Which home cinema sound ??

loady

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Hi,

Been to av forums but its just to vast...can anyone recommend a good sound system for my home theatre setup...i have spent quite a bit of money so far...am i right to understand that the best part of the money should be spent on the base system ?...im looking to spend up to £300 and i am going to embed the wires into the walls so maybe an option to upgrade speaker at a later date, that is to assume they run on standard speaker wire...Im trying to keep everything hdmi and optical audio..so i would like a fare few connections.
 
What AMP and/or receiver do you have?
Are you planning on floor standers or bookshelf speakers on stands or wall mounted?

For a home theatre I'd spend appx 40% of the money on audio equipment and much more if it will be used for 2 channel audio as well.
 
What AMP and/or receiver do you have?
Are you planning on floor standers or bookshelf speakers on stands or wall mounted?

For a home theatre I'd spend appx 40% of the money on audio equipment and much more if it will be used for 2 channel audio as well.

I have neither an amp or reciever, guess your going to have to work on me lol...Basically i have built a pukka home media system with a quad core cpu, 4gb or ram, bluray/hd combo drive and it has a hdmi out graphics card with a Spdif out port on it, i have a panasonic 42 plasma tv with 4 hdmi ports...the sound for everything is going to be coming through these speakers/sound system..internet radio, mp3 files, pc gaming, films hdd based and from the drive...the mob has sfdif out but i think i have to plug the graphics card spdif port into to get the sound through the tv speakers if i dont want the surround sound on...it seems all rather complex...im not really interested in a dvd player, unless of course it was an upscaling player then it might be an added bonus as then i would not need the home media pc switched on to just watch a normal dvd...im really not sure what i need :S so any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

PS...really want wall mounted speaker as the wires are going to be in the wall, i had a look at the panasonic posted above...i like the sound of the upscaling dvd player...not sure if the connections are enough ?? and they are floor standing speakers..not really what i want.
 
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I recently brought the Sony DAV-IS. Upscales DVD, has hdmi output, and despite their tiny tiny size, the speakers kick ass!

Only set-up I could get approved by the other half! lol
 
If your after an all in 1 system take a look at the Panasonic SC-PT860
Listen to one 1st - I demoed one of these on my house and found the kelton sub far to blary and the sound tinny, also the rear channels were practically non - existant.

This is odd for me as I am usually a total pana fanboy!!!
 
I used my old kenwood 220 wat amp of my seprates attached it to my plasma and ran my lappy through it i get a wicked effect better then most systems my freinds have paid hundreds for use your amagination thats what i say things dont always cost a bomb
 
I have neither an amp or reciever, guess your going to have to work on me lol...Basically i have built a pukka home media system with a quad core cpu, 4gb or ram, bluray/hd combo drive and it has a hdmi out graphics card with a Spdif out port on it, i have a panasonic 42 plasma tv with 4 hdmi ports...the sound for everything is going to be coming through these speakers/sound system..internet radio, mp3 files, pc gaming, films hdd based and from the drive...the mob has sfdif out but i think i have to plug the graphics card spdif port into to get the sound through the tv speakers if i dont want the surround sound on...it seems all rather complex...im not really interested in a dvd player, unless of course it was an upscaling player then it might be an added bonus as then i would not need the home media pc switched on to just watch a normal dvd...im really not sure what i need :S so any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

PS...really want wall mounted speaker as the wires are going to be in the wall, i had a look at the panasonic posted above...i like the sound of the upscaling dvd player...not sure if the connections are enough ?? and they are floor standing speakers..not really what i want.

Nice set up loady.

I wouldn't buy a upscaling DVD player as your HTPC is more than well equipped to provide the same performance.

You need a AV receiver. I'd opt for the the Onkyo 605 or 606. The 605 can be had for as little as £200 SH or around £300 brand new. This will be able to decode the HD audio streams from your HTPC and any future HDMI sources. You will need to get a compatible HDMI sound or video card for it to do this somewhere down the line. You can use the spdif for now and upgrade when the prices crash for these new HDMI 1.3 audio/video cards.

So far as speakers go I'll personally opt for second hand stereo speakers and buy 2 pairs and a matching centre channel. £200 all in one solutions sound 5.1 speakers are pretty poor IMO. You can buy 4 great speakers that are a couple of years old for £50-£100. If you need more advice on what to buy second hand I'd be glad to help, but the chances are the WAF will not allow this.

I'm sure other will give differing advice, I tend to go for cheaper gear when electronics is concerned especially for home theatre. 2 channel audio is a different game altogether though :) The law of diminishing returns on electrical equipment is as crazy business. Spend your money wisely!
 
Thanks for the informative advice...i like the size of the sony speakers but i dont really need the DVD player although it would be handy for the kids to save them turning on the media system, im by no means an audiophile so spending money on speakers that turn out better than i would notice sound does not make sense to me.....i think im leaning to towards that pioneer set up...for around £200 its not bad and leaves me £100 to get some cheaper surron speakers...as for the HD sound card...my motherboard has 8 channell HD sound and my graphics card has a HDMI port on it and a SPdif output, i was hoping i would get all the sound through the HDMI cable from graphics card but i have been told that the spdif needs to be plugged onto the motherboard somehow...bit confused about that really, the motherboard also has an optical out port....im leaning towards the pioneer as it has 2 optical in ports.
 
OMFG !!! im in trouble when she sees the bill !!!

Well i bdugeted on £300 and a ceiling of £400...i just come out of richer sounds after lightening my wallet by the tune of £769 !!! i got £100 discount to so it was £869...and believe me i got a good deal....ready for this....

I bought the Onkyo txsr 606
http://www.eu.onkyo.com/press/press_release_en_6499514.html

Mordaunt short 3 LCR alumni
http://www.mordauntshort.com/summary.php?PID=62

Mordaunt short premiere 308 sub
http://www.mordauntshort.com/summary.php?PID=27

Gale 3010 satetlites
http://www.gale.co.uk/3010s.html

Well i should be happy with that...i had to cut back with the woofer, wanted the 309 which is better and in maple and the rear satelites i went for the gales as opposed to the mrdaunt short sats.
 
Congrats loady. Catch me on messenger if you need any advice setting this lot up.
 
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