Spec me a Home Cine PLEASE

Tom84

Tom84

Tom84

Soldato
Joined
22 Sep 2006
Posts
16,080
Location
Chelmsford, Essex
Ok so a couple of months ago I splashed out on an incredibly sexy KDL40W2000 to replace my old 32" sammy and at the same time I also went and upgraded to Sky HD so now I'm looking to replace my current 5.1 setup which only supports 5.1 when watching DVD's and not my PS3/360/Standard TV.

Now because I'm now familiar with the loveliness that is HD TV I'm also looking to get a HD-DVD/BlueRay player but regarding this there's the obvious question of which format will prevail in the long term? I know more DVD's are released on BlueRay then they are on HD-DVD but I cant help but think that eventually it's the latter that's going to come out on top.

Soooooooo with all that in mind I'm looking for.......

  1. 1- A decent AV Amp
  2. 2- A decent set of 5.1 Speakers to go with it
  3. 3- A HD-DVD/BlueRay Player (maybe one that plays both?)

Now I haven't got a clue if a dual HD-DVD/BlueRay player even exists so I've got no expectancies over cost on that but ideally I'm working at around a £600 budget for the AV Amp and Speakers so hook me up with some shopping lists guys and girls :p

I look forward to your responses :)
 
badbob said:
Need to increase budget by a fair bit, that £600 is minimum I would spend on 5.1 alone, ideally £800. Plus £300 for av amp.
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Well that's not the start I was hoping for :p

Seriously though I'm not a fanatic about the quality of the speakers as long as they make a sound I'm happy :p

Besides a set for £300 must be better than what I've got at the moment considering the entire of my current 5.1 setup I'm pretty sure cost me less than that - £250 to the best of my knowledge, dont think I spent more than that....)
 
Ok 4 months on and I've still to invest in a new system but with a week off work this week I'm looking to spend some money :p

I'm currently looking at getting the following....

Cambridge Audio 340R (£270)
Q Acoustics 1050i 5.1 (£630)
Sony BDPS300 (£300)

Obviously goes much beyond my original priced budget but I've convinced myself to spend what it takes so I'm not left with the what if scenario.

So any opinions on the above? Anything that I should change?
 
Nymins said:
Did you not post a previous thread that you already had a PS3? Use it, there is no need really for a standalone player when you can get the PS3 which is cheaper and future proof.
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Yeah I've already got the PS3, judging by what you and badbob have said I proberly will just use that if a standalone player really isn't worth the extra money.

Cheers lads :)
 
Hedge said:
I would ditch the Bluray idea, and i would buy an onkyo 605 amp. then i would join Avforums and buy the SVS powerbuy 5.1 setup. then get blown away :)
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Hedge said:
actually, an alternative is to buy Quad Lite 5.1

basically this was 1000 quid previously, they are very highly regarded and available around 499. Although colours are limited to rosewood and silver in most places i think
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I did Look at the onkyo amp but was just put of by what it looks like i.e. I think it's butt ugly :p

I am interested in the Quads though especially at the price...
 
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Well my Cambridge Audio AV receiver arrived today as did my Sony BlueRay player (couldn't resist shelling out for one :o) just waiting for the Quad's to arrive before I can set it all up :p

Unfortunately though the Quad's proberly aint gonna get to me for another week or so :(
 
Hedge said:
Oh man im so glad you took my advice on the quads, cant wait to hear your comments on them mate. Ive heard nothing but praise for them. The build quality is meant to be amazing (7 coats of laquer on all etc)
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At the reduced price I could hardly turn them down :p

I'd read good things about the Q Acoustics setup that I had originally earmarked but the common theme was value for money whereas with the Quad's RRP price being around the £1000 mark I'd expect them to be the better of the two with the added bonus of no difference in price. Also read good things about the Quads since you recommended them ;)
 
Ok so I need some speaker stands for when my new Quad's arrive, now I've been looking around and am amazed by the extortionate prices for some of them :eek:

Basically I was hoping to get 4 for around £50 but obviously now know that to find a nice looking set for that amount is going to be quite hard to find so anyone got any suggestions for some cheap but stylish looking stands?

Thanks :)
 
Hedge said:
Got your stuff yet mate?
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No still waiting for the speakers :(

Getting a little worried about it now, I think I'll contact the site I bought them from tomorrow and get an update

badbob said:
Don't buy light stands, they're rubbish. You want something that won't cause the speakers to be top heavy. Atacama Nexus a bit pants, those are £50. I'd try and find some 20Kg+ each stands on the auction site. I think the retail of my target stands were about £350.
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Decided against stands now, when the speakers do arrive I think I'll get some wall brackets for them instead
 
Well rung the site that I bought the speakers from and all they could tell me is that they're waiting for delivery :rolleyes:

I asked them how long I'm going to be waiting and they didn't have a clue, didn't even give me a ball park figure :(

I'm proberly going to be running legacy hardware by the time they arrive now :p
 
Unbelievable! Rung up to site that I ordered the speakers from again today only to be told this time that the Quad's in the Cherry finish are a discontinued product so they can no longer get them :mad:

Best they could do for me is get me them in Silver or Rosewood yuck!

Good news is I found another site that had 4 left in stock in the Cherry finish and I've just had confirmation that they'll be delivered to me on Wednesday - YAY!

So irritating though as I've seen them on this other site all the while I've been waiting :( You wouldn't of thought buying speakers would be so bloody hard!
 
I swear someone's trying to tell me something here..... More troubles with this today :(

First when Mr City Link came round to deliver my stuff no one was in to sign for it so I had to go out again when I got in from work :rolleyes:

Then after unboxing it all I find no speaker cables! Now maybe I'm being a noob here but surely I was right within my mind to think that this would be included?

Anyway me having absolutely no idea about all this I have no idea what cables I need so I'm back here asking for help :p Any suggestions anyone?

Must say despite all the above it all does look really sexy
 
Kamakazie! said:
Good job. I think you will be stunned with just how impressive this setup sounds. What sub cable did you get? Did you find one s/h?

Remember to post impressions and pics of the speakers. Not found many good images of the quads so it's hard to gauge what they look like. All i hear is that the finish is stunning.
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Got a Canare sub link cable from the same site I got the Belden stuff from (like you suggested ;) )

I'd love to take some pic's to show off what it all looks like but unfortunately I've only got the crappy camera on my iPhone which wouldn't really do any justice for just how nice it all looks. You've heard right though the finish is really stylish and the pics on various website really do it no justice.
 
Ok well me and my old man spent most of this afternoon wiring all my lovely new gear up and surprise surprise come the first test NO SOUND! :(

I'm sure I'm missing something really stupid because all 5 speakers respond to test tone tests in the Cambridge Audio On Screen Display menu yet the second you set it to either of the HDMI inputs NOTHING!

Anyone got any idea's where I could be going wrong? Currently got both my Sky HD and BlueRay player going into the 2 HDMI inputs on the back of the AV receiver with the HDMI output going into the back of my tele, I'm sure that's all that needs to be done......
 
Ok so I got 1 optical cable today for my SkyHD and after a bit of tweaking with the settings I've got 5.1 sound however I've still to get a cable for my BlueRay player so do I go for optical again or is Coaxial better?
 
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Kamakazie! said:
How is it sounding?
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Dare I say so far that I can't tell much of a difference over my previous setup :o

To be fair though I'm really still in the setting up stage e.g. it was only yesterday that I got all the cables that I need and spent most of last night tidying up the cabling. I've also yet to unleash a DVD on it so I'm only going by how Sky is sounding, I'm pretty sure there's plenty of tinkering to be done with the sub as well....

As requested earlier though here are obligatory unboxing pics taken on the shoddy iPhone camera by a very back photographist :p

Before the frantic unboxing took place a look at the packaging (as boxes go they're not the most attractive are they)

Boxes.jpg


A little idea of just how big the sub is.....

BoxesvSub.jpg


Close up of the front and back of the sub....

CloseUpoffrontSub.jpg


Closeupofrearsub.jpg


Before we continue, I might not of got anything in terms of cables with the speakers but I did get two pairs of these lovely gloves :p

Gloves.jpg


Nice touch with the bags that the speakers come in....

Unboxing.jpg


And once un-bagged viola....

CentreSpeakerwithMesh.jpg
 
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