Hi Everyone
I've been thinking for a while now about utilising my Monitor Audio Pl100s in a home cinema set up as front speakers.
With the tv in it's current position in the corner of our lounge, in our current situation it just wouldn't be practical to have front speakers for AV because we don't have the space. However, I'm now in the process of extending our lounge into an open-plan space with our conservatory which will almost double the length of our lounge to 22.5" whilst retaining it's width (18").
Because of the extra living space I'm having a bit of a redesign and thinking of (maybe!) getting a projector set up with a motorised screen, although I plan to talk to a suitable installer in more detail about what they'd recommend for the room.
Anyway, if this idea does get approval from the family I figured a big screen warranted a surround set up so I'm just trying to establish what would work best as part of a HT set-up. For instance, I have no idea how much to spend on a receiver. I was thinking of maybe getting a Yamaha 3800 s/h (from 2007) which used to be thought of pretty highly if it could do a good job of driving the Platinums as fronts, but I don't know whether newer models that have superseded it (3900) would have better DSP implementation or better connectivity. I know it doesn't have 2 hdmis out, so I presumably couldn't run to both a projector and TV, but I don't reckon I'd want surround sound for anything other than movies, which I'll have the projector for!
I am thinking of going for a 4.1 set up with no centre channel. Do people think this work or do you think a centre channel is an essential part, and is important for the front soundstage or will it be ok without one, because, from my understanding, in order to match with the pl100s as fronts, I'd need a PLC150 and at £1750 it seems a big outlay which would he hard to justify if the pl100 will do an adequate job. OTOH, I know movie fans say the centre is the most important channel for authentic surround sound, so I'll have to audition and see!
Any recommendation for rear speakers? I intend for these to be fairly discrete, but then they need to be substantial enough to fill the room. I was wondering whether it would be best brand matching the fronts and getting MA rears as well from a lower range. I understand that although ideally you want a tonal match across every speaker, the rears usually convey the least amount of information so wondering if they should form a lower part of my budget?! At the same time I don't want speakers that will disgrace themselves with the rest of the system, but I was wondering if the RXFX or GSFX (if they offer substantial improvement) would work well.
Finally, in terms of the .1 I think I'd like the subwoofer just for movies, because for music I mostly am not that interested in huge bass. For this reason I'm leaning more towards getting the subwoofer from a specialist manufacturer like Veoldyne or SVS, which are all active models.
It's probably more important to have a balanced system with consistently solid components than say a reference level screen in with little thought given to lighting.I'll have blinds to make the room dark which I assume will be enough for optimum movie viewing!
At the moment I'm thinking along these lines:
Panasonic PTAE4000
motorised screen (not certain on best screen size for throw distance)
my current Pioneer BDP-120 (I see no need for a more expensive BDP atm).
Yamaha RXV3800 for rears preouts into Naim Nait XS for driving fronts.
Fronts: MA Pl100
Rears: MA RXFX
SVS SB12 subwoofer.
It seems a pretty massive leap from my small corner tv I use atm, but with the new room it seems the 1st time where I could achieve a real cinema experience in my lounge!
Al thoughts much appreciated [
]!
I've been thinking for a while now about utilising my Monitor Audio Pl100s in a home cinema set up as front speakers.
With the tv in it's current position in the corner of our lounge, in our current situation it just wouldn't be practical to have front speakers for AV because we don't have the space. However, I'm now in the process of extending our lounge into an open-plan space with our conservatory which will almost double the length of our lounge to 22.5" whilst retaining it's width (18").
Because of the extra living space I'm having a bit of a redesign and thinking of (maybe!) getting a projector set up with a motorised screen, although I plan to talk to a suitable installer in more detail about what they'd recommend for the room.
Anyway, if this idea does get approval from the family I figured a big screen warranted a surround set up so I'm just trying to establish what would work best as part of a HT set-up. For instance, I have no idea how much to spend on a receiver. I was thinking of maybe getting a Yamaha 3800 s/h (from 2007) which used to be thought of pretty highly if it could do a good job of driving the Platinums as fronts, but I don't know whether newer models that have superseded it (3900) would have better DSP implementation or better connectivity. I know it doesn't have 2 hdmis out, so I presumably couldn't run to both a projector and TV, but I don't reckon I'd want surround sound for anything other than movies, which I'll have the projector for!
I am thinking of going for a 4.1 set up with no centre channel. Do people think this work or do you think a centre channel is an essential part, and is important for the front soundstage or will it be ok without one, because, from my understanding, in order to match with the pl100s as fronts, I'd need a PLC150 and at £1750 it seems a big outlay which would he hard to justify if the pl100 will do an adequate job. OTOH, I know movie fans say the centre is the most important channel for authentic surround sound, so I'll have to audition and see!
Any recommendation for rear speakers? I intend for these to be fairly discrete, but then they need to be substantial enough to fill the room. I was wondering whether it would be best brand matching the fronts and getting MA rears as well from a lower range. I understand that although ideally you want a tonal match across every speaker, the rears usually convey the least amount of information so wondering if they should form a lower part of my budget?! At the same time I don't want speakers that will disgrace themselves with the rest of the system, but I was wondering if the RXFX or GSFX (if they offer substantial improvement) would work well.
Finally, in terms of the .1 I think I'd like the subwoofer just for movies, because for music I mostly am not that interested in huge bass. For this reason I'm leaning more towards getting the subwoofer from a specialist manufacturer like Veoldyne or SVS, which are all active models.
It's probably more important to have a balanced system with consistently solid components than say a reference level screen in with little thought given to lighting.I'll have blinds to make the room dark which I assume will be enough for optimum movie viewing!
At the moment I'm thinking along these lines:
Panasonic PTAE4000
motorised screen (not certain on best screen size for throw distance)
my current Pioneer BDP-120 (I see no need for a more expensive BDP atm).
Yamaha RXV3800 for rears preouts into Naim Nait XS for driving fronts.
Fronts: MA Pl100
Rears: MA RXFX
SVS SB12 subwoofer.
It seems a pretty massive leap from my small corner tv I use atm, but with the new room it seems the 1st time where I could achieve a real cinema experience in my lounge!
Al thoughts much appreciated [
]!
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