New Updated System

Well I left the 2 channel world and decided to enter the HT world. After a couple of rough years financially and having to sell off some gear to survive and pay bills. This is what I have been able to come up with for less than a thousand dollars.

The Paradigm Mini Monitors and the LCR-350 where found at a garage sale with blown tweeters for 45.00 for all 3 speakers. After getting home I was able to locate the v.2 tweeters on e-bay in 20 minutes. Picked up both of those for 40.00 and Paradigm was able to sell me a tweeter for the LCR-350 for 48.00. So for 135.00 I had a matching front stage system. I use my trusty Energy C-1's as rear channels and recently picked up the HSU STF-2 to round out the system. I was using a TSC ASW-10 for a couple of months but I had some left over money in my tax return so I picked up the HSU. Boy did it make a difference. I picked up the Onkyo TX-SR506 for 229.00 about 6 months ago which is working out rather well considering its a budget receiver.

The ASW-10 will be put into my near field computer system I'm working on in the other room.

Hear are some photos. I plan on installing some room treatments for the front and back wall and a nicer area rug. But I have more things to think about since I'm no longer single and living alone. Future improvements will be in the listed order below.

1. Auralex Gramma - Subwoofer platform. I have a wood floor which effects the bass but the bricks help a little with this.
2. ATS Room Treatments
3. Sub EQ
4. Receiver Upgrade

I may do a receiver that works with the sub. I do for the most part like how Audyssey is helping my current set up. I'm looking forward to trying the more advanced versions of Audyssey..

Nice little setup you have there....

very nice

thats a nice setup........paradigm ftw

now you need a bigger tv

That's a nice setup you put together. You got some good deals putting that together.

Porschetech said:

thats a nice setup........paradigm ftw

now you need a bigger tv

Click to expand...

The TV is definitely on the list and I do agree. But this one has a great image and I need to work on some other things right now. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will do the TV upgrade.

Hai..

Best Home theatre setup in the directions as,
1.Center...
2.Fronts...
3.The Surrounds...
4.In-wall or In-ceiling Speakers...

Nice and clean setup. I like seeing the speakers on stands and away from the walls. Nice speakers too.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Probably should have added an equipment list in the original post. Anyways here it is.

Speakers -
Fronts - Paradigm Mini Monitor v.2
Center - Paradigm LCR 350
Surrounds - Energy C-1
Subwoofer - HSU Research - STF-2

Receiver -
Onkyo TX-SR-506 - Hoping to score the 706 on clearance when the 707 comes out.

DVD -
JVC - XV-N50

TV -
JVC 27" CRT - Very reliable with a great image. Will be upgrading soon though.

Nicely done! I like the stands.

Very nice man. I like the bookshelves a lot.

That does look really nice. Very clean setup.

Starting over sucks but it looks like you're well on your way to rebuilding a decent system. I like the emphasis you put on room treatments early in the build.

anamorphic96 said:

Well I left the 2 channel world and decided to enter the HT world. After a couple of rough years financially and having to sell off some gear to survive and pay bills. This is what I have been able to come up with for less than a thousand dollars.

The Paradigm Mini Monitors and the LCR-350 where found at a garage sale with blown tweeters for 45.00 for all 3 speakers. After getting home I was able to locate the v.2 tweeters on e-bay in 20 minutes. Picked up both of those for 40.00 and Paradigm was able to sell me a tweeter for the LCR-350 for 48.00. So for 135.00 I had a matching front stage system. I use my trusty Energy C-1's as rear channels and recently picked up the HSU STF-2 to round out the system. I was using a TSC ASW-10 for a couple of months but I had some left over money in my tax return so I picked up the HSU. Boy did it make a difference. I picked up the Onkyo TX-SR506 for 229.00 about 6 months ago which is working out rather well considering its a budget receiver.

The ASW-10 will be put into my near field computer system I'm working on in the other room.

Hear are some photos. I plan on installing some room treatments for the front and back wall and a nicer area rug. But I have more things to think about since I'm no longer single and living alone. Future improvements will be in the listed order below.

1. Auralex Gramma - Subwoofer platform. I have a wood floor which effects the bass but the bricks help a little with this.
2. ATS Room Treatments
3. Sub EQ
4. Receiver Upgrade

I may do a receiver that works with the sub. I do for the most part like how Audyssey is helping my current set up. I'm looking forward to trying the more advanced versions of Audyssey..

Click to expand...

nice ! Paradigm=good !

pics of the rears ?

anamorphic96 said:

Well I left the 2 channel world and decided to enter the HT world. After a couple of rough years financially and having to sell off some gear to survive and pay bills. This is what I have been able to come up with for less than a thousand dollars.

The Paradigm Mini Monitors and the LCR-350 where found at a garage sale with blown tweeters for 45.00 for all 3 speakers. After getting home I was able to locate the v.2 tweeters on e-bay in 20 minutes. Picked up both of those for 40.00 and Paradigm was able to sell me a tweeter for the LCR-350 for 48.00. So for 135.00 I had a matching front stage system. I use my trusty Energy C-1's as rear channels and recently picked up the HSU STF-2 to round out the system. I was using a TSC ASW-10 for a couple of months but I had some left over money in my tax return so I picked up the HSU. Boy did it make a difference. I picked up the Onkyo TX-SR506 for 229.00 about 6 months ago which is working out rather well considering its a budget receiver.

The ASW-10 will be put into my near field computer system I'm working on in the other room.

Hear are some photos. I plan on installing some room treatments for the front and back wall and a nicer area rug. But I have more things to think about since I'm no longer single and living alone. Future improvements will be in the listed order below.

1. Auralex Gramma - Subwoofer platform. I have a wood floor which effects the bass but the bricks help a little with this.
2. ATS Room Treatments
3. Sub EQ
4. Receiver Upgrade

I may do a receiver that works with the sub. I do for the most part like how Audyssey is helping my current set up. I'm looking forward to trying the more advanced versions of Audyssey..

Click to expand...

Nice job on putting this nice system together and saving the money you did!

tattoo_Dan said:

nice !

Paradigm=good !

pics of the rears ?

Click to expand...

That part of the room was messy at the time of the photo. The surrounds sit on the two end tables of the couch.

Nice stand. It looks solid.

New Photos Added - 2/10/10











Well several upgrades have been made since last April.

Marantz DV-4001 upconverting DVD player. Picked this up from One Call in June for 87.00 on closeout. It has a very impressive picture and does a very nice job upconverting DVD's. I put Star Trek in after we picked up the new TV and was stunned at the picture quality. Original retail was 399. This is one of my best finds online.

Next was the Velodyne SMS-1 to clean up the low end. It does this in spades and my STF-2 sounds very tight and clean. It's within 3db all the way down to 25hz where it starts rolling off but still has solid output at 20hz. Picked this up for 409.00 from One Call in August.

The Wii was picked up for my girl friends birthday. Not much of a gamer myself but the Wii is definitely fun.

Vizio 37" HDTV added in the past month. Picked this up for 475.00. Its gotta nice picture out of the box but after some tweaking with THX optimizer and glasses it looks even better. Vizio was not my first choice but after doing some research they seem to have mad some great strides in performance and reliability in the past couple of years. Will probably move this to the bedroom in a year or so when I can get something bigger. But it sure is nice to have made the jump to HD for now. Can't wait to pick up a BR player.

Last but not least. The ATS panels where added this past week. The panels along with the sub eq have elevated sound quality in a big way. All the slap echo that was there before is now completely gone. My girlfriend was very skeptical but once they where up and I clapped my hands she could not believe the difference. I must also give here credit for spending the afternoon putting up the panels. She did a great job. She is actually the handyman in the house and wont let me touch this kinda stuff. She likes building things. She lets me do all the AV and electrical hook ups. It's a good deal in my book. Total cost for the panels was 201.00 and I'm very impressed with the build quality. A true bargain at 28.00 per panel.

So those are the upgrades for now. BR player and new receiver will be my next orders of business. I still may add some MoPads for the center channel and bring the TV down a bit. But we will see. It sounds much better since I elevated things with the bricks.

anamorphic96 said:

Click to expand...

Purrrrrrr.