Here's a pretty good view of the main setup. (As an aside, I love my new 10-24mm lens for the Nikon D40. It makes taking indoor pictures like so much easier, and can give an exaggerated perspective like this shot at 10mm. I still wasn't able to exclude all of the junk; you can see a box of cables on the lower left.) The speaker stands do a good job of raising the tweeters to ear level and prevent the sound from being blocked by the coffee table (seen on the previous page). At the bottom of the picture you can see the USB hub which is connected to the PS3.
More pictures coming soon...
Here's the main A/V system. The highlight is the Sony Wega XBR television. The picture on this set is amazing, and I haven't even finished tweaking it yet. It's not obvious in the picture, but the TV is pushed back a few inches from the front of the stand, and it hangs way out over the back. I did this because all of the weight (and there's a lot of weight!) is concentrated in the front of the set, and I was afraid it would tip forward and take the stand with it. On the floor are my Sega Saturn and Sennheiser headphones (with custom white headband since the black one finally broke after years of abuse). The cables on the bottom right lead to the DVD player in the computer.
Here's a close-up of the gear in the equipment rack. From top to bottom, left to right: S-VHS, VHS, RF demodulator (the small black box), LD player, tape deck, and receiver. You can also catch a glimpse of the rat's nest of cable behind the equipment. The Sony VHS deck is wired up but I rarely use it; I'd like to get a second S-VHS deck eventually. The 6-cassette changer is used more than you would think.
My messy apartment. The sweet spot opposite the TV is where the two couch cushions meet in the left picture. There's a video rack right behind the couch. The computer (with Iron Giant screen saver) is in the back of the room. The blinds block out most of the light from the huge balcony window during the day.
The table to the right of the couch is actually the LD/LP rack. The big rack holds mostly CDs but you can see some DVDs on the bottom right. The maneki neko (good-luck cat) by the coat rack was a farewell gift from my co-workers in Japan. On the couch (it's hard to see) is the Marantz remote that came with the SR7000. It is programmed to control the whole system, except for the tape deck (since I haven't found that remote yet).
This is a better view of the left surround speaker. I like the stands, but they still need to be weighted on the bottom to make them a little more sturdy. You can also see some of my LDs, vinyl, and CDs.
Here's a close-up of the turntable. I replaced the gold velvet slipmat with a Technics mat, and I was happy to discover it glows in the dark. On the lower shelf is the Creek phono preamp, sitting on top of my old, unused JVC receiver. My sister and I grew up listening to our parents' records, so it is a lot of fun dusting off the old Bill Cosby and Peter, Paul, & Mary LPs.
This is the latest addition to the system, an SVS powered subwoofer. I feel lucky to have learned about this company as they were just starting up, and I ended up with the ninth powered woof they produced (according to the serial number). It's too bad I can't really crank it up in the apartment. Here's an SPL chart of my system's low frequency response before and after adding the sub.
In case you haven't guessed already, the images on the TV screen are from Rio Bravo, a great movie starring John Wayne and Angie Dickinson. It happened to be playing on AMC while I was taking pictures.
