Critique my potential AV setup + questions

Vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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So I have decided on the following:

Spec:

TV - LG OLED TV 65" - Waiting on a good time for a bargain (about £2k)
Sides - Mission LX-2 Bookshelf speakers with stand (£140, stand £70)
Center - Mission LX-C Center Speaker (£120)
Ceiling - Onkyo SKH410 Dolby Atmos ceiling facing speakers placed on top of Missions (£120)
AV - Denon AVR X2400H (£300)

No sub.
No rears

Notes

I was going for the Q Acoustic 2030's but because I was not going for a sub I went for the missions as they apparently had more base. A compromise. Not that into the bass and I always found myself turning my sub down to the minimum anyway.

It's a new build and I don't want to get the carpet up to put in proper rears and hear bad things about wireless in such a setup.

Rooms size = 4.84m x 3.3m. TV at front, couch at back so 4-5m away.

Will use Nvidia Shield with an NL40 for file storage.

Questions

1.) What do I do about cabling? What's the right cost? Not that much of an audiophile but don't want bad quality?
2.) Banana plugs all round?
3.) Are the ceiling facing speakers a bad idea? Everyone who has them seems to have a 5.1 system and I have just a 3.0.
4.) Anything you'd change?
 
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TV - Buy now. Last years stock is going fast, and this years models won't be discounted until Black Friday.
Fronts - Cheap but capable (I'd change)
Center - As above
Upfires - see below
Denon - Can save money getting an older money if needed. The 2400 doesn't offer much more then the 2200/2300 unless you want HEOS.

No sub - Not a great idea with those small bookshelves. Bass doesn't need to be over powering, but it needs to be there. I'd drop the missions and go with these instead - https://www.richersounds.com/wharfedale-diamond-230-black.html (also the matching center).

UHD at that viewing distance isn't going to offer much over FHD, so don't expect to be wowed by extra detail. The quality of the screen will impress you more, esp if you're coming from an LCD.

Cable - I use Van Damme Blue, usually runs 2.50/meter. Any wire that is 99% OFC will do though. You need 2.5mm.
Banana plugs - They make life simple, but not really a requirement.
Upfire speakers - Don't work unless you have a 5.0/5.1 setup (I think).

Changes - As above, no sub get floorstanders. If you need to save cash to get floorstanders buy a secondhand AVR.
 
Thanks, i'll get on the TV.

I guess once I add the cost of the cost of the speaker stands the Wharfdales are not to far off. What center would you recommend? There doesn't seem to be a matching center.

Also to keep costs low how about this sub - https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/subwoofers/yamaha-nssw050-black.htmlv basic but liked....

I will stick with the amp and upfires, I found a great thread about people using 3.1.2 or 3.0.2 - apparently works really well together but not as good as true ceiling mounted of course.

Edit: just read that right, can drop the sub.
 
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TV Bought
Wharfedale 230 bought
Wharfedale 11cc center bought
Onkyo SKH410 Dolby Atmos ceiling facing speakers bought

That's almost £3k done including the media unit :)

AV soon, when I can get friday/sat delivery on prime.
 
Anywhere decent to get Van Damme Blue at a certain size with Banana plugs already fitted? Or should I just buy the cable and do the usual twist around? A lot of people are starting to say always go with the bananas!

Also, silly Q - I assume it's two cables per speaker? For all speakers?
 
Vanilla said:
Anywhere decent to get Van Damme Blue at a certain size with Banana plugs already fitted? Or should I just buy the cable and do the usual twist around? A lot of people are starting to say always go with the bananas!

Also, silly Q - I assume it's two cables per speaker? For all speakers?
Click to expand...

Banana plugs definitely at the AV receiver end. Trying to thread/wrap all those speaker cable cores around a bunch of tightly grouped binding posts is a pain in itself. But also ensuring you don't inadvertently short out two sockets is a hassle you don't need.

It's optional at the speaker end, in my view. I have them on the centre and fronts as I'm regularly swapping speakers to test out gear. I don't use them on the wall mounted surrounds though as the fit to the wall is neater without the bulk of the plugs sticking out.

Numbers of cables
Each speaker cable has two cores. This matches the speaker connections per channel on the amp. So you need one speaker wire per speaker.

There's usually a black and a red connection per channel on the amp. This is negative (black) and positive (red). Your Wharfedale 230s have bi-wire sockets, so there are four connections: two positives and two negatives. One set of + & - are for the high frequencies and one set for the lows. However, the two +ves are connected together with a bridging link, and its the same for the two -ves. Leave the bridging links in place. Use a single two-core speaker wire. Connect amp red to one of the speaker reds. Amp black goes to one of the speaker blacks.


Fitting banana plugs is a simple job. You're just stripping the wire back and then tightening one or possibly two grub screws to fix in place. It's hardly a high tech procedure.
 
Amazon is best place to get cable unless you have a local shop. As Lucid says, banana plugs are easy to fit. Again Amazon is a good place to shop for those. Don't spend silly money on them. I think I paid 15 quid for 10 pairs.
 
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