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[Don Lanier]

Recently rehabbed Marantz 2235 Reciever, updated caps, lamps, small parts, Altec Voice of the Theatre cabs, components rebuilt by Great Plains Audio, Sangion Digital HD Radio source and Computer filled with WAV files taken from LPs, I Have a Sound bar and sub and switch them on when watching movies, usually its music. The Voice of the Theatre's were completely stripped, reglued, additional bracing and new Backing plate for speaker with thicker ply, they sound great, its the stereo man, STEREO.

Let’s hear it!  (groan.....)

I keep it simple with lots of value. BIC DV-64, SV Sound PB-12 sub. No center or surrounds ATM, but I do have 3x BIC center channel which I could use for those tasks. That center channel box has been called the best center channel anywhere value by a lot of people.

[Erin Bloke]

I actually just use the built-in speakers that came with my LG smart tv. TV is only used on the rare ocassion that I want to watch a show when it's airing, or Netflix (pretty rare these days as well). Otherwise, I just use the websites for various networks, and put it through my bose speakers if I'm not feeling lazy.

[Steve-White]

Deleted for redundancy.

[Tim Padrick]

All Linn, back from my days in the biz:

Vinyl: LP12/Trampolinn/Lingo/K18II
CD: Karik/Numerik
FM: Kremlin
Control: Kairn
Power: 3x Klout
Spkrs: Kaber

[Erik Jerde]

Office:  M-Audio BX5a that I inherited somewhere along the way.  Connected to my computer via USBPre2 when it's not out in the field.

Media room:  11.1 system using Klipsch 7800 THX (S & L models) for the mains, C, and surrounds.  Danley DTS-20 sub.  Mains are powered by Crown CTS 475 & 875 amps, sub by some other crown amp who's model number I forget.  Processed via a Q-Sys Core 110f with flex io8.  Cinema decoding is done by a marantz preamp processor.  Stereo sources go straight to the Q-Sys. 

Vinyl comes via an Elac Miracord 46 into a Radial J33.
Movies and digital music all come from a Plex server or a sonos setup.

The DTS-20 is pretty kick-ass.  It outperforms the full Dolby theater I was in this afternoon.  The Klipsch speakers were largely chosen due to space constraints and the fact that they are closed back models and not dependent on the stud bays for their back loading.  With a little tuning and time alignment it's all pretty nice.  Plenty loud for movies too.  I run separate processing for music and it makes for a nice listening environment too. 

Additionally there's an audio-perf cinemascope screen (center channel is beind it) with a da-lite masking system and a JVC RS series projector.  The q-sys allowed me to write software so that when I play a c-scope movie the plex server tells q-sys which then has the screen and projector automatically adjust to the correct display settings.  It's pretty rad.

[John Roberts {JR}]

Listening to my stereo lost it's appeal after having bands and jam sessions playing live in my living room at my beer parties (last century). I haven't thrown a party for a couple decades but still don't listen to music casually. That said I have (60s) music playing on my sat receiver right now because the news is hard to listen to these days.

Over the years I have made a number of enhancements.

My current living room system involves a 65" monitor (have you seen how cheap these got?).

A cheap digital 5.1 surround decoder (cheap is a common theme with me).

Six channels of Hypex class D OEM power amp modules.

A huge (Peavey/AMR PRM-1 studio monitor sub),

A pair of hifi speakers for front left and right (Fourier 6" 2-way),

a pair of studio monitors for rear speakers (Peavey/AMR 308s 8" 3 way),

and the front center channel is an old AR4x box with a modern coaxial driver mounted inside.

It looks a little dodgy but sounds really good on movies. 

JR

[John Schalk]

Timely thread as I've been studying up on the latest trends while upgrading my main (stereo + 5.1) system and the workout system in the basement.  I stopped following audio & home theater reviews at least 15 years ago and let me tell you things have changed a lot since then.  Mostly on the home theater side, but home stereo receivers have changed too.  On the home stereo side, most front ends now offer WiFi so you can stream your music and many are "2.1" meaning that they offer some level of bass management.  On the home theater front, audio/video receivers (AVRs) have changed a lot.  There are different HDMI versions which support the newer audio and video formats.  Then you have WiFi for streaming, and most now offer some form of automatic room tuning using a supplied microphone.  The short version is; be careful buying a used AVR to save money because it's like buying any other piece of tech.  With AVRs, older is definitely not better.

Garage (my first stereo):
NAD receiver
JBL 8" 3-way speakers mounted up in the corners

Computer:
Presonus Firebox
NHT Pro 2.1 powered system

Basement Workout:
Yamaha receiver hand me down
KEF Q150 bookshelf speakers (recent used purchase)
Martin Logan Dynamo 10" sub (recent used purchase)

Living Room stereo & home theater:
OPPO BDP-95 Blu-ray with balanced stereo audio outputs (recent used purchase)
Marantz SR585 receiver. No HDMI connections and only decodes DD.  Works great, but way out of date.
Adcom GFA-555 & Acurus A100X3 power amps.  Good power never goes out of style!
Hales Revelation 3 fullsize mains
Klipsch center channel
Denon surrounds on the walls
Monoprice Monarch 10" 500W 73lb ported sub.  (recent new purchase)
Pioneer 42" 720p plasma

To hear the newer uncompressed audio formats I need to upgrade my AVR.  I also want a larger TV, but I really like the deep blacks of my Pioneer plasma so I haven't decided yet if I want to upgrade all the way to 4k OLED, or get a used, but larger 1080p plasma panel.  All of this is as a result of my figuring that there won't be anything to do this winter so I might as well enjoy my movies.

Edit to add: Movies are now free with no lates fees from the local libraries, hence my reason for upgrading to Blu-ray now.  After watching my first movie in HD, I wish I'd made the upgrade 10 years ago.

[Dennis Wiggins]

I keep it simple with lots of value....

Preface:  Wifey emphatically declared "no more speaker cabinets and wiring all over the house!"  Wiring is now hidden.  Her trade-off was she lost most of a closet in the laundry room.  Mine was to sell my Klipsch LaScalas and many various "other boxes."  It's all good. 

---

"Peavey PZS-80 zone amp:

Garage 4 x  Atlas (I think - these are ancient) ceiling flush mount + 1 Sb122

Basement 1 x Peavey IMP100 + 1 Sb122

Outdoors 1x 6"  generic under hang + Sx300 on a stand, as needed

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JVC RX315 integ. amp + Pyle PSS8 speaker switch

Media room 4 x 6.5" ceiling flush mount Klipsch 10" powered sub
  (This is simple stereo, so "front" over sofa wired LR, "far" nearest the 65" TV wired RL - 'effects' sound good to me)

Kitchen/eating 2 x Pyle 6.5" wall flush mount

Bath/tub 1x 6.65" 'stereo dual tweeter' wall flush mount

LR 2 x old-generic 6" wall bracket mount

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Ripping vinyl:  AT-PL120 into Dell D410 (XP Pro) via XITEL RCA -> USB adapter w/de-click, trim and "all that" apps.

---

When I exercise my "music recovery muscle memory" - aka: DJ skills - in the garage or outside, I  have a lot of options.

[Ike Zimbel]

Let’s hear it!  (groan.....)

I keep it simple with lots of value. BIC DV-64, SV Sound PB-12 sub. No center or surrounds ATM, but I do have 3x BIC center channel which I could use for those tasks. That center channel box has been called the best center channel anywhere value by a lot of people.

I have a pair of Rogers LS 3/5A's that I've owned since the early 80's for L & R with a Paradigm center speaker.
The amp is a Hafler P3000 and the center channel is derived from the L&R "+" terminals through a large 10 ohm resistor.
Interface is an active balancing box that I make, followed by an Aphex Compellor that I added a while back to level out the music vs dialog on movies.
No sub as  we get plenty from our next door neighbour's system, thanks.
Mostly watch TV and movies through this set-up. Music playback sounds great, but I just haven't gotten around to adding an In/Out switch for the center speaker, which can (and does) make stereo mixes sound a little...different.

[Ed Taylor]

I have a pair of Rogers LS 3/5A's that I've owned since the early 80's for L & R with a Paradigm center speaker.
The amp is a Hafler P3000 and the center channel is derived from the L&R "+" terminals through a large 10 ohm resistor.
Interface is an active balancing box that I make, followed by an Aphex Compellor that I added a while back to level out the music vs dialog on movies.
No sub as  we get plenty from our next door neighbour's system, thanks.
Mostly watch TV and movies through this set-up. Music playback sounds great, but I just haven't gotten around to adding an In/Out switch for the center speaker, which can (and does) make stereo mixes sound a little...different.

the den has a projection theater setup, and while it's great for movies , it just doesn't do it for me when I want to listen to music, but we make due if it's a video concert.
in my studio/office I'm either on a good set of cans...mix my guitar pedal board/keyboard along with cakewalk etc into an XR18, or if I want to "feel" it...I keep one of the Bose L1compacts sitting on an EV zxa1 12" powered sub..no...it's not stereo, but it'll blister the paint on the walls if I want it to.
my workout room..nother whole approach, the walls are lined with old vintage guitar amps..and one of those cabs is a 2x10/1x15 combo cab..sitting on top of it is an old Peavey powered PA head that I bought back in the late 1980s for small club gigs.. I plug my iphone into it and for hitting the tread mill and bench, it works just fine...old school (grin)

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