Description
It's almost 2 different systems sharing a preamp and speakers. I keep the video and audio stuff isolated from eachother completely so as not to compromise on the audio side. 2 dedicated circuits. 1 for audio, one for video. When building the surround setup, it was optimized for multichannel music - the benefit on film soundtracks is just a bonus. (plus, it's cool to tell your friends when watching the Lord of the Rings DVDs that the soundtracks were mastered and mixed using the same speakers) The sound is nothing short of fantastic. The Meitner combo, i feel is among the finest sources available, regardless of price. Those who remember my system before will notice that my Teres 265 table, SME V arm and VdH Colibri are gone. The reason? Because I firmly believe that with quality Redbook CDs, the Meitner combo equals the sound of the LPs. And on well-recorded SACDs, the sound surpasses the quality of my old TT rig. Those who haven't heard the Meitner combo - I highly recommend hearing it. There's *way* more information on those CDs than you ever thought there was! The dynamics are explosive and the transients and decays are so natural, you'd think you were listening to pristine vinyl - were it not for the absence of clicks and pops. The atc all active surround 5.1 setup (except for the linn active sub, which i don't use for 2-channel) along with the Meitner combo is nearly identical to what sony uses to demonstrate SACD, and that Telarc uses to master their recordings. They (the ATCs) are neutral, dynamic, accurate, transparent, clean, clear, coherent, and LOUD when necessary. For room tratments, I use Auralex diffusors, absorbers, and bass traps in the corners. Anyone looking for reasonably-priced room treatments shuld look. They are used in recording studios all over the place, and have a more industrial-type look to them. They're not ugly, but they're not as pretty as some of the more expensive room-control products. They are, however, extremely effective. For multichannel music, I use no bass management at all - all speakers are run full range, except for the Linn sub. The linn sub is crossed over internally at 40hz and is turned way down, only gently augmenting where the 50s start to roll-off. It mixes so well that sometimes I have to put my hand on it to make sure it's playing. :-) Anyhoo, that pretty well does it. Thanks for reading and lemme know whatcha think!
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