Philip Hamm
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 1999
- Messages
- 6,874
Hi. I'm old school. Many years ago my life priorities changed such that keeping up with the latest surround formats and home theater technology lost interest with me. Some old schoolers may remember me as a former administrator on this board when I was more engaged in the home theater hobby. My wife and I had a home built about 11 years ago now, and our basement has a large area which I made a corner of into a nice little home theater. I have gone through a lot of hardware over the years, and the current setup may be the least capable from a technology standpoint that I've had in a decade or more. My receiver is so old that it doesn't even have DTS decoding on board. The best I can do is PCM stereo at 44.1 or 48 KHz or Dolby Digital. My speakers are very inexpensive Sony models that sound great to me and handle the loud volumes necessary for my wife's workouts. She loves to jam the tunes very loud while she's working out on the treadmill behind the sofas. My hardware is old, much of my software is very old (check out that LaserDisc collection), but I enjoy my movie room a great deal. Maybe more now that I'm not trying to keep up with the latest stuff. The "Whatever happened to Mike Knapp" thread inspired me to take these pictures and post. Anyway, here it is..... First of all, the rack. The rack is built in to the wall at about an 80 degree angle from the primary seating position. No lights in my face except the program. Love that. I'd go as far as to say that having no distracting lights from equipment is more important than counting pixels or audio bits. Remote control IR commands are echoed by a remote extender device. Equipment is (don't laugh): * Roku box - almost never gets used. * Ethereal green power surge supressor. Turns off the vampires when they're not being used. * Sherwood Newcastle R-925 receiver. Dolby digital and PCM are the only digital capabilities. Sound fantastic. Made in UK. This receiver was top of the line in 1998 I think. Maybe 1997. It has plenty of power to handle my wife's workouts, she jams the music LOUD. Originally retailed at over $1K, S/N's top of the line model. I got it on craigslist for $30. * Powermax Rackmax. The only thing plugged into this is an old JVC RK-11 (circa 1981) which powers the 6.5" speakers above the pool table. It's really just an expensive rack mount switch. * Sony BDP-S360 Blu-Ray player. This handles all CD, DVD, and CD play. * Sony MDS-JB920 MiniDisc Recorder. Almost never gets used. Sometimes for recording concerts from the DVR on Audio, and for sampling movies if I want to make a small MP3 or WAV file for something fun. * IMPACT component video switch. * Accurian HDTV receiver. Hooked up to my attic antenna, for local HDTV channels. I get two markets. * Dish VIP722k DVR. Dish Network is our TV provider. The TV in the family room is hooked to "B", it's a 27" flat front CRT. * Pioneer CLD-D704 LaserDisc player. Bought new in 1995. Still spinning on its second motor. No pictures of the pool table or dartboard, sorry.
