Advice - First leap into Amp and Speakers

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone.

I would appreciate some advice on the potential setup i've been looking at. I've not had a cinema amp setup before, so am looking for something that will last me a good amount of time and handle most of what i'm going to throw at it.

I've been using this website and others, along with having a few brief discussions with people at Richersounds and have come up with this setup:

- Onkyo TRX606

- KEF 1005.2 Speakers

- 1x 1.0m or 1.5m Optical Cable

- 2x 0.75m Optical Cables

- 1 x HDMI Cable

I'm going to be plugging the following into the setup initially:

- Sony 32W4000 TV via optical (1.0m) and HDMI

- Xbox 360 Via Component and .75m Optical Cable

- Wii Via Component and .75m Optical Cable

- Laptop (with Blu-ray) via HDMI (I already have a cable for that)

My budget including cables is about £750, however I noticed on the Richersounds website on the weekend that they had the Onkyo 806 available in silver for £400, so i could probably stretch to £800 in total (though i checked the price again on Monday and it had gone to £450, but they could prob do a deal).

This will all be set up initially in my bedroom, so not a huge room, but I am planning on buying a flat/house at the end of the year so it would be promoted to the living room when it comes to it. I want a few extra HDMI ports for anything else I will need to plug in over time (e.g. dedicated blu-ray player)

My questions are:

- Should I do a deal with RS and get the cables there, or should I buy cables online cheaper (but poss worse quality?)

- Is the 806 really worth the step up in price, bearing in mind my setup?

- Am I missing anything vital to the setup other than what i've listed?

- Are there better speakers/amps around which would do all that I need for the same or similar amount of money?

Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[professorhat]

With those speakers, I wouldn't bother upgrading the amp to the 806 - the 606 is good enough to drive much better speakers so I don't think it's a good use of the money. I've noticed RS are charging about £380 for the KEFs (online anyway, you may have negotiated a better price with them). In my opinion, the extra money would be better spent on something like the Q Acoustics 1010i setup - the speakers are bigger than the KEFs but if you can fit them in, it will be quite a big step up in sound quality.

As for cables, don't forget you will need speaker cable as well - if you do go for everything from RS, I would investigate other options first so you know where you stand and then definitely see what deals they are willing to do with cables considering you are spending a lot of money with them.

 

[Big Chris]

IIRC, the Wii doesn't have an optical out. The Wii specific component cable also has a pair of analogue stereo cables (5 in total).

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Big Chris:IIRC, the Wii doesn't have an optical out. The Wii specific component cable also has a pair of analogue stereo cables (5 in total).

And there is no need for an optical cable from LCD to amp.

 

[Big Chris]

Gerrardasnails:Big Chris:IIRC, the Wii doesn't have an optical out. The Wii specific component cable also has a pair of analogue stereo cables (5 in total).

And there is no need for an optical cable from LCD to amp.

....Unless of course the TV has a digital out, and you want to hear broadcast TV through your amp. If the TV has no digital out, you'll need a pair of stereo interconnects which connect to the audio outputs on the back of the TV, run to an appropriate input on the amp.

 

[professorhat]

Gerrardasnails:Big Chris:IIRC, the Wii doesn't have an optical out. The Wii specific component cable also has a pair of analogue stereo cables (5 in total).

And there is no need for an optical cable from LCD to amp.

Well, I assume this is so he can get the audio from standard Freeview broadcasts from the TV through this speakers. In which case, there is a need.

EDIT - oops, BC, posts crossed paths. Have checked and TV does have an optical out.

 

[Anonymous]

Does the speaker package not come with audio cable? If so, what kind of lengths would they be?

Ah that was my mistake with the Wii, thought it did. I would use the standard phonos for that then, saves me 1 optical!

Yes the TV has optical out, so I wanted to have the sound feed back into the amp for tv watching.

ProfessorHat: Thanks for that advice, I will check out the QAcoustics setup too and look online for a better deal.

This is really useful, thanks guys. I will post back if I have any more questions.

 

[Big Chris]

stevieboy84:
Does the speaker package not come with audio cable? If so, what kind of lengths would they be?

Ah that was my mistake with the Wii, thought it did. I would use the standard phonos for that then, saves me 1 optical!

Yes the TV has optical out, so I wanted to have the sound feed back into the amp for tv watching.

ProfessorHat: Thanks for that advice, I will check out the QAcoustics setup too and look online for a better deal.

This is really useful, thanks guys. I will post back if I have any more questions.

No. Speaker packages don't come with speaker cable (unless you can do a deal with your dealer as you're buying a bit of stuff). Lengths depend entirely on the size of your room and placement of your speakers. Rears will obviously be the longest lengths, but they also do the least work, so you may be able to get away with a slightly cheaper cable if money is tight.

With regards to the Wii. You'll have to buy the official Nintendo Wii component cable (or a knock-off of the same, but I wouldn't.) as the Wii has an odd shaped connector on it. Regular cables just won't fit. Of course, the cable that comes with the Wii as standard will work perfectly well, but the upgrade component cable is visibly better.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I'll measure up to get an estimate on cable for them to chuck in if I do a deal with RS. Also, I already have the official component cable for the Wii, so that's not a prob.

 

[Big Chris]

stevieboy84: Also, I already have the official component cable for the Wii, so that's not a prob.

Result. That's more money saved.