My Dedicated Audiophile Home Theater - Steve Bruzonsky - Page 3

Thanks, folks!!@@@

My wife had no idea how her joke to get the wires out of the basement and build a room onto our home would result in my dedicated theater room keeping me out of our main house!

Latest additions to my theater room: PS Audio PerfectWave
Transport and DAC.

I also have the PS Audio top line 1M I2S (HDMI) silver cable, which replaced a DVI Gear Super High Resolution 1M cable. Got it about two weeks ago. One of these days I will AB it with the DVI Gear one. Right now I am just enjoyin' two channel in my otherwise multi-channel system!

My theater is hardly "cost no object". There are a number which are a lot more expensive.

Aerials are very dynamic and musical. The LR5s are quite nice, work nicely close to walls, but of course they ain't as good as my 9s placed appropriately into the room.

I got my Aerial subs back in 2000-2001. They are nice and look nice. Though I understand that JL Audio has some really good subs you might want to consider, too.

I haven't heard anything about LR7s but I haven't talked to Michael Kelly at Aerial in awhile. And new stuff is kept close to vest so folks buy current models.

Thanks for the kudos.

Here at AVS Forum, I have made an "arch enemy" over the years. I think he originally was Myrtycrafts, and I kept deleting him foolish "it all sounds the same" posts when I moderated the Tweaks and the AVS Special Guests Forum here at AVS Forums back 1999 - 2003. Later he changed to BluRay 1080p, then Doug Winsor for a long time. He kept getting banned.

Lately, he is masquerading as me, "Steve Bruzonsky", at a slow traffic AV forum website:

http://www.avrev.com/forum/preamps-a...fferences.html

High end processors VS low end processors/receivers, hardware differences?
I was wondering if anyone had some objective data or even and explanation as to why a high end processor would sound better then a low end processor/receiver. I understand that subjective listening plays a role in what people prefer and that some audiophiles look at audio more as a hobby but is there a hardware reason that impacts sound quality? I am not talking about double blind tests and the side that states everything sounds the same but as of yet I have not found any objective data that would justify this night and day difference. I have searched the internet for sometime and found a profile on photobucket that has quite a selection of photo's, yes some people will know the name but it is irrelevant, I will post them below. Mods if you want to change all the IMG pictures back into a text link that is ok.

If you are going to post something along the lines of the high end having a better design or using better parts could you please post some information to clarify those statements.

Thank you.




Theta digital casablanca III



ExtremePremium.jpg
Premium-BB-1796-DAC.jpg
Premiumclose.jpg
Six-Shooter-interior.jpg
Theta-3.gif
Thetaboards.jpg
ThetaCB3.jpg
Volume-control-card.jpg



Arcam FMJ AVR600/FMJ AV888

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...id_off_top.jpg
arcam-avr600-internal-dsp.jpg
arcam-avr600-internal-video.jpg
arcam-avr600-modules.jpg
arcam-avr600-power-amp.jpg
arcam-avr600-powersupply.jpg



B&K reference 70


P1010021.jpg



Cary cinema 11a

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...inema_11-2.jpg



Classe SSP-800


SSP800-Board1.jpg
SSP800-Board2.jpg
SSP800-Board3.jpg
SSP800-Transformer.jpg



Krell evolution 707

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...707inside2.jpg
707inside1.jpg



Lexicon MC-12


smr_41.jpg



Mark Levinson Nº 40

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...udio-proce.jpg
mark-levinson-no-40-ssp-video-proce.jpg



Mcintosh MX135 MX136

http://i716.photobucket.com/albums/w...r/HPIM0635.jpg
42080587rx4.jpg
HPIM0632.jpg
HPIM0633.jpg
HPIM0634.jpg
HPIM0636.jpg
HPIM0637.jpg
HPIM0640.jpg
HPIM0641.jpg
HPIM0691.jpg
HPIM0710.jpg
mcd500insidetr9.jpg
mcintosh-mda-1000-inside-chassis.jpg

You didn't read the entire post. That foolish post is copies from a different AV forum where Doug Winsor was masquerading as me. I didn't post that there at that forum. I've had a Theta Casablanca since 1997, upgraded several times, and of course its guts are much more complex than that of a much less expensive receiver. You don't have to convince me.

I just thought it was sort of funny that Doug Winsor, banned so many times with so many different names from so many audio or home theater forums, would post in my name on another forum where I wasn't active.
I have posted at that forum today as "stevenjbruzonsky" and I have requested that they pull his membership and delete his posts. HA!

Back to my theater. I just luv my most recent acquisitions, PS Audio Perfectwave Transport and DAC. Best music I've ever had in my theater. Even the new Beatles mono set sounds great! And the Neil Young remastered CD set 1964-1972 is superb!!! I am enjoying music like never before!

I am hoping to this year upgrade my Theta Casablanca 3 with Six Shooter to the upcoming HDMI 1.3 audio upgrade (and then ditch the Integra 9.8 surround preamp which I have been using for this as an interim). But Theta still doesn't have a firm date on availability or cost and some of us wonder if it will ever come to fruition.

About a week ago I replaced my Oppo BDP-83 blu ray, my Integra DTC-9.8 SSP, AND my Theta Compli DVD/SACD & DVD-A MC/CD with:

A brand spankin' new Marantz UD9004 Universal player, which does what I want for my purposes as follows:

DVD 480i "source direct"

Blu Ray HD "source direct" including 1080 24p

SACD both 2 channel and MC (multi-channel)

DVD-A (MC)

CD

Has 7.1 (I use 5.1) single-ended analog outputs MC AND
balanced AES/EBU analog outputs (latter use for two channel
CD and SACD).

So I do not need my Theta Compli anymore, as I was using for SACD and DVD-A two channela and multi-channel.

I have connected the Marantz's single-ended 5.1 (I don't use the entire 7.1) analog outputs; also the Marantz' AES/EBU 2.0 channel output, to
my Theta CB3's Six Shooter.

I anticipate that my PS Audio PerfectWave Transport and DAC will still be somewhat superior on two channel CD, or the other hi rez stuff the PS Audio can play.

It takes all of two seconds for me to disconnect the two channel Marantz and connect the two channel PS Audio, or vice versa, at the Six Shooter.

I am a very very happy camper!

Initial observations are that even hardly burned in yet that the Marantz
(using analog, not HDMI) sounds as good as it gets on blu ray, and excellent on all music sources.

Now I got some components and extra cables to sell. Consolidation is nice!

More info on the Marantz UD9004 at:
http://us.marantz.com/Products/2936.asp

I got the UD9004 because of its outstanding analog out both stereo XLR and multi-channel single-ended. I only use its HDMI for video.

I have the UD9004 connected:
1. Via HDMI for video to my Lumagen Radiance XE.
2. Via multichannel analog single-ended interconnects to my Theta Six Shooter multichannel analog preamp.
3. Via stereo AES/EBU interconnects analog to my Theta Six Shooter multichannel analog preamp.
4. Via coaxial to my Theta CB3 (but I really don't use this except to compare the UD9004 analog multi-channel out on Dolby Digital DVD to the CB3 Extreme DACs - initially its pretty much a draw on Dolby Digital but oneverything else the UD9004 is supreme. As the UD9004 burns in I anticipate even Dolby Digital will sound better with the UD9004 analog out.

If you are interested in the Oppo, which I still have, do an AVS PM to me with your email.

Also, for discussion of the UD9004 in my system and my observations:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1250271

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1130981

Sorry, I haven't compared them. I have been a Lumagen fan for years and the Radiance XE is my third Lumagen video processor.

I recently replaced one of my DirecTV HD DVRs, getting a HR24. The menu, guide, etc in this new unit is fast, makes all the prior HD DVRs slow in comparison! Currently I have one HR24 and also one HR23 in my home theater room.

Good for you!

Woops! Someone finally noticed my gaffe! You are correct. My three subwoofers are chained, so my system is set up with one subwoofer out from the Theta Casablanca 3 and Six Shooter, and then the 1st sub is out to the 2nd sub, and the 2nd sub is out to the third sub.

You got me, Lon!

I originally used my CB2 with 2 Extreme DAC cards (8 channels) with thee sub outputs from the CB2. Then in 2005 I upgraded to CB3 with Six Shooter. I found that the speaker levels didn't work properly having one sub coming from the Six Shooter and the other two subs coming from the CB3 main outputs. And I started doing multi-channel SACD and DVD-A
which only had one sub channel. Then came HD DVD with only one sub channel. So I decided to only use one sub channel, and chain the three Aerial subs. Plus using a Velodyne SMS-1 I determined best placement for the three subs, given my room and AV gear, furniture and racks in room, was towards the front screen wall center, where the subs measure nicely towards flat!

While my Theta CB3 is in the "shop" for the CB3 HD (HDMI 1.4) upgrade
(since the 2nd week of January), I picked up (some great prices for used)
a Theta Generation VIII Series 2 DAC, and just got few days ago a pair of Theta Citadel 1.5 monoblock amplifiers. SWEET!

My upgraded Theta CB3 HD arrives Monday (two days from today), and my PS Audio Perfect Wave P5 Power Plant arrives Tuesday!