Post your Gaming Setups

[andrewfee]

I got fed up with my room as it was, and have been redecorating for the last month or so now. Unfortunately my camera (Exilim EX-Z750) only arrived today; the room is nearly done now, lol.



Just got my sub this morning as well:

Samsung LE32R41BX
Cyrus 7 Integrated Amplifier
JBL XTi 20 Speakers
BK XLS200-DF Subwoofer
Grado SR-80 Headphones

Makes up my main setup, although I'm waiting on delivery of an Oppo upscaling DVD player. (came out on top of a comparison with players from $200-13,000)

Am also waiting on a replacement Joytech AV control centre for SCART/Component switching.

I'm thinking about getting the LCD ISF calibrated soon, and I'll probably buy a good DAC as well. Does anyone have thoughts / opinions on whether it's worth it? (?200)

The spaces on the left are for my X360 and other next-gen systems when they arrive.



PAL Xbox (softmodded for progressive scan) Modded PAL PS2 (for imports) JP Gamecube, Japanese Saturn, Super Famicom, my XRGB2+ Line Doubler, and various controllers.

I'll be taking care of the wires once everything else arrives.



17" 1.67GHz Powerbook G4, 2GB RAM, 100GB Hard drive, 128mb Radeon 9700 Mobility, the works.

Wacom "Pearl" Graphire 3 A5 tablet.

GBA/DS games, Music CDs, Software, and that's the sub hiding under the desk.

I still need to get a new shelf for all my games/dvds, something to hold those controllers, new lighting and sheets for my bed. (still got dark grey ones on it)

[Ish]

Very nice setup. Though the thing I am most envious of is your Saturn running Radiant Silvergun. A game who's delights I long to, but have yet to, sample.

[themanwithapc]

Kerraig, is that you in the third pic?

I think that's his gf.

Andrew: I see you have the Samsung LCD telly. I was thinking of getting this for the nest gen hardware (xbox 360 the obvious contender), and wanted to know impressions on it. Is it the 26 inch or 32 inch?

[SubparMario]

Love the set-up andrewfee. Oh and all the wood is so much nicer than clinical glass or plastic.

[Luke_H]

Kerraig UK is that a NAD C320 BEE integrated Amp? What speakers do you have it driving? How do you find its musical quality?

Cheers

Luke

[RLench]

Very nice pics, Andrew Are you happy with the sub?

One question: why is it connected with both left and right line-in? Is that how it has to be done with your amp? With my sub (and most HC subs) it's fine to just use one line-in. I've tried it with both (using a signal splitter) and it sounds too boomy. Using both inputs gives you more power at any given volume, but it can be too much.

[andrewfee]

Very nice setup. Though the thing I am most envious of is your Saturn running Radiant Silvergun. A game who's delights I long to, but have yet to, sample.

Thanks. It was worth every penny in my opinion. Fantastic game you should get if you can.

Andrew: I see you have the Samsung LCD telly. I was thinking of getting this for the nest gen hardware (xbox 360 the obvious contender), and wanted to know impressions on it. Is it the 26 inch or 32 inch?

It's the 32" and it's a great set in my opinion, especially for the price. The de-interlacer isn't great for games though, so it looks a little bit like it's blurring. However, it's virtually blur-free with progressive content. There are a lot of people that are happy with it for games, so you'd be best to try it out. Personally I thought it was fine, but knew it could be better, so I bought an XRGB2+ which line-doubles and outputs a progressive signal over VGA. (only 60Hz though) Any scaler will do the job, but as the XRGB is designed for gaming, it does it without adding any lag, which most scalers do. (doesn't matter for movies etc)

There's a little bleeding on the SCART, but it's really quite minor. You'll maybe notice it on some text, but for general TV watching you don't really see it. It's nowhere near as bad as some people have said though. (some have said S-Video looked better, which is utter nonsense)

Black levels are great as long as there's a little light in the room. There's a brightness sensor that does a great job adjusting it to the lighting in the room, but again, it's not perfect in a pitch-black room, no LCD is. It's not manually adjustable which some people complain about, but I can't see the advantage really.

I've spent a reasonable amount of time withh 720p and have yet to see any of this "tearing" problem some people have been reporting; I'm quite sure it's an issue with the source and not the display.

I can't wait for X360 to play games in 720p, what I've seen so far is jaw-dropping. (tried out Doom 3 and HL2 demos when I hooked up my old PC)

I'm not sure if it's perhaps a bit big for my room though, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to sell and buy a 26" set.

Very nice pics, Andrew Are you happy with the sub?

One question: why is it connected with both left and right line-in? Is that how it has to be done with your amp? With my sub (and most HC subs) it's fine to just use one line-in. I've tried it with both (using a signal splitter) and it sounds too boomy. Using both inputs gives you more power at any given volume, but it can be too much.

Yeah, I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately it can only really go under the desk, but I've got it set up nicely using the phase/gain control so it doesn't boom. I've also got it on spikes, which should help as well, if I remember correctly.

I've still got to do some fine-tuning with the crossover / gain, but it integrates really well with the speakers. Does a great job with music, which is what I bought it for. The speakers themselves did a great job with bass, but this just helps fill out the sound.

The cable it came with has left/right connections, so it's hooked up to my amp like that. As I said before, it's not booming though, as it's very adjustable. I'm going to be buying a new cable for it, as this doesn't seem to have very good shielding and is slightly too short.

[pentarou]

Do older consoles look good on the Samsung without the XRGB2?

[andrewfee]

Do older consoles look good on the Samsung without the XRGB2?

They look great, but the XRGB2 further improves how they look. LCDs just prefer a progressive signal.

[NackNack]

Where did you get the cabinet thing for your consoles from?

[andrewfee]

Where did you get the cabinet thing for your consoles from?

It's two Ikea Oppli's with some slight modifications so they fit together like they were meant to be one unit.

[Rossco]

Yeah I noticed that, very skillful, looks good, I really want that unit for when I get my Sammy LCD but I dont think it fits.

[Kerraig UK]

Kerraig, is that you in the third pic?

Nah its the misses. used to get some perspective for the screen size.

[Kerraig UK]

Kerraig UK is that a NAD C320 BEE integrated Amp? What speakers do you have it driving? How do you find its musical quality?

Cheers

Luke

Yeah its the Nad. Front channels are acoustic energy Aegis 1's. Bit old now, but i'm more than happy with the sound they give. Music is really warm and pretty well rounded.

[RLench]

Yeah, I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately it can only really go under the desk, but I've got it set up nicely using the phase/gain control so it doesn't boom. I've also got it on spikes, which should help as well, if I remember correctly.

I've still got to do some fine-tuning with the crossover / gain, but it integrates really well with the speakers. Does a great job with music, which is what I bought it for. The speakers themselves did a great job with bass, but this just helps fill out the sound.

The cable it came with has left/right connections, so it's hooked up to my amp like that. As I said before, it's not booming though, as it's very adjustable. I'm going to be buying a new cable for it, as this doesn't seem to have very good shielding and is slightly too short.

Cool. With any speaker/sub it'll always sound a bit hard/rough at first. Give it time to run in and you'll be even more impressed.

I'm surprised you've got it so nicely integrated already (gutted is probably the right word, considering how long it took me ) but keep fiddling and tinkering until it sounds perfect. Have you got the speakers set to large/full (ie do the speakers take the full frequency range, or do they cut out at the point where the sub kicks in?)

The thing to look for, IMO, is the point where your speakers start to drop and your sub can take over (usually between 60-90Hz). When it's done properly you won't be able to hear where the sub takes over, but you can always tell when it's not there