Need Help getting best from System

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I have a Denon 2310, Pinoneer Kuro PDP Lx 5090, Monitor Audio Silver RX6 AV12, SKY+ HD, QED HDMI cables, Speaker wire was advised to get the same that is in Speakers. Basic mains, no power conditioner. I am not happy with the picture quality or sound quality, should I get different speaker wire, mains, a power conditioner? I also need a good Blue ray player. I am not happy with results and do not know what to do next or the best set-up for the TV, AV receiver. Please help as I am in over my head.......

 

[Tom Moreno]

C43muz:
I have a Denon 2310, Pinoneer Kuro PDP Lx 5090, Monitor Audio Silver RX6 AV12, SKY+ HD, QED HDMI cables, Speaker wire was advised to get the same that is in Speakers. Basic mains, no power conditioner. I am not happy with the picture quality or sound quality, should I get different speaker wire, mains, a power conditioner? I also need a good Blue ray player. I am not happy with results and do not know what to do next or the best set-up for the TV, AV receiver. Please help as I am in over my head.......

You have a very good set of equipment which should be providing far more than acceptable performance. I would suggest having a look at the setup of your gear. There are some good guides on this site on how to set up (calibrate) your TV and your AVR. I would say that if, after having set it up to the best of your ability, you are still not impressed, you might try installing a power conditioner into your system. It may be possible that you have dirty mains in your home and this could be holding your system back. I moved house last year and when I re-setup my home theatre in the new house the sound and picture performance was extremely lacklustre compared to how it operated in my old flat, and it was even a much better proportioned room for acoustics! I was dumbfounded but after a few days of fiddling I grabbed a power conditioner from my studio and installed it in the living room and it was as though a thick duvet had been removed from each of the speakers and the telly definitely had more punch in the picture. It was even better than it was in the old flat so I would venture to guess that my old flat had decently clean mains whereas the new house had really poor mains. I would still suggest calibrating your system before purchasing any additional kit to make sure you are judging it on its best performance, but I did find that mains conditioning worked a miracle for me- and many users here have had great results with a very inexpensive unit in the tacima.

 

[Anonymous]

I wil look at the set-up - Have been messing with it for a bit so will continue to do so.. For my system what do you recommend for mains and a power conditioner if the set-up still is driving me nuts?

 

[Tom Moreno]

A lot of people here love the Tacima CS929s that runs for around £30. I have a QED Qonduit MDH6 that I really like. The Tacima has filtered sockets and lots of people report great results from it, but some also mention that you might do better not plugging your AVR into it as it can starve it of amperage when the amp starts pumping. My QED thing is expensive at £179 (though when I bought it it was £100 so maybe if you hunt around...) but it has 2x dedicated high current sockets reserved for amps (my AVR and sub are plugged in here) and all the sockets are individually filtered which prevents any noise created by any of your kit filtering into other components. I have a second one of these in my recording studio (it was taken from there and I replaced it when I moved) that has given me great performance and an exceptional noise floor in the tracks I have laid down.

I've never A/Bed one against the other so don't know if the extra money spent on my unit is worth it over the Tacima, but put both out to you as the Tacima is well regarded and I've had great experience with the QED. If I were to buy another mains conditioner for additional gear I would probably pick up a Tacima to use in conjunction with my QED as I wouldn't need any more high current plugs and I can keep my high-end sources on the QED.

 

[Sorreltiger]

I'm sure the mains conditioning will help, but it sounds like something a bit more fundamental to me. I'd expect you to be enjoying your kit anyway. Maybe you could let us know something more about your room, layout, crossover settings, speaker positions? I have a hunch that something's not quite right with one or more of those.

 

[Anonymous]

Those are very good system components. I can't imagine that adding mains conditioners would make a poor picture & sound suddenly improve that dramatically (although it wont hurt).

Your problems are more likely to do with the settings on your tv and I would imagine the settings on your amp. Are the speakers brand new? Speakers do take a while to run in (mine took weeks!).

You could try getting a calibration dvd (think they are about £15). That should improve your picture. You could google tv settings, but what may work well in one room wont work in another due to differing levels of light, etc in your room.

Does the 5090 have a pure setting? Everyone raved about that setting but I found it very washed out and totally lacking in colour. I didnt like it at all.

I don't know your amp so cant comment but I am sure other people on here can.

As for a blu-ray player for the money you will struggle to find a better one than the sony s760.

Good luck.

 

[d4v3pum4]

Please do not go chucking any more money at your system until you identify the problem(s).

You should be able to find some settings to get you started with your display. Try HERE . Bumtious is the Kuro guro (ISF qualified), so have a look online for his advice on setting up the Kuro. Remember these settings are just guidelines and everyone's room is different so don't be afraid to make manual tweaks.

As for the audio, what are you not happy with? Your system is new, so give it time to bed in but before splashing money, make sure your settings are optimum. Check the bass management settings in the amp etc. Changing cables etc. will not solve any major problem. What are the room acoustics like?

 

[Tom Moreno]

barnsleydave:
Those are very good system components. I can't imagine that adding mains conditioners would make a poor picture & sound suddenly improve that dramatically (although it wont hurt).

Agree 100%. That's why I suggested having a good fiddle with calibration before going out and buying mains conditioning. I would highly recommend getting the Digital Video Essentials Blu-ray. It's an excellent tool for both video calibration and audio calibration. The Audessey auto setup system on Denon's AVRs is very good, but some extra refinement with tones and my SPL meter after the auto-setup made a great difference. I found for one that the Audessey setup on my 3808a ended up having slightly overcooked sub and surround channels and once that was manually corrected the balance is beautiful.

 

[Tom Moreno]

Also note that my previous example of how much mains conditioning brought my system back to life was after I had calibrated to death and the sound/picture performance was still not living up to what I was used to in the previous property. I can't stress enough the importance of calibration... and re-calibration! Things change over time and after working on mixing stages in LA where I was taught by the head engineer to re-calibrate the room before starting work every morning, I re-calibrate my system at least once a month. And yes settings do change.