Home Cinema Choice – September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 HOME CINEMA CHOICE

AV- HOL I C 81

I have two subwoofers. My main one is a
design based on a REL Studio – it uses 2 x 12in
drivers from a BK Monolith with ARM (Acoustic
Resistive Matrix) porting. It's a beast. It has
another BK Electronics 200W amplifi er
module in the cabinet and the Marantz takes
care of the setup. The second subwoofer
at the back uses a 10in Peerless XLS driver
with an outboard 320W Class D amp.
On my equipment rack I have an FFYX
turntable from China with an Audiomods
classic tonearm (it started life as a Rega
RB250) and a Goldring 1042 cartridge, plus
a Graham Slee phono stage. As well as vinyl,
I still have a large CD collection and my Cyrus
CDXT SE deck spins these.
For Ultra HD Blu-ray I have a Sony
UBP-X800, and there's also an EE box for TV.

What’s your verdict on the
system’s performance?
I think the Epson EH-TW9300W projector is
brilliant. It's incredibly sharp and with excellent
black levels. I previously had an Optoma
UHD300X, which itself was pretty decent,
but the Epson is on another level.
The Marantz SR7009 is an excellent
performer and with the addition of the BK
power amp modules for the front channels
it never runs out of steam. For vinyl and CD
playback the Pure Direct mode makes a
signifi cant diff erence.
When I fi rst put the Atmos speakers in
place I used the Dolby Atmos demo disc and
was impressed by the overhead placement
of sounds. My favourite Atmos title is Jupiter
Ascending. However, with some Atmos movies
I fi nd it diffi cult to follow the overhead eff ects.

Is there anything you’d do
diff erently if you were to
build the setup again?
Nothing that I can think of.

What was the last bit of
hardware you added?
The second custom subwoofer. I noticed when

Below: The kit rack houses

the Marantz AVR, bespoke

two-channel amp, source

gear and FFYX turntable

Both of David's

subwoofers are custom

designs, and double up

as useful furniture...

JBL Control 1 speakers,

mounted to the roof

frame, are used for the

system's Atmos channels

sitting at diff erent positions in the room the

bass performance was uneven, so I made

a sealed design using the Peerless XLS10

woofer. I designed it as a small table, as we

needed a more sturdy place for the Christmas

tree that we put up in the cinema.

What’s your favourite bit

of hardware and why?

I'm a vinyl addict so it has to be the FFYX

turntable coupled with the Audiomods

tonearm and Goldring 1042 cartridge.

This combi delivers get an incredible

three-dimensional sound.