it's actually timber veneer laid on top of a concrete slab).
> the cabinet is probably too close to the speaker, but ironically probably a good idea, since it minimises hard reflections from the side wall. <You might be getting fewer reflections from the wall, but you're getting worse reflections from the side of the cabinet. The reflections from the wall are a known quantity and considered when the radation pattern of the speaker was designed, reflections from an item placed to the side/front weren't. They'll also have phasing issues.
> you must remember, the rules are different for surround speakers compared to front speakers - you actually don't want reflections (unlike normal stereo speaker positioning where reflections from the back wall reinforce and expand the soundstage). <
It depends on what you're listening to and the loudspeakers, but all reflections are inherently bad and should be avoided. "Expanding the soundstage" also blurs the image and creates an uneven response. But for movies, the surrounds should be diffuse and sometimes wall reflections help, but for music, that's not the case.
If your speaker is in the "right" position, the rack isn't, but then, sometimes we all have to compromise.
*** You might be getting fewer reflections from the wall, but you're getting worse reflections from the side of the cabinet. ***maybe, but there's no clear path for these reflections to get to the listening position, because they then get absorbed by the back curtains. You have to understand, i've done some thinking about this.
*** It depends on what you're listening to and the loudspeakers, but all reflections are inherently bad and should be avoided ***
Not necessarily. Most speakers are designed assuming reflections from a back wall. There's lots of evidence that anechoic rooms are very bad for audio, so not all reflections are inherently bad.
What you want is some liveliness from the room, but not a completely dead one. The prevailing opinion is to make one wall relatively uncluttered (usually the front wall), and make all the other walls either "complex" (ie. the equipment rack, bookshelves, etc.) or dampened (ie. using curtains or other sound absorbing material) or "open". And either the ceiling or the floor should be dampened (carpet or rug works).
This is exactly what i've done with the current setup.
*** But for movies, the surrounds should be diffuse and sometimes wall reflections help ***
You should do a search, there's been a thread on this. "surrounds should be diffuse" is NOT generally considered best practice anymore - this was (is) a THX recommendation, and THX is wrong. diffuse surrounds completely destroy imaging. Look at the setup for the mixing soundstage at Skywalker Sound, they aim for pinpoint imaging just as i do.
The Cary Cinema 6 is sitting on top of the Musical Fidelity A3.2cr preamp. Fortunately, they are colour-matched :-)Note that all volume controls on all three pre-amps are situated right next to the couch, so the entire system is easily drivable manually without remote control. Components that require less user fiddling are located farther away.
Unfortunately, this rack now partially obscures the monet print, have to move it and replace with a smaller print.Notice the ugly cabling behind each component - if anyone has good suggestions on how to tidy up cabling let me know.
Have you considered cutting holes in the back above each shelf, and passing the cables through? This would clean-up the cable mess.
if anyone has good suggestions on how to tidy up cabling let me knowWhat I've done in the past to hide cabling is to drill holes in the back of the shelf. Get a hole saw bit for your drill, choosing the hole size big enough so your biggest power cord plug fits through easily, with some extra slop to allow other cables to fit through as well. Then for each shelf that has equipment, drill two holes in the back - one on the left and one on the right - just above the height of that shelf. Then route your cables through these holes behind the back of the shelf. Since the holes are low on each shelf (and hopefully not too far to the left or right), the equipment covers them up so you can't see the cables - unless of course you happen to look behind the shelf :-). Sometimes this technique can be used to prevent sensitive cables from coming too close to each other, or prevent power cords from being too close to signal cables.
Are you using a single remote for everything ? If so, which one did you go with. I'm still in the stacks-of-remotes-by-the chair-stand mode. I get riled all the time about this apparently glaring weakness in my system.
the "universal remote control" is actually my pda, an asus a730w. currently, it's only acting as a remote control for the HTPC, but i'm planning on making it a universal remote control for all my equipment. it communicates to the HTPC via TCP/IP over Wi-Fi, and there's a program called MCE Controller that simulates the MCE2005 remote control when you open a socket to it and send text like "play". there's also a plug in that drives Windows Media Player bi-directionally - ie. i can view all the albums i've ripped onto the hard drive on the screen of the PDA, and point and click which album and/or track i want to listen to, and it provides status information (like time elapsed) back to the PDA. Very neat!!!i've also got a program which turns the PDA into a keyboard/mouse for the HTPC. Finally, if i'm really desperate, i can run the terminal server client on the PDA and drive the HTPC UI directly on the PDA (it has a VGA screen).
In order to make it into a universal remote control, i can buy the commercial version of NetRemote which will drive the IR port on the PDA, or else install an IR transmitter on the HTPC and use NetRemote to drive a program like Hip or Girder on the HTPC which will then blast the IR codes to the equipment rack. Unfortunately, this method, although very cool, requires the PC to be turned on which kind of defeats the purpose.
What is the back of the cabinet made of? Is it solid wood, veneer or just fiberboard?
You could cut away parts of the back, low in each cubby so it is right behind each componant, and run all the cords in back of the cabinet.
You may also want to switch from twist ties to zip ties. The only downside is when you want to make changes, they have to be cut off.
I have a Sound Organization rack for my equipement and because it is metal with glass shelves, I have cords zip tied to one another and the frame of the rack. Makes it very easy to pull the rack out if I need to tweek something in back.
Just some suggestions, good luck
i'm thinking of removing the entire back panel (which is made of fibreboard) and just let the wires hang loose from the back. probably helps with heat dissipation as well :-)
...to maintain lateral stability (i.e., remain square). Try to remove it such a way that you can put it back on if necessary. I have the same problem with my cabinet. I decided to drill holes with a holesaw. An inelegant solution to be sure, but effective.
because I recently assassinated the back of my cabinet with some sort of circular saw. It was very ugly. If hired help had laid waste to a hunk of wood in that manner I would be suing him or her for several types of damages including malicious destruction. But man was it worth it!
Fortunately, the back of the cabinet is out of view so the hack job is not at all visible. Most of all it has worked perfectly! Prior to my whacking out the back of a portion of the cabinet the installation of a single component would be a two-person two-hour job. And heaven forbid if I wired something incorrectly. Now the *same* job might take 15 minutes.
A few weeks ago Guy Hammel of Placette Audio, who designed and built my passive multi-channel line stage was in the San Francisco Bay Area and paid me a visit. We were able to slip a piece of gear in and out in just a few minutes. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Knocking out that back wall has made life so much simpler.
Like you I made sure not to take out so much that the cabinet would possibly loose physical integrity.
Robert C. Lang
A circular saw requires far too much skill for me. Besides, I had to work with the cabinet in its upright position, hence the hole saw. Unfortunately, I did not have the good sense to buy a hole saw with a diameter large enough to drill holes large enough for my hand to fit through. Nevertheless, reconnecting cables is easier than before... just not easy enough.
Correction. Being a complete novice (and an idiot) when in comes to working with wood I incorrectly said that I used "some sort of a circular saw" to hack out a back portion of the cabinet. I double checked and I used a Black and Decker "jigsaw". A jigsaw, of course, takes a lot less skill and far less dangerous than a circular saw.
Robert C. Lang
A skilled craftsman probably would have used a hole saw to cut out rounded corners of an otherwise rectangular openning and then used a jigsaw guided by a straight-edged jig to cut the sides of the rectangular openning but that level of care would be out of character for me. Hey! When did this morph into the woodworking asylum?
This is the antithesis of a woodworking asylum. But I have one more tidbit to share. Truth be told I, in fact, did start out with a saw hole to launch my assault on the cabinet.Here's what happen. It all came to a head when I received my new EMM Labs gear that I had been anxiously waiting for the previous 8 weeks or so. I installed the new gear, that because of the solid back of the cabinet, and because it was multi-channel which made things exponentially more complicated, took hours to complete. The only thing I had to do was to connect the power cords to the EMM Labs gear and listen to some glorious music.
That's when Murphy called. The EMM Labs came with two huge Kimber Power cords and I could not get them through the "cable slot" in the back of the cabinet. I almost hit the roof. I was so near yet so far. I had no way to plug in the power.
The following day a friend of mine came to my rescue with a saw hole drill attachment, much like I suspect a locksmith would use to drill a large hole for a lock or door handle. That enabled me to plug in the new gear.
A few days later I said, "screw it" I'm knocking out this cursed back wall. I bought the jigsaw and used the newly made screw holes from which to launch my assault on the cabinet back.
An oversize power cord connector led me to commence drilling operations too. More importantly, how do you like your EMM Labs gear? How does it compare to the Sony SCD-1 (or how does the Sony SCD-1 compare to it)? Currently, I am in repair purgatory with my Sony SCD XA777ES.
At some point I will get around to doing a "review" of the EMM Labs combo. I find doing such write ups extremely difficult particularly since I'm not comfortably fluent with audiophile descriptions which are themselves not very meaningful or helpful.I will say that the EMM Labs combo, for me, is worth every single nickel that I paid for it both for two-channel and for the main reason I chose it over competitors, multi-channel playback. I'm not about to diss the SCD-1 like many have. It has been a tremendously fine performer in my system. And if I did not want to try to get more close to a real musical experience with multi-channel the SCD-1 would still be my SACD player. I will say that I have found several very revealing and distinct music passages that, for me, show that the EMM Labs turns it up a notch in its ability to reveal detail in a way that is not possible with the SCD-1.
Robert C. Lang
Started with jigsaws to enlarge holes; in one case I just removed the whole back panel. Then I relegated the entertainment center to the master bedroom after I moved.I've since graduated to circular saws to build wooden stage/riser in my HT "toy room". I may try my hand at carpet installer/hacker-extraordinaire or do the sane thing and higher a professional.
The loops in the cables and they way they are tied together isn't the greatest idea, it might encourage RF issues. Sometimes a random rats-nest is best, or if you want to be organized and need to cross wires, try to do it at right angles.
the ties are merely to bunch and group related cables together.
There's a slight hum on the a5 power amps when i turn them on, but gradually disappears as the amps warm up.Someone advised me to turn them on sequentially rather than all at once to regulate the current draw ...
I'd definitely power the amps sequentially. Initial current surge on power up can run 10-15 amps. Also, the hum could be coming from the Sony TAP, especially if it goes away after a few minutes (a known issue with the TAP). Is the TAP new?Nice setup!
In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain.
--George Szell
the preamps get powered up last, after the power amps are up and running. the "hum" definitely comes from the power amp, because you can hear it when everything else is off.the TA-P9000ES is "new" - actually, a factory "seconds" unit purchased with full warranty as new ones are impossible to get (Sony discontinued them a year or so ago) - i know about the buzzing problem, but i don't know whether my unit has the fix applied or not. certainly i haven't had any issues with powering it up or down so far.
interestingly, the system is deliberately designed as three "independent" systems, driven by the three separate preamps. Ie., it is possible to operate the system on any one preamp with the other two preamps completely switched off (and even with the plug pulled) through clever use of the power amp input switches and passive switching. this is done by minimise noise and signal corruption.
> the preamps get powered up last, after the power amps are up and running. the "hum" definitely comes from the power amp, because you can hear it when everything else is off. <You might want to power up the pre-amps first, then if they make any clicks, pops, snaps or thumps (especially as they age) they won't be amplified and passed on to the loudspeakers.
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the "hum" is coming directly from the power amp (probably the transformer, or the choke regulator).
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