Home Cinema advice

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I am in the process of buying a Home Cinema kit and planning the installation myself (with an electrician coming to do the actual wiring). The kit will comprise of:

- Pioneer Kuro 5090

- Sky HD

- PS3 (for games and Blu Ray)

- Receiver – Denon1909

- Speakers – B&W MT30’s

I will definitely be getting the Pioneer TV but am happy to listen to people for advice on receiver and speakers.

Amp – My budget was originally £1k for the amp but the Denon 1909 looks great for half the price. The Onkyos have had good reviews but I am worried about their overheating issue (I will not have a cabinet to put it in, it will be out in the open) as well as PS3 compatibility. Can a Pioneer amp do a better job than the Denon?

Speakers – I like the look of the MT30’s and performance looks good as well. I need the speakers to be small in size. The other speakers I have seen are the ones that match the Pioneer TV (the long ones where the front speakers are same height as the screen) and the centre speaker which does under the screen – are these any good?

In terms of the system, am I proportionately spending the right amounts on the various items (I plan to use it mainly for sports and movies – not much music).

In addition to the above, I will also be designing the wiring myself. I will set it up so that all the wiring is channeled behind walls. Should I be putting any extra wires in to “future proof” – (this is a one room system so not sure if I will bother with cat5e) – I was thinking of connecting an extra HDMI cable in case I add anything to the system. Finally, can I use the speaker wires that come with the s[peakers or should I buy them separately (and if so, how much per metre should I be looking to spend for a system such as the one above).

Thanks

 

[Gary233932]

For the amp I'd go with the Onkyo 875 or 905 Richersounds do a 5 year warranty for 10% of the purchase price and if you don't claim you get your money back, they were doing the 875 for £599 and are doing the 905 for £799 this is a really bargain, the speakers are good but the B&W 685 Theatre is a lot better and cheaper at a RRP of £1206 but you will get a better discount on the MT30's also look at the Quads (l-ites and L2 mix well) but may not have the looks or the Linn Komponents are very good (sub was rubbish I'd change it PV1 would go well). I don't think the MT30's come with any speaker cable and if they did I would not use it. go with QED Original, Silver Anniversary or Chord Co. Silver Screen. At the minimum go with QED Silver micro hope this helps Gary.

PS Demo Demo Demo your opinion is always the one to go will..................

 

[Anonymous]

drdes:

I will also be designing the wiring myself. I will set it up so that all the wiring is channeled behind walls. Should I be putting any extra wires in to "future proof" - (this is a one room system so not sure if I will bother with cat5e) - I was thinking of connecting an extra HDMI cable in case I add anything to the system.

I'd suggest setting things up so you can add or change cables later, if possible. If the channel is big enough, you could add a loop of something suitably non-flammable so you can attach new cables to it and pull them through later. Depending on how easy it is to get at the connection points on the TV, you may want to stick a cable in every socket you can't get at when the TV is mounted, just in case... If you have to take it off the wall to get at them it's probably not something you want to do very often

My Chord HDMI cable came with some good advice: If you're building cables into walls, make sure they work properly with your equipment before you start...