PM's multi-purpose media room

[pm_hx29j]

EDIT: gallery's up on my profile

Welcome to my little audio-video-hifi room
It is adapted from the living room in my flat, it serves as video, music, workstation, sometimes dining room and I had to put my bed here, because its length (I'm 6'8" tall) prevented it from remaining in another room
The room has a trapezoid shape, with the obliquous side being the one with the window, it is approx. 4.50 (major base) by 3.60 m depth, thick marble floor, wood furniture, light soundproofing. I'm a DIY dude so I build, modify, enhance everything myself if I can, and as such it is always a "work in progress" current setup comes from a 10 year old evolution, from when we bought our first DVD player and 5.1 Sony receiver with home-made speakers, then 480p front projector, then 720p, now 1080p and many many speakers. Currently I'm on my third receiver, after 8 years with the Sony (STR-DB830) upon starting with Blu-rays I upgraded to something better with HDMI
I would not call my room a "home theater", that belongs to some other way better setups here

On with Current System Specs...

Speaker Setup: "virtual 7.3", effective 7.2 with one subwoofer that handles two channels.

AV Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR906

Front Speakers: B&W CM-1 on spikes with rear traps.
Center Speaker: B&W CM-C1.
Surround Speakers: Monitor Audio Radius 45HD.
Surround Back Speakers: Canton MX recycled from a Movie system.
Subwoofer1: Sunfire HRS-12v2. Input: LFE Crossover: Bypass Phase: 90
Subwoofer2: B&W ASW610v2. Input: L+R Crossover: 50Hz Level: half-way

Blu-ray Player: Denon DVD-3800BD
DVD/SACD Player: Denon DVD-2930
DVD Player: Panasonic DVD-S75
CD Player: Marantz CD-17MK2
HTPC: custom slim build, Intel i3-3220 with BD-ROM and audiophile card
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK2

Small TV: Samsung UE22C4000 (wall mounted)
Front projection: Panasonic PT-AE3000E
Screen: ScreenLine Grand Cinema series, 96.2" diagonal, tensioned, DIY wall mounting and uP-based controller.

[DVD Connoisseur]

A picture is worth a thousand words!

[pm_hx29j]

EDIT: pics in gallery

[pm_hx29j]

I forgot to explain the "virtual 7.3" with effective 7.2...
In order to avoid the A/D conversion every AV receiver performs for bass management, and having front bookshelf speakers, I connected my subs to three channels: the HRS-12 is fed by the LFE signal from the AVR, while the ASW610 is connected to the L and R pre-outs. With this setup, the L+R+ASW610 act as a pair of large speakers and can be used with Direct and Pure Audio listening modes, which avoid A/D-D/A conversions and disable bass redirection, for the best analog sound quality. Little list:

Stereo Direct or Pure Audio: L+R+ASW610.
Multichannel Direct or Pure Audio: all speakers work full range (ASW610 handles front bass while HRS-12 handles LFE).
Multichannel, Stereo, all DSP listening modes: bass redirection is active set to THX (80Hz) on all speakers. This sends most bass to the HRS-12 which with the LFE signal in its corner does well but a part of the front bass component remains on the ASW610 to further enhance bass evenness around the room.

[pm_hx29j]

Input mapping
DVD: Denon DVD-2930, COAX1+HDMI2+stereo analog (Scart direct to small TV)
VCR/DVR: HTPC, OPT1+HDMI1+stereo analog I/O (ESI Audio Juli@ 24/192)
CBL/SAT: Panasonic DVD-S75, COAX2+YCBCR1+stereo analog
GAME/TV: Denon DVD-3800BD, COAX3+HDMI3+stereo analog+7.1 analog
TAPE: PC workstation, HDMI4 (Nvidia Quadro 4000)+analog stereo I/O (SB Audigy 2 ZS)
CD: Marantz CD-17, OPT2+stereo analog
PHONO: Technics turntable, Ortofon OM40, integrated MM stage
NET/USB: 100Mbps connection to home network

HTPC offers DVB-S/S2/T TV and audiophile-grade ASIO bit-perfect playback/recording via ESI card, I use Mediaportal as the main frontend, may not be the coolest looking or easiest to use but it works well for me

[DangeRuss]

I think it might be easier to put the photos in a gallery

And welcome to the threads

[ZIPPO]

Welcome to this site! You've put together a pretty nice little system. The fact that you go the Mod/DIY route, makes it even more admirable. Yours, is one thread on this site, I'll definitely subscribe to. It's really nice to see audio/video being enjoyed internationally.

[Bryceo]

great job mate

[pm_hx29j]

Dangeruss I know this forum has a HT user gallery but since I post my pics on various forums, I find it easier to have a single online space where they reside and then link to them. If mods want I can populate the gallery but then I'd have to synchronize pics every time LMK

Zippo I always went the DIY route, with my older brother and my father, we had DIY-built speakers and cabinets since the 80s when I was little I learnt from them my bro and I were always skillful in electrics and electronics/cabling, my father was very good at woodworking, in the first pic you can see some of his works: the PC table built in 2001 on my designs, BD shelf above and he built the AV rack.

EDIT: I'm uploading pics in gallery. As always don't hesitate to ask anything you like about this

[DangeRuss]

Good Morning "Venice"

It's just that as your thread gets longer......people who want to refer to your system will have a harder time reaching it and it can't be rated this way.

[pm_hx29j]

I'm uploading some pics in gallery then I'll edit posts above to refer to it. But since I see there's a 150 pics limit, I think I'll upload the most important ones, for less important (i.e. detailed building) I may stick to direct linking, if that's OK for you . It's that other forums don't have such a detailed gallery for their users, I'm not used to it

[Bryceo]

Great gear mate

[rpatt]

Bonjourno PM. Welcome to the galleries. You've amassed a nice array of equipment.

[DangeRuss]

The Gallery's looking great

[pm_hx29j]

Put up a nice amount of pics, a folder for my DIY HTPC and one even for the DIY AV workstation, before someone asks "what's that thing you have on the table there?"

[hometheatergeek]

Hello PM...Welcome to the BR.com HT Gallery thread. You have quite the collection of gear. Nice job on the HTPC (I work in the computer industry)

BTW you type English very well. Are you originally from Italy?

[DangeRuss]

Originally Posted by hometheatergeek

Hello PM...Welcome to the BR.com HT Gallery thread. You have quite the collection of gear. Nice job on the HTPC (I work in the computer industry)

BTW you type English very well. Are you originally from Italy?

Good question ....

[pm_hx29j]

HTG: having an empty 1U box laying around why not make some interesting HTPC build? toughest job was opening up ATX ports and expansion slots, then front panel without scratching it (hard 4mm oxyblack aluminum...). All done by hand

Question: on international boards I always write Venice for location, bc it's known worldwide but I was born in a nearby mainland town and live there. I always had excellent skills at English in school

[pm_hx29j]

Just for hometheatergeek: bonus pic, our current silent 8.0TB home server, fully customized based on a TE-1160 rackmount enclosure

[pm_hx29j]

added some more pics