Projects: what are you all working on?

Love the build. Maybe you can take it for a spin? ...I'm Finishing up the integrated dial on my minimalist amp case design. Agree, ALOT cheaper than building a 450hp street rocket.

I'm currently working on designing a new TV stand made out of 1" MDF boards all around. It'll be custom made to all of my A/V gear and will have built-in shielded cable management conduits for running my A/V cables, along with the bottom of it having two 16-outlet surge protector bars mounted to it.

It's gonna be expensive and I'll need to take a lot of time to learn some basic carpentry. I'll probably veneer and stain it. Will be sure to use lots of paper towel.

Right now it's just like 5 pen sketches on graph paper, and it'll probably stay in the design stage for like a year until I can save up for it. I've stopped my spending mostly until July, when I go to the Netherlands for 2 weeks. After that I'll treat myself to some nice new things. Been working extra to fund my shenanigans.

I have enjoyed that pre/pro for many years, but the left rear channel has gone out. Plus it’s pre Dolby Atmos/DTS X. So time for a change.

@pitdogg2 You can still get them on eBay. Butcha gotta be careful what you get. These tuners are KNOWN to run extremely hot. Which of course shortens their lifespan.
Check this guy out. He upgrades them and installs cooling for them. I put myself on his waiting list to get mine done.
https://www.xdrguy.com/tips-for-ebay-buyers.html

I looked for quite a while (*Meaning years*) on and off before I came across one that was NOS-New Old Stock-and pulled the trigger. This coincidentally happened just as I had put a deposit on the Marantz.

I finally pulled it out of the box 📦
It’s definitely smaller than the Onkyo.
Now to deal with the rats nest of wires. I’m going to do the Dolby Atmos/DTS X-which means I can no longer use the multi channel analog outs from the Oppo. I already had the HDMI cable in place. Who knows. I may or may not be selling some extra MIT cables here.

@pitdogg2
Ivan The Oppo has an excellent DAC yes.

Howevah

It only has a back surround output. If I want to take advantage of the Dolby Atmos/DTS X capabilities of the Marantz, I cannot use the Oppo's DAC. I MUST run HDMI and disconnect the RCA analog outputs from the Oppo UDP-205. Once they are connected the Oppo automatically mutes the HDMI audio output. I found that out a few years ago when I hooked up the analog outs and tried to use the Onkyo's Dolby Pro Logic IIz processing and I couldn't access it. I contacted Oppo and they told me that the HDMI audio out was now disconnected because I was using the analog outputs. Dolby Pro Logic IIz (*AKA-Dolby Height*) is the predecessor to Dolby Atmos and isn't discreet object based like Dolby Atmos/DTS X/Auro 3D are. I am already set up with the height speakers in place and will continue to use them.

Just gotta use the HDMI now.

Since the Oppo UDP-205 has Jitter reduction circuitry for the HDMI audio out (*one of the reasons why I decided to buy it instead of the UDP-203*) then I will hopefully still have a good experience sound-wise.

Audio/music-wise I still plan on using the XLR outputs for the stereo DVD-A, SACD and MQA CD's.
I'm curious to see how the system will sound with the TIDAL and Qobuz. I have a long USB-B cable running from my computer in the bedroom to the input on the Oppo to decode MQA coming from Tidal. Too bad they are phasing it out. It's still available for now though. I use Audirvana from my Desktop computer to stream Tidal and M connect lite from my phone to stream Qobuz and Tidal.

Just doing initial testing with the HDMI. My network sees it and the remote app does as well.
Okay done for now.
More later as I wade through all of the cabling.

@pitdogg2 It has been many years since I had a preamp in that rack. As a matter of fact it was my very first surround preamp/processor. It was a Parasound AVC-2500.







I loved that unit. It had some upgrade paths that you could do yourself or have the dealer do them. One of them you had to send it back to Parasound to get. That was the High Definition video upgrade (I didn't do that one) Obviously this preamp was Pre HDMI. I got it used and HDMI 1.0 had just appeared when I had it. It was a helluva preamp though. I did the back channel surround upgrade for Dolby EX and DTS-ES. It was an external box that also allowed you to add a second subwoofer to your rear channels. That is how I started down the path to multiple subs.
There was also a card you could insert into the unit. I can't recall what that was for. Something about the volume control. If anyone had this unit and did that upgrade maybe you can remember.
ANYWAY after this one I got an Integra DTC-9.8 along with Oppo's first universal DVD player that had HDMI. They allowed you to play SACD over the HDMI and the Integra would decode it. That one was too big for the rack and so it went on the floor in front and I put my turntable on top of it. Every pre/pro that I have had since then (and they were all Integra or Onkyo) has been on the floor in front of the rack, because they were too big to go in the rack.

This Marantz might just fit in the rack (or not) but I am not going that route.
You are absolutely right Ivan AND tryna run all them cables again to another place in the back of the rack is suicide!!

pitdogg2 wrote: »

honestaquarian wrote: »

@pitdogg2 You can still get them on eBay. Butcha gotta be careful what you get. These tuners are KNOWN to run extremely hot. Which of course shortens their lifespan.
Check this guy out. He upgrades them and installs cooling for them. I put myself on his waiting list to get mine done.
https://www.xdrguy.com/tips-for-ebay-buyers.html

Yep we at the fmtuner group had many threads for upgrading and such.

@pitdogg2 Just curious.What are your thoughts on AM stereo? I know it still exists even in the world of HDRadio. I also know that Sangean's HDT-1X HDRadio tuner has an AM stereo tuner that they do not advertise. What I don't know is how many stations are still broadcasting AM stereo and where. I was thinking about getting one for the bedroom system when I eventually make some changes there.
I owned a Carver TX-11a years ago (EXCELLENT tuner) Before that I had an AMC Concord (remember American Motors??) that I had installed a digital tuner that I had gotten out of an AMC Eagle that had AM stereo capability. It has been a very long time since I have come across AM stereo though.