need new kit but utterly clueless - can someone help?

[admin_exported]

We are extending our house and will soon have a new living room. We want to be able to watch tv/films and listen to music in there and have decided to start from scratch with all the gear: new telly, new speakers, new ... er ... other stuff .... The problem is we have no idea what 'other stuff' we need. In fact we don't know what speakers we would need either (come to think of it, we might even need help with the telly ... but let's put that to one side for now). I am hoping some kind person will take pity on me and answer a few basic questions:

• I've seen all in one home cinema kits and assume it's possible to listen to CDs on these but is the sound any good? Is there anything that does it all or do you need separate systems? We listen to pop/rock mostly - a bit of classical now and then but not much.
• What about speakers - is it possible to have a set up that can handle both music and movies?
• This is going to be in a pretty big room - 19" x 24", double height ceiling open to the rafters. Does that limit our options at all/is there a minimum spec (for speakers/amp) given the size of the room?

I would really appreciate any help anyone can offer. I should warn you though, that I really am technologically illiterate - don't let the fact that I have used the word 'amp' fool you into thinking I know what one is/does.

 

[Torres09]

Hi pootle , little bit more info to help us give you the best advice, Do you want a BluRay player? Do you want a dediacated CDP, or are you happy with BDP to play cd's? How much is your budget?

 

[simonlewis]

If your going to listen to a lot of CD's then i would go for a seperate CDP & amp, a home cinema amp is good for home cinema but compromised for CD listening, a two channel amp is best for music.

 

[idc]

You could get a home cinema setup of Blue ray with AV amp and surround speakers and then a SACD player and the relevant CDs to listen to surround sound music.

 

[Anonymous]

Torres09:

Hi pootle , little bit more info to help us give you the best advice, Do you want a BluRay player? Do you want a dediacated CDP, or are you happy with BDP to play cd's? How much is your budget?

Hi Torres09 and thanks v much for responding. Do I want a BluRay player? Umm...I don't really know. Should I want one? Sorry for being so rubbish but when I said clueless I really meant it. Might I regret it if I don't get one? Will I be taking a brave leap into the 21st century only to find I'm overtaken by technology straight away? Are there any disadvantages of chosing BluRay over whatever the alternative is or does it just come down to cost?

CDP = CD player right? See how I'm catching on? So BDP must be BluRay player? Presumably CDP quality will be better but how much better - if the speakers were decent would that compensate for playing cds through BDP? By the way, I have a Denon UD M-30 - could that be used?

Budget = could I realistically expect to get something half decent for up to £500? What about £750? I don't really have a fixed budget - not saying that money's no object just that I don't really know what I need (you've probably noticed) so I'm prepared to be flexible.

 

[Anonymous]

slewis:If your going to listen to a lot of CD's then i would go for a seperate CDP & amp, a home cinema amp is good for home cinema but compromised for CD listening, a two channel amp is best for music.

Thanks slewis - really appreciate your advice. Is it possible to hook up a CDP & amp and home cinema amp to the same speakers?

 

[JoelSim]

pootle:Torres09:
Hi pootle , little bit more info to help us give you the best advice, Do you want a BluRay player? Do you want a dediacated CDP, or are you happy with BDP to play cd's? How much is your budget?

Hi Torres09 and thanks v much for responding. Do I want a BluRay player? Umm...I don't really know. Should I want one? Sorry for being so rubbish but when I said clueless I really meant it. Might I regret it if I don't get one? Will I be taking a brave leap into the 21st century only to find I'm overtaken by technology straight away? Are there any disadvantages of chosing BluRay over whatever the alternative is or does it just come down to cost?

CDP = CD player right? See how I'm catching on? So BDP must be BluRay player? Presumably CDP quality will be better but how much better - if the speakers were decent would that compensate for playing cds through BDP? By the way, I have a Denon UD M-30 - could that be used?

Budget = could I realistically expect to get something half decent for up to £500? What about £750? I don't really have a fixed budget - not saying that money's no object just that I don't really know what I need (you've probably noticed) so I'm prepared to be flexible.

Is that £500-£750 for the TV, BDP, CDP, amp and speakers? Or for each part?

 

[simonlewis]

Ideally you would be better off with a seperate two channel amp & speakers for CDP, but if thats not appropiate try looking at sony home cinema amps & connect a CDP to the home cinema amp.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:

You could get a home cinema setup of Blue ray with AV amp and surround speakers and then a SACD player and the relevant CDs to listen to surround sound music.

Hello idc and thanks for taking the time to reply. Blimey - I'd never even heard of SACD - I'm even more out of touch than I thought! I'm going to have a read-up on SACD - have just googled and it sounds interesting. I can't help wondering though whether my CD buying days might be numbered - I've got a large collection so will want something to play them on but more and more these days I'm using iTunes. At the moment all that stuff is just on my laptop/ipod but I'll want to play that through this new system (some sort of docking station needed?). With that in mind, would there still be advantages of SACD over plain old CDP?

 

[Anonymous]

everything except the TV if that's realistic; apologies if this reply gets posted twice - the dog jumped on my lap as I was typing it last time and message disappeared

 

[Anonymous]

slewis:Ideally you would be better off with a seperate two channel amp & speakers for CDP, but if thats not appropiate try looking at sony home cinema amps & connect a CDP to the home cinema amp.

Thanks slewis. Next question: if I decided to connect a CDP to a home cinema amp, what sort of speakers should I be thinking of? I suspect that's a 'how long is a piece of string?' question given that I've been so vague on budget but I guess what I mean is should I avoid the diddy speakers that come with some home cinema systems and go for something a bit meatier?

 

[Torres09]

pootle:

slewis:Ideally you would be better off with a seperate two channel amp & speakers for CDP, but if thats not appropiate try looking at sony home cinema amps & connect a CDP to the home cinema amp.

Thanks slewis. Next question: if I decided to connect a CDP to a home cinema amp, what sort of speakers should I be thinking of? I suspect that's a 'how long is a piece of string?' question given that I've been so vague on budget but I guess what I mean is should I avoid the diddy speakers that come with some home cinema systems and go for something a bit meatier?

Have a look at the Sony BDP-S360, Sony STR-DH800,and the Q Acoustics 2000 5.1 set up, you should be able to get these for approx £750- a great starter set-up IMO...........

If funds allow add a Marantz CD 6003 or a NAD C545BEE, for about £250-270

Cheers

 

[idc]

I would scrap SACD and read up on Apple TV if you use itunes. You can integrate your PC with the home cinema and stream music, TV and films and you will be future proofed.

 

[Anonymous]

Torres09:pootle:

slewis:Ideally you would be better off with a seperate two channel amp & speakers for CDP, but if thats not appropiate try looking at sony home cinema amps & connect a CDP to the home cinema amp.

Thanks slewis. Next question: if I decided to connect a CDP to a home cinema amp, what sort of speakers should I be thinking of? I suspect that's a 'how long is a piece of string?' question given that I've been so vague on budget but I guess what I mean is should I avoid the diddy speakers that come with some home cinema systems and go for something a bit meatier?

Have a look at the Sony BDP-S360, Sony STR-DH800,and the Q Acoustics 2000 5.1 set up, you should be able to get these for approx £750- a great starter set-up IMO...........

If funds allow add a Marantz CD 6003 or a NAD C545BEE, for about £250-270

Cheers

Thank you so much Torres09 for helping me out here. I don't feel so daunted now and am looking forward to going shopping!

 

[Anonymous]

idc:I would scrap SACD and read up on Apple TV if you use itunes. You can integrate your PC with the home cinema and stream music, TV and films and you will be future proofed.

Sounds v interesting - I'll definitely look into that. Thanks again for your help idc.

 

[Torres09]

pootle:Torres09:pootle:

slewis:Ideally you would be better off with a seperate two channel amp & speakers for CDP, but if thats not appropiate try looking at sony home cinema amps & connect a CDP to the home cinema amp.

Thanks slewis. Next question: if I decided to connect a CDP to a home cinema amp, what sort of speakers should I be thinking of? I suspect that's a 'how long is a piece of string?' question given that I've been so vague on budget but I guess what I mean is should I avoid the diddy speakers that come with some home cinema systems and go for something a bit meatier?

Have a look at the Sony BDP-S360, Sony STR-DH800,and the Q Acoustics 2000 5.1 set up, you should be able to get these for approx £750- a great starter set-up IMO...........

If funds allow add a Marantz CD 6003 or a NAD C545BEE, for about £250-270

Cheers

Thank you so much Torres09 for helping me out here. I don't feel so daunted now and am looking forward to going shopping!

No problem my friend, we all had to start somewhere, if possible audition/buy your gear in one shop, RicherSounds, SuperFi, etc,etc and they should do you a deal with Speaker Cable included............

Good luck