Is this a good deal?

[Andy Grange]

I was walking past my local hi-fi shop which I've never been in last weekend (thought it didn't look up to much from the outside) and thought I'd pop in to have a look around. I got talking to one of the guys working there, and told him I was in the market for an AV receiver and some 5.1 speakers. I originally wanted the Onkyo 606 and the Jamo Al02 HCS5's.

He said that he couldn't get hold of the Jamos, so I asked what else was viable. He pointed me to the new KEF 2005.3's, which I have to admit I've fallen rather in love with! So to cut a longs story short he said he'd find out from the supplier how much the Onk was, and phone me for a price for both this week. I got the call yesterday, and he quoted me £930.

Now I know the KEF's haven't been review yet, but going by the eggs in general I'd imagine they would be pretty good. That notwithstanding, do you reckon that's a good deal or not? I'll still need to factor in all the cables (HDMI, 2x optical, speaker) but I'm sorely tempted to splash out the cash this weekend.

Your advice would be very much appreciated, thanks!

 

[Big Chris]

If you liked the way they sounded then go for it!

I guess how good the deal is depends on how much the 2005.3s cost retail.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Andy Grange:I was walking past my local hi-fi shop which I've never been in last weekend (thought it didn't look up to much from the outside) and thought I'd pop in to have a look around. I got talking to one of the guys working there, and told him I was in the market for an AV receiver and some 5.1 speakers. I originally wanted the Onkyo 606 and the Jamo Al02 HCS5's.

He said that he couldn't get hold of the Jamos, so I asked what else was viable. He pointed me to the new KEF 2005.3's, which I have to admit I've fallen rather in love with! So to cut a longs story short he said he'd find out from the supplier how much the Onk was, and phone me for a price for both this week. I got the call yesterday, and he quoted me £930.

Now I know the KEF's haven't been review yet, but going by the eggs in general I'd imagine they would be pretty good. That notwithstanding, do you reckon that's a good deal or not? I'll still need to factor in all the cables (HDMI, 2x optical, speaker) but I'm sorely tempted to splash out the cash this weekend.

Your advice would be very much appreciated, thanks!

Andy, I would say that's a very good deal - I've seen the Kef's for £699 most places on line. So £230 for the Onkyo is very good. Without throwing a spanner into the works, would you not want to wait a couple more weeks for the lowdown on the Sony and Denon receivers that are imminently awaited. I think that the Onkyo will seem fairly pricey soon - hard to believe considering it's only £400 but the Sony that is similar in spec is available for around £250!

 

[Andy Grange]

I was having a look at the Sony, and the one thing I think it's lacking for me personally is an upscaler. I'll be hooking up my Wii via component, and hoped the Onk upscaling the picture from 480p to 720p/1080i would make a difference. What do you think?

I could quite happily wait a couple of weeks as I'll be getting Sky HD in the next week or two, so there's no real rush. I do want to make sure I don't wait too long though, and miss out on the deal itself.

 

[Big Chris]

I have my Wii connected via component to my Onk too. I have my Onk outputing 720P and I think the picture is a big improvement over connecting the Wii to the TV directly.

I was annoyed you have to buy the Wii component cable separately though.

 

[Andy Grange]

Cool, thanks for the info. I got the component cable given to me by a friend, so had no such issue! I only have one component input on my tv (Tosh 32WLT66S) and don't like having to switch them over as my 360 currently resides in that input.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Andy Grange:I was having a look at the Sony, and the one thing I think it's lacking for me personally is an upscaler. I'll be hooking up my Wii via component, and hoped the Onk upscaling the picture from 480p to 720p/1080i would make a difference. What do you think?

I could quite happily wait a couple of weeks as I'll be getting Sky HD in the next week or two, so there's no real rush. I do want to make sure I don't wait too long though, and miss out on the deal itself.

The Denon 1909 upscales to 1080p and will cost £450 so you should get a deal on that.

 

[Andy Grange]

I take it you think the Denon will out perform the Onkyo then?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Andy Grange:I take it you think the Denon will out perform the Onkyo then?

I don't know but I think that Onkyo may have got a bit complacent. I still can't believe that they did not give front pre outs for the 606. The Denon has one over on it there. As will the new Sony 2400es (the new 1200es). The Denon 1909 upwards upscale to 1080p and not just 1080i, Denon licks it's finger and raises it above Onkyo again. The Denon looks better. And I just have a hunch that after Onkyo wiped the board last year, Denon, Sony and Pioneer will have had to have worked really hard at improving.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Andy Grange:I take it you think the Denon will out perform the Onkyo then?

Now, this is what I will be looking at. I have the 1200es and it beat all rivals at that price apart from the Onk 605. I think that the main problem it had with the Onk is that it didn't give HD audio. This is now sorted plus 2 extra hdmi and upscaling to 1080p. http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5749561/Sony-STR-DA2400ES-7-1-Channel-Receiver/Product.html

 

[Andy Grange]

So I guess the best thing to do is sit tight for a month and see what Denon and Sony offer? By that time I imagine there'll be some reviews of the KEF's out as well.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Andy Grange:So I guess the best thing to do is sit tight for a month and see what Denon and Sony offer? By that time I imagine there'll be some reviews of the KEF's out as well.

Sounds a plan. If you can get that deal now on the Kefs, with the current slump, I would imagine you will get as least as good in a months time.

 

[Andy Grange]

Thanks for all your help...

I just have one more (really stupid) question; I'm guessing that pre-outs would be used to connect to an amp for listening to music in stereo? Or is it something completely different? Are there any other benefits/uses to having pre-outs?

Sorry for the stupid question, but I am learning quite alot here!

 

[Anonymous]

Andy Grange:Thanks for all your help...

I just have one more (really stupid) question; I'm guessing that pre-outs would be used to connect to an amp for listening to music in stereo? Or is it something completely different? Are there any other benefits/uses to having pre-outs?

Sorry for the stupid question, but I am learning quite alot here!
Thats exactly what they're for, stereo amp for stereo listening.

 

[John Duncan]

Andy Grange:Thanks for all your help...

I just have one more (really stupid) question; I'm guessing that pre-outs would be used to connect to an amp for listening to music in stereo? Or is it something completely different? Are there any other benefits/uses to having pre-outs?

Sorry for the stupid question, but I am learning quite alot here!

That would be the most useful thing for them in this context, yes - to use the same pair of front speakers on both the receiver and a stereo amp, but they could be used to preout to any number of additional power amps, so that you just ended up with the processing by the receiver, and the muscle coming from elsewhere.

 

[Andy Grange]

OK, thanks.

I don't know if I'd get much use from pre-outs then, I very rarely listen to music in the room where all the home cinema gear will be. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to wait a while though, as I may want pre-outs later on.