Blu ray player and / or Home Cinema Amp advice wanted

[admin_exported]

Hello,

I am considering replacing my Denon DVD-1000 player with a Blu Ray player and maybe upgrading my Denon AVR-1801.

My current setup is as follows:
Loewe Xelos 32" HD ready TV
Denon AVR-1801 AV receiver
Denon DVD-1000 DVD player
Panasonic DMR-E85H DVD/HD recorder
Chario Syntar Dialogue center speaker
Chario Syntar 100T front speakers
Chario Syntar 100 rear speakers
JBL TLX-SUB125 subwoofer
Sky+ receiver
Topfield TF5000CI receiver
Logitech Harmony 785 remote

I do have a small size restriction being that the new gear depth can only be a maximum of about 38/39cm.

Any thoughts on what to spend my £ 1.800,- budget on?

Thanks in Advance.

 

[lobby]

This really depends on room size, and what you feel needs replacing, from your list of gear im not familiar with any of your products. And i would do like most would and start by looking at the best possible tv you can afford 40" and bigger really to enjoy the best from blu-ray, then look towards maybe a newer amp, and finally blu-ray player. something like £1000-1200 on tv £400-600 on amp and £200 on bluray player, of course you may be able to get some good deal on the tv and be able to spend a little more on the amp. I won't go too mad yet on an expensive Blu-ray player and the Denon 2500 would be the most i would go upto, even then it's around £599 and is only a transport meaning you can only get sound from it when connected to an amp. One of the Sony's or Panasonic would be fine. I use a ps3 and would only upgrade it if i was using a 50" screen or bigger or a projector

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks lobby, to answer the room size question it's about 5x5meters (or 16x16 feet) and i'm sitting about 3.5meters (or 12 feet) from the screen. The thing that needs replacing is the dvd player really, it's starting to break down. A bigger screen is also on my wish list but will probably have to wait for another 1 or 2 years, the one I have is, although not too big, still very good in my opinion. My main reasons for wanting a blu ray player is really to be future ready and be able to expand on my gear later on without having to replace the blu ray player again. Any more suggestions are welcome.

 

[daveh75]

For your £1800 budget I'd consider looking at the sony da5400es receiver, recent whf group test winner and available for around £1300 if you shop around, and add the denon 2500bt blu-ray player, available for around £550 again if you shop around.Think this will make for a cracking system that will be hard to beat for the money.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response daveh75. Although i've never been a big fan of sony i must admit the da5400es looks pretty good, unfortunately it's just a little too big to fit in my cabinet. I've had my eye on de the denon 2500bt for a while now, the only downside i see is that it's a transport only and therefore would have to replace my receiver aswell (not that that's really an issue but still).

An alternative i've been considering checking out is the marantz bd7003, maybe in combination with the marantz sr6003 or sr5003. The combo might be a bit over my budget but i could ofcourse postpone getting the amp. Anybody have any thoughts about these machines?

NB. anybody know if the denon 2500bt and / or the marantz bd7003 can be made region free (or at least made to play region 1 and 2 discs)