Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Mather said:
Yeah you just gotta understand, in the past year I've bought two laser projectors, a 120 inch screen and a second Arcam AVR. If bring any other new stuff home my wife will throat punch me.
Click to expand...
This is a good year! Bravo.

I’m looking at 4k laser projectors at the moment. My cinema room / garden room was dismantled for a play-room 5 years ago. It kills me every day. So I’m now trying to work out how I can have the two living side by side. Plus I think 108” Paw Patrol / Bluey is an easier sell than ‘I don’t want to watch the new LOTR series until I can see it massive’…
 
Bsdmr2 said:
This is a good year! Bravo.

I’m looking at 4k laser projectors at the moment. My cinema room / garden room was dismantled for a play-room 5 years ago. It kills me every day. So I’m now trying to work out how I can have the two living side by side. Plus I think 108” Paw Patrol / Bluey is an easier sell than ‘I don’t want to watch the new LOTR series until I can see it massive’…
Click to expand...
Yep, that's what I've got. One Optoma UHZ50 (Laser) and one Benq X3000i (LED). 100 inch screen upstairs, 120 in the theatre room. LOTR, GOT and ANDOR are all awesome with the big screen and Atmos.
 
Mather said:
Yep, that's what I've got. One Optoma UHZ50 (Laser) and one Benq X3000i (LED). 100 inch screen upstairs, 120 in the theatre room. LOTR, GOT and ANDOR are all awesome with the big screen and Atmos.
Click to expand...

I think when you got the last one I got all excitable and started researching and then realised I live in a 72 sq m apartment and sit 2m from the tv sceen, a 55” tv already looks massive in here!
 
Joe Mac said:
I think when you got the last one I got all excitable and started researching and then realised I live in a 72 sq m apartment and sit 2m from the tv sceen, a 55” tv already looks massive in here!
Click to expand...
LOL. My 65" that I sit a good 15 feet away from gave me headaches for the first week. I had to train my eyes not to keep bouncing around to look at all four corners at once.
 
Mather said:
Yep, that's what I've got. One Optoma UHZ50 (Laser) and one Benq X3000i (LED). 100 inch screen upstairs, 120 in the theatre room. LOTR, GOT and ANDOR are all awesome with the big screen and Atmos.
Click to expand...
The Optoma is a peach! I assume the Optoma is I. There theatre room? I’ve still got my 1080p Sanyo in the loft with the 108” pull down screen, but I sold my AVR and Kef sub and speakers. If I do it again as a half-way house I’ll try and keep the speaker set-up to a minimum.
 
Bsdmr2 said:
The Optoma is a peach! I assume the Optoma is I. There theatre room? I’ve still got my 1080p Sanyo in the loft with the 108” pull down screen, but I sold my AVR and Kef sub and speakers. If I do it again as a half-way house I’ll try and keep the speaker set-up to a minimum.
Click to expand...
Actually due to throw distance the Optoma is upstairs on the 100 for the time being. Although I may swap them at some point. But the x3000i looks very very good in the theatre, just takes some time to balance the color. But it's partly what I do at work so I'm pretty used to it at this point. The image on the Optoma is absolutely astonishing. I posted this a while back but this is a picture of GOT I took off my screen, from my couch, with my phone...
20220905_003146.jpg

The ONLY issue with the UHZ50 is the HDR does have some banding at times. Apparently it can be avoided if you only send it 4:4:4 signals but that's tough to do as most streaming boxes don't do 4:4:4 @ 4K 60HZ HDR. I'm hoping it's something they can fix with a firmware update.
 
Last edited:
Bsdmr2 said:
The Optoma is a peach! I assume the Optoma is I. There theatre room? I’ve still got my 1080p Sanyo in the loft with the 108” pull down screen, but I sold my AVR and Kef sub and speakers. If I do it again as a half-way house I’ll try and keep the speaker set-up to a minimum.
Click to expand...

It’s not an AVR by a long stretch but I’ve been really impressed by using sonos as a 5.1 wirelessly. Sounds good and the base under the tele and the two small rears are really unobtrusive. Using the ikea sonos lamps as the rears would be even more so again. Supposedly the new bars use HDMI and support atmos.
 
Joe Mac said:
It’s not an AVR by a long stretch but I’ve been really impressed by using sonos as a 5.1 wirelessly. Sounds good and the base under the tele and the two small rears are really unobtrusive. Using the ikea sonos lamps as the rears would be even more so again. Supposedly the new bars use HDMI and support atmos.
Click to expand...
I have a Beam and really like it. I think the Beam 2 is meant to be even better so that would definitely be an option, but it’d have to be placed up really high on the wall above the screen so might be a bit odd!
 
Mather said:
Actually due to throw distance the Optoma is upstairs on the 100 for the time being. Although I may swap them at some point. But the x3000i looks very very good in the theatre, just takes some time to balance the color. But it's partly what I do at work so I'm pretty used to it at this point. The image on the Optoma is absolutely astonishing. I posted this a while back but this is a picture of GOT I took off my screen, from my couch, with my phone...
View attachment 155351

The ONLY issue with the UHZ50 is the HDR does have some banding at times. Apparently it can be avoided if you only send it 4:4:4 signals but that's tough to do as most streaming boxes don't do 4:4:4 @ 4K 60HZ HDR. I'm hoping it's something they can fix with a firmware update.
Click to expand...
Beautiful! I’d be feeding Disney +, Netflix and Prime as sources, and possibly a ps4/5 for gaming but wouldn’t connect any other set top boxes up.
 
Bsdmr2 said:
I have a Beam and really like it. I think the Beam 2 is meant to be even better so that would definitely be an option, but it’d have to be placed up really high on the wall above the screen so might be a bit odd!
Click to expand...
I've got an Arcam AVR10 in the theatre hooked up to 2x Revel M10's L&Rs, 1 Revel C25 centre, 2 x Revel 383s in ceiling, 2x Revel M8s rear surrounds and Revel B10 Sub. All that equals 5.1.2 Atmos.
 
Bsdmr2 said:
Beautiful! I’d be feeding Disney +, Netflix and Prime as sources, and possibly a ps4/5 for gaming but wouldn’t connect any other set top boxes up.
Click to expand...
What would actually be feeding the sources to the projector? Or would you be using the on board video apps?
 
Bsdmr2 said:
Not 100% sure to be honest! I read the onboard apps don’t support 4k, at least on the Optoma?
Click to expand...
Yeah I wouldn't use the onboard apps they're pretty awful. I know they're overpriced but Apple TVs have probably the best video and audio quality that you can get for the various streaming services.
 
Mather said:
Yeah I wouldn't use the onboard apps they're pretty awful. I know they're overpriced but Apple TVs have probably the best video and audio quality that you can get for the various streaming services.
Click to expand...
Yes I think that’s probably the best option. The new 4k model is out November I think.

I might try and get set back up with the current projector and screen and test it out, then gradually swap things over…

Did you go for a dedicated 4k screen?
 
Bsdmr2 said:
Yes I think that’s probably the best option. The new 4k model is out November I think.

I might try and get set back up with the current projector and screen and test it out, then gradually swap things over…

Did you go for a dedicated 4k screen?
Click to expand...
That stuff is kinda snake oil when it comes to screens. There's good quality and bad quality screens but there's nothing about them that makes them 4k or 1080. I just went for a pull down that fit my space and didn't cost a zillion dollars. It will likely be replaced down the road but I wouldn't worry about that kind of designation. I have a fixed screen upstairs and a pull down downstairs.
 
Random mid day work thought:

For the amount that this forum collectively spends a month on records and gear, we can probably all timeshare a very nice vacation home somewhere in the middle of no-where together that we deck out with top of the line audio gear, it will be N&G HQ and a place for us all to sneak off to where we can crank the decibels in peace. It will be like an NFT but a house.

I can see it perfectly. Mather dungeon included.

Okay back to work.
 
Ghost said:
Random mid day work thought:

For the amount that this forum collectively spends a month on records and gear, we can probably all timeshare a very nice vacation home somewhere in the middle of no-where together that we deck out with top of the line audio gear, it will be N&G HQ and a place for us all to sneak off to where we can crank the decibels in peace. It will be like an NFT but a house.

I can see it perfectly. Mather dungeon included.

Okay back to work.
Click to expand...
I demand a roller rink.
 
AnthonyI said:
The Soundsmith Otello, what to say?

Here's the thing, and this all kind of revolves around my change of direction over the last few months. I've owned a lot of carts over the years, ever looking for the best value, best sound, cost and so on. In no particular order these have been and continue to be my favorites, the Goldring E3 and 1042, the Ortofon Quintet Blue, the Denon DL103-R, the Grado Opus3 and my benchmark, for better or worse, the Hana SL.

That's been my quest, a Hana SL without the Hana SL price and or long term cost. That's a tall order and for the most part when trying carts I've been able to pull out the differences between X and the SL.

But here's the thing with the Otello, while I know there have to be some differences in the sound, I can't pluck those out of the air like I usually can. I would have to hear them side by side and then, obviously, I could hear where the differences are. And THAT is all I need to know about the Otello.

The Otello was described like this to me from the vendor (Not Soundsmith), "If you like Grado cartridges, the Otello is like Grado on steroids" and I gotta say, it's a dead on accurate description. I haven't quite hit 20 hours on the Otello, but I don't need to. I've been enjoying album after album without even thinking about the cartridge, I'm not looking for what it's lacking in comparison to anything, it delivers an amazing sound, warmth, full of detail, smooth tight bass, depth and fullness that rivals, and excuse the marketing hook, cartridges 2, 3 4x more expensive..............Pete wasn't wrong.

Now take that part of the formula and add the cost, at $400 ( a little less if you poke around), BANG FOR YOUR BUCK all day long. Add the long term cost of $100 to re-tip, and I struggle to find any down side as I'm listening to this cartridge.

View attachment 152019

Is there "better"? There always is, but taking everything into consideration, and not feeling like I'm compromising on the sound, I'm at a good end-game. With it being an MM cart and easy to match to just about any pre, I'd recommend it whole heartedly.
Click to expand...
I really feel I need to post a one month update on the Otello.................this cartridge is brilliant.

Full disclosure, I did swap my Manley gains with a couple of Gold Lions, but there is nothing that sounds bad, to me, with this cart and the current rig setup.

<---- Happy Vinyl Camper :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top