Advice on a new home entertainment solution

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

Excuse my ignorance on matters home entertainment, which will no doubt be evident with this post.

I currently have a basic music set up at home, that I'm looking to replace - an old hi fi mini system and speakers. I have a pretty new Philips HD TV and Dell laptop that I'm hoping I can hook in a home cinema solution into. DVD player is a few years old, happy to replace that if needed. I'm looking for a solution that will -

- allows me to run music and TV through surround sound speakers (or something that gives similar sound quality) - ideally into multiple rooms if easy to do

- allows me to use the laptop as the home for music, probably via wireless link up, also allows CDs to be played

- I also have an iphone and iPod classic - any solution that integrates well with these is good

- I'm not a massive audiophile, so not looking for something hugely top end, just something that sounds good and is a good value answer

- I am a bit of a sucker for a gadget though, so could throw a bit of money at it if there was something particularly cool out there

Any advice, pointers to previous posts, thoughts on what I've suggested above or suggestions for a good shop to speak to (Richer Sounds?) would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Ben

 

[d4v3pum4]

benw:allows me to run music and TV through surround sound speakers (or something that gives similar sound quality) - ideally into multiple rooms if easy to do

- allows me to use the laptop as the home for music, probably via wireless link up, also allows CDs to be played

AV Receivers can output audio to multiple rooms (zones), however, this is usually from analogue sources only. This can be via speaker connection or line-out to another amplifier. Are you happy with running cables from the amp to the other zones? If this is just for music, I would forget using zone 2/3 etc. on an amp and go with a wireless streaming solution. There are numerous but the most popular are Apple Express, Logitech Squeezebox and Sonos. A cheap solution would be to fit a Squeezebox Boom in your other rooms as these are amplified units but obviously it depends on which room you want to play music in. Then fit a Squeezebox Classic in the main room. Multiroom can be simple and cheap or expensive and complicated. It also depends on what format your ripped music is in. Do you have any other equipment in the other rooms i.e. amplifiers and speakers?

benw:I also have an iphone and iPod classic - any solution that integrates well with these is good

The iphone and itouch can be used as remotes to control the three wireless streaming solutions mentioned above e.g. apple remote. Sonos offers an official remote application and there are various third party remote applications for Squeezebox. I use ipeng on my itouch as a remote to control 2 Squeezeboxes. Your ipod classic could be docked and connected to the amp but if you're using the PC and wireless music, I wouldn't bother.

benw:I'm not a massive audiophile, so not looking for something hugely top end, just something that sounds good and is a good value answer

Do you have an overall budget for this setup?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there - many thanks for responding.

The multi room aspect is probably not the most important requirement - I'm currently in a one bedroom flat, but just thinking ahead to the future. Currently there are no amplifiers or speakers in the bedroom/dining room - I just use a portable ipod speaker. Most music is ripped in apple ACC. I guess in an ideal world the connections would be wireless. To be honest, setting up something in multi rooms could be something I come back to once the main room is set up and there is a little spare cash - just looking not to close off any likley options at the moment.

Me not mentioning a budget was a bit foolish I guess - hard to suggest products without it. I guess I was hoping to spend around £1k if possible, maybe up to £1.5k if that opens up a lot more possibilities

Cheers,

Ben

 

[professorhat]

Since you have an iPod, I assume you're using iTunes. In which case, so long as your laptop has wireless capability, I would look at Airport Express (as mentioned already) for playing your computer music through your system. It will cost roughly £65 - £70 and allows you to stream music from iTunes on your laptop to your hi-fi / AV setup. The advantage is:

1. The laptop doesn't need to be anywhere near the hi-fi / AV setup, it just needs to be able to connect into the wireless network created by the AE unit (or the existing wireless network if you have one already).

2. You have an iPhone so you can remote control this from your iPhone using Apple's Remote app, again freeing you from your laptop.

3. You can easily add more AE units to allow multi-room music capability - though you are limited in that you can't have different music in different rooms using Aiport Express alone. Of course you could always put a CD on in the main room and use AE for the bedroom / kitchen.

As for the system itself, there's a few options depending on what you want. Ideally, separates is the best way to go (i.e. separate amp, DVD / Blu-Ray player, speaker package) in terms of sound quality for the money / future upgradability but you could get an all-in-one system which would be easier to setup / less intrusive - which are you looking for? Also, are you interested in Blu-Ray or happy with DVDs for the moment?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks professorhat,

Correct on iTunes, and airport express sounds like just the job for a reasonable price. If it was to work multi room, presumably that room would need an amp of it's own to connect to another AE unit?

I think I'd like to get the best quality for the money I have, so separates make sense. Happy with DVDs I think - not seen Blu Ray but I suspect I can live without it - is there a massive quality difference?

Ben

 

[professorhat]

benw:Correct on iTunes, and airport express sounds like just the job for a reasonable price. If it was to work multi room, presumably that room would need an amp of it's own to connect to another AE unit?

Yes, another amp and speakers, or you could look at powered speakers like Audioengine A2s, A5s, or even the Epoz AkitMates (which I have) which have the amplification built into one of the speakers and keep things a little tidier.

benw:I think I'd like to get the best quality for the money I have, so separates make sense. Happy with DVDs I think - not seen Blu Ray but I suspect I can live without it - is there a massive quality difference?

Given your budget, you're well in the realm of getting an HD audio capable system and this is where Blu-Ray really comes into its own - the picture quality on most Blu-Rays is a good step up from DVD, but the sound quality on some is a massive improvement. I struggle to watch DVDs these days because of this step up.

There's so much choice on this front, I think your best bet is to have read of WHF (naturally!), get yourself down to a dealer and have some auditions of some kit, then come back here to see what people recommend once you have a shortlist together.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

I do have WHF, and was trying to work out where to start in their reviews section, hence this post!

I take it that if I go for an all in one system, then I'm looking in the Home cinema in a box category? Anything needed above that, other than the Airport express, to do what we've been talking about?

If I go for separates, I'm looking to put an Amp, speakers and CD player together (and potentially DVD if I replace that), plus AE - am I missing anything there?

I'll get down to a dealer, just wanted to have a bit better underatding of what I'm asking for before I do.

Thanks again,

Ben

 

[professorhat]

Yes, home cinema in a box and all-in-one systems are the same thing.

For separates, you're looking for an AV receiver, a 5.1 speaker package and the CD player (and potentially a Blu-Ray player). On the speaker package, you need to decide whether you want a style system or a traditional system - style systems use smaller speakers and are less intrusive in your living room whereas traditional boxy speakers will give you a better sound for the money but expect to have to have large speakers dotted around your room. Also, you may need to budget in stands for the speakers (or wall mounts) and cabling for everything.

Worth phoning your dealer first and then hopefully he can get a feel for what you're after then arrange a time for you to come down and demo a few of the systems.

 

[d4v3pum4]

Your £1000-1500 budget will get you some great kit. I would definitely recommend going bluray. The difference in quality both in terms of audio and video is massive but obviously the 'wow factor' isn't as big with poor quality kit. It helps to have a good quality flat panel HD ready/1080p TV. To notice the difference you need to be looking at 37" plus but I have HD on my 26" bedroom LCD and the difference is still substantial.
A visit to your local dealer is recommended. You will more than likely be near a Sevenoaks, Richer Sounds, Superfi or independent dealer. Hopefully they should be able to help you out. Online-wise I can recommend royjowetthomecinema, creative-audio, quantumelectronics and hifix for good advice and prices.

If you're looking for a good quality amp, the Sony STR-DG820 is available in limited numbers at Richer Sounds for £249. It is soon to be replaced by the STR-DH800 which will no doubt be popular. Other budget amps to look out for are the Yamaha 465 and Onkyo 577. All the models I've mentioned have HD audio capability, should you go bluray. There have been some reported gripes about the Yamaha's build quality sliding from previous models (sign of the times as they cram more and more into budget receivers) and the inability to assign audio inputs (rumoured to be an oversight that might be addressed by firmware update but don't take my word for it!) but these are minor issues. Denon's 1910 (see link below) is slightly more expensive and is equivalent to the Onkyo 607, Sony 2400ES, Yamaha 565 and so on price wise.

Speaker wise will come down to your taste. Some people don't like big speakers but the simple fact is, they usually sound better than small lifestyle speakers. Q-Acoustics, MA Vector, Wharfedale Diamond, Jamo HCS5 A102, Kef 1005/2005 etc. are all popular. The Vectors are new and I haven't seen them reviewed yet but Monitor Audio don't make duff speakers imho!

LINK1

LINK2

 

[Anonymous]

Both,

Thanks for your posts. I've just been down Richer Sounds in Bloomsbury, and to be honest feel less informed than when I went in!

A sales guy gave me a suggestion of Onkyo TXSRS77 AV receiver (£400), Q acoustic 1010i package speakers (£450) and Cambridge Dud99 (£149) CD player/DVD player - but to be honest i didn't feel like an awful lot of thought was going into what he proposed, and there didn't seem to be masses of stock in store. Neither was there a listening room - I'll head elsewhere next week.

It did make me realise that a style speaker set up is what I'm after though - big speakers will be too bulky for the room. Any thoughts on the Q acoustics he proposed?

Thanks for advice on Blu Ray. I may get a system that can handle it and buy a player a little down the line. Any thoughts on his proposal on CD & DVD combined with the cambridge player.

And lastly - should I be checking that my TV has any specific input/output capability? It's HD, but a couple of years old.

Thanks,

Ben

 

[professorhat]

The Q Acoustics package is a good one - one of the best in its price range IMHO.

Haven't seen the Cambridge DVD player, but it's a demo you need really to make sure it's up to standard. If music is very important to you, I would look to get a dedicated CD player and then get a Blu-Ray player further down the line to replace your existing DVD player.

On your TV, if you're going down the route of getting a HD capable amplifier, you could ensure you get one which has HDMI upconversion built in (which the 577 doesn't I don't think). This will ensure you can connect any source to your Onkyo and it will upconvert it all via the HDMI socket, so the TV only needs an HDMI in. You could also check to see if your TV has maybe a digital optical out or more likely RCA analgoue out connections so you can hook the TV into your system for standard TV watching (if you want this).

 

[d4v3pum4]

What else do you have to connect? I personally wouldn't buy another DVD player, you can get a BD player for the same money.

 

[Richer Sounds]

Hi Ben,

I was sorry to read that you felt your experience in our Holborn store was unsatisfactory.

Indeed, our sales assistant's main focus should always be on your specific requirements and/or budget, and I am sorry you felt this was not the case on this occasion.

Stock levels can vary on certain products especially on popular products, although if a particular model has temporarily sold out the sales assistant can generally order it in for you from our warehouse within a few days.

Unfortunately, due to the small size of our Holborn store, no demo room is available. However, we do have a 14 day home trial service allowing you to exchange any items you're unhappy with.

Meanwhile, I hope this information helps. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need any further advice or should you have any further queries.

Many thanks

John Clayton
Operations Director
Richer Sounds

 

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have managed to have demo in Richer Sounds Lpool St and and the sound and looks of the kit seemed to work well. The amp was Onkyo 577 (7.1, HDMI single cable) and the speakers were the Mordaunt Short Alumni. Whilst the sound seemed pretty good to me, I appreciate that having larger floor standing speakers for the front 2 would probably give a better sound, but to be honest with the sub in that system it sounded pretty good to me. They also look good and are quite discreet - but would appreciate people's opinions on that set up.

I've decided against buying a CD player for the moment - plan to use my existing DVD player

I was also demoed the sonos multi room set up, which looks cool but from earlier posts on here it looks like I could get a similar set up by buying a 2nd Apple air port and amp to hook up the dining room. £800 for the sonos seems pretty pricey.

Any comments appreciated - going to take the plunge later this week I think,

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Anonymous]

xx

 

[professorhat]

Can't comment on the Onkyo / Mordaunt Short combination as haven't heard it, but if you liked it, that's the main thing!