# My New Setup



## Hakka

I've been spending some money on new gear lately, I've redone my setup in the same room but I've turned it 90 degrees.

The gear:

Denon 4520
Rotel RB1080, RB1070 and RMB1075 power amps
Oppo 103 Bluray player
Toshiba HDXE1 HDDVD player

Mains B&W 603s3
Centre B&W LCR600s3
Wides B&W 603s1
Heights B&W 601s1
Side surrounds B&W 602s3
Back surrounds B&W 602s3

The subs are DIY ported @16hz using the 12" shiva drivers
Behringer BFD 1124 EQ
Behringer MX882 Ultralink pro splitter/mixer
Behringer EP1500 power amp

I run the second HDMI output if the Oppo player to a Denon 3808 which feeds the sub signal to a Crowson motion actuator setup, this lets me avoid Audyssey EQ on the signal to the actuators and gives me control over signal delay. I have 2 Shadow 8 actuators powered by the Crowson D501 amp (Behringer A500 is shown in the photos).

The projector is a Epson tw9100 (tw200 shown in the photos), with a Darbeevision Darblet video processor and an OZTS 110" cinemascope screen.

I have some more B&W speakers on the way, another set of 602s3 to replace the 603s1 wides, and a set of 601s3 to replace the 601s1 heights. I'll move the s1 speakers to the bedroom setup. 

The room looks really long in one of the photos but this is due to the ultra wide angle lens, its 4.5m wide x 5m long with the back of the room open to the meals area.

I still have a few things to do like mount the height channels on wall brackets and reposition the wides a bit further away from the mains. And that pink speaker cable must go.

Edit: added photo showing cable management and new front wide speakers.


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## tcarcio

Very nice. It looks like a fun room. How do you like it with the front hieghts and wides? I have been debating hooking up the hieghts in my room.


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## Hakka

tcarcio said:


> Very nice. It looks like a fun room. How do you like it with the front hieghts and wides? I have been debating hooking up the hieghts in my room.


At first I didn't think they made that much difference, then I moved them to the bedroom setup and immediately noticed the smaller soundstage so they went staright back into the main system.


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## tcarcio

Well I can't do the wides because one side of my room is open but I could do the hieghts. I just wonder if you really need a closed off room to make it worth it. Congrats on your new setup. :T


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## Tonto

Very nice looking room & even nicer equipment. I bet it sounds as good as it looks. What is behind the black drapes on the right hand side?


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## Hakka

Tonto said:


> Very nice looking room & even nicer equipment. I bet it sounds as good as it looks. What is behind the black drapes on the right hand side?


There's a window behind that, its just some blockout cloth and a bedsheet covering it at the moment.


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## Prof.

Can you fit in any more speakers Hakka!!  Very nice setup! :T


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## Hakka

Prof. said:


> Can you fit in any more speakers Hakka!!  Very nice setup! :T


Plenty of space on the ceiling for dolby atmos


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## Prof.

That would be a sight to see!! :unbelievable:


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## B- one

Nice setup and thanks for sharing the pics.


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## zonecoaster1

Diggin' it. Great setup.


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## Lulimet

That is a lot of nice gear and speakers. I also like the fact that you only have one chair in there. Does that mean only you can use the room?


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## Hakka

Lulimet said:


> That is a lot of nice gear and speakers. I also like the fact that you only have one chair in there. Does that mean only you can use the room?


I had a 3 seater in there but i miss the recliner so i swapped it around the other day. I can switch it back in 5 minutes when needed.


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## Owen Bartley

Hakka, the room looks awesome. I love seeing the odd single seater now and then. 

I had 2 initial thoughts when scrolling the pics, but it seems like you have plans for both... "clever garbage can stands" and "cable management!!"



Hakka said:


> I run the second HDMI output if the Oppo player to a Denon 3808 which feeds the sub signal to a Crowson motion actuator setup, this lets me avoid Audyssey EQ on the signal to the actuators and gives me control over signal delay.


Brilliant Idea! How do you like that setup, and the actuators in general? I had been pondering a way to keep the signal for my Buttkickers free of EQ in another thread around here somewhere, but your solution seems to be fairly good (although expensive).

Edit: and I love the look of those Rotels!


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## BD55

The garbage cans were a great solution looks like doing double duty as stands as well as allowing the ports to breathe! Sweet theater you have there! :T


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## asere

WOW! Extremely nice gear and set up


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## Hakka

Owen Bartley said:


> Hakka, the room looks awesome. I love seeing the odd single seater now and then.
> 
> I had 2 initial thoughts when scrolling the pics, but it seems like you have plans for both... "clever garbage can stands" and "cable management!!"
> 
> Brilliant Idea! How do you like that setup, and the actuators in general? I had been pondering a way to keep the signal for my Buttkickers free of EQ in another thread around here somewhere, but your solution seems to be fairly good (although expensive).
> 
> Edit: and I love the look of those Rotels!


As BD55 mentioned the garbage cans let the ports breathe. I have some wall mounts for those speakers but no studs in the right place so I'm not sure what I'll do there, maybe hang something from the ceiling.

The cables area mess but I'm still moving speakers around at the moment, once I'm happy with the placements I'll redo the cables and probably add some sort of duct around the skirting boards to hide it all.

The second AVR is an expensive solution but I already had the 3808 sitting around unused since I got the 4520. You certainly don't need something as good as the 3808, any cheapo AVR should do the trick, as long as it has legacy DD/DTS decoding and the ability to adjust the audio delay up to 200ms (sub distance adjustment doesn't cut it). 

I really like the actuators, one of the best things I've ever done to my system. Having said that they are not setup properly yet. The Crowson amp I had suffered from a suspected faulty power relay so it had to go back, while waiting for the replacement to arrive I've been using an old Behringer A500 with one dead channel.

The Crowson D500 has a movie mode which adds a boost from 30 to 80hz, the behringer doesn't have this and is also very underpowered compared to the Crowson D500. I only got to use the crowson for a few hours but it had an even response from 40hz down to single digits using movie mode, with the behringer it doesn't really kick in until 20hz and below. The actuators seem to be a lot more sensitive to the really low frequency content, or maybe my chair could have something to do with that. 

I used some cheapo Aura shakers a few years back and they were terrible, they just did a one note rumble whenever there was bass, the crowsons are completely different, they are very accurate frequency wise and really feel like an extension of the subs. 

Even with the behringer amp the actuators are great, that will only get better when I have the other amp back in the system.

As for the Rotel amps, an RMB-1095 just popped up on ebay, I really need to stop spending but its gonna be hard to resist.


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## Hakka

Owen Bartley said:


> "cable management!!"


Done!

Also swapped out the 603s1 wide channels for a set of 601s3 and repositioned them further down the sidewalls.


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## Horrorfan33

Very Nice!!


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## Owen Bartley

Well done... So much cleaner! Have you noticed much of a difference in the sound after changing speakers? Probably tough to tell, but sometimes just a little difference can be all you need.


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## JBrax

Wow, really clean looking setup. Very nice and I bet it sounds incredible.


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## JQueen

Very nice set up!!!!!


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## Hakka

Owen Bartley said:


> Well done... So much cleaner! Have you noticed much of a difference in the sound after changing speakers? Probably tough to tell, but sometimes just a little difference can be all you need.


The soundfield is much wider due to the repositioning of the wide channels, before everything was bunched up on the front wall, now the placement is more inline with the audyssey/dolby recommended layout.

I wasn't a fan of the 603s1 due to the passive bass driver, bottom end wasn't very clean. The 601s3 are a better sonic match for the rest of the front speakers. 

The improvements are more due to the repositioning rather than the speaker swap, i originally used the 603s1 as mains, which were replaced by the 603s3. That was a very noticeable change.


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## hyghwayman

Hakka, 
Well done, nice and clean :T 
Thanks for sharing!



Hakka said:


> As BD55 mentioned the garbage cans let the ports breathe. I have some wall mounts for those speakers but no studs in the right place so I'm not sure what I'll do there, maybe hang something from the ceiling.


I have an issue of no wall to mount my LS and my Pio speakers are rear ported, macrame worked for me :help: :dumbcrazy: I'm anchored into the rafters but there are other mounting options for no studs.


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## Hakka

I've been looking for some speaker mounts to go on the ceiling but there doesn't seem to be much to suit bigger speakers. I'm thinking of using a couple of TV mounting brackets instead.


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## kennyrod

Amazing! That is a lot of power. Bet it sounds awesome!


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## kevin360

Yep, that _is *awesome*_! :TT
I really dig the speaker to seat ratio.
It sure would be cool to have a room dedicated to home theater and another for a stereo. Alas, that is not to be for me. Of course, then I'd want to have a third room like this one which was _just_ for me. Ah, first world problems.:laugh:


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## Savjac

Very nice Hakka.
Was not too long ago, I have a similar set up, not quite as spectacular but all B&W, 604S2, 602S2 and 600LCR, Rotel and Denon. Dang if that system did not rock pretty well. I think I ever sill have the center channel B&W up in the present cave sitting off to the side on the floor. 

Thanks for sharing.


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