Mid-fi on a budget
I'm building a mid-fi home theater system gradually. Below is an equipment list and relevant info.
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Useful Sites:
news:rec.audio.opinion
news:alt.audio.equipment
Audioreview
Home Theater Forum
AVS Forum
Home Theater Spot
Stereophile
Preferred software genres:
1. Opera
2. 19th century "national" orchestral works (after Beethoven, before
Mahler)
3. Pop/Rock 1990's and current (English, French, and Italian)
4. Latin
5. Movie Music
6. World (especially Afro-Pop, Arabic, Turkish, Indian)
Equipment
1. HTPC
2. Receiver
3. Sources
4. Speakers
5. Video
6. Interconnects/Accessories
7. Portables
| Full computer details: PC page | ||
| 1. Video: ATI Radeon 7500 (Radeon 7500, 64MB DDR) w/ DVI & s-video TV out | ||
| 2. Sound: Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (Crystal 4630) 20-bit 48 kHz DAC w/ SPDIF out | ||
| 3. CD Burner: TDK veloCDRW 12x write 10x rewrite 40x DAE | ||
| 4. DVD Drive: Toshiba DVD-ROM SDM-1402 (this drive is region-locked) | ||
| 5. DVD card: Sigma Designs RealMagic Hollywood + with IR remote (which thru Uice works with Winamp) | ||
| 6. TV card: Leadtek TV2000XP PCI | ||
| 7. Web cam: Intel Pro PC Camera USB, 640x480, 15fps | ||
| 8. Digital cam: Nikon Coolpix 775 (see photography page), 2.1MP, 21-206mm | ||
| 9. Monitor: KDS Avitron AV19tf, 19" CRT, 1600x1200 @ 85Hz, Trinitron | ||
| 10. Speakers: now using receiver instead | ||
| 11. Software: WinAmp for MP3, WinDVD 3 OEM Player, DVD Station, Syntrillium CoolEdit 2000, Ahead Nero Burning ROM 5.5, DScaler, RealProducer, Adobe Premiere 6, VirtualDub, TmpegEnc, ShowShifter, TotalRecorder, Ulead PictureShow, RealOne, KaZAa | ||
| Onkyo TX-SR500: 65Wpc (0.08% THD), DTS/DPLII/DD, 2 optical/ 1 coax-in, 5.1 speaker; 2 line in, 1 out, 4 AV in, 1 out |
| 1. CD Player - Sony CDP-CE375 5 CD changer, optical out |  |
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| 2. DVD Player - Sony DVP-NS315 Single-Disc, coax out (PCM/DD51/DTS), composite/s-video/component video, CD/CDR/CDRW/DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/VCD/MP3 that's alot of formats |  |
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| 3. Tape Deck - Onkyo TA-RW244 dual deck, Dolby NR: B, C, auto-reverse, 0.08% wow and flutter |  |
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| 4. VCR - Panasonic PV-8450 VHS Hifi VCR | ||
| 5. HTPC (above) | ||
| 6. Turntable - Sony PS-LX56 + RadioShack phono stage |  |
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| 7. Cable box - Time Warner Cable Music Choice - 36 commercial-free channels, Motorola/GI CFT-2254 | ||
| 1. Fronts - KLH 900B (100W, 89db, 8 ohm, 55-20k) |  |
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| 2. Center - HTD Level One Center (80W, 89db, 8 ohm, 80-20k) |  |
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| 3. Surrounds - HTD Level One Bookshelfs (80W, 89db, 8 ohm, 80-20k) |  |
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| 4. Subwoofer - HTD Level One (60W RMS, 100W Max, Powered, Crossover at 80Hz) |  |
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| 1. Directview TV: Toshiba 24AF42 24" Flatscreen CRT w/ AV/S-video/Component inputs |  |
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| 1. Mainly Radioshack with a few Monsters thrown in | |||
| 2. Radioshack Audio source selector #42-2112 | |||
| 3. Remotes: X-10 Universal IR/RF Remote Control UR47A (controls all the sources except tape), RCVR remote (RCV,Tape,TV,DVD,VCR), Cable Remote (Cable Box, PPV, TV, VCR) | |||
| 4. FleXy Rack using three 1/2" steel threaded rods and six 3/4" MDF shelves | |||
| 5. PartsExpress.com Digital Coax to Toslink Converter, 16 ga. speaker wire | |||
| 6. Radio Shack FM Antenna #15-1843 | |||
| 1. Grundig Ocean Boy Worldband Radio - best sounding portable I've heard | ||
| 2. Jensen AM/FM/Tape player SCR-70M | ||
| 3. iRiver SlimX iMP-350 CD/MP3/FM player - recommended | ||
| 4. Grado Labs SR-40 headphones - recommended |  |
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8. Software
Compact Discs
High-Rez Digital
Records
Tapes
Next up: SACD player. I'm considering:
Philips 963SA $400
Pioneer DV-563A $250
Pioneer Elite DV-45A $400
Sony DVP-NS755 $225
Email your recommendations