Help a Newbie - Home cinema required with good sound for music and ipod

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Hi, I have just moved into a new flat. It has a huge penthouse living room with high ceilings etc. Lets say my old 28 inch sony CRT Wega and little sony midi system dont do it justice. I am looking to spend up to £2k and want a good 42 inch TV withdecent black levels and HD ready (have virgin) and a home cinema or separates systems that I can use for my TV, DVDs, possibly PS3 and most importantly my IPOD. I spoke with a local High fi specialist shop who told me not to bother with that budget and I would need to spend up to £5k to get a decent system. Any advice on how to get the most from TV, movies and music within that budget would help me greatly. I am currently confused with the vast range of options separates versus HC systems etc. Dont want to waste money if i dont get good music sound and would prob just buy a decent TV. Any recommendations would be great??

Yours confused

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO, you can get a reasonable system on your budget - maybe a tad more.

I just bought a complete setup that goes like this.

You should be able to get a nice 42 inch TV for around 800 pounds My 46inch Samsung TV (LE46M87BDX) cost £1150 delivered (saved £400 on high street price). You can find TV's even less than that, but quality ones seem around £800.

I got the Onkyo TX-SR605 receiver (normally £400) with Acoustic Energy Aego T speakers as a package deal for £1050 including cabling. You can spend less on speakers (and certainly a lot more).

Add a PS3 for Blue Ray/Internet browser and games - £300 - or just add £100 - £200 to get a nice DVD player.

That would cover the basics. You can spend more, but the receiver is a very nice part of that system.

So - can you spend £5k - easily. Does spending less mean you shouldn't bother in the first place - that's BS.

 

[Anonymous]

I'd concur with that, and the recommendations mentioned are sound, too. I'd consider the Panasonic TH-42PZ70 plasma as an alternative to the Samsung (I tend to prefer the black levels of a plasma screen), but the receiver option is a no-brainer. As to speakers: more conventional loudspeaker packages, such as Tannoy's Mercury F1 Custom set-up (about £800) will be more musical, although I'd concede they're less stylish than the Acoustic Energy system. The PS3's CD replay is it's biggest limitation - in all other regards, it's very impressive indeed - but if you're planning to listen to your tunes via iPod, that shouldn't be too much of a hurdle.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys - sound advice, lik ethe panasonic and will think about the speakers. does the ipod just go into the receiver or ps3? prob a stupid question. cheers for ur help

 

[Anonymous]

To the receiver, a good lead would be the iChord if you're a heavy iPod listener

 

[Anonymous]

What about the Q Acoustics 1010i Series as a speaker package to go with it?

 

[Clare Newsome]

It's a great package, though you'd be slightly underplaying the potential of the Onkyo. Still, you get more for your money with traditional speakers of this type - they're easily the match of style speakers @£800.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Clare, one thing more, someone said that if my source for music is IPOD at 192, even with good cable that I might be wasting my money with all of these separates and might be better just getting an ipod system and a basic home cinema. Put "crap in get crap" out being the motto.

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