New Home Cinema System needed - Advice and assistance required

[admin_exported]

Firstly must say that I have found this forum a great source of information and would like to obtain readers thoughts and suggestions.

Having just bought a 40" Sony Bravia I now want to try and get the cinema surround sound experience, albeit on a budget. Before reading this forum is was inclined to go to my nearest Sony Centre and plump for the Sony STR-DG910 (£299) as it will sync with the Bravia TV as well as offer the connection of an iPOD via the DM port.

After reading various threads I am now aware of the range of kit in the market place and the need to make an informed choice. The Onkyo TXSR 605 seems to be a favourite amongst readers.

I have a budget of around £600 for the receiver and speakers (but may be able to squeeze a little more). If going with the Sony solution it would mean £300 for the amp leaving £300 on the speakers. If I go for the 605, will £200 be enough for the speakers?

Grateful for views or other suggestions. What does the 605 have over the 910 for the extra £100.Many thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

The main thing the Onkyo adds is direct decoding of additional surround sound formats above DTS and Dolby Digital; DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus Decoding. Not many sources can take advantage of this right now. However, the Sony STR-DG910 adds an additional hdmi connection for sources - the Onkyo SR605 does sound better though (and does has its own Ipod docking station available or if you're only concerned with sound playback just use an inexpensive 3.5mm to twin phono stereo cable with any of these av amps/receivers).

You didn't mention your sources incidentally, but it may be worth considering the Sony STR-DA1200ES as well. By the way, if you shop around you should be able to find the Onkyo SR-605 for £350-£380 and the STR-DG910/STR-DA1200ES for around £250/£300.

Depending on the size of your room and also if you wish to stand or wall mount them, there are a few options for suitable speaker surround package in the £200-£250 range. These include the Jamo A102-HCS5, Mordaunt Short Premiere or Kef KHT1005 depending if you want something compact or more traditional looking speakers. I am also a fan of the Canton range of speakers - the Movie 60CX package costs as little as £150 with inexpensive definitely not the same as cheap. Why do these never seem to be reviewed anywhere incidentally? (the Movie 150QX package for example should you be able to stretch your budget or were thinking of going for one of the Sony AV receivers - if you're prepared to have them shipped from Germany they can be picked up for £270 otherwise £340 in the UK - IMO equal to the more expensive Kef 2005's which are aound £500); Even though the Onkyo does definitely benefit from more expensive speakers, the SR-605/Jamo A102 package is a popular combination on a number of sites. You should try to get a proper demo - also second hand may be a way you can push your budget further.

Robert

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Guys.

I don't mean to hijack this thread but since Hynodomuk seems to know what he
is on about I have a quick question.

I was looking at splashing a bit of money on a surround sound set up for my
40" SONY TV along with my PS3. I am looking for an amp which does the high
end of decoding i.e. DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD etc. The only thing that puts me off
the Onkyo range is the size of the amp i.e. so big it won't fit on my TV shelf
and I don't really want a big bulky looking amp staring right at me i.e. below
my LCD.

With this in mind do you know of any other amps which has all the new
features (like the Onkyo range) but not as big with good write ups??

Thanks a lot for any help.

PD.

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="davidpm"]

With this in mind do you know of any other amps which has all the new
features (like the Onkyo range) but not as big with good write ups??[/quote]

Sadly, such a product doesn't exist yet! Apart from some more slimline digital amps - which haven't got the HD-format support or anywhere near the performance of the Onkyo and its ilk - AV power is BIG.

In fact I heard an interesting story out at CES from Samsung, which is to launch its first separates receiver to match its Blu-ray players. They made the product much sleeker than standard AV amps (plus in Samsung's customary gloss-black finish) and the feedback from dealers was that it wouldn't sell - customers thought it wasn't a 'serious' cinema product, as it wasn't big and beefy. So now that's what it's gonna look like....

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="new2this"]
I have a budget of around £600 for the receiver and speakers (but may be able to squeeze a little more). If going with the Sony solution it would mean £300 for the amp leaving £300 on the speakers. If I go for the 605, will £200 be enough for the speakers

[/quote]

Hi there,and welcome to the forum - glad you're finding it useful!

I think we need to take a little step back on your query, though. What will you be using as your source? Just a Freeview TV feed? Sky HD? A DVD player?

Do you intend to buy into Blu-ray high-definition discs (via buying a dedicated player or a Sony PlayStation 3?)

Sorry for all the questions,but they'll help us steer you in the right surround sound direction!

 

[Anonymous]

Clare,

Interesting notion of perception of size equating to power - where have I heard that before? lol I think many people would appreciate an Av Receiver which was slimmer and hopefully runs cooler as well. After all, we all tend to have more and more sources these days and therefore getting harder to fit all this stuff on typical television stands unless you want your lounge to look more like NASA control station! It'll probably take one manufacturer to launch one and then have the others potentially follow as it seems nobody likes being the first in case it doesn't sell. By my feeling is that there's a significant number of people who have an aversion to technology on display and therefore want something a bit more descrete ( - speakers are an obvious example of that).

Robert

 

[Hems]

Has anyone heard the new KEF 1005.2? I went to my local SuperFi and Frank Harvey but neither had them on display. I'm not sure whether to pair the onkyo 605 with the Jamo's or the KEFs

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Clare,

Thanks for your comments. Just to finalise my thoughts, Samsung have a AV receiver model no AV-R720R on there wbsite which supports the HD-DTS,TRUE-HD etc. Is this the model you mentioned earlier ? Noticed the dims of the receiver is W = 430mm, H=145mm, D=350mm. here's the link - http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=homeentertainment&type=homecinema&subtype=avreceiver&model_cd=AV-R720R/XEU

Thanks Again,

Phil

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the replies.

I currently have cable installed although not planning for the HD option and the intention will be to go with the PS3 option for Blu Ray. My current dvd player only has scart or s-video connections (a dinosaur)!! I also have a fairly new laptop that I connect to a digital camcorder to produce movies. Is there a way of getting this involved also. The room is approx 7.5m x 3.5m and I guess the both the Sony and onkyo have enough power to be able to fill it with ease.

Given that most receivers only come with 2 HDMI inputs (some with 3) are external HDMI hubs or switchboxes an option but not sure that I would get to that many sources. Also to point out this is purely for home cinema as I have an ageing audio set up already.

As people have mentioned the 605 is able to decode far more and therefore maybe more 'futureproof' than the Sony. Decisions, decisions - just as well I can get all this experience in one place.

I do plan to go and audition a set up although these places are quite limited near me and one of the places only has the higher end options!!

 

[Anonymous]

Check your dvd player and see if it has either an optical or coaxial digital connection; both of these are suitable for outputing surround sound with the AV amp/receiver doing the decoding (DTS or Dolby Digital soundtracks). Your laptop you'll need to again check to see what it's able to output - a few do have optical digital outputs otherwise it'll be be a case of outputing stereo (via the headphone/external speaker socket) and then converting it to pseudo-surround sound using Dolby Prologic II on the amp/receiver (in order to output to all of the speakers rather than just the front stereo ones).

The PS3 is the only source you listed that actually benefits from surround sound over its hdmi connection, so otherwise there is no disadvantage of either connecting the video side directly to your television or using a hdmi switch box (i.e. inputing the source, sound-only to the av amp/receiver). In that case of sound you would in any case use optical or digital coaxial connections into the amp assuming they're available (or stereo RCA phono as a last resort - the Nintendo Wii, an original Sky box or cable box would use this approach).

The Onkyo 605 is more future-proofed in that it has a number of additional surround sound decoders - however bitstreaming on the PS3 is kind of limited right now; it's something that will hopefully be improved with later firmware updates. The other option is to allow the source itself to do it before being passed either by hdmi (the Sony approach - the Onkyo 605 can also use this method) or multichannel rca phono inputs to the amp; the latter does open up quite a few older amps with hd sources that can output them (- the PS3 doesn't have multichannel rca phono outputs though).

By the way, for the poster who mentioned the Samsung AV-R720 earlier it takes the same approach as the Sony DG910; decoding is handled by the player rather than the amp.

Robert

 

[Anonymous]

Robert,

Can you tell me more about the Canton Movie 150QX and the Movie 120MX - I have discovered they are well sub £400 in Germany, and for my taste they look more attractive/discrete than the KEF2005.2, Audica, M-S Premiere Plus equivalents. I cannot find any detailed reviews but an audiophile specialist shop recommended them as excellent value but out of stock (in a discussion about the terrible value of Bose systems). I already have a 40" Sony HD tv + Sony BDP-S500 and am thinking of adding the Onkyo SR605 + some discrete surround sound speakers in a 12' x 14' room. I am worried about spending in total more than I can afford, and would like to hear your thoughts on "economising" with these Canton speakers....

 

[Anonymous]

Just thought you might like to know... I recently purchased the Samsung AV-R620 slimline receiver and returned it to upgrade to the AV-R720 after a few days. The problem was that the lack of air space within the casing to allow for cooling obviously necessitated the inclusion of a fan. Unfortunately, the fan, although reasonably quiet, was still audible and seriously detracted from the sound quality of the unit. The 720 has no fan (not needed).