Any advice on stereo home cinema all-in-one?

[admin_exported]

Due to space contstraints I am going to have to box up my beloved stereo until I can afford a bigger pad. So I am looking at all-in-one DVD/CD/Amp systems but I am driving myself nuts, so any advice here would be appreciated. I am looking for something that I can use for audio out from my TV, and this means it has to have the ability to delay the audio because I am a few frames out between video and audio at the moment (another reason I need to get a new system). However it also needs to be able to perform well with CD playback. I would be happy to keep my speakers and just get an amp/player or a whole package. Budget is about £400, so some of these are over budget but I could persuade the Holder Of The Purse Strings (HOTPS) if there was a big difference in quality, although less really is more in this regard! Oh, and ideally it should be black.

The systems I am thinking of are:

Onkyo LS-V501 Denon S102 (or S101?) NAD L54

Or I could wait for the JVC NX-F3 or NAD Viso Two, if either offer anything better in or near my price range?

Or there are a couple of budget contenders, both of which can be found at the £200 marks, which I would consider as a stop gap until I move, if they are able to do even an acceptable job.

Philips 6510 Sony DAV-X1G

Any help would be much appreciated. At the moment the HOTPS is leaning towards the Philips or Sony.

CTNP

 

[Andy Clough]

Unfortunately we haven't yet had the chance to test any of the above, but have you also considered the Award-winning Sony DAV-IS10? It's officially £600, but available for quite a bit less if you shop around.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Andy, I hadn't considered the DAV-IS10 since I was thinking I don't really have a room that lends itself to 5.1. Due to size constraints my sofa, which directly faces the TV, is pushed up against the back wall, where the rear speakers would go. However having seen the size of these speakers and seen that they are wall mountable that is possible. However would they work right by ones head? They would almost be headphones! I notice it comes with autosetup, so would they be able to adjust the levels and delay for such an arrangement. Also, it would need to come with about 7 metres of cable for each of the rear speakers by the time I've run it down, round and up again, and I will have to pin it to the skirt, so it will need to be unobtrusive, i,e, thin and preferably white!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Chris,

I am in the same place as you at the moment. In fact placed a similar post a week or so ago. Same requirements (I don't want, or have space for 5 speakers), same shortlist - though mine has the Audica AVR-1 on it as well which is looking favourite at the moment - and it is black.

I don't know if we are unusual, or just under served in the market place. Everywhere I turn someone is persuading me that I want seperates and an AV reciever and there seems to be very few reviews / opinion / advice available on the products on our shortlist. I am also struggling to find stockists who will let me demo - they all only want to demo what they have in stock - which I can understand to a point.

Keep us posted on how you get on!

 

[professorhat]

How about this? No review yet but one on the way I'm sure!

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers chaps. I don't think we are that unusual since there are quite a few products on the market - too many as usual! Anyone condemned to live in a flat will know the impracticality of a 5.1 system, particularly since it is almost impossible to put all the speakers in anything approaching the correct configuration.

The JVC looks interesting but its not a name I associate with high quality kit, although its been some time since I have been looking for audio components. Price will be the determinant there I suspect - it it pitches at the £400 mark it will be attractive, any higher and the competition is pretty fierce.

I have never heard of Audica but I will have a look about. £600 is probably more than I can reasonably afford but the kit has to the job I want.

The big determinant to me is whether I can delay audio. My TV is a few frames behind audio from my DVD or the audio on the loop through the TV, especially noticeable on seens in movies where the actor has done ADR! I have determined that the Denon D102 does NOT do audio delay, at least on external inputs, so that is out. The 101 would be my choice if it came in black, but it doesn't. So I am still trying to figure things out.

I am not in an enormous hurry, although would prefer to buy in the next couple of weeks. In the page on What Hifi for the JVC it suggests they are considering a 2.1 group test, so I may hang on for that given the paucity of comparable reviews for most of these products.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm in the same boat, not wanting a 5.1 but a 2.1 all in one system. I'd love to see a group test.

Any chance?????

 

[Anonymous]

I have contacted Onkyo, Sony and Nad to ask about the audio delay settings on the various models I am interested in. So far no replies. At the moment the Denon S101 is winning since Denon replied in about 10 minutes and it can do what I want. If it came in black I would have bought one already........

 

[Anonymous]

What about the S-102, it comes in black. Bit more money though.

 

[Anonymous]

The S102 is aesthetically almost perfect but Denon have told me that it doeesn't have the audio delay function of the S101! The S302 has it but not the S102, so that is out.

Also my budget is £200, which I will stretch to £400 to get the 'right' piece of kit, but I just can't go for £600 unfortunately. At the moment it is a competition between the Denon S101 or getting the Onkyo LS-V501 without speakers and using my current ones. Haven't seen the Onkyo offered like this anywhere yet though. Just waiting for confirmation on the audio delay feature on the Nad L54 and Sony DV-IS10 and then I will hopefully be able to make a choice based on what I need the kit to do.

At least I feel I am making progress now, thanks to numerous peoples help across a number of forums!

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have a link for the Sony item, Can't find it on the web.

Also what is the Audio delay function with the S-101?

I'll be interested to hear how you get on as I am after an all in one 2.1 system but can't get help on the matter. A review of systems would be great but don't think its been done.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry got the Sony link above.

 

[Anonymous]

To clarify I am referring to the Sony DAV-IS10 in the post above not the DAV-X1G I mentiond initially

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=DAV-IS10&site=odw_en_GB&pageType

It is a 5.1 but the speakers are tiny and it sounds as though I could literally mount these right by my head and it will work out the appropriate delay and volume using a test tone and a mic.

The feature missing from the S102 is that I need to be able to delay the audio on an external input to allow me to resync the picture and sound on my TV when fed through an amp rather than through the TVs speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to butt in a bit late in this thread, but I have the Sony Dav-is10 and my sofa is up against the wall, opposite the tv. Trust me, it works far better than any 2:1 compromise you may be considering. The other revelation, for me at least, is its' musical ability. So good is it with un-compressed files on my ipod(you will need to buy the dock) that I am selling my Fatman amp and dock. Even my Cambridge Audio 840C is seeing much less action.

On the vision side of things, it upscales all my Region 1 dvd's a treat even though at 'only' 1080i. Panasonic will be releasing their SC-BT100 Home Theater system which will have Blu-ray Profile 1:1 and, I believe, WiFi to the rear speakers. Dates and prices have yet to be announced.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers David for your input. Can you let me know whether you have the ability to delay audio on external inputs (analogue or digital optical) and the internal DVD unit?