Post your home audio setups. Here is mine.

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

After being on the shelf for more than 4 years I decided to dust off my old Denon DCD-695 CD player which has a coax digital output. I also dusted off my Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0. I ran a Monster Cable M1000 Silver Video coax cable from the Denon (now a transport) to the Alchemy's coax input. Then I ran a 1 meter pair of Monster Cable M1000 Mk 3 analog interconnects (retailed for around $200 back in the 90s) from the analog outputs of the Alchemy to my analog inputs of my Denon receiver.
I was skeptical at first but I didn't really care what the results were as I wasn't spending any money to try this. I always thought I was lacking a little with my setup but I just thought it was my speakers getting old. Well, after hooking it all up and putting in a CD I was astonished at how detailed and full of life my system was. It has been my Universal player all along that was lacking in detail. Don't get me wrong my universal is NOT worthless to me now because it sounds outstanding with DVD-Audio and SACD and gives a GREAT picture for DVD-Video. But I will be playing CDs on my Denon tansport and Audio Alchemy converter. I'm curious as to how HDCDs played through the universal will sound compared to the 2 piece seeing how the Alchemy isn't HDCD compatible. The universal may have a slight edge with HDCDs even though its not really a fair comparison.

If you're paying 200 dollars for RCAs, let me go over there and shoot you right now.

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

$200 is cheap //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

My Balanced ICs almost cost me $200.

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

And you can tell the difference between a 200 dollar set of wires and a 25 dollar coax cable from parts express...right. I've been in the "audiophile" shops and they try to scam me into thinking some dBs wiring is better because it neutralizes the magnetic field created by the copper or some other bullshit. Given same equipment and speakers, I challenge you to hear a difference between $200+ wiring and decent ~$20-40 wiring. I know this because I have a stereo pair of canary speaker wire, and I cannot tell the difference between them and my standard issue OFC copper 12awg wire I got off ebay that I use in my enclosures.

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

I don't know how much difference there is, I just know the build quality of my cables is such that I'll never need another set ever again.

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

Precisely, which is why I said decent, as in construction quality. There is a difference between paying for build quality and sound quality. I have some monster analog ICs and some RCAs from the 1970s that came with my grandfather's amplifier. The RCAs work fine, and sound exactly the same as the monster ones. The technology of current running through a wire hasn't changed much in the past 50 years, however I do agree that the manufacturing process has.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

If you're paying 200 dollars for RCAs, let me go over there and shoot you right now.

First of all, kiss my white *** Lemans. I did hear a difference between these cables and the $40 - $50 set that they also had to offer. The difference I heard was in the upper frequency range. The highs seemed a little more subtle with the M1000s than they did with the lower model. They let me take them home and audition them and if I liked them I could keep them. If not I had one week to take them back. It wasn't just a difference in sound I was looking for, it was build quality and name that I could trust. Monster. But before you dismiss me as a moron I'll have you know that I bought these in 1993 and they are still holding up GREAT. I could have bought a $50 set and then 4 or 5 years later I might have had to buy another pair and then another pair. I've moved alot over the past 15 years and such abuse would have damaged cheaper cables. But not the cables I have.

Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in all the "snake oil" cables either. I do believe those cables are better than the cheaper cables but not enough to warrant the price they ask. Kimber cables, upper end Audioquest, upper end Monster......etc. are examples where they get a little carried away. I on the other hand have one pair of $200+ and I need to be shot?? Your opinion obviously differs from mine and you have that right but leave the guns out of it.

 

[explorer2 10+ year member]

Back on topic, how do you like that Denon cd player? I bought one of the first ones with a coax output back in the 80s and I still use it today. The thing even had a full function remote control, I think I paid a bit over a grand for it back then. Still sounds great today.

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

Back on topic, how do you like that Denon cd player? I bought one of the first ones with a coax output back in the 80s and I still use it today. The thing even had a full function remote control, I think I paid a bit over a grand for it back then. Still sounds great today.

word! and I am still waiting on the pics!!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

DEF TECH TOWERS AND CENTER CHANNEL

So I am sippin' on some Goose as I type this and something just struck me as odd...

I wonder if I will have enough room on my TV stand for the TV stand as well as the center channel speaker?

If not, I am going to have to order the custom center channel stand which is another 120 dang dollars! I can pretty much bet that it will be too big to put on the shelf inside the TV stand. If this is indeed the case, I will mount that 52 inch on the wall fo sho. This is getting to be expensive!!!!!!!!!!!

1loudsuv- have you noticed any sound difference with it being on the stand vs. lets say on a solid surface?

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

First of all, kiss my white *** Lemans. I did hear a difference between these cables and the $40 - $50 set that they also had to offer. The difference I heard was in the upper frequency range. The highs seemed a little more subtle with the M1000s than they did with the lower model. They let me take them home and audition them and if I liked them I could keep them. If not I had one week to take them back. It wasn't just a difference in sound I was looking for, it was build quality and name that I could trust. Monster. But before you dismiss me as a moron I'll have you know that I bought these in 1993 and they are still holding up GREAT. I could have bought a $50 set and then 4 or 5 years later I might have had to buy another pair and then another pair. I've moved alot over the past 15 years and such abuse would have damaged cheaper cables. But not the cables I have.
Don't get me wrong, I don't believe in all the "snake oil" cables either. I do believe those cables are better than the cheaper cables but not enough to warrant the price they ask. Kimber cables, upper end Audioquest, upper end Monster......etc. are examples where they get a little carried away. I on the other hand have one pair of $200+ and I need to be shot?? Your opinion obviously differs from mine and you have that right but leave the guns out of it.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif I was just breakin ya balls man, it's all good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

Oh, and docu, I have some photos I'd like you to critique for me //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif I was just breakin ya balls man, it's all good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

It's cool man. Did you ever finish that home theater in your living room??

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Back on topic, how do you like that Denon cd player? I bought one of the first ones with a coax output back in the 80s and I still use it today. The thing even had a full function remote control, I think I paid a bit over a grand for it back then. Still sounds great today.

I love it. I still can't believe I retired it for that long. I really didn't think it could out perform my much more expensive universal player. But maybe that is because the universal is connected to my reciever via the Denon Link and that connection isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Either way this will take some of the work load off of the univ. player and it will only play DVD-V , DVD-A, SACD and CDs with HDCD encoding. What makes the biggest difference is the Audio Alchemy outboard D/A converter. The model of the Denon is the DCD-695 and I paid around $300 back in '93. Do you have a pic of your CD player? Also, are you using an outboard converter or the internal of your CD player.?

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

No you are wrong... All CD players sound the same... Didn't you know that? You can't tell the difference between them.. DUH.... I mean seriously...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif:laugh://content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
LOL.... Welcome to the real audio world!!! There is a reason that I don't use a universal player //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif....

Isn't your DVD player a universal player? Or does it only play DVD/CD?? I have to admit that SACDs and DVD-Audios sound superb on my universal player.

I just did an A/B comparison with the universal and my dedicated CD player. I used the same CD and started them at the same time and switched sources back and forth. First of all the CD player was louder but thats probably due to the fact that it uses the analog inputs on the receiver. The CD player also has more depth. But when I played a certain hair band song I really heard a difference. It was during the guitar solo. I could actually make the mental image of the guitarist playing the solo right in front of me. On the universal it wasn't too bad but just not the same, not quite as focused as with the CD player.

So, I'm sold. I might just spend some money on a "high end" CD player one of these days. But I'm going to go upgrade to seperate amp and preamp before I do that. But that is definitely on the list.

 

[PV Audio 5,000+ posts]

It's cool man. Did you ever finish that home theater in your living room??

Yeah man, like june '06 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif