This is one of 2 primary dedicated rooms that I'm forever working on, and enjoying. It's used primarily for 2 channel listening (90% of the time), and most of that is vinyl listening (~75% of the time). The HT is used for concert videos and an occasional movie. Most of our movie watching is upstairs in the family room.
Apology - some of my pics are really bad. One of these days I may fix that.
The Room:
It's in the basement - 14x18x8. Originally built for my kids, but when they grew up, it needed a purpose, and I had free time once again to invest in this hobby. There are no windows due to the location in the basement where we built it. I have a new room under construction that's twice the size, but alas the priority is low so it will be a while for its completion.
This system was built on a tight budget. That's why I have a lot of DIY and leftover furnishings (ie hand me downs from the "upstairs"). On the plus side, my wife has recently become fond of watching movies down here, and has even shown the room off to friends, so I may be able to acquire some new furniture without getting grief.
I will be editing and adding comments over time, but this is my initial offering.
Full function remote controlled preamp. Includes a nice MM/MC switchable phono stage. and HT passthru
Jolida JD 9a
tube phono stage - MM/MC
Lexicon DC-1
w/V 4.0 firmware DD, DTS pre-pro
Eagle 4
(2) EKSC Eagle Mod 4's vertically biamping VR4 gen IIIs
Eagle 2c
this is the last 2C ever made. It says so on the label affixed and signed by by Russ Sherwood. New 2 years ago.
Eagle 2a
a 2A driving rear speakers VR3's
Von Schweikert Audio VR-4 Gen III
main speakers in HT, but primarily used for 2 channel
Von Schweikert Audio LCR-15
center channel monitor
Von Schweikert Audio VR-3
rear channels.I originally bought these for use as 2 channel mains. When I bought the VR4's, these went into another room. I screwed around with various surround speaker options for HT until it occurred to me these would be the best option.
Von Schweikert Audio Tower of Power
LFE only
DIY Amp stands
Butcher block from TJ Maxx, MDF Plinth, deco legs from ebay.
DIY Equipment Rack
built in rack - IKEA Butcher Block Slabs cut to size, mounted in alcove
the Eagle 2's as you can buy them used (ie in original form) are great - and great for the money, but when they have been updated by Russ (new caps and mod's) they're fantastic.
I originally wanted a set of mono blocks but have been so happy running my eagle 4's vertically biamped I've lost interest, though is a set came on the market for the right price it would still be tempting.
I thought I was the only one still using an eagle! When my vtl crapped out a couple of years ago, I picked up a used one cheap just to tide me over because, having had one 25 years ago, I knew it would have no problem driving my watt/puppies. I liked it so much that I sent it back to Russ Sherwood for a recap/update. Now the Wilsons are gone, but the eagle 2 is sounding just great driving a pair of Joseph Audio Pearls. What a great little amp - all business and no bs. I'd love to get my hands on a mono pair, but they never seem to come up for sale. I wish Russ would start making new ones, but he doesn't seem to want to do it.
I haven't really tried the Oppo as a music source so can't say how it compares for music. The Sony is hard to beat as a music source though. It outperforms everything I've tried for redbook cds with the exception of my Meridian, and it comes close to that. It's a 5 disc carousel and is an SACD player. It's built like a tank too. The one thing I wish it did was HDCD decoding which the Oppo does. I kind of which toe Oppo ws a little sturdier - especially the drawer.
For DVD's (concert videos and movies) the sound quality of the Oppo has indistinguishable from the Sony, and the picture is better. I really like it for DVD's.
One of these days I may get the energy connect the Oppo analog outs to my 2 channel preamp and give it a test drive for music.
