Home cinema advice: the battle between aesthetics and acoustics

[admin_exported]

Hi there

I'm currently in the market to install my first dedicated home cinema sound system. I've been given the go-ahead from the Missus to spend the money, but as we all often experience, she is more concerned with the aesthetics of the system rather than the acoustics, so we need to reach that compromise. On the bright side, it is likely to allow me to spend a little more to get a good looking system!

I should say I'm a complete novice at home sound systems. Right now I've got my eye on the Denon AVR-1910 as a receiver. Speaker-wise I want to avoid satellite speakers (apart from surround left and right), and would love floorstanders for left and right channels. To that end I've got my eye on the Acoustic Energy Aegis Neo 3, which in black would suit the look of the setup perfectly (see pic).

(for reference, that is a 40" Samsung B650)

The main issue I have is the centre speaker. The centre for the Neo range - and most other ranges from most other manufacturers - is massive. With my setup there's nowhere to put it; on the same shelf as the TV the speaker would block some of the image (as well as the IR receiver). There's no space on the shelves below either. Is there any compact centre speaker that will match the remainder of the system I want to put in place? Is there any other advice you can give me?

The budget for this system, by the way, is kind of dependent on an overtime payment in April, so we have time... I'm also considering starting with amp and LR with maybe a centre, then adding SR and SL and the sub as money allows.

Cheers!

 

[Frank Harvey]

What sort of budget do you have for the speakers? Have you thought about Monitor Audio's Radius HD range? They're a little on the expensive side, but sound great and are all quite compact. You can get some very slim floorstanders, even though they're £600 per pair.

Failing that, Monitor Audio's Bronze range will be worth a look too - about as compact as normal hi-fi speakers get (BR5 floorstanders/BR-LCR centre and either BR-FX or BR1's as surrounds).

 

[Anonymous]

Well, knowing that the Aegis 5.1 kit is about £750, that's about my budget, and like I said, I might not be able to buy all six speakers at once (my overall budget won't be set for a month or so). £600 per pair for just the front left and right is a little out of my price range, I'm afraid. The Aegis has become my upper budget level - the front floorstanders are £280 a pair from Superfi.

For me though, the size is really only an issue for the centre speaker, which doesn't have a lot of space to go. I suppose I could attempt to fit it on the top shelf of the AV stand, but that will leave the bottom shelf a bit cramped as it will have to house a V+HD box, BD player, Xbox 360 and the receiver.

Here is a really bad mockup of the style I have in mind, although preferably the speakers will be in black:

 

[Anonymous]

I'd suggest trying another mock-up with B&W MT-25 or MT-30 set up.

I reckon your missus will love it and the sound ain't bad either.

Cheers

LL

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting.

I think the M-25 as a package is a little out of my price range (I expect to only have about £400 or £500 for the initial speaker outlay). I'm not sure how the SO will like the sats look (even if they are very pretty sats)...

However, one of the M1 sats might work as a centre, sitting just in front of the TV in horizontal mode... it should work aesthetically but how will it match the other speakers I'm thinking of putting in place?

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/4348

Thanks for your help so far!

 

[Anonymous]

Right, well after speaking with a former sound engineer colleague of mine, I'm pretty much decided on the Acoustic Energy system... apart from the centre speaker, which is still too big.

I've found the Bose VCS-10, which has the right dimensions... and a mixture of good and bad reviews. I'm a little worried I'll be sacrificing quality for size, but that speaker has the exact dimensions I need in the centre speaker... anyone know of another speaker with similar dimensions (ie no more than 10cm tall)?

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/Products/Product/tabid/78/PID/10/CID/55/language/en-GB/Default.aspx#detail

That is around 12cms maybe you could try the 10cc but this should be out at a better Price.

 

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not that is still too tall; 12cm will block the IR receiver (and leave little space for an IR repeater).

I'm in a bit of a quandary here... anything that will fit is likely to be underpowered compared to the front LR channels, anything else is too big and will block the TV. I could try to put a bigger one on the next shelf down, but then I don't have anywhere to put the units that will be displaced. I'm still not sure what to do.

 

[Anonymous]

what about getting a bigger av stand ?? ok it might cost £100 , but you could leave the centre speaker till you had more dough ..

 

[chudleighpaul]

Would getting a different stand help? I'm thinking of the type where the TV is mounted on a single pylon at the back of the stand. You should be able to adjust the height of the TV to suit having a speaker on the top shelf. The pylon should have an internal cable management sytem so all cables are out of sight, and the TV appears to float above everything. This should widen your choice of centre speaker.

 

[lobby]

Yes that would be one option, but then where do you house all the other components. Looking at your stand it's very similar to mine on the top shelf iv'e got my 360 right to the edge it then allows a centre speker to fit right in the centre of the top shelf. Height between top shelf and bottom is 170mm, bearing this in mind i wanted traditional speakers and was very delighted to pick up some Quad-lites when they where priced at £450, centre is about 140mm h.One peice of kit can be easyily placed on top of another without effecting any performance.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm... hadn't thought of one of those. Partly because my current TV stand is only 5 months old and otherwise perfect...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a reasonably priced one? The only one I've found so far looks the part but is £350 (7 times what I paid for my current one..!) :

http://www.big-av.co.uk/acatalog/aquila-favs-19b3-cantilever-tv-stand.html

 

[Anonymous]

the one in that link is £250 , i reckon flea bay might have em for £150...

this could be the job

 

[Anonymous]

this one has three racks

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:
the one in that link is £250 , i reckon flea bay might have em for £150...

this could be the job

That one doesn't look to have enough shelves, but thanks for searching. I'll keep my eye open. The other part of the problem is that the Blu-ray player and the V+HD player are completely unstackable with each other, one is wider whilst the other is deeper.

I'm also contemplating the idea of moving the Xbox and amp somewhere else, leaving a whole shelf free... although this obviously increases cable runs from the 'main' TV stand and uses up more space (and the TV already blocks enough of the window as it is!).

Thank you all for your suggestions so far. Sorry this one's proving to be a bit difficult!

EDIT (to save posting again): yeah, I just found that one too, but I think it's a bit narrow; I need something at least a metre wide to comfortably fit what I currently have (my existing unit is 105cm wide)

 

[robjcooper]

Cousin Dirk:
Right, well after speaking with a former sound engineer colleague of mine, I'm pretty much decided on the Acoustic Energy system... apart from the centre speaker, which is still too big.

I've found the Bose VCS-10, which has the right dimensions... and a mixture of good and bad reviews. I'm a little worried I'll be sacrificing quality for size, but that speaker has the exact dimensions I need in the centre speaker... anyone know of another speaker with similar dimensions (ie no more than 10cm tall)?

I have the Acoustic Energy 5.1 system and am more than happy with it. I have to say that if you can, try and get the Neo Centre, it will make all the difference. The dialogue is locked solid to the screen and the front three speakers gel together brilliantly. Just a thought, but as your present stand is relatively new, you could put that on ebay to go towards the new stand.

I got my AE system from Acoustic Energy's ebay website (£490 for the whole lot), but they may not have any left now - again worth a quick look.

Good luck with the search !

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rob! Unfortunately you've strengthened my resolve to try to figure out how to fit the Neo Centre in my setup somehow...

Out of curiosity, do you have the Neo 1s (bookshelf speakers) as surrounds? I'm currently tempting towards using two Aego T satellite speakers for left and right surrounds for space and proximity reasons.

 

[robjcooper]

Hi Dirk,

Indeed I do have the Neo 1's as surrounds - sitting on some Soundstyle Z2s. Admittedly,they are a bit big, but they certainly have some oomph to them, especially when you're pumping uncompressed DTS HD or Dolby TrueHD from BluRay through the system ! I also have the Neo Sub which with a bit of eq tweeking is thunderously good with movies and adds a certain kick to music too ! I've not heard the Aego T's but I think Acoustic Energy Sales had some on their ebay site a while ago and they dohave a return if not happy guarantee. Not sure where you live, but AE are based in Cirencester, so if you're near you could order some and then drop them back if you weren't happy. They did have some Aelite speakers which are even better still than the Neos but not sure how much they were or whether your budget would go that far.

Good hunting !

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

This is the Aego T:

I've been checking out AE's eBay store, but most of the stuff on there is not quite as good value as through Superfi.

I've also come across this is a potential new stand, we'll have to see if that top shelf is big enough

(Tidied by Mods)

 

[Anonymous]

Why just dont lift up the tv on sometjing like 5cm high and there you can get a decent 15cm centre

 

[Anonymous]

Well, ideally I'd have to lift it up enough to fit a matching centre under it. Not sure what I have that would allow such a manoeuvre.

 

[Anonymous]

you could cut a piece of wood to the exact shape of your tv pedestal , 50 or 60mm thick , whatever needs be , then stick a strip of plastic around it ...

 

[Anonymous]

bum my Jamo C80 centre is 21 cm high I think I'm in definate trouble with the asthetics police wife) when I take my kit home next year

 

[Anonymous]

maxflinn:you could cut a piece of wood to the exact shape of your tv pedestal , 50 or 60mm thick , whatever needs be , then stick a strip of plastic around it ...
This is what I have done and it worked fine until I had a chance to change out my Entertainment center.

 

[Anonymous]

I did it too before hanging the tv to the wall i put a plank of laminate wood under the tv and put it on some feet raising it 7 cms, my wharfedale centre is nearly 20cm high and it fitted acceptably, with 10-18cm tv you would need just 10cm of raising, it is a temporay acceptable measure.