Home Theater Components and Hook-Up
(featuring Tuklu's Tips)

Basement System

Click HERE » for a connection diagram of my devices.

The devices making up our basement home-theater system are:

  • K-36XBR450 36Television: Sony KV-36XBR450 36" XBR® HDTV Monitor: With all the advantages of high-definition direct-view, augmented by some superlative electronics and engineering, the XBR series direct-view monitors are the best display devices in terms of picture quality and color reproduction. This unit had complete support for all ATSC modes right up to 1080i way back in 2000 when HDTV was in its infancy.

    TUKLU's TIP TIP:
    Direct View (CRT) Monitors are still the best in terms of Picture Quality, Contrast, Saturation and Longevity. How often do you see Direct-View and Projection TVs side-by-side in your local store ?
  • Receiver: Sony STR-DE845 A/V Receiver: With two independent DSPs (one for Dolby Digital, DTS or Pro-Logic decoding, and the other for Digital Sound Field Processing), 135W x 5Sony STR-DE845 channels and extensive connections, Sony did a great job of offering a quality product at a reasonable price. The remote control is perhaps one of the most powerful (and complex!) for a cosumer device. Solid and heavy, with one of the first blue LEDs in a consumer device, this is the powerhouse of my sysem.

    TUKLU's TIP TIP:
    When comparing receivers, compare the audio reproduction from the same source and on the same speakers, and with all special sound processing features turned off, i.e. test the actual amplifier without artificial manipulation by the electronics.
  • SpeaBose Acoustimass 15 kers: Bose Acoustimass® 15 Home Theater Speaker System: Right from my early teens, I have wanted to own a set of Bose speakers. However, after having installed these speakers, I don't know ... maybe it wasn't the smartest of decisions ...

    TUKLU's TIP TIP:
    Be careful with Bose. All Bose products are not as impressive as the Wave Radio.
  • DVD Player:
    Mitsubishi DD-6030 Progressive Scan : Mitsubishi has consistently offered exellent DVD players with superior picture quality. The DD-6030 offers progressive scan output; its progressive scan circuitry processes the programming on the disc with a new algorithm for 3:2 pulldown compensation, resulting in a clearer picture and smoother transitions from frame to frame. It also offers improved digital-to-analog audio processing with lower noise and distortion (this feature is useless to me, as I use the coaxial digital output for sound.)
  • CD Player: Technics SL-PD9 5-Disc Rotary CD Changer with Optical Digital Output: Other than the reputation of Technics, the decisive feature in this model for me was DTS pass-thru. This means that if I put in one of my DTS multichannel-encoded CD's in it {e.g. On Air-Alan Parsons Project or Every Breath You Take (DTS Edition)-The Police}, the DTS signal is passed on through the Optical Digital output to my A/V receiver, which decodes and plays it in 5.1 surround format. There are some other very interesting features in this model, like a "Spiral Play" and "Delete Program Play".
  • VCRs: Two standard 4-Head Hi-Fi VCRs connected in series:
    1. Emerson EV818:
    2. Sanyo VWM-900: Sanyo VWM-900
  • (Analog) Graphic Equalizer: Audiosource EQ Eight Series II: Although my receiver has a built-in DSP-based digital equalizer, I use the EQ Eight unit for additional fine control (especially on the record-player signal) and impressive stereo spectrum analyzer display.
  • Satellite TV Receiver: DirecTV: I have a direcDuo satellite dish with a direcPC LNB for internet and a dual-LNB for direcTV. The two DirecTV LNB's are connected to a Recoton DSV95A Multi-switch , and then on to three Hughes HIRD-EII Silver DirecTV receivers (located in the family room and two of the bedrooms) and one RCA DRD450RG Dolby Digital DirecTV receiver in the basement . The RCA DirecTV receiver has a optical digital audio output for Dolby Digital, which is connected to the Optical Digital input for the TV/SAT connector on my audio receiver.
  • Cassette Player: Technics RS-B48R dbx/dolby B-C NR/auto-reverse.

  • Turntable: I use a Panasonic Model 50-501 integrated Turntable/Tuner unit with Q-Plex decoder to play my vinyl records.
    TUKLU's TIP TIP:
    There is still no higher fidelity obtained than from playing a brand new vinyl record for the first time

Family Room System

  • Bose Wave Radio / CD with Media Center
    Bosw Wave Radio / CD
  • Television: A standard GE 27" TV (TBD)
  • VCR: A GE 2-head stereo VCR (TBD)
  • DVD Player: Apex AD-600A : At the time it was released (1999), the AD-600A was a revolutionary DVD Player. In addition to a rich DVD feature set and attractive price,the Apex was the first available DVD Apex AD-600Aplayer to play CD-R media with MP3 and MPEG files, making it a piece of required equipment for any serious electronics enthusiast. This was also probably the most expensive DVD Player from Apex ever. This was the model which pioneered the features common in today's DVD players. It even had component video output for connecting a HDTV at a time when HDTV was hardly even heard of! Other features include full Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, Karaoke, optical and coaxial digital outputs, and advanced DVD playback options like zoom and zoom-scroll.
  • Satellite receiver: Hughes HIRD-EII Silver DirecTV receiver

Master Bedroom System

  • Television / VCR : A standard 19" GE TV/VCR Combo (TBD)
  • DVD Player: A little player (TBD)
  • Satellite receiver: Hughes HIRD-EII Silver DirecTV receiver

2nd Bedroom System

  • Television / VCR : A standard 14" TV/VCR Combo (TBD)
  • Satellite receiver: Hughes HIRD-EII Silver DirecTV receiver

 

Basement Closet System

  • FM Transmitter: irock. Used to transmit MP3 from my computer to the FM Radio in closet (TBD)
    iRock FM Transmitter
  • Speakers are inside air vents; sound carries through to all air vents in the house - poor man's central music system (TBD)

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