The question is less about the dollars than it is about the value. Was there value for you in that purchase? I think we’re here because we know the answer to that question.
6 Likes
Porta Pro Sexy Time!
I already owned the gold SP1000M when I got my first PortaPros (Drop version). I was sufficiently impressed that I went for the gold version just to shoot some silly glamor shots. It’s also a fun chain to share with people who don’t know anything outside of mainstream consumer audio.
20 Likes
Here’s the latest photo of my home theater setup:
My goal for this space was to build the best possible setup for music, movies, and gaming. I discovered as I looked into loudspeakers, the true high end veers heavily towards a “2 ears, 2 speakers” philosophy, while surround sound solutions for movies and whatnot leaned toward inexpensive but terrible Home Theater in a Box products. It was challenging to find options to serve both needs.
I ended up with Sonus Faber Cremonas, because they sound excellent and offered a matching center and sub for home theater. I bought a second set of towers for 5.1 surround and set things up so that all 4 towers and the center channel are equidistant from the “sweet spot,” and pointed straight at it. That’s not how 5.1 surround is typically set up for cinema, but it doesn’t hurt much; meanwhile, it is great for gaming since audio tracks perfectly and consistently around the room when you move around 3D game worlds (Alien Isolation was epically intense with the lights off and in full surround, lol).
Besides the speakers, the rest of the components in the theater have evolved a lot over the years. A few years ago, I finally retired my wonderful B&K AVR507 receiver for McIntosh separates: C2600 tube pre, MX122 Processor, and a MC8207 7 channel amp. The screen is a 115" Stewart Studiotek, and I’m running a Sony VPL-VW600ES projector and a pair of 65" LG OLEDs for the screens. Surround is configured to play whatever is on the big screen.
The most recent major enhancement to the theater was a Holo May KTE DAC that I picked up last fall. I wanted it for Susvara, but I wasn’t going to not use it with my speakers, too. The only solution: incorporate my reference headphone chains into the theater setup…
Starting from the bottom left is a Goldpoint stepped attenuator on top of a Violectric V280. The Goldpoint serves as a pre for the two spare channels of my McIntosh 8207, which I am using as my “ultimate SS reference” for Susvara.
The V280 is the one amp I own that can reasonably drive every headphone in my collection, including Susvara and the 600 ohm 880s. Plus, it has another unique benefit–the RCA jacks on the back can be configured as outputs–the V280 actively converts from XLR in to RCA out, so I’ve chained my Pendant (top) through the V280. It was both a handy way to incorporate tubes into my headfi center, but also means I can compare any headphones between V280 and Pendant to see how the sound changes.
The last unit in the bottom right is a Stax LRM-727ii energizer. I only own L700, and I think maybe e-stats are a dead end for me, but it is nice to have the ability to hear them side by side with any other chain I feel like putting together.
An unsung hero in my setup is this Mapletree Audio passive XLR switch. I had mine designed as 4x4, which is more than I need, but I kept my original DAC (Ayre QB-9 DSD) when I got the May, and I’m driving 3 different outputs (Goldpoint / Susvara chain, V280 + Pendant chain, and Stax chain). It’s nice to have spare inputs and outputs in order to add on other gear for all sorts of A-B fun.
EDIT: Bonus Cable Management shot:
A peek behind the May at the Pi I have feeding it. I have all the cables in my theater set up like so:
Separate sleeved bundles for:
AC power
Analog audio cables (mostly XLR)
Low voltage digital (i.e., HDMI, Ethernet, etc.)
Speaker cables
Where cables have to cross I took care to try to do so at right angles to minimize interference. That’s evident here where I had to get the power cord out to the AC sleeve.
27 Likes
The last post got plenty long; I decided to share my desk setup in a separate post.
This is roughly my current setup for work–the important stuff is here, anyway: an ADI-2 feeding a Topping A90. I used to have the Pendant and V280 on my desk, but they ate up a lot of surface space.
The white box in the middle is a Maker Hart Loop mixer. My 3 monitors have only 3.5mm stereo outputs; by running all of them through a mixer, I can get a custom blend of whatever audio is playing on whichever screens. I’ve used this in the past to chat on PC while playing XBox, for example.
This whole desk lives in the same room as my theater, actually. It’s on wheels and everything is self contained–I just need to plug into power and ethernet and I’m good to go!
This picture was from solo-farming 10,000 kills in Gears of War for the “Seriously” achievement. I set up my own lobbies by running 8 copies of the game, and I streamed Breaking Bad to break up the monotony. I had 4 Xbox Ones hanging from the bottom of my desk, plus another 5 consoles in the theater stack at that time (one was streaming Netflix). The monitors all accept and tile 4 1080P sources.
If 12:00 represents the screen of my theater, my desk sits at 3:00, against the side wall. With where I placed my headfi station, I can listen to my uber-Susvara chain while I work. 
I mounted two power strips on the bottom of the desk. Just above those, in the center of the desk, is a bracket for a gigabit switch–everyhing on the desk is hard wired.
In the corners are 4 brackets for mounting small televisions under kitchen cabinets. I use these along with console mounts from a company called HideIt; those brackets have VESA pattern holes, which is where the TV mounts come it–I put quick detach brackets on the TV mounts and the HideIt mounts, so I can just snap different consoles into place:
Last but not least: I am using a Blue Yeti boom mic for work and gaming; it doubles as a handy headphone stand for whatever I happen to be using as the headphone of the week, or whatever. For example:
(wow, this pic is old, lol–been ages since the Nighthawk got play time)
24 Likes
Beautiful setup! Fantastic gear! Ihave one important question.
Is that Spider-Man riding a tiger over a rainbow?
4 Likes
LOL, leave it to me to be more impressed with the Gnome on the desk.
4 Likes
No, that’s Deadpool. That’s a screenshot from the end credits of the Deadpool game on Xbox. I staged the photo with Zeos hand-waving about not really getting the May; the overall theme is like a photo response stating, “this is what May is all about.” I threw the Deadpool images in there, because they felt like they fit the Z Reviews brand of zaniness.
That’s “Jim With Hands in Pockets,” which I stumbled upon via Google image search eons ago. It’s clearly the inspiration for Valve’s “Gnome Chompski,” and I had to have it as an homage to my favorite achievement of all time:
“Little Rocket Man” requires you to find this gnome at the beginning of Episode 2 and drag it through the whole game, including a chaotic section where a helicopter is chasing and shooting at you as you speed around in a car with no doors, praying the gnome won’t take a bad bounce that gets you killed–or worse, sends the gnome to some unrecoverable pit or crevice.
If all goes well, you need to wait for an opportune moment to quickly place the gnome into a rocket near the end of the game so it gets blasted into space. Because.
Anyway, since you enjoyed the gnome, here’s a bonus pic of him modeling KPH30is
15 Likes
Easter egg galore 
6 Likes
Damn, that setup is absolutely amazing. Hope I can have something like that in the future!
nice was using this guy all day yesterday ona facmily road trip out of rown I really do love how these guys sound flaws and all
I love the simple setup tbh. My stuff is always just a mess cause I have way too many options. I read some peoples gear lists here and I just picture a Victorian library with dacs and amps instead of books 
3 Likes
Very nice!!
What is the component on the bottom?
2 Likes
Dcs Bartok, I’m guessing?
2 Likes
Certainly looks like it.
@mammal when you going to get a UPS so you can use batrok as a dap?
1 Like
Never seen them in black. I like it!!
Damn. I need to hire you for my cable management. No wonder you were particular about the stands
2 Likes
I did that at the beginning but it didn’t play nice with my motorized desk