Help appreciated Am trying to put together a good standard Home Cinema/Audio set-Up?

[norsk]

Hello Everyone

I really hope folk can help me put together a good Home Plasma TV based system with Audio as important as Video?

As it stands I am looking at one of the superb 50" PANASONIC PLSMA TV`s (exact model to be decided?)

added to this i was thinking of the very wel reviewed Q Acoustics 2000I 5.1 pack

as this is strong in both Video & Audio,I was also looking at one of the Panasonic BlueRay Players?the Panasonic DMP-BDT500 sounds ideal but if there are others equally worthy of consideration then please let me know.

Most of my Files are 24/96 HD music files so integrating all the above in to a cohesive and sound unit will be top priority! :dance:

If there is a way of avoiding adding one of these music servers then that would be great!it`s all a question of striking the correct balance;

My room is quite small only 3.3mtrs x 2mtrs.

Fianlly can I ask,do i require any other black box items such as an amplifier,receiver,e.t.c. I am not an expert at this so any help and suggestions much appreciated

Regards Steve :cheers:

 

[The_Lhc]

Yes, you need an AV receiver to power the speakers, this is what your blu-ray player etc would be plugged into.

 

[norsk]

:beer: Hello

Firstly many thanks for your reply

I sort of thought yep a AV receiver would be required,do you have any good candidates which would match my proposed sytem please

best wishes Steve :cheers:

 

[kinda]

I'd have a look ariound the £500 price point for the receiver based on the other equipment and speakers.

For your interest in music it could be worth looking at Denon, Marantz, Yamaha primarily but will depend on your desires for musical and film presentation.

They're all good, in demos I found the Yamaha has a natural sound but fairly laid back, the Denon more urgent and with a more solid bass, the Marantz sometimes richer than the Denon, but with slightly less bass precision / impact and maybe a touch less clarity. But things change a bit from year to year and others may disagree.

From a quick look the BDT500 supports FLAC and stuff from USB and network, and appears to support enough high resolution audio but would be worth a double check. You may want to look for an AV amp that supports this kind of thing too and some now include spotify etc.

for basic music playing you should be fine and it would sound good but If you want more fancy jukebox / multiroom type facilities you'd probably be better with a specific music player.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[norsk]

hello kinda;

Really must thank you for a superb reply, lots of very useful advice & information..

Don`t know if I said it, but I live in Norway and hi fi audio visual shops thin on the ground,they do excist but have an eclectic mix of gear much of it never heard of before in the wider world?Hope I am not doing them a diservice? it`s not to easy to audition many of the brands you kindly suggested,so i am flying a little blind on this.

I am more than happy to cut the runners& riders down by recomendation,and I will try to give as much Info on listening choices e.t.c. I listen to 24/96 files and as you say must make sure the gear can handle it,not a big fan of spotify.

my tastes are very mixed from Skynrd at one end to Floyd and Crosby stills nash & young,grateful dead and classical

From a quick look the BDT500 supports FLAC and stuff from USB and network, and appears to support enough high resolution audio but would be worth a double check. You may want to look for an AV amp that supports this kind of thing too and some now include spotify etc.

Yes I must be sure on all the above,thanks for pointing that out.

for basic music playing you should be fine and it would sound good but If you want more fancy jukebox / multiroom type facilities you'd probably be better with a specific music player.

Luckily no fancy stuff,no multiroom or juke boxes ,trying to avoid that expense!

What I forgot to add in my opening thread was I have just purchased a Sony Xperia Z Tablet 4g and I would really like to utilise the near field technology? and also as a remote (with app) and also a music server for my files if this is feasable?

Please keep the good advice coming

Best wishes Steve :cheers: :cheers:

 

[Leeps]

One thing you may need to consider. If you use your Bluray player as your main music source, you'll probably need to have your TV on to control it while you view the on-screen menus.

Having a static display for long periods of time on your plasma could cause screen-burn issues.

As far as AV receivers are concerned, in a very biased way, I'd certainly recommend at least auditioning a Pioneer equivalent AV receiver, particularly as they were one of the manufacturers adding Spotify Connect to their 2013 models. This should enable you to stream Spotify through your receiver controlling it via iPad without turning your screen on. To me at least I think this is a really useful feature. Others might disagree. If Spotify's not important to you, I think they deserve an audition on sound quality alone.

Owning a Panny plasma myself (and feeling that these sacrifices are worth the picture quality results) I am perhaps a little too paranoid about avoiding screen burn, but plasmas do use more electricity than their LED equivalents, so I'd prefer not to have the TV on just to play music anyway. At least being this paranoid has so far at least avoided problems with the plasma.

 

[norsk]

Hello Leeps

very good to hear from you and many thanks for the most useful information.

I am relatively new to all this,so it`s a big learning curve for me in many ways. :help:

I would have thought I could play music without having to have the TV on? I thought the AV receiver was the central control so you would have thought switching from Video(TV) to audio was not an issue? but what do I know

Spotify is very familar to me,I was one of the first to have it when it launched,but I prefer my 24/96 Misic files,Spotify is okay but not my forst choice. I`m a bit of a music snob really. :rockout:

I will try and find a Pioneer outlet but have not seen one?

all the best Steve :cheers:

 

[Leeps]

Apologies Steve - I should have engaged brain first.

You should be able to play your music files using the AV receiver as a network player controlling it by iThing (or Android, but do make sure the receiver has an Android app) and therefore not needing your screen switched on too. As my main music sources are Spotify for researching what I like and CD for critical listening, I have less experience with streaming stored music files. Other contributors who do this with their AV receivers may be able to help more on this. As I held onto CD as my main source for longer than most, I've never got into music downloading and never even owned an ipod.

Will you hope to connect your PC/mac directly to a receiver, or do you store your music on a separate hard drive? Whatever, take this device to any demo, plug it in and actually make sure that it all works. Reading the lengthy spec sheets of AV receivers, it can be easy to miss some compatability issue.

The control apps vary significantly between receivers, so you would do well to include a critique of these in any demo if this is the primary interface between you and your music files. How does the app display your files? It is quick or a laborious process to scan and find them?

The reason I mention the whole screen burn thing is because I had at one time considered hooking up a mac mini as a music source, but would necessarily need the TV on to control it. Having the plasma put me off this idea, so it's just worth trying to think ahead with choices you make now.

 

[norsk]

:cheers: Hello Again LEEPS;

Once again many thanks for a fine reply, much appreciated,it all helps believe me. :help:

Yes I will be taking care to make sure everything is correct before purchase,especially the screen on question,when playing music only?

I never had a great collection on CD,so was easier for me to convert to Music Files,so as of now i have 98% of my music in this format.I to never owned an IPOD but I did own another mp3 player,to listen to my audio books.This music is stored on external H/drive;

Reading the lengthy spec sheets of AV receivers,will be paid close attention.

Please keep all this good advcie coming

Regards Steve :beer: :wave: