Michael’s AV Setup, Part 1

Not to be outdone by Everton, I figured a post about my home AV setup would be just the thing in a week where I am very pressed for time.

You would think that a guy who has a website devoted to hi-fi and home theater would have an incredible amount of money invested in very esoteric and expensive equipment. That would be the case if I did not have two children, a mortgage, two car payments, and a wife who keeps me firmly grounded in reality. I make a good living from my day job and am blessed to work in an industry where the worse the economy gets, the better our business and my job security is. I don’t make six figures and won’t until the tail end of my career, and raising a family tends to eat what income you have, so I have to be creative about my AV equipment.

Two pieces of advice. One, while more money generally does buy better gear, there is quality AV gear available at all price points. Two, don’t be afraid to buy good gear second hand. People who buy quality components almost always baby their equipment, and the stuff you buy secondhand is usually in like-new condition. Audiogon is an online marketplace for used hi-fi gear. It is not uncommon to find a $5k piece of equipment for $1-1.5k, and I have no problem recommending this approach to someone whose desires outstrip their budget.

The GEAR

• Amplifier: B&K Reference 7250

  The B&K Reference 7250 is a five channel 200 watt amplifier. Functionally identical to the current B&K Reference 200.5, the only thing the 7250 lacks over the new iteration is balanced outputs. The 70 pound heart of my system. This amplifier has a torroidal transformer as big as a shotput, and a sixpack of capacitors that are the size of those small V8 cans, and it produces 75 amps of peak current capacity (this spec slaughters just about every other solid state amp out there and also makes it a good idea to keep kids and pets away from the back of your component rack). This amp provides 200 watts at 8 ohms and 375 watts at 4 ohms. As solid state amplifiers go, the sound it produces is deep and warm.

  

  B&K Reference Amplifier

  If you’ve never had an adequate power supply, all I will say is that you are missing something. I don’t care how good you think your AV receiver is, it’s power supply cannot compete with a dedicated amplifier. Pop in Blade 2 as a demo. The scene early in the movie where the euro-vamps are sitting in a room with the radio on and Blade proceeds to break the door down and puree them has a lot going on in it aurally. It sounds good no matter what equipment you have. Now play it with an amp that has the power reserve handle the dynamic transients. The difference is astonishing and will convert all skeptics. The ambient noises of the scene achieve a three dimensional reality, filling your room with sound that is not a reproduction, but something that is occurring in your space. When the door crashes in and the bullets start to fly, the fragments of wood land at your feet and you duck for cover. A quality amplifier gives a good system a reality that it would otherwise never achieve.

  If I never replace this amp I won’t feel cheated, but of course I have a short list that I would upgrade to in a heartbeat:

  

  Conrad Johnson MET-150

  

  Cary Audio 7.250

  

  Ayre V-6xe

• Processor: Denon AVR-988

  I had been holding out for a long time, waiting for HDMI and advanced audio codec support to make it to the mid-fi separates that I can afford. I finally caved and bought yet another AV receiver, because I needed something that could handle HDMI and more seamlessly integrate my components. Amazon is offering the AVR-988 for half it’s usual $1199 price tag, so anyone looking to upgrade their AV receiver and get a lot of features for a great deal should act soon before they are all gone.

  I still want a pre/pro. I have no need for the power supply in an av receiver since I use an amp, and on top of that the separate processors generally use much better components and hence sound better. For what I paid for the Denon AVR-988 I really cannot fault it at all, and it will hold me over until the right processor at the right price comes along.

  The AVR-988 will upscale all your video sources over HDMI, and on the audio end it uses a Hammerhead SHARC processor on the digital end and a full host of Burr-Brown DACs for analog conversion. It also features Audyssey MultEQ to make room equalization a no brainer. It really is a hell of a piece of equipment at the price, and I heartily recommend it.

  

  Denon AVR-988

  I still want a bonafide processor someday, but most of the manufacturers I would consider still aren’t making what I need. Out of what is currently available, here is my upgrade short list:

  

  Cary Audio Cinema 11A Processor

  

  Primare SP32 Processor

Next week I will finish up with the video and control portion of my system and round out my wish list. In the meantime, there are several resources available for those of you who are interested in this stuff but don’t really know where to start.

1. Ecoustics Links to editorial reviews on audio and video components. Reviews are subjective, but I would pay a little more attention to what somebody who does it for a living has to say over some schmuck on a web forum.
2. Audioreview.com Owner reviews. Again, use common sense, but reading what people who bought the component you are looking at have to say is a good idea.
3. AVS Forum The largest AV web forum. Filter out the noise and there is a lot of knowledge and experience there. Tends to be more mass market device oriented and a little less so on the higher end, but a good all around resource.

Related Posts

• Michael’s AV Setup, Part 2
• 5 Things You Need To Know Before You Buy An AV Receiver
• My Name is Michael, and I’m A Wannabe Amigan
• My New Home AV Setup
• Universal Remote Roundup, Part 1
• Screenshots Of My XBMC Setup
• Getting The Most Out Of Your Home Theater Audio, Part 2

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