Hey everyone as you can probably guess i've got a bit of a predicament. A couple of months ago my dad bought a 50" plasma pioneer(amazing tv BTW) and well now we want to get a good sound system going up arround it cause at the moment the sound is not doing the tv justice. so i was put in charge of getting a sound system, but i have no idea what to get, I know i need a reciever and speakers but which ones to get i'm lost. We want to have a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system aswell, that will work with my xbox 360. i've seen this speaker set http://www.digitec.ch/?param=toppreise&wert=135827 and i've heard that yamaha make good recievers our budget is about 1400 pounds sterling thanks for help in advance
Something with HDMI audio+video switching if you want to hook your tv up that way. Or even something that will upscale over HDMI. I don't really know whats available at the moment. have a look here mate http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=44
I got a Samsung home theatre kit and it is brilliant, but it could do with more inputs... Which I think the newer set-ups now have. It has 2 optical inputs which I have my PS3 and PC hooked into.
http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/archive/HTP-GS1/index.html thats one that ive been looking at getting. It specifically made for the 360 (i dont actually have one) but also has numerous other inputs which you'll need to hook upto tv etc i no dabs sell it so be worth looking on there
I would highly recommend going with a Klipsch system. You'll spend a lot more on a Bose or even that JBL system that will be marginally better. I'm not sure the availablility of Klipsch there but one of the nicest systems (And one i'm going to purchase soon) for home audio was, http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/f-3-home-theater-system.aspx which can be found cheaper looking around online of course. These speakers paired with a Harmon Kardon 347 ( http://www.harmankardon.com/product...=US&Language=ENG&cat=REC&prod=AVR 347&sType=C ) receiver is just amazing. Also, this receiver has HDMI Upconvert, so whatever source you plug into it will be unconverted into HD, such as cable/satellite. Edit: If you where to consider this, I would actually just recommend buying from an Audio store you have if applicable. Then you can switch out the 12"sub for the 10" instead. It's a much cleaner sub sound imo and will save you $200 ish. Also it looks like the only dealer nearest you is STEIGSTRASSE 2 USTER 8610 SWITZERLAND Phone: 043-355-7500 Email: INFO@TRENDS4YOU.CH
I would recommend going for a seperates system, as opposed to a one box setup. is the £1400 budget for speakers and receiver only, or does it include CD, DVD, cables etc? I've just put a setup together myself, for around £1500 (some bits were second hand, not sure how that flies, full new MSRP for the lot was about £2500)(some of the cables I'm using are hand-me-downs from the hifi, and worth about £3-400 in all, but not included in that £2500 figure as that level of kit is pobably unnecesary for a setup like this)... Denon AVR-2808 receiver - very pleased with this so far, I've only had it since Friday. Has fewer features than the Yamaha and Onkyo amps in the same price range, but the sound is far superior (comparing to the Yamaha V1800, Pioneer LX60 and Onkyo SR875), especially for music. It decodes all of the next-gen HD audio formats and upscales to 1080p using a Farjouda chipset of some description, which looks pretty good, but is no replacement for a good 1080p source. Got this for £600 new from Forum Hi-Fi (google it) which is a good £150+ less than the next cheapest I've seen around. B&W speakers (these were the second hand bits) - 603 fronts, CC6 centre, 601 rears. The fronts are bi-amped. Sounds pretty impressive with music, and more than enough wallop for a 15x22' room in films, though sometimes I feel I should have gone for a larger centre, but its not so lacking that I would bother replacing it. BK Monolith DF sub - monstrous proportions, immensely powerful, massive clout, superb depth, reasonably musical and tight. Outguns any sub I've heard under £1000, and some over. Massively impressed with it (if you can't tell). My only gripe is that it lacks a 12v trigger input. Apart from the centre speaker as noted above, I wouldn't change a thing for the price. If you plan on listening to a lot of music through the system, there are better for the price than the B&W 6 series, but my setup is a cinema first and hi-fi second (have a seperate hi-fi for music). This lot is being used along with... Panasonic 50" 1080p plasma Heavily modified Marantx CD63KI Sig CD player Toshiba EP30 HD-DVD player MCE box
It's always easy to recommend your own setup, but I have no idea how widely these things are available and if you have a chance to actually listen to what you're gonna purchase beforehand. Anyway I loooove my Amphions. On the second note I'd recommend you to avoid all sets. Those are damn hard to upgrade afterwards and don't really offer the best sound or any other quality for the money.
I was simply giving my account of different bits based on personal experience, which surely is more helpful than "These X, Y and Z are supposed to be good from what I've read". Given that I had just spent a nearly identical amount to the OP's budget on a setup myself, I thought it was appropriate to give an account - apparently not. I based my purchases of the speakers and amp on listening to them before hand, and I purchased them because they sounded the best for what I wanted to spend and how I wanted to use them. So basically, you're saying that if I listen to many different pieces of equipment and have a preference for one in particular, its perfectly reasonable to give it a recommendation. That is, until I buy said piece of equipment, at which point I become biassed. hmm. And reading my previous post again, the only think I particularly recommended was the sub. Ah well, just can't win EDIT: one thing I did forget to mention on the sub, really needs taming with EQ/room correction for use with music, but if the front speakers are sufficiently large then you many not even want to use a sub for music (I don't)
thanks for all the replies, the buget does not include cables and only speakers and amplifier/ reciever how much extra should i add to get good cables. and so far i've understood that i shoulod go down the single speaker route, but for the reciever should i go 5.1 or 7.1 (we would like to build up on the system over time) So B&W speakers. and a Denon amp. And we dont need a DVD or CD player as we already have ones that we are fully happy with and no reason to change
I can't think of any Blu-Ray movies off the top of my head recorded in 7.1 but it will be standard soon. Currently though, if i'm not mistaken 7.1 is the future technology. So get it if you have the money and then you will be prepared.
Most receivers are 7.1 now. There is no reason to not go for a 7.1 amp even though 5.1 speakers will do for now, but it all depends on the room you are trying to fill. cables - 10 to 15%
Theres plenty of reasons to get a 7 channel amp, hell, I've got a 9 channel amp. You can use the extra 2 channels to bi-amp the front, and then another two to server a seperate zone, or 5 channel single amped and two seperate zones, or 7 channel with the fronts bi-amped, or 6.1 channel with fronts and centre bi-amped, a lot of choice. Most amps let you set up seperate zones, but just about every 7ch amp will be able to bi-amp the fronts in a 5.1 setup, which if you've got decent sized floorstanders which can handle the power is definitely a good idea. For a cinema setup I wouldnt really worry too much about the cables, just get copper of sufficient girth, like maybe some 4mm van damme blue series (around £3/metre) for the speakers and some ICs that are just one step up from the cheap-ass ebay lot. I actually found that the £50/metre silver cable I was using on the cinema setup from my hifi sounded a little bit harsh with the alu tweeters of the B&W (sounds sublime with on my ProAc speakers, go figure) and solid copper sounded quite a bit better, I've just swapped it with the 6mm blue series van damme, around £4.50/metre for the bi-amped fronts, the 4mm for the centre and some belkin pureav solid core 15awg flat copper for the rears (£7 for 9m, cheap as). For music, well you can go crazy, but thats an entire different debate.
