Help with my home cinema sound foolishness!

richieboy

richieboy

richieboy

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29 Dec 2004
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So, i have my visual stuff sorted now. Ive got my Sammy LE40R51 hooked into my PC (for battlefield 2 of course), my Xbox 360 hooked in for watching DVDs and some Live! gaming - and Sky hooked up for my TV.

Now im trying to sort out my sound.

Before all of this i used to just have my PC plugged in to my amp - and that was it. Its a Cambridge Audio A5 amp with two floorstanding Gale speakers.

But as i have all this new kit i thought i would plug the 360 into the amp aswell, which is fine. The only problem i have is that the amp i have doesnt have any sort of remote control - so im forced to get up off my lazy rear and turn the volume up and down and change between sources myself. What, am i in the stone age?!

I would also like to get some sort of surround sound going, so can i somehow hook some more smaller speakers into the amp? Can i get a remote control "add-on" for the amp? Should i get a new amp?!

I have looked around at some "Home cinema packages" but they all seem to come with a DVD player i dont want. I would ideally like something that i can plug my PC and 360 into and be able to control with a remote control, and have a couple of other speakers to go behind me or something.

As you can tell - im a fool! Help :)
 
Is it you have lost your remote or one was just NEVER made for it?

I would get a replacement remote if possible if you are happy with the setup you have
 
I would prefer to spend no more than £500 and would like to keep as much of the original kit as i can (A5 amp and floorstanding speakers), but i realise i will prob need to get rid of the amp as it has no remote. I take it there is no add-on etc for the amp that will allow me to use a remote?

Thanks :)
 
Just buy a seperate Audio amp like a Deno or something and use the PC for playing the DVD's you'll get far better quality than the Xbox. If you want surround sound then go for an AV amp like the Deno 1906 and keep the stereo amp just for music with your floor standers, then pickup a smallish surround sound kit.
 
Get an AV amp, put the preouts from the av amp into the stereo amp and set the levels then the AV amp can deal with all the switching. If you want to isolate the stereo inputs this would be a good idea, just put them straight into the stereo amp then when you want to play stereo stuff you can get up off your bum, but for PC and xbox and everything else you can use the AV amp remote. This is what I do :)

MB
 
or get a DD/DTS processor with just rear and centre amps and use your stereo amp to drive the fronts, this will give you volume contol over your amp via the processor
 
darreny said:
or get a DD/DTS processor with just rear and centre amps and use your stereo amp to drive the fronts, this will give you volume contol over your amp via the processor
Click to expand...

3 channel processor/amp combo's are usually old and dont support many standards ie; DPLII, or cost a bomb for new ones.

My mate just picked up a yamaha rx-v620 from the bay for £70. Utter bargain.
 
Ill be honest - a lot of the above has confused me.

So i can keep the Cambridge Audio amp and hook it into the Denon 1906, use the Denons outputs for some smaller surround sound speakers, and keep the Cambridge Audio amp powering the floorstanding speakers?

Seriously guys im a complete amateur when it comes to things like this...but i really appreciate you help so far :)
 
richieboy said:
Ill be honest - a lot of the above has confused me.

So i can keep the Cambridge Audio amp and hook it into the Denon 1906, use the Denons outputs for some smaller surround sound speakers, and keep the Cambridge Audio amp powering the floorstanding speakers?

Seriously guys im a complete amateur when it comes to things like this...but i really appreciate you help so far :)
Click to expand...

You seem to have understood perfectly :)

You could either power all you speakers off the Denon

or

Use the non amplified (pre outs) from the Denon to feed to the Cambridge hence taking pressure off the Denon and allowing you to feed your CD into the Cambridge without going through the Denon. You just switch the Cambridge to whatever input you have the pre outs going into (probably aux) and leave it there unless you want to play a CD in stereo when you swap the input.

If you can't be bothered to faf to get great stereo performance you can always use your DVD/ PC whatever you are feeding into the Denon to play CDs instead and keep the CD player for best.

The Denon will be able to apply Dolby ProLogic II to stereo input and allow you to listen to it in 5.1 too

MB

This should
 
Lovely stuff, thanks for your help.

Can you recommend a set of 5.1 speakers? I would most likely (to make things more simple for my simple mind :p ) just have the TV, PC, and Xbox360 outputting into the Denon and then have a set of 5.1 speakers all hooked into the Denon. This (i would guess) should then give me my remote control, and 5.1 surround sound on all of my inputs...

As the Denon seems to be around £300 i guess my budget for the speakers would be around £200, which i hope can get me a decent set?
 
richieboy said:
Lovely stuff, thanks for your help.

Can you recommend a set of 5.1 speakers? I would most likely (to make things more simple for my simple mind :p ) just have the TV, PC, and Xbox360 outputting into the Denon and then have a set of 5.1 speakers all hooked into the Denon. This (i would guess) should then give me my remote control, and 5.1 surround sound on all of my inputs...

As the Denon seems to be around £300 i guess my budget for the speakers would be around £200, which i hope can get me a decent set?
Click to expand...

Are you going to keep the Gales?

We could build a system around these, only need to buy the 3.1 or a whole new 5.1 system.

Thats a pretty small budget for a 5.1 set up, I would suggest the Canton CD101 if you want a whole new 5.1 set or we can look at the Gale rears and centre to match your existing pair.

MB
 
Whats your opinion on Gale?

Personally im pretty happy with them. I have been using them for around 3 years, they are bi-wired to my A5 amp and all has been crisp and perfect since the day i bought them with daily use. Because of that i cant see any reason not to go for more Gale speakers, are they a respected reputable manufacturer?

The budget can be increased if need be - i can stretch to £750 if necessary.

If i were the stick with the Gale floorstanders - what would you say i could put with this to complete a 5.1 setup?

Appreciate your help MB :)
 
Depends what Gales you have, if they are 4040s then a 4020s and 4050 and a sub.

I'd put the money in the sub and get something decent though rather than the Storm 8 though.

If you want to replace everything your probably looking at a set of 'lifestyle' speakers like the Canton 101s, I have these and they are very good for a smaller set up, the sub is good too :)

MB
 
Just had a quick look at the back of them - they are 3040's...not sure what the difference is between them and the 4040's, slightly inferior model i assume?

I have been looking at your suggestion and i have found a Denon AVR 1906 and Canton CD-101 set for £649, that sound any good? Do you think my A5 amp and Gale 3040's would actually be worth anything if i were to sell them or would you personally try and integrate them into the setup?
 
sticking with gale as much as possible:

Denon AVR1906 £290
pair of gale gold monitors as rears, £80
Gale 4050 centre: £100
but going MS for the sub:
Mordaunt Short ms309 £230

And that leaves you 50 quid for cabling :)

Tom.
 
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