av reciever amp + speaker noob

lixxus

lixxus

lixxus

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2006
Posts
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London
need some help guys.

im looking to invest into a home cinema setup but i want a more bespoke powerfull solution.

i havent used av recievers in the past. ive mainly stuck to complete kits or logitech surround sound kits.

ive been told to start off with a Onkyo TX-SR507.

i dont know too much about speakers. so ur advise would be helpful in this area in particular.

setup will be for following items.

htpc
ps3
xbox360
 
nice.

ive just found another amp yamaha RX-V465 (goes for roughly £260)

dont know whether its a toss up. some reviews or experience would be nice
 
I'm in a similar situation!

Although I'm set on an Amp, I just have no clue what brand/type of speakers are decent... :o
 
all i know speakers dont really need upgrading. its mainly the amp that gets outdated after 1-2 years.

i think in speakers u need to look out for the frequency response. impedance and whether the woofer is active or passive

thats all i know about speakers tbh
 
Don't have any help for you as to which brands, but you might find you get much more for your money second hand, seems a lot of people upgrade frequently so there is often a lot of good equipment thats only a couple of years old

With the receiver you might want to get the latest tech, but certainly with speakers, if they where good 5 years ago, they are still good now! I've got some 10 year old Castle speakers that sound great and only cost me £50!
 
See I have a pair of Sony Speakers, which iirc were pretty expensive when first purchased (part of a hifi) to me they sound very good.
I can't differentiate between them and more expensive ones...

Don't get me wrong, I notice the difference with cheaper, low quality speakers, but I can't hear anything different between my (presumably) low end Sony's and midrange.
 
sandman06 said:
nice.

ive just found another amp yamaha RX-V465 (goes for roughly £260)

dont know whether its a toss up. some reviews or experience would be nice
Click to expand...


You can get the Yamaha RX-V565 for £250 which is a 7.1 amp which does upscaling and upconverting.

I'll be buying this sometime over the next couple of days.
 
just make sure you get HDMI pass through and HD audio options and you wont be far wrong. I've read the SOny amps sound bright, and in terms of aural pleasure i have been very happy with my Yamaha (older model though) and it powered hifi quite pleasingly.

The Onkyos are what i'm looking at upgrading to for purely for HD Audio, just need to decide if i really want to or not, as not THAT much of my source is HD Audio enabled.
 
davejm said:
You can get the Yamaha RX-V565 for £250 which is a 7.1 amp which does upscaling and upconverting.

I'll be buying this sometime over the next couple of days.
Click to expand...

thanks dave. are you allowed to say the retailers.

anyway i just need to get a good starter set for speakers now
 
Anything from Yamaha/Onkyo/Denon/Sony at your price point will most probably knock you socks off if your used to all-in-one solutions.

I'm not so up to date with the latest receivers, but from my experience testing sets in the £500-£600 this time last year this might be of use.

Onkyo will generally get the most bang for buck, you will probably get the most HDMI inputs and the most 'features' (HD audio etc. etc., although they all do this nowadays!)
Denon will generally sound better for Music than the others, for an AVR anyway.
Yamaha will be the best for movies. (I ended up with a Yamaha 863, it really chucks out cinema sound)
Sony will be similiar to the Onkyo in terms of feature, but probably a smidge cheaper!

So yeah, I'm not sure if the above still rings true with the current crop of AVR's, but it was my experience with them last year!

EDIT: The onkyo 607 is floating around @ £300 and that is a billy bargain!
 
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sandman06 said:
nice.

ive just found another amp yamaha RX-V465 (goes for roughly £260)

dont know whether its a toss up. some reviews or experience would be nice
Click to expand...
I'd avoid all the Yamaha RX-V*65 series until they reach the 765 level. The 365, 465, 565 haven't been getting good feedback. It seems Yamaha have done quite a bit of cost cutting on quality with these amps. Examples are they use spring clips for speaker connection on the back. Also they're all quite a bit lighter, which can be a sign of reduced quality components.
Pug said:
just make sure you get HDMI pass through and HD audio options and you wont be far wrong. I've read the SOny amps sound bright, and in terms of aural pleasure i have been very happy with my Yamaha (older model though) and it powered hifi quite pleasingly.
Click to expand...
The Sony amps don't do HDMI passthrough iirc, the amp has to be switched on all the time... which is poor if you ask me.
 
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