Help upgrading my set up

FoxJA

New member
Aug 28, 2007
42
0
0
Visit site
Hi,

Please could someone give me some advice with the following:-

I currently have the following

Hitachi PD9700 42" Plasma (will replace next year)
Onkyo TX-SR875 AV Receiver (New)
Sony PS3 (New)
Sky HD
Samsung DVD R136 DVD Upscaler
Sony SA-VE 835 speakers & sub woofer

Speaker Cable - Gale XL189
HDMI - QED Qunex HDMI-SR 1 meter (PS3 - Onkyo)
HDMI - QED Qunex-P 7 meter (Onkyo - TV)
HDMI - Clearer Audio Copper-Line 2m (Sky HD - TV) (When I receive my subscription gift !!)
8m Optical cable (SkyHD - Onkyo)

My query is mainly with the speakers and cable, I am on a limited budget but realise my speaker cable is not the best, is it worth me investing in new speaker cable (if so which) and are my speakers still up to scratch? (they are about 5 years old)

As I can set delays to the speakers is it still important to keep all the speaker cables the same length? Currently they are all 8m.

Another question re PS3 - What is the best way to get top sound from my Blu Ray movies using the PS3 and Onkyo AV Receiver? My HDMI cables are 1.3a compliant.

Any help grately appreciated.
 

Andrew Everard

New member
May 30, 2007
1,878
2
0
Visit site
[quote user="FoxJA"]
My query is mainly with the speakers and cable, I am on a limited budget but realise my speaker cable is not the best, is it worth me investing in new speaker cable (if so which) and are my speakers still up to scratch? (they are about 5 years old)

[/quote]

Probably worth an upgrade to a cable capable of handling a future speaker improvement. The Pascal speakers kind of divided opinions when they were current, but while I rather liked them, the 875 would work much better with some high-quality big box speakers, such as the Monitor Audio Radius 90AV-12 system or even the likes of the KEF iQ5AV or Acoustic Energy Aegis Neo 5.1.

Cable choice? I'd go for Chord Carnival myself, as it's a relatively unobtrusive-looking yet fine-sounding wire. I'd try to keep the speaker cables the same length for the front three speakers, but of course the rear wires would probably be longer.

I'd also try to find a way to rearrange the system to get some shorter interconnect runs - that 8m optical cable from the Sky box to the receiver is less than ideal, as is the long HDMI run.

[quote user="FoxJA"]

Another question re PS3 - What is the best way to get top sound from
my Blu Ray movies using the PS3 and Onkyo AV Receiver? My HDMI cables
are 1.3a compliant.

[/quote]

At the moment, Linear PCM from PS3 to Onkyo is the safest bet as the default, with the option of switching to DTS-HD or Dolby HD where the disc and player allow it.
 

FoxJA

New member
Aug 28, 2007
42
0
0
Visit site
Thanks for that, I will be upgrading the speakers asap.

Does the HDMI's 7m cable length make a large difference to the quality of the picture?

I realise the long Optical and HDMI run isn't the best scenario but in my strange shaped front room I don't have much choice. I have the Sky HD box under the tv but the rest (PS3, DVD, Xbox360) are next to the receiver on the other side of the room.

One more question, I read in one of the recent magazines about replacement power cords and power filters etc, I currently have all my av equipment in a 6 plug extension - do I need to do something about this?
 

Andrew Everard

New member
May 30, 2007
1,878
2
0
Visit site
[quote user="FoxJA"]

Does the HDMI's 7m cable length make a large difference to the quality of the picture?

I realise the long Optical and HDMI run isn't the best scenario but in my strange shaped front room I don't have much choice. I have the Sky HD box under the tv but the rest (PS3, DVD, Xbox360) are next to the receiver on the other side of the room.

[/quote]

Not really, but you're near the limit of some of these cables, and I'm a great believer in less is more when it comes to cables.

[quote user="FoxJA"]

One more question, I read in one of the recent magazines about
replacement power cords and power filters etc, I currently have all my
av equipment in a 6 plug extension - do I need to do something about
this?

[/quote]

You're asking the wrong person here, as I am pretty agnostic about mains cables, etc.. But the Olson Sound Fantastic mains block is a fairly affordable way of finding out whether these things can make a difference in your system.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts