Looking for views on my setup...

[danielberwick]

I had silence from the guys at AVForums, so I thought I'd repost in the forums of the magazine that helps me decide on all the big AV investments..

Hi all,

I've put together (over the past year or so) the following setup. I was hoping for some opinions/critique on the build and if you think there are any weak points or anything else I should consider adding.

The build is as follows:

-TV: Samsung UE46ES8000

-AV receiver: Pioneer SC-LX56

-Speakers: Dali Zensor 5 (5.1)

-Physical media: Marantz UD7007

-Music: Cowon X7 fed to AV CD input (will migrate music to my NAS and use Marantz streaming)

-Headphones for late listening: Sennheiser HD650

-Others: Sky HD (crappy Amstrad built one), usual collection of gaming consoles, Dune Smart HD for ISO images.

I've maxed out the HDMI PORTS on the back of AV reciever now though so no thruther exansion unless I chain through one of the other units with an HDMI in if I add anything in the future. (XBOX ONE or UD7007 I guess)

This is already built and setup with the exception of the Marantz which is due to arrive Tuesday.

Is there anything you think is over or under spec or do you think components are generally well matched?
It's too late to change anything significant really, but I'd appreciate any opinions.

Many thanks,

Dan.

 

[bigboss]

How did you use up all 8 HDMI inputs of your Pioneer??

Your setup is very good, and looks well matched. If you're happy with it, don't change anything. :cheers:By the way, all Sky HD boxes are Amstrad built now. Sky has bought Amstrad.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I had silence from the guys at AVForums, so I thought I'd repost in the forums of the magazine that helps me decide on all the big AV investments..

Hi all,

I've put together (over the past year or so) the following setup. I was hoping for some opinions/critique on the build and if you think there are any weak points or anything else I should consider adding.

The build is as follows:

-TV: Samsung UE46ES8000

-AV receiver: Pioneer SC-LX56

-Speakers: Dali Zensor 5 (5.1)

-Physical media: Marantz UD7007

-Music: Cowon X7 fed to AV CD input (will migrate music to my NAS and use Marantz streaming)

-Headphones for late listening: Sennheiser HD650

-Others: Sky HD (crappy Amstrad built one), usual collection of gaming consoles, Dune Smart HD for ISO images.

I've maxed out the HDMI PORTS on the back of AV reciever now though so no thruther exansion unless I chain through one of the other units with an HDMI in if I add anything in the future. (XBOX ONE or UD7007 I guess)

This is already built and setup with the exception of the Marantz which is due to arrive Tuesday.

Is there anything you think is over or under spec or do you think components are generally well matched?
It's too late to change anything significant really, but I'd appreciate any opinions.

Many thanks,

Dan.

I think everything looks quite good, I suppose one thing I would look to upgrade is your TV to a 55 inch or 50/51 inch plasma. That would make a big difference for me.

 

[danielberwick]

@BigBoss, due to Sony and Microsoft not deveolping backwards compatibility in the new consoles the pioneer now has the following HDMI devices:

Back panel (7 inputs) - Sky HD, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Dune HD, and the (soon to be added) Marantz player.

The final 8th input is the front panel one and is used for temporary inputs (PC, laptop, cam output, old game consoles [I have a scart to HDMI converter for when I feel like reliving my childhood], etc)

@Gel

I know what you mean about the plasma. I demoed quite a few screens at Richer Sounds and eventually went for the Samsung as I really enjoyed the screen. Ideally with the distance and wall space 50" would have been optimal but that range was availble in 42", 46" and 55". 55 was just too big. I have mounted the screen on a wall mounted arm so I can pull the screen closer when I want to get into "Cinema" mode. This sort of emulates a bigger screen for when I want it.

The blacks are really good on the Samsung, not to the level phosphor will give obviously, but still so good you can get imersed without seeing grey everywhere (like my older Toshiba Regza).

The only problem is the screens higher up the wall than I would like, but with a toddler I thought it safer for all involved and allows more room below it for the attached devices.

I can probably take some pics if you're interested? You may not be that interested, I just have a tendency to get a little over excited!

 

[BenLaw]

Yes please, pics always good

 

[danielberwick]

One last pic, I thought I'd just take a picture of the TV out on the arm pulled further into the room:

 

[danielberwick]

OK, I did a little photo shoot, I'm barely even a sub-amateur photographer and it's my first time adding pics to this forum so here goes. Sorry if the pics are too big (best not viewed when roaming on a data plan!).

Right click and "View" image, or drag it to a new tab, for a bigger size.

Toddler mode:

Parent Mode:

The 'hot box':

My living cable nightmare lives behind the entertainment unit (I've electrical tested it all when running the setup at its extremes and it's well within a safe load). This is after I tidied it up significantly!

Back of the Pioneer (Marantz player to take the remaining HDMI tomorrow):

Rear speakers for completeness (I found the rear sound worked best when they both reflected off the wall)

 

[bigboss]

Oppo 103 has dual HDMI inputs, allowing you to connect a couple more devices through it. It may suit you better than the Marantz.

 

[ellisdj]

Doesnt the Marantz Replace the Dune HD for playing iso images from an external storage source?

Also when you have PS4 and XBox 1 why on earth would you ever want to play PS3 or 360 again - ebay me thinks - create some space and cash for new and better games.

 

[danielberwick]

@bigboss

It's too late for me now, the Marantz is out on the delviery van today. I'm not planning on adding anything else at the moment so I should be ok, I'll just be at max capacity. If I get anything else in the future I can start to see what I can cut, or get the new equivalent Pioneer which has a further input on the back. If I have any problems withe the UD7007 though I could always exchange it.

I can start thinking about moving the older consoles into the PC area, the screens there are HDMI too so I can hook them up there.

@ellisdj

The Marantz doesn't play back ISO files as far as I know, from what I've heard through forums the film industry have pressured them into preventing ISO support. It does play other video file formats though so people have ways around it. I like the full disk experiance though so I prefer to maintain full ISOs.

Another reason I'll keep the Dune is because I have a stack of 3TB drives I hold all my archived films on and I use them in the hard drive cradle attached to the Dune. My NAS would have to be industrial scale to accomodate the whole thing on the network.

Also, I never sell on my consoles I just keep them and go back to them when I feel like playing them. I have too many half completed games on them at the moment as well. I still even have my Master System! Although as it's RF I no longer have the means of playing it

 

[danielberwick]

The Marantz UD7007 is installed! I tried the first couple of scenes of the Wolverine Blu Ray last night (I've not watched it all yet, it came free with the XBox One) and it looked lovely, although it was following a basic recalibration of the TV settings (just backlight, brightness and contrast) so there's no like for like comparison against the PS3 or Dune HD which I was previously using. I have to up the brightness on the TV when viewing lovefilm on the xbox 360 as it's darker than a lot of other sources for some reason, so I had to adjust it down for the new disk player. Tomorrow I think I'll demo one of the new Star Treks, a nice 2+ hour spacey demo!

I also tried the following CDs: '2000 years of Human Error' by Godsmack (Industrial Metal, the bass is quite punchy and it just happened to be on the top of my ripping pile) and the new David Bowie 'The Next Day'.

I didn't have that much time and it was night so I couldn't amp it up to anything decent, but first impressions were very good. I'm looking forward to getting to know this player a lot better.

 

[bigboss]

:cheers:

Looks very good!! I can see the elaborate precautions you've taken to prevent your little one from pulling out those tempting cables!

 

[The_Lhc]

55 was just too big.

I don't understand.

 

[dangalf]

55 was just too big.

I don't understand.

If it fits through the front door it's not too big.

In regards to the HDMI inputs I believe you can daisy-chain your Xbox 360 to your Xbox One via the HDMI input and still play 360 games. I've not done this but I seem to remember reading it somewhere

 

[danielberwick]

Ahhh yes, the anti-child shield has probably saved me a lot of unnecessary stress and spending! Although I don’t think it does much good for the acoustics from the floor standers. However, I don’t think any acoustic dampening or reflection properties of the barrier does much harm to Dinosaur Train and Peppa Pig anyway so I can live with it

Of course, if any new TV’s too big for the front door, bay windows can always be removed! I may measure my windows diagonally and see what the maximum physical TV size I’d be able to install would be without knocking down the front wall. My wife could be in for a big shiny OLED surprise one day! I may pay for it though but...

Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... I'm going to lose some sleep over this decision!

 

[bigboss]

Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... Happy marriage or a 200" OLED?... I'm going to lose some sleep over this decision!

One is a mirage as of now & the other, a reality!

 

[mr malarky]

Your front main speakers would probably benefit from being a little further away from the wall, but in terms of equipment spec I'd agree with the others, it all looks like its well matched kit so without going on another round of upgrading I'd say your pretty much there. Probably now a case of marginal gains (getting the TV professionally calibrated, getting some third party 3d glasses if you use 3d).

Where-abouts is the sub?

 

[danielberwick]

Thank you all for your comments. It's good to know I've not made terrible choices!

The sub's to the side of the main viewing sofa. This was just about the only space I had available for it but it works quite well. The sofa is sitting in a sort of 'bass pocket' so it's quite powerful when using that sofa, but there's a pretty obvious dead zone in the middle of the room. I don't have much flexibility in it's placement unfortunately otherwise if experiment more with front of the room positions. It's a pretty big box that one!