System almost complete but....

[Steel_Lynx]

After doing lots of digging and reading I have decided to get.
Samsung UE55ES8000 television, Marantz NR1603 amp, and a Denon DBP-2012UD.I am struggling a bit with speaker choice. I think I'll be better off with 4 standmounters as my home cinema room is 3.5m by 4.5m (and will probably also be kinder from my neighbours point of view) I'm after clear sounds rather than extreme volumes.
I had my eye on 4 B&W M1's and a B&W ASW610 sub with a Dali Zensor Vokal centre. I had also toyed with the idea of getting the Dali zensor 5 package (not as well as the other speakers....) but was put off by the floorstanders. My main concern is whether all this kit will go together so thought I should bring my question to people with much more experience.

 

[VoodooDoctor]

Any particular reason why you aren't going for the B&W M1 centre as well? Mixing speaker manufacturers makes it more difficult to get the speakers to work cohesively together.

 

[Steel_Lynx]

Actually no, there was no special reason for not going for an M1 centre too....I read that it's not always best to go for all the same brand of stuff. Due to my lack of experience I can only go on what I read at the moment.

 

[The_Lhc]

Actually no, there was no special reason for not going for an M1 centre too....I read that it's not always best to go for all the same brand of stuff. Due to my lack of experience I can only go on what I read at the moment.

You read it wrong, it said you ALWAYS go for the same brand for the fronts and centre if not the surrounds as well.

Nobody and I mean nobody puts ketchup on a hotdog, err, I mean nobody would suggest using a different manufacturer for the centre speaker. Nobody.

 

[Steel_Lynx]

Alright, thanks for the heads-up! Matching fronts and centre it is Do you think the system as a whole would work out? I will of course get someone to set it up so I can hear it for myself before buying it but what's your gut feeling about the system I'm aiming for?

Just seen the MT-60D set on this site. That seems to be a pretty good package.

P.S: I quite like ketchup on hotdogs!

 

[VoodooDoctor]

Have you considered the B&W PV1D for the sub?

 

[Steel_Lynx]

The PV1D you mentioned is the sub that comes with the MT-60D package I looked at yesterday. It would appear that this package has everything I'm looking at so might be worth just getting that rather than trying to be clever and mix and match things.

I'm off to Sevenoaks sound and vision and Richer sounds today to will see if they have it available along with the other bits I've got my eye on. I'm also now wondering if I should get a Blu-Ray player with 2 HDMI slots in rather than the single one the Denon has.

Didn't realise all this equipment was so complicated to the uninitiated

 

[VoodooDoctor]

You don't need a Blu-ray player with two HDMI outs with that AV Receiver as the Marantz supports 3D via its HDMIs.

 

[Steel_Lynx]

It was the sound I was thinking about. I was reading a post on here about the Samsungs settings and read that the guy with the said television wanted the second one for HDMI to Amp for the HD sound or something? Or is that something else entirely?

 

[BenLaw]

Your sound and picture will be covered by one hdmi from blu ray to amp and one from amp to tv.

Will you be using the system much for music? If so, you may want to consider a traditional speaker package over the style speaker package from b&w.

 

[Steel_Lynx]

Ah, ok. Thank you for that.

Just got back from the shop and the guy suggested getting a Denon AVR-2113 and a Denon-1713UD so looking in to those now.

As regards to the music side of things, the only music I have is via itunes (and quite a few CD's from my youth which are in a box somewhere) Did you have a more traditional speaker package in mind? At this stage I'm open to ideas as long as they're not to large and imposing.

 

[BenLaw]

Something like this: http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/product/3929/monitor-audio-bronze-bx2-av-5-1-speaker-pack/?utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=Froogle&utm_content=BX2AV-WL-BX2&utm_campaign=Froogle

But there's a huge choice even when you limit it via budget and size, you need to listen to speakers from a few different brands and find what you like the sound of. Fwiw I wasn't that impressed by the predecessors to the b&w style speakers you are considering and couldn't have them for music. Your needs may be different, but there may well be a compromise with small traditional speakers.

You also don't need to stick with pre-selected packages of av speakers. Eg if you liked monitor audio but bx2 was too big you could base a system around bx1.

 

[Steel_Lynx]

Thanks for that link Ben, they're definitely something I could get away with. Plus it says they can be used alongside the seating position rather than slightly behind (which is what I need as I can't get speakers behind my seating position) Those Tannoy Revolution Compacts look like a possibility too.

Plus both brands are stocked where I bought the television today, B&W's are not, so that will make getting demo's of both much easier. I think being as new to the whole scene as I am, I'm probably better off getting one of the 'packs' of speakers for now.

 

[Anonymous]

Apologies for coming to this thread so late. I've been trying to settle on a similar Amp/Speaker package combination.

I've recently auditioned the new Yamaha RX-V673 with the B&W MT50 package. I'm considerng taking the plunge. However, my current (now quite old) system is Marantz based and I've been trying without success to audition the Marantz NR1603/B&Ws locally (West/East Midlands border).

I'm disappointed that What Hi-Fi hasn't reviewed the Marantz NR1603 - I don't think it reviewed the previous gen NR1602 either. Strange as the Marantz hifi kit is highly rated by WHF.

Anyway, have you bought the rest of your kit? I'd be interested to hear if you're happy with it. Thanks.