Finshed HT/Analog Setup

I finally got this put together. My main goal was to have an analog path as well as a 7.1 digital path. I've been happy with the audio quality. Video's not bad either...

Paradigm Reference Studio 60 v.4 fronts, CC-590 v.4 center, ADP-590 v.4 sides, ADP-470 v.3 backs, PS-1200 sub
2 x Monster PowerCenter HTS 3500
Amps: Emotiva XPA-5 (200wpc) and XPA-2 (250wpc)
Preamps: Emotiva RSP-2 (analog), Onkyo PR-SC885 (digital, 192/24), PA 928 flat phono (for pre-RIAA 78s)
Omaura cased HTPC with HDHomerun QAM box. PC runs digital into Onkyo and analog stereo into Emotiva.
Vestax BDT-2500 turntable goes through RSP-2 to XPA-2 with XLR cables for a straight analog connection or into the pc for recording.
Sony KDL-52XBR4 tv
PS3 (60GB), Wii, Sony BDP-S350 bluray
Denon 955S(2910) dvd for SACD (DSD Direct via analog out to Onkyo) or DVD-A (HDMI to Onkyo)

Thanks for the comments. And thanks ldgibson76 for the heads up. I couldn't resist It's nothing like the 'my little setup' thread, but I do what I can. The racks are Omnimount. I should've mentioned that. I was in a bit of a hurry earlier. Didn't even get the plastic off the RSP-2! I'm much more a reader than a poster. I should have also mentioned that AVS Forum has been a great help to me. A lot of calibration help and also where I discovered a lot of these components. I couldn't give enough thanks for having a source like this.

I didn't think about the painting. Glad you asked. It's an original from a Russian painter that I'm not remembering the name of. It's called the dancers. I think of it more like ghosts. It's thick, sort of 3D, and has some metallics. After playing guitar hero awhile, there's a swirl effect that happens when you look up at it. Fun. Maybe falls into the V part of AVS? It's hard to get a good picture, but here's an idea.

The bluray player was half accident/half curiosity. It was supposed to be a gift that someone else also bought, but the black Friday prices were so good that I didn't return it. I've been wanting to test the bitstream vs pcm for uncompressed audio to see if it is better than the ps3. The best test I've had is flipping back and forth with Kung-Fu Panda disks. Current experience says it is a bit better, mostly on the audio side, but I need more time to be sure. I still need to get out the level meter and see if the perceived improvement is volume related.

Another reason I may keep it is to give the PS3 a break. If I lose my 60GB and can't get another one, I'll be inconsolable, and I really don't want to stuff a PS2 into all of this again. It seems like a good idea to stick with games on the PS3 and movies on the player if given a choice.

You want to see the dark side... That's not so pretty. Always a work in progress. It's hard to stuff all the wiring into the racks. Some levels just had too many cables to run through the holes, so I ran around them. Other places I tried to keep cables away from the power cords. It's not too bad except that some are piled up on the floor. I kept extra length on the speaker cables in case I need it, but I'm thinking about tightening them up. I also need to fix three cables that cross by the bottom of the tv instead of being long enough to go to the floor, then it won't look too bad from the front. For now, I'll just encourage people to stay away from the back...

In case you're interested, here are the rest of the speakers. I don't have an ideal layout in my townhouse. If I could, I'd have more room to move the speakers out of the corner on the right side and, well, have an actual wall on the left. Maybe the next house. The Audyssey setup did a good job of balancing them out, though.

Some may wonder why the fence? There are bunnies in the house. They don't go in the room with all the wires. Just wouldn't turn out well for anyone. Others may wonder why the ugly chandelier? Well, I'm working on it. Slowly. Not as important as gear.

That's exactly what happened with me. I used the fireplace a handful of times, and it doesn't look so good anyway. I've also got comments from people who thought it was strange to cover it up. It's comforting to hear someone else has been through it :P.

I agree Aaron. Central air kind of makes the fireplace irrelevant. The bunnies dug their way in through the basement. They improve my OTA reception, so I keep them around. My gf is obsessed with buns. It was only a matter of time before we had some. They're cute and fun. Not bad to have around.

Yes, but I have to swap them depending on what I want to do. If both balanced and unbalanced are connected, I get a pretty wicked ground loop hum. Either that, or the XPA-2 doesn't like them both connected at the same time. Too bad, but not too inconvenient.