Rate My Rig

[admin_exported]

I live in a town house and have a 4m x 5m room on the ground floor that I am turning in to a Home Cinema. I already have a PS3 that I want to use as my blu-ray source until the maket matures a bit more and a Denon DVD1930 for DVD playback, which I also will not replace at this time. I also have all cables and interconnects.

I have £3,750 to spend on a Receiver, Speakers and TV and have put together the following 'straw man' setup:

£1,130 - Panasonic TH50PZ80B (including 5 year manufacturers guarantee)

£1,799 - Dali IKON 6 5.1 speakers

£799 - Yamaha RX-V3800

£3,728 - TOTAL

Please provide any feedback on the above rig or suggest alternatives that are worth a look. It's a lot of money and I want to ensure that I haven't overlooked anything/made a bad pairing.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I think it will be a great set up, not what I would choose but then I'll never listen to it.

 

[Anonymous]

I do have a slight reservation with the Yahamaha amp. I gather the RX-V3800 has been out for a while now and hence the discount to £799 (original RRP £1,400). I am concerned that things have progressed and it may be outdated in certain areas, but I can't see where: Lastest HDMI 1.3a, Deep Colour, and all the HD sound formats. Will it pass-through a 24fps signal? Does it have lip sync support? I can see that It is not THX certified - is that an issue?

What would you have chosen?

 

[Anonymous]

you can get an onkyo 905 for the same money

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, 905 or add a few more pennies and push for a deal on the 876.

 

[hunnyy]

I recently bought the Yamaha RX-V3800, after auditioning the price-comparable competition (up to £1,200) from the likes of Onkyo, Denon, Marantz and Pioneer.

My preference was the Yamaha. For me, it is not only great with movies but the most enjoyably musical as well, whether that be music on film soundtracks or music DVDs (concerts/videos).

Hope this helps.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

With that sort of budget I would be heading to a decent dealer and doing some serious auditioning. Lot's of options and you never know what might take your fancy.

 

[Anonymous]

For your T.V. I think you should buy the Pioneer PDP-5080XD for £1,450. It has an amazing 16,000:1 static contrast ratio (i've seen it, it's fantastic) and even though it is only 720p (unlike the Panasonic which is 1080p) you won't notice the difference unless you sit closer than 3 meters.

The speakers and amp depend on your taste although I recommend you ditch the Yamaha RX-V3800 and go for the newer Yamaha DSP-AX863SE.

Also, are you sure the Dali Ikon 6 package costs £1,800? The price I've seen is £2,200.

Anyway, you don't need to worry about system matching with your speakers because Yamaha amps have an all-round good sound.

 

[Anonymous]

Hunny's on to it. The Onkyo is imho the class-leader for your cinema sound. But the Yammy offers versatility, its got musicality as well as good cinema performance. If you've got a hifi for music separately get the 905 for sure. If you're making a hybrid (a crime against nature) then go for the yammy.

 

[Anonymous]

Try here

 

[hunnyy]

raypalmer's right, the Yamaha RX-V3800 is a great all-rounder for movies and music. And it has higher grade audio components than its sibling DSP-AX863SE, along with de-coding of all HD audio formats, 4 HDMI inputs, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

The 3800 loses nothing to a 905, except for maybe in the THX stakes. But given that THX is only really effective at very high volumes, this isn't really an issue for most people. As far as I'm concerned, the 3800 is the one to beat under £2k. Stop worrying, and enjoy the system!