Advice Please looking at upgrading my home cinema system - Arcam & Monitor Audio

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I was hoping some of you experts might be able to help me as I'm a little out of touch with what's been on the market recently.

The reason for my upgrade is I have just purchased a Philips 52PFL8605H 52" LED 3D TV and have thought it's time to get the complete AV experience.

I currently have 2 x Arcam Alpha 10 Amp (Bi Amp), Arcam Alpha 10 Tuner, Arcam Alpha 9 CD Player, alongside Humax Foxsat HD Receiver & Philips blue-ray DvD Player BDP3000 (I know I will need to upgrade the DVD Player to a Philips 3D Blue Ray perhaps the Philips BDP7500B2/05 £249.99? any other suggestions would be great but it has to be by Philips or the PTA02 3D glasses & transmitter kit won't work with the TV not sure if this is completely correct but this is what I've been informed so far.)

I have Monitor Audio Studio 50 Floorstanding Speakers and Monitor Audio Monitor One Bookshelf Speakers.

I have had a brief chat to a chap at Sevenoaks he's advising that I will need to buy the new Arcam FMJ AVR400 AV Receiver £1699, Monitor Audio Center Speaker GS LCD £549, Monitor Audio Subwoofer GSW12 £1099, Monitor Audio Bookshelf Speakers GS10 £899.

As you can imagine I had a mini heart attack at how much this all comes to I know the equipment is worth it but it's a hell of a lot of money especially as I was only originally looking to replace my tv which blew up last friday. so what I was hoping for was for other ideas or perhaps older versions of what else I could perhaps go for instead which would be kinder to my bank balance.

Kind advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Heather

 

[Big Chris]

Hi Heather.

Can I just clarify something? At present are you listening to the TV in stereo through the Arcams?

If so, there should be no reason why you can't continue to do so. You may require a DAC if your TV doesn't have a pair of analogue outputs on the back, but these start at around £50, so it needn't blow the bank.

 

[scene]

Hi, and welcome to the forums

Yes, the chap at Sevenoaks specced you up a wonderful system, maybe not a Rolls Royce, but probably a Bentley of a system

OK, your current system won't do 5.1 surround, as it stands, but nor do you have to go completely over the top to get 5.1... You could, for example, retain your existing set up for stereo / two-channel music - if you're happy with it - and get a Blu Ray player, surround amp and speakers purely for 5.1. You can go for a small, relatively cheap amp, with sub+satellite speakers to reduce their footprint and still get pretty good surround sound.

I suppose the apposite questions are:

What's your budget?

How big is your room?

Do you want your new system to do everything (i.e. Music + AV), or do you want to retain your existing system for stereo?

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome,

You have been misled, you don't need to have a philips 3D Blu ray player, the kit you have is to make the TV 3D compatible as long as it receives a signal from a 3D source. Any 3D blu ray player will work, I would suggest the Sony BDPS570 which is avaiable for a mere £150 at Richer Sounds at the moment ( I may even be picking one of these up soon myself).

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for all your help, this is fantastic thank you.

 

[RobGardner]

Before you buy any receiver you must check out the new integrated Anthem range of receivers. I heard one in Sevenoaks in Bristol yesterday (not sure which model but it retails for near to £2k) and I am now scheming on how to raise the money to buy one. The sound quality is light years ahead of anything else I have heard so far for any where near the money. I had a watch of the BluRay of Iron Man and the DVD of Master & Commander, both were superbly presented.

I am looking forward to a home demo soon.