Folks,

This is what I refer to as my ?main? theatre. A second, lesser-quality system is self-contained in another part of the home. The main system has evolved over a number of years (actually decades) with components from the 70?s to present day, from stereo, to A/V, to multi-channel. It has just undergone a bit of an expansion / reconfiguration, with the main addition being an Outlaw Model 950.

I?ll try to keep this as simple as possible given the large number of components. An actual wiring diagram for the system would show a lot of interconnections between a variety of components.

Home Power:

Dedicated 50A service running from a 200A main service.

Just about everything but the power amps are connected to a large UPS.

All ?wall-warted? components are connected to a ground loop isolating transformer.

Signal Sources:

Audio:

Yamaha P-850 turntable, with Stanton 681EEE cartridge, connected to the phono input of a NAD 1130 pre-amp, and then to a Pioneer RG-1 dynamic range expander. The turntable sits on two ½? polished granite slabs, separated by a rubber mat, providing great isolation. (Ever wonder what a good use for the sink ?hole? in a granite countertop might be?)

Yamaha CDX-520 CD player (with coax digital output)

Pioneer CT8-R cassette deck

A/V:

Toshiba M-663C hi-fi VCR

JVC HR-S4800U S-VHS VCR

Toshiba XR-W75C laserdisc player

Pioneer CLD-D504 laserdisc player (AC-3 RF to a Kenwood DEM-9991D RF demodulator)

Toshiba SD-5109 progressive scan DVD player

Navigo 401 satellite receiver w/ HDD-200 HDTV decoder (both made by General Instruments)

Pre/Pro/Tuner:

Outlaw Model 950

Audio Processing:

Numark EQ-2700 equalizer / analyzer (F L/R)
Numark EQ-2500 equalizer (FC)
Numark EQ-2400 equalizer (S L/R)
Numark EQ-2400 equalizer (CR L/R)

dbx Model 100 sub-harmonic synthesizer (to a dedicated subwoofer)

Video Switching/Processing:

An Electrohome Marquee Signal Switcher handles component video switching (with nine loop-through cards)

DVDO iscan Plus V2 line doubler

SIMA Color Corrector (for dubbing DVDs to tape)

Optex Video Stabilizer (for dubbing tape-to-tape)

Display:

Toshiba TW40X81 HDTV monitor

Sharp 13? TV (for monitoring one source while watching the other)

Power Amplifiers:

F L/R: Carver A-400X (THX, 200W/ch 8 ohms / 300W/ch 4 ohms, 2.5 dB headroom ? driving a 4 ohm load)

FC: Hitachi HMA-8300 (200W/ch 8 and 4 ohms, 3 dB headroom (class ?G?) ? driving dual 4 ohm speakers)

S L/R: NAD 2200 (100W/ch 8 ohms, 6dB headroom)

CR L/R: two bridged NAD 2150s (~150W bridged each, 8 ohms, 2.5 db headroom)

For an unpowered sub: bridged NAD 2155 (150W bridged, 8 ohms, 2.5 db headroom)

Speakers:

F L/R: Koss CM-1030 (-3dB @ 29Hz, sensitivity of 96 dB, 4 ohms, max SPL lab tested to >123 dB, with extremely low distortion)

FC: two Koss CM-1020s (making a 66? horizontal array above the HDTV) (-3dB @ 31Hz, sensitivity of 95 dB, 4 ohms, max SPL lab tested to >120 dB, ditto)

S L/R and CR L/R: two pairs of Bose 301 Series III (ho-hum, but very effective speakers as surrounds)

Velodyne S-1200 powered sub

B&W ASW 1000 powered sub

Unpowered sub (only for dbx synthesized bass) is a home-built using four Polk 6 1/2 ? drivers and a Polk 12? passive radiator in an extra-high density particle board enclosure, with a ?3dB cut-off of ~22Hz, which is below the 25Hz cut-off of the dbx. I did the design and a genuine Master Woodworker did the cutting / assembling. One of the few times I?ve put my engineering degree to work! (All of the drivers cost me a six-pack of Heineken from a Polk dealer friend of mine!)

Miscellaneous:

An unused Outlaw ICBM-1 is awaiting the arrival of a DVD-Audio / SACD player

A Denon AVC-2000 A/V Pro-Logic integrated amp does multi-room chores

All speaker wire is 12 gauge oxygen-free copper ?lamp cord?

All critical lengths of video cabling are at least Monster Video 3 quality or better. Lots of Monster Cable on the audio side as well, but I?ve never heard a difference between audio cables, while I?ve seen differences in video ones.

The equalizers enter the picture just before the power amps / speakers. All eight (non-sub) speakers are first equalized flat (which actually does not require a lot of boost or cut in any band, and even then usually only at the high and low frequencies) and then the upper treble is backed off slightly from flat (as it?s usually perceived as too bright by most listeners). For the Bose 301s, no boost is added at 30Hz for obvious reasons. There are five listening positions in the theatre and the final settings are an average of all five (again there is usually very little difference between the measurements at any of the locations ? for a variety of reasons.) Ditto for the channel balancing. Obviously some may take issue with this approach (as too intrusive) but I can tell you that nobody who has ever heard the system has ever said that it produced anything but incredible sound ? at all listening levels.

Jeff Mackwood
(components current as of June 8, subject to change, or it wouldn't be much of a hobby now would it?!)