5.1 System (AIO) or Separate AVR & Speakers?

Excellent. Thanks for that informative little post lucid, a good little read.

So how would you rate the layout of my living room for what I want to achieve from suggested hardware in this thread? I can draw up a plan if you would prefer?
I'm slightly apprehensive of th fact that the rear left surround speaker is further away from me than the right (which would be quite close) but having read what you said above it sound's like I shouldn't worry too much.
 
RS are completely out of the Yamaha 673's as Yamaha have stopped making them, replaced by the 675 but that's priced at £499 :(
 
Can someone explain how/if that the R45HD's are specced for an amp of between 5-50w. So what happens if you pair them up to a Yamaha V673 which is a 150w/channel Amp?
Will they go bang?
*Confused*

Edit: or will they just draw a max of 50w on each channel? Sorry I'm an audio noob.
 
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It's easy. The Yamaha (and most AV amp) ratings are optimistic. In addition, speakers will handle more power than their rating as long as the signal isn't distorted. It's far easier to kill a 50W speaker with 20 Watts of distorted sound than 100+ Watts of clean signal power.

I have used R45's with Onkyo, Denon and Yamaha AV Receivers, all of which are rated well above 50W/ch. None of my customers have come back to say that those speakers no longer work despite playing at some very enthusiastic levels :D
 
Thanks lucid, you're a wealth of knowledge!

I'm more or less decided on the MX2's for the front, R45HD's for the rear (unless I can find something that really is as good as them for the money and size), sub and center will have to wait a little while as I want a new tv too; in this thread ;)

Edit: all this will mean a new tv stand too!
Edit2: oh and speaker stands - any trouble with them on wood/laminate flooring?
 
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kingy666 said:
Yesterday I went into Richer Sounds and Asked for an

Onkyo tx-nr414 av receiver

and

Pioneer S-HS100 5.1 speakers

These would have cost me £249 but the store had neither in stock so I instead bought

Sony STRDH820 av receiver at £149

Tannoy TFX 5.1 £199

The salesman knocked £50 off the Tannoy speakers as I said I would have the SFX speakers but, again, they were not in stock so he let me have the TFX (should be £249) at the price of the SFX. I have to say that I am very pleased with my first 5.1 surround set-up to go with my Benq 1080p projector and 100" screen. Last night I played the start of the Lord of the Rings Blu-ray and the sound effects are just immense. So, to me, I got a great system for £350.
Click to expand...

I was wondering how your getting on with the Sony & Tannoy setup, I am thinking of going with the same or might increase my budget for Boston SOUNDWARE XS SE speakers.
 
Amp and 45 speakers arrived! The R45HD's were end of line so they replaced them with the new MA Radius 45 speakers (exactly the same just improved).

Now to decide on speaker wire - any suggestions?

Going to order the front 2 speakers next week and then to decide on a sub and centre.
 
Oh right thanks. Gonna hold off for a little while then and see what centre I can get.
Oh decisions :(

£145 for the Radius's. from Exceptional-AV guy i spoke to who (who rang about half hour after I placed the order) was very helpful and stuck £20 on for the new Radius's... bargain if you ask me.
 
rhysduck said:
..Now to decide on speaker wire - any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Have a look a Van Damme Blue 2.5mm.

Seen it recommendes a few times over in AV Forums and it's very well priced. Can be bought on eBay. I'm using it with my MA BX5's and sound great, not tried any of the more expensive stuff though yet.
 
If its a limited budget then secondhand is the way forward, somewhere like AV forums is great for picking up good kit.

For EG I was working to a £250 budget but I wanted HDMI inputs, that pretty much meant scraping the bottom of the barrel for a sound bar type setup. So I decided to look around on the forums, I have picked up a Onkyo 608 amp for £100 locally and a set of Kef Eggs with sub for £150, The kefs are still a very respectable speaker and are wife friendly as they don't stand out too much. The amp is 2 years old but its pukka.

I'd have older better kit than budget current kit.
 
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