Soundbar

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 20:41

Cosmic182 said:
Excellent! this sounds simple having explained in layman terms.
Would you recommend the SONY STRDN860 AVR?

My Q acoustics have two sets of speaker cable inputs so I presume I can have them connected up to both my Hifi amplifier and an AVR and they'll just switch accordingly?

Good AVR, also great price. Limited to 1 HDMI 2.0 port in though. Is your LG OLED 4K? Depends if you want the fliexibility with additional HDMI 2.0 ports to carry 4K HDR..

The Denon X2300W is a cracking buy at the moment for £399.

If you don't care about more 4K sources, have no intention of ever going to 7.1 or use Atmos / DTS:X for 5.1.2.. Id go for the Sony... If however you want the room to expand, more options for the future. The Denon X2300W is going to give you that for £120 more. Personally I'd say spend more, as upgrading in the future is a pain and an AVR is something you typically keep for years.

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 20:49

Cosmic182 said:
My Q acoustics have two sets of speaker cable inputs so I presume I can have them connected up to both my Hifi amplifier and an AVR and they'll just switch accordingly?

Ive never used bi-wiring or bi-amp before on speakers, I believe it's to separate out tweeter / base control rather than wiring two separate sources to the same set of speakers. Be better off running them via your AVR only.

Cosmic182 · 2 Feb 2017 at 20:52

Fantastic, sprite. You've been great and I appreciate it so much.
When you say it only has one hdmi out, does that mean I can only run one main piece of equipment through (i.e. TV.... as opposed to it having two and running say, TV and a 4K player?

My LG is 4K yes, and has Sky Q shortly, but no 4K player atm.
I can stretch to £399 no problem as would hate to regret in the future as you say.

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:02

Cosmic182 said:
Fantastic, sprite. You've been great and I appreciate it so much.
When you say it only has one hdmi out, does that mean I can only run one main piece of equipment through (i.e. TV.... as opposed to it having two and running say, TV and a 4K player?

My LG is 4K yes, and has Sky Q shortly, but no 4K player atm.
I can stretch to £399 no problem as would hate to regret in the future as you stated.

No worries happy to help

One HDMI out means one output to TV. For example, some people with AVRs will run two zones. Essentially means you hook everything upto your AVR with HDMI and then you've got 1x HDMI to your TV. Having 2 means you could output a signal to two difference devices. Not something i use personally.

The main issue on the Sony is 1x HDMI 2.0 port in (all the other HDMI in ports are 1.4), which means if say SkyQ adds HDR (as it has HDMI 2.0 and they're bound to add it at some point) and you're running say an Xbox One S also for 4K Blurays. You'd have to swap each time as only that one HDMI 2.0 in port could carry the 4K HDR signal via the AVR to your TV. Where all the ports on the Denon are HDMI 2.0.... Plus it has all the wizzbang Atmos stuff.

That's not to say you couldn't run the devices direct to your TV and instead use HDMI audio return to send the audio signal to your AV Receiver, HDMI ARC isn't 100% reliable though (the future version of HDMI spec is looking to address that) and I don't believe you could pass Atmos via HDMI audio return. All in its better to run everything via your AVR directly.

Skynet5 · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:07

Anything Yamaha. Try and get a last year (or even older) model from RS.

Cosmic182 · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:14

Brilliant, the Denon sounds a perfect package for my needs, you have helped a complete n00b to understand the basics of what I had absolutely no idea about

Just one final question if I may, would I have to switch the Q acoustics between my Hifi amp and AVR as per use?

joeyjojo · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:21

No, you get rid of the current amp. It gets replaced by the AVR (receiver).

Everything goes in to the receiver (TV, TV tuner, CD player, ipod...) and the receiver goes to the speakers.

The AVR can be switched between the different inputs using a remote control.

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:24

Cosmic182 said:
Fantastic, the Denon sounds a perfect package for my needs, you have helped a complete n00b to understand the basics of what I had absolutely no idea about

Just one final question if I may, would I have to switch the Q acoustics between my Hifi amp and AVR as per use?

Don't worry mate, I was the same many years ago. Some very gracious people helped me make my first foray into the home cinema world 8 years or so ago and it's been an expensive hobby! Wife hates it, my 7 year old loves it

I'll be honest, I don't know. I've never used a stereo amplifier, you've got pre outs on the Denon though so some form of configuration with a separate stereo amplifier is possible without having to swap speaker connections.

For that I'd ask Richersounds to advise you. I have seen some people talk about it though, as they want their AVR for home cinema and use their amplifier for stereo music. So it's definitely an option, whether that's dependant on the type of stereo amplifier etc or other things not sure.

Cosmic182 · 2 Feb 2017 at 21:54

joeyjojo said:
No, you get rid of the current amp. It gets replaced by the AVR (receiver).

Everything goes in to the receiver (TV, TV tuner, CD player, ipod...) and the receiver goes to the speakers.

The AVR can be switched between the different inputs using a remote control.

That's great!!! Last thing I wanted was to have more remote controls!

So to get started would I need two hdmi cables? One for my tv to AVR and one from the sky Q to the AVR?

Sprite, thanks again mate

had the patience of a saint you have! I'll pop to richersounds on Saturday.

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 22:06

Cosmic182 said:
That's great!!! Last thing I wanted was to have more remote controls!

So to get started would I need two hdmi cables? One for my tv to AVR and one from the sky Q to the AVR?

Sprite, thanks again mate had the patience of a saint you have! I'll pop to richersounds on Saturday.

Just remember to get HDMI cables which are advertised as "High Speed", don't need expensive ones. I think mine were £3/£4 but it's the high speed ones you need for when carrying 4K HDR content, not strictly an issue with SkyQ as they aren't doing HDR yet but may aswell get them now if you haven't yet.

You tried out some 4K HDR content with the YouTube app on the TV? You should if not, major drool fest when I first saw it on my KS7000

Cosmic182 · 2 Feb 2017 at 22:10

Great

so I can just connect my sky Q up to my tv via the normal hdmi then connect a high speed hdmi from the hdmi arc to the av receiver?

I haven't mate, I only got the tv yesterday evening so not had much playtime at all, but I will check this out asap

but have a niggling feeling this is only available on Samsung 4Ks

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 22:19

Cosmic182 said:
Great so I can just connect my sky Q up to my tv via the normal hdmi then connect a high speed hdmi from the hdmi arc to the av receiver?

I haven't mate, I only got the tv yesterday evening so not had much playtime at all, but I will check this out asap

If you want yeah.

Better however to connect SkyQ to the AVR and then AVR to TV. HDMI ARC while great, isn't massively reliable. Some handshake issues on occasion. You don't "Need" a high speed HDMI cable, it's just if they do HDR in future. Also I can imagine Sky provide a high speed cable with their SkyQ anyway.

So for example. My Xbox One S and Sky is connected directly to my AVR and then HDMI out to TV... However, when I use my TVs internal Netflix and Amazon apps the audio is returned via HDMI ARC back to the receiver so it comes out of my speakers. Modern TV and AV Receivers are pretty smart with that now, when I first hooked mine up it asked me if I wanted audio return for internal apps. The Denon actually flips to receive the audio from the HDMI return when I play something on those apps automatically.

Now you just need a 4K Bluray player like an Xbox One S to enjoy some 4K Bluray HDR goodness.

Just a word of warning. Once you watch 4K HDR content, you want to watch everything it in. It's sooooo good. Especially on the likes of an LG OLED.

Cosmic182 · 2 Feb 2017 at 22:28

Got ya!!

So Sky Q hdmi to AVR satellite input, then run a hdmi from the hdmi 4K outlet to tv!
Then anything else I add, 4K player etc, straight to the AVR and that just gets returned via the hdmi out cable to the tv...

I'll update this thread once I've got the AVR and give you my updates

As I say, I'd of been truly lost without all of this kind help. It's been a pleasure!
Can't wait to settle down and enjoy the experience!

sprite- · 2 Feb 2017 at 22:38

Cosmic182 said:
Got ya!! So Sky Q hdmi to AVR satellite input, then run a hdmi from the hdmi 4K outlet to tv!

I'll update this thread once I've got the AVR and give you my updates
As I say, I'd of been truly lost without all of this kind help. It's been a pleasure!
Can't wait to settle down and enjoy the experience!

I remember when I first asked about stuff on AVForums, at first I had a budget of £200/£300. I asked about DVD style 5.1 setups. 2 weeks later I had spent £800 on a Yamaha AV Receiver and a Q Acoustic 5.1, at the time I thought I had spent a small fortune. I hadn't a clue about AV Receivers or separates, "What you say? It's HOW MUCH per metre for cable" lol. Then when I moved to stuff like KEF T205 and eventually KEF 3005SE, I didn't bat an eye on a speaker set and cable for over £1k, let alone the receiver.

Bloody expensive habit but boy, nothing compares to a full surround experience. 4K HDR Ultra HD Premium certified TV and 4K Bluray. Even my wife appreciates it.

TheOtherOption · 2 Feb 2017 at 23:37

sprite- said:
Yes - you can spend more and yes the YSP2700 is bloody awesome... Although with it being around £900 new you'd be better off going full on 5.1 at that price range.

It's a brilliant bit of kit the 2700 - loving mine

Crazy that it's gone back up to £899 at RS as I got mine there last month for just £624 :eek:

Don't forget if you buy from RS you can get VIP club discounts (free to join) and you get Quidco as well

Participant · 3 Feb 2017 at 06:23

TheOtherOption said:
It's a brilliant bit of kit the 2700 - loving mine

Crazy that it's gone back up to £899 at RS as I got mine there last month for just £624

Same. £624 is keen, but £900 is out of the question imo.

beachBOYken · 3 Feb 2017 at 09:44

TheOtherOption said:
It's a brilliant bit of kit the 2700 - loving mine

Crazy that it's gone back up to £899 at RS as I got mine there last month for just £624

Don't forget if you buy from RS you can get VIP club discounts (free to join) and you get Quidco as well

Participant said:
Same. £624 is keen, but £900 is out of the question imo.

Were all shops selling it for around this price?

Would be good to know as I may try my luck at some price haggling.

Thanks

sprite- · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:07

Participant said:
Same. £624 is keen, but £900 is out of the question imo.

I have a Yamaha soundbar for our bedroom, they're such impressive pieces of kit. I've demo'd the 2700 before and was quite shocked at what it could achieve.

However... At £900 and to some degree £600-£700, it's one hell of an expensive buy. If I had £600-£700 and knowing how good the 2700 is, I wouldn't purchase one. Mainly as at that price you're not far off being able to afford a very good 5.1 set.

Obviously if you're limited by your room, so a soundbar is your only option. The 2700 is ideal.

beachBOYken · 3 Feb 2017 at 10:19

sprite- said:
I have a Yamaha soundbar for our bedroom, they're such impressive pieces of kit. I've demo'd the 2700 before and was quite shocked at what it could achieve.

However... At £900 and to some degree £600-£700, it's one hell of an expensive buy. If I had £600-£700 and knowing how good the 2700 is, I wouldn't purchase one. Mainly as at that price you're not far off being able to afford a very good 5.1 set.

Obviously if you're limited by your room, so a soundbar is your only option. The 2700 is ideal.

True, £900 is pricey.

I dont mind paying £600-£700 for the 2700 bar as it has all the spec you currently need for 4k.

I figure I would have to replace my AVR when I get my 4k TV, and most decent AVR systems are around £300-£400.

Does anyone know what price John Lewis were selling the YSP-2700 for recently.

Checking Price runner website it wasn't long ago it was selling at £650 but I'm not sure what shops.

sprite- · 3 Feb 2017 at 11:08

beachBOYken said:
True, £900 is pricey.

I dont mind paying £600-£700 for the 2700 bar as it has all the spec you currently need for 4k.

I figure I would have to replace my AVR when I get my 4k TV, and most decent AVR systems are around £300-£400.

Does anyone know what price John Lewis were selling the YSP-2700 for recently.

Checking Price runner website it wasn't long ago it was selling at £650 but I'm not sure what shops.

If you want to carry 4K HDR content and also want Atmos, then yes you'd need an AV Receiver around the £300-£400 range. You could then get the Q Acoustic 2000 set for around £400 new (Or second hand for allot less). The combination of both would give you a better experience than the Yamaha 2700.

It's not that the 2700 isn't good, it's just so expensive that it bleeds into a bleeds into a price bracket where you could get a better full 5.1 setup.