FIRST HOME CINEMA SET UP - ADVICE PLEASE ON OPTIONS.

[admin_exported]

I HAVE A SONY BRAVIA HD TV. & SKY HD BOX.

I DON`T HAVE THE SPACE FOR FULL SURROUND SO WILL OPT OUT OF HAVING TWO REAR SPEAKERS ( at least for now ).

I`M CONSIDERING : DENON AVR 1910 AMP. WITH 3 SPEAKERS - LEFT,RIGHT AND CENTRE.( perhaps add rear spks.later).

SONY RDR - HXD890 DVD PLAYER

MARANTZ CD6003 CD PLAYER

(a) does the above sound feasible/logical ?

(b) recomendations please for speakers that would be suitable with the above. ( budget £400 approx ).

I have a pair of Wharfdale Diamond 10.1 used with another system - would they go well with a suitable centre speaker ?

(c) would playing cd through the system sound better with or without the centre speaker ? ( I presume that I can use the amp. in 2 channel stereo if required ).

(d) does having a dedicated cd player as above significantly improve audio quality compared to cd`s played from the dvd player?

or should I opt for a better overall dvd player which gives me good video and audio ? If so, which one ?

Would be grateful of opinions and advice. thanks.

 

[professorhat]

odyn:(a) does the above sound feasible/logical ? Feasible, though since you have Sky HD already, do you need the Sony Freeview PVR / DVD-R option for another reason, or are you looking to archive stuff off to DVD from the Sky box? If not, any reason for not going for a Blu-Ray player?

odyn:(b) recommendations please for speakers that would be suitable with the above. (budget £400 approx).

I have a pair of Wharfdale Diamond 10.1 used with another system - would they go well with a suitable centre speaker ? Since you already have them, I'd say partnering the Wharfedales with the appropriate centre speaker (e.g. 10CC or 10CS) is a good plan and will allow you to spend the extra cash elsewhere e.g. do you need stands for the speakers, maybe think about a subwoofer to add some grunt for movie watching.

odyn:(c) would playing cd through the system sound better with or without the centre speaker ? ( I presume that I can use the amp. in 2 channel stereo if required ). Better without and yes, you can just put the Denon in stereo mode (or one of the Pure / Direct modes) to cut out the centre speaker when listening to music.

odyn:(d) does having a dedicated cd player as above significantly improve audio quality compared to cd`s played from the dvd player?

or should I opt for a better overall dvd player which gives me good video and audio ? If so, which one ? With those options, I'd be staggered if the Marantz didn't sound better than the Sony. There are other options, but I think personally, if you have the room, keep a separate CD player for music playback.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help.

Opting for the sony dvd in order to achive to disk.

A couple of additional queries :

if I decide to keep the 10.1`s with my other system, what 3 speaker combination would you recomend (budget £400-£500) ?

subwoofer : as well as the centre speaker - or instead of ? can you recomended a suitable subwoofer ?

thanks again, much appreciated.

 

[professorhat]

Personally, I'd opt for a 2.1 system - I just don't see the point of the centre without the rears as it doesn't really add a lot and just spreads your money thinner when you could instead spend more on getting better stereo speakers.

There's so many options for your money here, I can't really recommend anything specific (since I've not auditioned any systems for a long time now). Looking through WHF recommendations, the Q Acoustics, Mordaunt-Short, Dali, Tannoys and of course Wharfedale stereo speakers come up - I'd suggest a trip to a local dealer to see what you can listen to. For an accopanying sub, you could look at the accompanying sub that goes with the stereo speakers in the home cinema package, or, probably better would be to look one from another manufacturer that has received some good reviews e.g. the BK range which I've seen are held in high regard from guys on this forum or look at WHF's reviews for your budget here.