Home Cinema or Hi-Fi? Budget £6,000 - £8,000

[dswaller1]

In short, I will be moving house shortly and have £6 - £8k to spend. I love my music and I love my movies but what is the best way to buy all the equipment I need. For instance with home cinema you are meant to get a Home Cinema Amplifier and Speaker Package, but with a good Hi-Fi set up I need a Hi-Fi Amplifier and some Hi-Fi Speakers etc. Well I want the best of both worlds all in one room.

Is it better to use a Home CInema Amplifier and Speaker Package or are the Hi-Fi ones better and therefore should opt for them?

Please Advise.

 

[chebby]

Put this on your list to audition.

 

[shooter]

Or Primare SPA 22 @ 2.5k and Pro ac Hexa speaker package @ 2.5k.

 

[d_a_n1979]

Fully agree there Chebby

I had that amp with my B&W XT8, XT2 and PV1 surround set-up and it's damn amazing! For competing with HiFi amps; it's right up there with the best IMO. Just a shame the whole system wasnt getting used and the missus was fed up of it's bulk

I dont think you could get better for your budget amp wise; as for speakers, I found the XT series and the PV1 sub did very well indeed.

A lot of demo'ing will be needed with that budget and a few speare long days/weekends as well!

 

[shooter]

shooter69:Or Primare SPA 22 @ 2.5k and Pro ac Hexa speaker package @ 2.5k.

Also you'll need a source which could be the Primare DVD26 which will give you 1080p and can be used for CD @ 1.5k spend the rest on cable's.

 

[Frank Harvey]

To get decent music performance from an AV amp, you can't go wrong with the Arcams. Either the AVR500 or the AVR600 will do the job, and it may be that your choice of speaker will dictate which one you go for depending which side of your budget window you want to stick to.

Speakers are a very personal choice, and an audition is a must. But here goes anyway! To keep you within the lower side of your budget, I'd look at either the KEF XQ30AV package, or a package by PMC based on the GB1i, DB1MCi (ot TB2MCi), and DB1i for rears with a sub of your choice to keep within budget. Both of those would be with the AVR500.

At the higher end of your budget, you can base the system around the AVR600, which has a greater ability to drive more awkward speakers, and has pre-outs to allow the addition of a better power amp stage, not that we see anyone wanting to do this, unless they're using the AVR600 as a stepping stone towards the AV888/P777 combo. With this, you could look at the XQ40AV package, or a PMC system based around the FB1i, the TB2MCi centre speaker, and a pair of TB2i for rear duties. Again, subwoofer can be your choice - this really is dependent on the room size and what's needed to fill it.

Obviously if you're buying ex-demo or sale items, this could change again, but try and keep the speaker package balanced. In other words, if there's 2 centre speakers available, go for the one that uses the same size bass driver as the front pair, and choose rears in a similar way. Speaker packages like this will also perform extremely well for multi-channel music.

If you're after small speakers, then the type of package you're looking for will be different to above.

Normally, those that want the most from their 2 channel performance I'd recommed two seperate systems, but because the Arcam amps are so good at 2 channel music, I think most people wouldn't bother having a second audio system, unless they're extremely fussy about how they want their music to sound.

 

[Anonymous]

Arcam is only sensible choice for hifi and av. but would avoid the kef xq's IMO.

 

[the record spot]

Arcam's the only sensi- - - okay, I'll stop there.

Sorry, have to disagree. For the money, it's a fairly safe bet there's a bunch of kit out there that will deliver the goods for both in spades.

I'll offer up the Harman Kardon HK990 amp which I think could well be a bit of a winner in disguise, plus it's a good halfway between hifi and home cinema (potential 2.2 configuration onboard).

 

[RCduck7]

I have not heard the Arcam AV receivers but if music is important, wouldn't it be best to use a seperate stereo amp, Integrated or not, and add an AV receiver to it? You would have to use the front left & right pre outs on the AV receiver to go the stereo amp for your front speakers, the center and surround would be powered by the AV receiver (or surround processor with mutichannel amp for that matter). For music in stereo only the stereo amp has to be on.

 

[Lost Angeles]

RCduck7:I have not heard the Arcam AV receivers but if music is important, wouldn't it be best to use a seperate stereo amp, Integrated or not, and add an AV receiver to it? You would have to use the front left & right pre outs on the AV receiver to go the stereo amp for your front speakers, the center and surround would be powered by the AV receiver (or surround processor with mutichannel amp for that matter). For music in stereo only the stereo amp has to be on.

Agree

 

[shooter]

woollyjoe:Arcam is only sensible choice for hifi and av. but would avoid the kef xq's IMO.

Unfortunately i'm suggesting Primare as i had albeit the SPA21 but changed it for the Chord i now have for 2 channel listening.
The SPA21 was a very good musical amp but as my listening was mainly music so it went for a dedicated 2 channel.
The SPA22 is a better model than the SPA21, greener and more powerful i'm sure it would do an excellent job.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

the record spot:Arcam's the only sensi- - - okay, I'll stop there. Sorry, have to disagree. For the money, it's a fairly safe bet there's a bunch of kit out there that will deliver the goods for both in spades. I'll offer up the Harman Kardon HK990 amp which I think could well be a bit of a winner in disguise, plus it's a good halfway between hifi and home cinema (potential 2.2 configuration onboard).

The Harman is a good option and if you have the space a 990 can run the fronts to an excellent standard and you can add on an AV Amp from their range for surround. Depending on how important surround sound is will dictate which level of add on you could go to.

This is a minefield really and you will get as many opinions as there are products. A demonstration from a dealer with a decent range would be wise.

My advice would be to start with the speakers that fit in your room and that you like the appearance of and build from there. The Arcam is a good amp but only if it is right with your speakers.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

dswaller1:
In short, I will be moving house shortly and have £6 - £8k to spend. I love my music and I love my movies but what is the best way to buy all the equipment I need. For instance with home cinema you are meant to get a Home Cinema Amplifier and Speaker Package, but with a good Hi-Fi set up I need a Hi-Fi Amplifier and some Hi-Fi Speakers etc. Well I want the best of both worlds all in one room.

Is it better to use a Home CInema Amplifier and Speaker Package or are the Hi-Fi ones better and therefore should opt for them?

Please Advise.

I would spend £3k on a surround package that included excellent front speakers for stereo use also. I would then spend £2k on a stereo amp and £1k on an AV receiver. These are approximate price tags of course. And this is not including sources for AV and HiFi or cables.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

dswaller1:
In short, I will be moving house shortly and have £6 - £8k to spend. I love my music and I love my movies but what is the best way to buy all the equipment I need. For instance with home cinema you are meant to get a Home Cinema Amplifier and Speaker Package, but with a good Hi-Fi set up I need a Hi-Fi Amplifier and some Hi-Fi Speakers etc. Well I want the best of both worlds all in one room.

Is it better to use a Home CInema Amplifier and Speaker Package or are the Hi-Fi ones better and therefore should opt for them?

Please Advise.

Another question is how large is the room and what music do you like?

I've not heard them but these Jamos are supposed to be superb, Jamo C809 HCS3+C80 sub. Throw in an AV receiver like, Yamaha RX-V1900 and maybe the Moon i3.3 and I'm sure you will have a great system. Obviously I'm just playing fantasy HiFi as you would have to do lots of listening to equipment before shelling out so much money.

 

[John Duncan]

If you have 6-8k then the only question is whether you *must* have it all in one box. There's no doubt that the Arcam AVR500 (haven't heard the '600) sounds absolutely amazing with music, but to me it's a bit dear - remember that you can have 1500 quid's worth of stereo amp and a grand's worth of receiver with preouts for that price, which would give you a fairly spectacular system.

Though tbh, I would probably look very carefully at the Cambridge Audio 650BD and 650R (when they become freely available) as an all-in-one solution, and spend the rest on very, very good speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

What about the Neutron Five 2.1 system from AVI?