Pictures of your B&W Set-up

[DonH17]

Don what sonic differences did you pick up using the stands for the speakers?.

Both the HNE Plinths and the sound anchors give added stability to the speakers, but just as importantly, decouple the speaker from the floor which gives you tighter more focused bass. The best way to describe the additional benefit of the plinth is that it gives you the same effect as adding ballast (some speaker companies suggest - and I realize that B&W isn't one of them - filling speaker bases with sand or fine shot) to your cabinet. The added weight takes (thee plinths are screwed into the spike wholes on the bottom of the speakers) away any secondary vibrations from the cabinet giving you even tighter low frequency response.

[armasace]

Here is my current system.
B&W Matrix 800
Krell Audio Standard Amp
Krell Audio/Video Standard Processor
Krell KAV 500
Krell KAV 300 CD
Pioneer Plasma MX-614
Straighwire Cresendo & Tara Labs "The ONE" cables

I just ordered the a pair of the 800D & HTM2D.

[RXDI]

My WIP. Looking for some new fronts.

Samsung HLP5085W
Yamaha RX-V2400
SA 8300HD
Sony DVP-NC665P
B&W LCR6 S2
B&W 602 S2
B&W LM1
Sunfire True Signature

[sheldon007]

Audio System / Home Theatre

My system :
Amplifier-MARANTZ SR8200,Power amp-ANTHEM MCA30.
Dvd player-PIONEER Elite DV 47A.
Speakers:front B&W704, surround sides B&W DS6-S3
Center B&WHTM7
Surround rears B&W inwalls CWN650 (2).
Subwoofers VELODYNE SPL1000 & SPL800
MONSTER POWER HTS3600

[georgev]

Welcome sheldon, lovely system.
Just curious, why two different subwoofers?
A comment if I may, try moving the two fronts a wee away from the sides of the cabinet and toe them in slightly.
Enjoy.

[JCL]

Your right, to move them, they have more room to breath, I would try it if I were sheldon007 Voor de rest, cool steup!

[sheldon007]

Hi Georgev and JCL
Its hard to see in the photo that the speakers are 8" apart from the cabinet.
Also the cabinet is 10 feet in lenght. So the more I move them the less imaging in my opinion. Because of the size of the room 20x24 and my budget, two subs sounded better than one!



Thanks for the comments!

[Mark_C.]

New photos. I have just replaced ou Classe CAP-101 with a Musical Fidelity A5 in our two-channel system. It's quite a difference going from 100 wpc to 250 wpc. The A5 instantly gives much more top end. But we're mostly listening at normal levels to allow the A5 to break in a bit.
Rest of the system:
B&W N804s, Rel Storm III, Sony C222ES 5-disc changer

[kurtholz]

Pics of my set-up

Well, here is my set-up, any tips mucho appreciated,

Krell showcase 7.1 processor
Krell Kav 3250 amp ( fronts)
Rotel 1095 amp ( rears)
Rotel 1060 dvd
Polk Audio XM radio
Monster power 3500
B & W Nautilus 803 fronts
B & W HTM1 center
B&W asw800 sub
B & W CDMNT9 rear surrounds
B & W 601 rear center

TV is going away next week, still can't decide on 60 inch DLP or 50 inch Plasma

regards to all

Kurt

[PewterTA]

Looks good Kurt! Very nice equipment you have there.

Might I also add though as to why you have the back rears so close together in your 7.1? I bet you would get a better enveloping rear sound stage if you moved them out a foot or two from each other... Wouldn't take a lot, maybe go like 1/3 out from where they are now towards the sides.

[kurtholz]

thanks for the tip, i think my reasoning was , the Rotel 1067 i started with sent the same info to both rear centers, ( pre-update) my lack of will power and upgraditis caused me to just go Krell instead of hassle with updating my Rotel,

that's normal reasoning right??

hahaha

Kurt

[brendon]

Mini HT with 602's

Here is a couple of pics of my slowly evolving mini (4m x4.3 m) HT room. The B&W 602s3's and LCR 60 are being driven by a Marantz SR7500 and signal provided by Pioneer DV 676 universal player and the CD player is an old Kenwood 8020 circa 1991.
System will be completed with 601s3 at rear at more than likely a SVS or HSU sub.I will be puting in curtains behind the double recliner lounge and some additional lighting and bookcase /media storage unit as funds allow.
Eventually hope to add Panasonic PT AE700 projector (or its replacement).
Brendon

[misterdoggy]

Humble Abode On Lake Annecy France

Front View



Room View



Thomson 42 inch Plasma
Fronts 2 x 804S
Surrounds 2 x 805S
Sub ASW 825
Center Htm3S
Krell Kav 3250
Krell Kav 2250
Parasound Halo C1
Pioneer Dv 868avi
Rotel Rcd 1072
English Satellite
French Satellite
Nordost Everywhere


Side View



Sub ASW 825 and 805S
Nordost Solar Wind Everything, 230v Heavy duty Current



Krells Kav3250 & 2250 + Parasound Halo C1

[PewterTA]

Brendon - That's a great start...it's very close to what I started out with a little over 3 years ago...it's amazing how quickly things will evolve and take shape each step getting you close and closer to that HT Nirvana we all seek! I might suggest the LCR600 would better match the 602s you have...though not a huge change over the LCR60, you will notice that the 600 blends a lot more seemlessly (though there is still a little difference).

MisterDoggy - Looking good! I love the looks of the B&Ws in the room, fits in like a nice piece of art work. I have to give you props on using a corner setup. Those types often are hard to get sounding really good. I personally don't like how close the front three speakers are, that would bother me...but it looks really good. Great job with keeping the center level with the rest of the front speakers. That makes a huge difference right there I bet!

[misterdoggy]

I have to give you props on using a corner setup. Those types often are hard to get sounding really good. I personally don't like how close the front three speakers are, that would bother me...but it looks really good.

PewterTA
Yeah not much choice considering the room. Opposite the corner arrangement are windows and caddy corner is the couch. I could forget the fish tank and stick all the HiFi Ht in that cupboard.

[Claude D D]

misterdoggy that's some fantastic gear you've got there.Unforunately you will not be able to realize the potential of the gear you have do to the current room and placement in the room.Is this a permanent location or are you planning another room to relocate your system to that would be more suited for optimal performance?

[misterdoggy]

I should sell my house and get something more suited to my HT system. There's nothing else I can do. If you look at the big foto there's a chimney, piano and across directly are windows where the couch is. If I would put the Screen directly in front of the couch It would be in front of the chimney and that don't work. There's not even a place to put the sub except to the side. I had B&W on the phone as they are 1 hour difference to France, and said that " ....I should put the subwoofer in the listening sweet spot (couch) then move around the room and the place where it sounds the best is the best placement for the subwoofer !.." I would like to build a room, but the truth is we enjoy watching a lot of Satellite TV from England and France and if I was to build a room just for watcing DVD's, It wouldn't be as warm a feeling as the living Room. The setups I've seen on this thread are fantastic, but the ones I like the best are the warm home feeling rather than the high tech top quality cool feeling. Its not all about equipment, its about Where would you like to "hang out" too.

[Verinnal]

... its about Where would you like to "hang out" too.

Awesome setup misterdoggy and I couldn't agree with you more. Right now we (my fiance and I) are still figuring out the final arrangements of how we want the living room to look and we're thinking that we incorporate a small two channel setup in there to create a nice ambience for when we entertain guests. We'll definitely be arranging speakers to fit the room moreso than having the room arranged around the speaker placement. I'm definitely impressed by the dedicated home theaters that I've seen on some forums including this one but am, in some ways, more impressed by the people that have seemlessly integrated a comfy/cozy living space with a media room. Its not quite the same as feeling like you have a movie theater in your house but the sonic/visual experience can come close with the right gear. :T

[Claude D D]

Misterdoggy,I didn't mean to offend you.You have a fantastic system and a beautiful home. :T All I was stating is that due to your enviroment the system won't live up to its maximum potential.There are many people that have rooms that look and function great.That can sound great and be a nice place to hang out.And to some people performance of their system is the more important factor.
If your systems performance isn't that important,you could ship me your gear and I'll send you a Bose system instead. :W (notice the wink-I'm just joking with you)
Once again no offence meant.

[Claude D D]

Right now we (my fiance and I) are still figuring out the final arrangements of how we want the living room to look and we're thinking that we incorporate a small two channel setup in there to create a nice ambience for when we entertain guests. We'll definitely be arranging speakers to fit the room moreso than having the room arranged around the speaker placement. I'm definitely impressed by the dedicated home theaters that I've seen on some forums including this one but am, in some ways, more impressed by the people that have seemlessly integrated a comfy/cozy living space with a media room

trying not to gag but.........next thing you know there is chick things and plants on your speakers...........if that ever happened to me I'd reach for the gun!!! :W (winking-joking,you know).That's part of the plan these days.More and more people want nice sound without compromising their decor.I can appreciate that.Working at a custom A/V shop I deal with that scenario on a daily basis.But it's much more fun dealing with people that know that the gear and room acoustics come first and that even going by those rules you can still have a great looking room. :T

[misterdoggy]

[QUOTE=Working at a custom A/V shop I deal with that scenario on a daily basis.But it's much more fun dealing with people that know that the gear and room acoustics come first and that even going by those rules you can still have a great looking room. :T[/QUOTE]

Claude DD

No offense taken ! I've taken the time with a spl meter and tweaked the most out of the placement that could be done. I would always have the HT in the living room, otherwise it would be only used once in a while. I mean we watch lots of DVD's, but we like to stop and take a break, get some snacks, bathroom etc what-ever. "RELAX" is the word "COOL RUNNINGS" you know. You know the old movie theaters used to be decorated as palaces with velor seats, gold baroque mouldings, cupids, air conditioning, extravagant surroundings, an experience of warmth and the fantastic. Look at Grummans Chinese theater in Hollywood. What I'm saying is that "ambience" is important too.

PS I read this thread from beginning to end and I must say that the IGOR incident was misrepresentation. I am a poster dealer and its normal for me to have invested alot of resources ($$$) in posters, so as to sell them. After all its my business. I am also a poster collector and have a huge collection. Its one thing to show your entire investment in your business as your casual hobby, and another thing to actually invest that kind of $$ in your casual hobby. He should not have said "it took a long time to build this" or something to that effect, leading the reader to believe, his efforts were personal and not driven by entrepreneurship (marketing). You INVEST in your business, but you SPEND on your hobbies.

[brendon]

In reply to Pewter TA

Hi thanks for the encouragement,I looked at the LCR600 and it would have been my first choice but budjet got in the way !I find it to be acceptable compromise in my small room but may trade to a lcr600 later.
My wife has already told me that this system has to last me for the next 10 years but then allowed me to buy the marantz SR7500 instead of the much cheaper SR5500 so I cant complain(I could but nobody would listen ).
I am afraid I will have to get out of aviation and get a real job before moving to setups like Misterdoggy's one above and some of the other works of art on this thread but it gives one something to aspire to.
That ASW 850 in the above thread would have to one of the best looking subs I have seen.
I too had noticed a lot of people posting on this thread seemed to have thier speakers a lot closer together than I had been told was optimal in the old 2 channel days ( up to twice as far apart as you are sitting from them) but had assumed this had been done to allow photography.
I would be interested to hear what others thought about this in a multi channel setting.
Brendon

[misterdoggy]

brendon,

Just a note to say that if I had a choice I would separate the speakers more. Since I posted the photos I've had recommendations from others to separate my fronts more which I did and noticed the soundstage dramatically change. The constraints of the room and the boss (the wife) limit the separation.

[PewterTA]

Misterdoggy, did you seperate them more (but still left the speaker in the corner) where they are at right? You didn't move the whole setup?

It's great to hear that even moving them a little how much it can change the sound (especially how the speakers image) so dramatically... Imagine if you could get them seperated out further!

[misterdoggy]

I would love to redo the room, but its not in the cards. I would prefer having the speakers with a wall behind them rather than caddy corner sticking out in the room. All the best material in the world can't change good placement. But better to have better equipment badly placed than bad equipment badly placed.

[RjS805]

Modest B&W set-up

First time B&W owner and I love them! Not pictured is a pair of DM 600 S3's for rears.

[RebelMan]

First time B&W owner and I love them! Not pictured is a pair of DM 600 S3's for rears.

I first fell in love with B&W speakers back in 1988 when I became the proud owner of a pair of DM110i's, which were the ancestors to the current 600 series.

Congrats Rj.

[audioqueso]

First time B&W owner and I love them! Not pictured is a pair of DM 600 S3's for rears.

Ah... the 600 series. I love those speakers! They were my first B&Ws and enlighten my ears to musical bliss. I couldn't believe how nice a small pair of speakers could sound. Ahhhh. Nice setup.

[weijst]

From club Rotel, but hey, I'm just being proud here

Have been busy upgrading my system the last few months:

• replaced 705's with N804's
• replaced HTM7 with HTM2
• replaced NAD tuner with the RT-1080
• replaced all my cables

Thought it was time for some new photos!

Next steps (in random order, any ideas?):

• replace Marantz with (upcoming) Rotel DVD player
• replace surrounds with SCM1's or N805's
• add subwoofer (ASW750 or SVS)
• perhaps add dedicated 2ch amp (maybe a digital amp)

Anyway, I'm getting there

[kate]

looking good

Hi Weijst...

It is looking very very nice indeed..:-)
join the club of the n804 ......

Klinkt zeker mooi.
Ziet er ook gelikt uit!

[Ian D]

Hi I'm new to this forum although I've been brousing for a while I've picked up many usefull ideas and tricks of you guys so keep it up. Here are my two modest systems if I can get the pics to upload

[Ian D]

Oops guess I should have given a description

Main room
Fronts 703's
Centre HTM7
Sub ASW750
Surrounds DS7
Amp Marantz SR8500
CD Marantz CD5400
DVD Pioneer DV575A
TV Sony KP FX 43 M61
VCR Sansui VC-R953EIS

Bedroom
5 x M1's
AS2 Sub
Marantz SR 4500 Amp
Pioneer DVD DV575A as main room
TV Sony XA 25 M30A

Cheers Ian

[audioqueso]

Nice looking setup there Ian. What kind of audio rack is that? I'd like to get a rack to match my maple 805s.

I noticed you have a silver Marantz. You must be in Europe or Japan, huh? I rarely see the silver-SILVER colored models in the US. You setup looks very very nice!

[Ian D]

Thanks Audioquesso,

The Audio rack is an Eagle audio but I think he calls himself Soundstructures now, you can match the wood to your speakers and the tubes are filled with sand, I love it and it keeps the missus happy as she likes the look. The web page is www.soundstructures.co.za

I'm in South Africa and have the choice of black or silver for the Marantz equipment, I always wondered why most of the pics show black Marantz stuff now I know :-)

Glad you like the set up I'm thinking of upgrading the amp with a power amp and using the Marantz as a pure pre amp. Lokking at Lexicon / Rotel / Adcom any thoughts.

[audioqueso]

I have a Marantz SR6400 right now. I have been looking for an amp to add and use the Marantz as a pre-amp. I had added a Rotel RB-991 this past month, but I didn't really like it. I have been researching and listening to several amps this past month. I've heard a lot of owners in our same situation say that Sunfire and Parasound match up nicely to Marantz, so I bought a used Parasound 1205A from ebay the other day. If I like it, later on down the road I'll buy on of their newer amps, perhaps the New Classic Line model 5250. I'll let you know how it goes.

[caleb]

Audio rack

Ian D,
I made this rack for my TAG equipment last weekend.

It has granite shelves and weighs in at a hefty 115 kilos.

Cost me about R1500 so much better value than SoundStructures.

[Ian D]

Hi Caleb,
Looks great and as you say far better value, It looks very similar with the eight posts to SS's new stand in July's AVSA. Do you think the granite shelves are better than wood ? as I'm sure they are harder to work. Are the post sand filled ? and are there spikes to the floor ?
But your stand looks very nice OK if youv,e got the tools :-)

[caleb]

Hi Caleb,
Looks great and as you say far better value, It looks very similar with the eight posts to SS's new stand in July's AVSA. Do you think the granite shelves are better than wood ? as I'm sure they are harder to work. Are the post sand filled ? and are there spikes to the floor ?
But your stand looks very nice OK if youv,e got the tools :-)

Thanks for your nice words Ian.
Actually not too difficult to work with granite, as I got the shelves cut to size, and bullnosed all round by the Granite company here in Cape Town.

Drilling the holes was the biggest chore, as you have to use a regular masonry drill, but keep the drill bit flowing with water so it doesn't overheat.

Yes the spikes go to the floor, and the tubes are isolated from the granite by rubber sleeves and rubber washers.

I have actually shown the stand to a local Hi Fi shop and they are interested in my making two for them as demo units - you never know - maybe I can start a Hi Fi stand business in my spare time!!

[Ian D]

Hi Celeb,
Good for you, could prove do be a nice little earner making stands, It would help with this very expensive hobby of ours
If you ever do go into production I could do with a nice three tier stand for my Bedroom system :lol: :lol:
Mind you at 115 kgs the transport up here would be more than the cost of the stand. :T

[caleb]

Hi Celeb,
Good for you, could prove do be a nice little earner making stands, It would help with this very expensive hobby of ours
If you ever do go into production I could do with a nice three tier stand for my Bedroom system :lol: :lol:
Mind you at 115 kgs the transport up here would be more than the cost of the stand. :T

Tell you what - give me your dimensions and I'll cost it for you and give it you at cost - you can then see if it's wirthwhile sending up to Jhb.

[scottielee]

hi,
here are some pictures of my newest additions: velodyne dd-12 and herbie's audio lab tube dampers.

Images not available

cheers!
scottie

[slymcgriddle]

Here is my system.

[JCL]

Cool system, but isn't the screen to high up? Or is that just how it looks on the second picture?

[misterdoggy]

Nice set up Scottielee !! Very tasteful. I especially like the Art Deco piece your monitor is on with the 2 tone veneers.

Slymcgriddle very nice setup indeed. It does seem like Im arching my neck backwards to look at the screen. Its higher than the picture on the right wall. I think the sound stage would be less spread out if you lower the screen closer to the center speaker. Since most of the speech is coming from the center you want to get it as close to the people you are seeing as you can. IMHO

[audioqueso]

Beautiful setup scootielee... very nice!
How does the Velodyne blend in with your 805? I'm looking to add a sub to my 805 in the next few months as well.