My current sound set up - 4 rooms

What should I buy today?

The top question is what should I be buying to get a great audio / home theatre set? So I'll answer that first, the Anthem MRX 520 plus the Monitor Audio Bronze speakers. If I was a first time buyer that's what I would get.

New for 2023:

Monitor Audio FX Dipoles

Mordaunt-Short vs. Monitor Audio

Mordaunt-Short vs Monitor Audio

Monitor Audio FX back panel

Parasound Zamp

Zamp back

Yes you can plug HDMI sound into an older non-HDMI pre-amps.

There's a couple of ways to deal with this if your pre has S/PDIF and/or 6 channel inputs but no HDMI.  First SPDIF supports up to 24/192 2 channel and multichannel via encoded formats (DTS/AC3).  So your Dolby Digital 5.1 movies work fine via SPDIF.  The nice thing about running Kodi as your home media system is it knows if you are using a SPDIF interface and will transcode anything SPDIF can't handle (like 24/96 6 channel sound) to high bitrate (640kbps) AC3.  The results are very good, I can't tell the transcoded stream from the original stream.

Secondly, there are a few HDMI to 6 channel RCA audio converter boxes, I picked up the Ambery AU-HDLB1 for $150 on eBay. Both have HDMI video out that plugs into the display.

This looks interesting, 5.1ch Surround Decoder 24bit/192KHz


Current sound set up - 4 rooms

All content is served from the LAN via Linux/NFS, that's why there are no disc players, no media. Bit perfect and multichannel playback of DSD, FLAC, mkv, BluRay, etc is handled via the Kodi app, the Linux/Android home media center.

Listening Room 1 System

Back of my Anthem D1

My stack

Amplifiers:

McIntosh MC150 Main Channel Amp
McIntosh MC7100 Center Channel Amp
McIntosh MC122 Middle Channel Amp

Parasound Zamp Rear Channel Amp

Speakers:

McIntosh SL-6 Main Channel Speakers
McIntosh HT-4 Center Channel Speaker

B&W 686 S2 Middle Channel Speakers 5" driver
Mordaunt-Short MS-506 Dipole Surround THX Speakers
SVS PB2000 12" 500-watt Powered Subwoofer

See Subwoofer shakeout!  







DACs:

Ambery AU-HDLB1 HDMI to 7.1 RCA Sound Decoder
Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI Multi-Channel 7.1 DAC
Topping D10 DSD DAC
Anthem Statement D1 Pre/Processor, now upgraded to AVM60

Adding HDMI sound to older pre/pros

Source/Software:

Kingbox K3 / Coreele v9 / MatrixBox X95 Android 8 / Kodi 18, TiVo Stream 4K, NFS
ThinkCentre M93p/GeForce GT 710, Fedora 32 / Kodi 18, Audiophile Linux v4

Topping D10 fed by Coreelec/Kodi box

TiVo Stream 4K, UHD, Dolby Vision HDR, Dolby Atmos

What about all those cables?



Video:

Optoma HD142X 1080p 3000 Lumens 3D DLP Home Theater Projector

McIntosh SL-6

Mordaunt-Short MS-506 Dipole







Listening Room 2 System

Marantz NR1604 

Marantz NR1604 7.2 Channel Network Receiver
B&W 704 S2 Main Channel Speakers
Monitor Audio Bronze 1 Middle Speakers 5 1/2" driver

Monitor Audio Bronze FX Surround Speakers
Monitor Audio Bronze Center Speaker

MartinLogan Dynamo 300 Subwoofer
Linux/Kodi laptop (sees the Marantz as a sound card via HDMI)

LG OLED C1 Series 65" 4K

Nvidia Shield

HomeWorx OTA DVR

See Comparing 6 speakers

Listening Room 3 System

Audioengine D1 USB DAC

JBL LSR305 Studio Monitors

AudioQuest Jitterbug
Linux/Kodi ThinkStation M93p i7-4770
Audiophile Linux v4 in a VM

Samsung 4K Display

See How to get great audio from your computer

Listening Room 4 System

FiiO X3 2nd Gen DAC

Pioneer XDP-30R Hi-Res portable DAC

Bose SoundLink Mini
Lenovo Tab 2 / Kodi
Bang & Olufsen Form 2I Iconic headphones
Pininfarina/Magnat lzr-980 headphones

Aodin Android Pico portable Projector

See my discussion about these portable systems




Listening room 5 system?

If and when, I'm planning on getting;

McIntosh MC205 amp or Anthem MCA 525

Monitor Audio Silver C350 center

Sonus Faber Sonetto V fronts

Monitor Audio Bronze 2 rear

Or, 

Marantz Cinema 70S 

Logan Motion 40i

Fluance Signature HiFi 3-Way Floorstanding Tower

It may look like I'm going for a total Monitor Audio setup, and that would be an excellent idea, however I think Sonus Faber hits the price/sound sweet spot with the Sonetto V at $5k a pair. If B&W can beat that, they'll have to send me a pair to test. I'm not convinced the Sonetto II Center Speaker will sound better than the Monitor Audio C350, and for surround/rear I think Monitor Audio Bronze is fine, certainly for a 7.1 setup, or possibly the FX dipoles.  

Listening room 6 - the car

The McIntosh audio system factory installed in my Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland.

Retired systems 2000's:

Rotel RSP 980

RS-232 linked DTS and AC3 decodeds to
Rotel Processor

Rotel RSP 980 THX Surround Processor

Rotel RDA 985 DTS Surround Processor

Rotel RLC-900 Power Conditioner

Onkyo ED901 AC-3 Decoder

Parasound DAC2000 HDCD D/A Converter

B&W ASW 2000 subwoofer 

Pioneer SD-532HD5 16x9 HDTV

Faroudja VP100 Video Processor

JVC HMDH40000U D-VHS 1080i Digital Video Recorder

Mvix MX-760HD Hi-Definition Media Player

Marantz CC4000-OSE CD Carousel

Uniden UST4900 C-Band Satellite Receiver

Monster HTS2500 Power conditioner

Sennheiser RS-65 Wireless RF Circumaural Headphones

MX-500 Universal Remote Control

Audio Alchemy V2.0 Digital Jitter Reduction

Mvix MX-760HD

Audio Source Amp-1

My Rotel stack, with the Onkyo AC3 decoder

Mitsubishi HS-U780 SVHS VCR

Denon DVD-2200S DVD-Audio/SACD player

Marantz RC1400 Programmable Remote Control

Advent 27" HDTV Monitor

Sony SVR-2000 Tivo

DIRECTV Hughes HNS GAEB0A-GCEB0A

Audio Alchemy DTI v.2 (Digital Transmission Interface)

"Retired" Systems 1990's Era

McIntosh MLD7020 : Laser Disc Player

McIntosh MLD7020 : Laser Disc Player
AudioSource AMP One Center Channel Amp
Infinity Video-1 Center Channel Speakers
Marantz RC2000 Programable Remote
Pioneer CLD-505 LaserDisc Player
Solid Solutions (B&W) S100 Surround Speakers
Sony KV-27TS TV
Sony STR-AV1020 Reciever
Sony SLV-585 VHS VCR
Sony DVP-S3000 DVD Player
Sony CDP-C7ES CD Carousel
Sony TC-KA2ES Cassette Deck
Mitsubishi HS-U770 SVHS VCR
Mitsubishi HS-U790 SVHS VCR
DBX Soundfield V Main Channel Speakers
JBL ProPerformers Rear Channel Speakers
Echostar 3288 DISH 500 DSS

"Retired" Systems 1980's Era

Sansui Z3000

Sansui Z3000 Receiver

Sansui stereo speakers

Technics RS-M250 Cassette Deck

Technics SL-5 Turntable

Ortofon TM-14 phono cartridge

Koss Pro/4X Plus headphones

Realistic TR-101D 3-speed/4-track reel to reel

Technics SL-5 Turntable

The Sansui Z3000 is a fantastic unit, one of the coolest display/button arrangements ever and a simple programmable interface. That right! You can turn the right dial to "program" and use the keypad to enter a series of steps, like turn on at 8pm, turn to FM107.1, power on the tape deck and record a concert! I used this feature to record concerts that were simulcast on radio while I was at the show.  

Electronic Brands I've own:

McIntosh, Anthem, Parasound, AudioSource, Faroudja, Rotel, Denon, Marantz, Sansui, Technics,  Mitsubishi, JVC, Sony, Pioneer.

Speaker brands I've own:

McIntosh, B&W, MartinLogan, SVS, Monitor Audio, Mordaunt-Short, JBL, Infinity, DBX, Sansui, Bose.

Headphone brands I've own:

Bang & Olufsen, Pininfarina/Magnat, Koss, Sennheiser.

Made from real snakes!

And don't forget to use snake oil: