Help with home cinema spec please!

Sumanji

Sumanji

Sumanji

Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2003
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Location
USA
Hey,

Looking to get some new home cinema gear (low-medium end stuff). The things I need within the next week are speaker cable, speaker brackets and an LCD/Plasma wall bracket, which can be buried in the walls as an extension is built. So priority help for those would be appreciated!


  • Receiver - £250-350 - Sony STR-DH800 seems highly rated. But also Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, etc.?
  • Speakers - Probably a 5.1 package for around £300-400. Small satellites would be great (something like Mordaunt Short Genie, but it's discontinued :() Any suggestions? And is 7.1 worth the extra spend?
  • Cable - QED Original seems cheap and solid and well-rated.
  • LCD/Plasma bracket - Alphason AB-LU702T seems perfect, and nicely priced at ~£80. Are there any better ones available?
  • Gubbins - Banana plugs, speaker brackets, universal remote etc. Anything else I'm missing?!

All that will be paired with a PS3, Sky+HD box and a Sony KDL-40S2000 (with a view to upgrading to a 55" 3DTV in the near future).

Any help appreciated :D

Cheers,

Su
 
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If your after a av amp,, I would recommend you spend a min of £500, or buy 2nd hand. People say that the general rule is an AV reciever will perform to a similar level as a stereo amp that is around a quarter of the price . I bought a "Yamaha DSP-AX759SE" 7.1 AV amp of ebay last summer for £120, when it was new back in 2006 it was £550.
 
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Strife, those KEF speakers look good :D will read up on them and see if it's worth buying an extra 2 satellites.

I already ordered the wall bracket and speaker cable which I mentioned, as I couldn't get any other recommendations!

Cheers,

Su
 
Amp - Onkyo 607 or the newer 608, Look at yamaha aswell, they have some fantastic amp's in this price range.
Speakers - Look at the Q accoustics 1000 range, Heavily discounted at the moment although if your after the Mordaunt short Genie's, I'm selling mine :)
Cable - Van Damme, Cheap and good.
LCD/Plasma Mount - Go to your local home bargains, they have a wall mount bracket for £10-20ish for screens upto 42" :)
Gubbins - All in one remote, definatly, something like a Harmony :)
 
Soul.Survivor said:
Speakers - Look at the Q accoustics 1000 range, Heavily discounted at the moment...
Click to expand...

The 1010i 5.1 pack + two extra satellites for 7.1 works out at ~£360, which seems like an immense deal tbh. Good call :D


Soul.Survivor said:
Amp - Onkyo 607 or the newer 608...
Click to expand...

Firestar_3x said:
Really happy with my ONKYO TXSR577.
Click to expand...

TheDean said:
Onkyo 607 is a cracking Amp
Click to expand...


Right, I shall research Onkyo!


Also, a quick noob question - when you're watching 5.1 content (assuming no upmixing), does the rear speaker content play through the side/surround speakers or the actual rear speakers? Or both?! And in a proper 7.1 setup, are the rears or the sides more important?

Cheers,

Su
 
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Sumanji said:
Also, a quick noob question - when you're watching 5.1 content (assuming no upmixing), does the rear speaker content play through the side/surround speakers or the actual rear speakers? Or both?! And in a proper 7.1 setup, are the rears or the sides more important?

Cheers,

Su
Click to expand...

In a 5.1 set up you have only sides, no rears. 7.1 introduces rears ;)
 
Yeah everyone seems to highly rate the 2000 series, but it's circa £500 just for a 5.1 package, so I can't really justify the cost when the 1000 series are so much cheaper for a 7.1 set (and they still manage to get solid reviews).

Is the Yamaha really that good? It's about £60 more than the Sony DH800; I'm leaning towards it as WhatHifi absolutely love it, and the Bravia sync features could be handy...

Cheers,

Su
 
I managed to get the Yamaha 765 for £300 last week, Richersounds if you're lucky has a few left. Otherwise contact Sevenoaks and ask if they will pricematch Richersounds, they did for me!

The SonyDH800 really is a step below the Yamaha and 607. I've been reading about it for the past 2 months and took the plunge last week with new AV gear.

You can learn a lot on AVForums - http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-amplifiers-receivers/
 
TheDean said:
I would certainly agree with that. I have the 2000 series on order for £549.99 :)
Click to expand...

I'll eventually have the 2000 5.1 but with a different sub and upgraded front/rears.

Going for 2020 front/rear, 2000 centre and BK Gemini II sub. Think it'll come in at around £580 with a much nicer sub! You can get the 2000 cinema pack (5.1) for just under £500 from a few places.

Might be worth a look if you can spend the little extra for the sub and upgraded front/rears! Speaker stands are £70 a pair though, got a set last week and they are really nice!
 
tsinc80697 said:
I'll eventually have the 2000 5.1 but with a different sub and upgraded front/rears.

Going for 2020 front/rear, 2000 centre and BK Gemini II sub. Think it'll come in at around £580 with a much nicer sub! You can get the 2000 cinema pack (5.1) for just under £500 from a few places.

Might be worth a look if you can spend the little extra for the sub and upgraded front/rears! Speaker stands are £70 a pair though, got a set last week and they are really nice!
Click to expand...

£549.99 is for the gloss black finish though! ;) Also got 2 x pairs of stands coming for the fronts & sides as well...
 
Hey,

Took a trip to Richer Sounds with the old man, although we didn't have a chance to demo anything (will do next week).

He was immediately put off by the size of the QA 1010i satellites, because they were too deep to be discretely wall-mounted IHO. He totally loved the KEF 1005's though, and I have to admit I was impressed by how compact the satellites are. I'm sceptical about the sound quality they're supposedly capable of... the demo shall reveal all :D

The lady at RS said that the Onkyo TX-SR308 (for £250) was a much better amp than the Sony STR-DH800, but after doing some reading I discovered it is only 5.1 capable, and we are after a 7.1 unit for future-proofing. The next model up they had was the SR607 (£300), but of course this is not HDMI 1.4 capable, so no 3D love (same problem with the Yamaha RXV765 which you guys recommended).

I might wait a while to see if the new Onkyo amps (SR508, 578, 608) work their way down the price ladder...

Cheers,

Su
 
Well I doubt the sound quality will be that great from a £250 7.1 AV amp. Id go 2n had if your after a cheap av amp and browse ebay. I got a yamaha DSP AX-759SE last year for £120, its in perfect condition and it looks as new. If you wanted 1 of these back in 2006 new, they were £550, as I said in my previous post.

Why do you want 3D, its rubbish but ppl still want to push it in ours faces, it will never take off. read this. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/11/3d-avatar-hollywood
 
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