Family friendly home cinema/music setup

[admin_exported]

Hi to you all, I would very much value advice from you all.

We are coming to the end of building an extension at our house and I am looking to install a home cinema/music set-up. We will be putting it into a kitchen/living room, of which the living room is about 4.3m x 8.6m, with timber flooring. The TV will be centrally placed at one end on a false chimney ***. The plan is to use this new room as the main living room, watching movies, tv and listening to music. On that note, I was thinking to use a Playstation 3 as a DVD/CD source, as well as a Slim Devices Squeezebox to stream internet radio (which I was told offers better quality than DAB?) and my CD collection which will be ripped to PC from another room. I was thinking to get something like the Panasonic Viera TH-37PX70 plasma TV, which you review well.

Speakers must be children/wife friendly, so floor standers are sadly out of the question - wall mount, style and sound friendly would be ideal. The room is single storey and does not adjoin neighbours at all. Budget wise I have been looking at two main options:-

Lower end (around £1350)

Amps: Perhaps Onkyo TXSR-605, Sony STR-DA1200ES; only bug bear with the Onkyo is that it is half the price in the US, but then that is pretty normal I guess

Speakers: Perhaps Kef KHT-3005 with an in-ceiling Kef Ci160 for 6.1

Higher end (around £1450 to £2000)

Amps: Perhaps Onkyo TXSR-705, Sony STR-DA5200ES

Speakers: Monitor Audio R90 rears and 3 x R225 front and centre, RSW-12 sub (or Velodyne to save a £100?) and a Radius CP ceiling mount rear channel. I have been quoted £1375 for these, but prices quoted seem to be controlled/the same everywhere really. Or still the Kef's or similar?

I'll be looking to buy and install in September/October.

My questions are:

Is a Dolby True HD capable receiver something worth going for at this point (which seems to make the Onkyo 605/705 the only possible, or the new Sony STR-5300ES which is probably too pricey for me) - I have read that the blu-ray output on the PS3 is HDMI 1.3, but also that the digital audio signal was decoded prior to transmission to the AV amp? What does that mean to me ! Am I getting the benefit of Dolby True HD where the DVD has it, or not?

Is it worth putting in an FM aerial, or better to just use streamed radio/radio from Sky HD?

Am I on the right lines, or should I be considering other combinations? Listening to these combinations seems to be quite difficult - in terms of finding hi fi shops stocking them all. I did listen to the Kef's with a Denon 2807 amp - on movies I was very impressed, on a CD I had not heard male vocals sounded a little flat, though maybe that was just the singer! On something I had heard before, the top ended sounded good.

My previous set-up, with a tv in the corner of a rectangular room, used a Yamaha 650RDS amp and Wharfedale Pacific speakers. The sound filled the small room, but spatial definition was pretty average, largely because of poor placement I think. I never listened to my CD's sadly, so I am thinking that the ability to stream them all will get me listening to my music collection again!

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="SPhillips"]

Is a Dolby True HD capable receiver something worth going for at this point (which seems to make the Onkyo 605/705 the only possible, or the new Sony STR-5300ES which is probably too pricey for me) - I have read that the blu-ray output on the PS3 is HDMI 1.3, but also that the digital audio signal was decoded prior to transmission to the AV amp? What does that mean to me ! Am I getting the benefit of Dolby True HD where the DVD has it, or not?

[/quote]

At the moment, you're right: most Blu-ray/HD DVD players will send sound via HDMI, but it tends to be decoded in the player, and output as 6-8 streams of Linear PCM (or more correctly three or four two-channel streams). How good that is depends on the onboard decoding in the player, but I think it's worth having the capability to decode these formats as well as receiving Linear PCM on any new amp you buy - it's sensible futureproofing.

Bear in mind too that these HD soundtracks will only ever be available from Blu-ray or - if you had a suitable player - HD DVD: there's just not enough space for them on standard DVDs.

[quote user="SPhillips"]

Is it worth putting in an FM aerial, or better to just use streamed radio/radio from Sky HD?

[/quote]

I'd say yes, but then I'm a dyed in the wool fan of Radio 3 and FM in general. Contrary to what you've been told, streamed radio on the internet doesn't sound better than DAB - most stations are running at very low bitrates - and not all services are available. But yes, radio streamed via Sky does tend to sound at least as good as DAB.

[quote user="SPhillips"]

Am I on the right lines, or should I be considering other
combinations? Listening to these combinations seems to be quite
difficult - in terms of finding hi fi shops stocking them all. I did
listen to the Kef's with a Denon 2807 amp - on movies I was very
impressed, on a CD I had not heard male vocals sounded a little flat,
though maybe that was just the singer! On something I had heard
before, the top ended sounded good.

[/quote]

Yes, I reckon you are on the right track, but I would also have a listen to the Monitor Audio speakers you mention, and maybe also Tannoy's excellent Arenas. Make sure you audition with stuff you know - that'll avoid those 'is it the system or the recording?' confusions.

[quote user="SPhillips"]

My previous set-up, with a tv in the corner of a rectangular room,
used a Yamaha 650RDS amp and Wharfedale Pacific speakers. The sound
filled the small room, but spatial definition was pretty average,
largely because of poor placement I think. I never listened to my CD's
sadly, so I am thinking that the ability to stream them all will get me
listening to my music collection again!

[/quote]

Just a thought: if you're that serious about your music, you might want to consider the Sonos system, which starts from about £700 for a two-zone package. You could connect one of the ZP80 units into your new AV receiver, and that would give very good results indeed, while other ZP100s could be used in other rooms in the home to stream music if required.

Oh, and one more thing: is a 37in screen really big enough for a room that size? I'd be thinking more 40, 42, 46 or even 50 if I had that much space to play with, especially given how affordable truly big screens have become.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for that Andrew, appreciate your advice. You are right of course about the bigger screens being so much more affordable now, but I should have mentioned as well that the sofa will still be 10' max from the screen, so perhaps that makes the 37" more understandable. A dining table is set in the open space further back.

Do you by any chance know when the reviews for receivers like the Onkyo 705 will be coming out. I am still undecided about whether I should be looking at True HD capable receivers only, or whether it will really make any difference.

Fortunately I have another month, maybe two, before I am really ready to buy. Many thanks once again.

 

[Andrew Everard]

We sit around 3.5m from our screen, which is a 50in, and that seems a good comfortable viewing distance while still giving a good cinematic effect.

AFAIK the WHFSV review team have a TX-SR605 up for First Test in the October issue - there's a piece about it in the September issue, too - but not sure about the 705, 805 or 905. But yes, I'd go for a True HD capable receiver when you can buy one for just £400 - it seems like sensible futureproofing to me.