what do I want, Hifi or AV?

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Here is a basic question from a lost newby. We have recently moved from a small flat to a house so have a new living room to equip. Nothing is purchased yet but there will be music and a tv and some form of pc and eventually a blue ray player. I expect the sound to be rubbish from the tv so would want to have tv sound via something else but music would be the priority and I am not all that interested in having a full home cinema set up with 5 or even 7 speakers around the place. The tv will not be 3D but it will be some 42" flat screen thing.

Maybe i am misguided, when playing music at similar price budget price levels will the music be better from a budget hifi than a budget home cinema receiver? What is the sound quality for music from something like the Onkyo TX-SR608 or Denon AVR-1910 compared to the possibiliteis below? Am i daft to rule out 5.1 speakers?

For the music part the budget would be around £800 but that is flexible. (less is fine)

My wants in rough priority order:

to play music from CD's

to play music from a NAS/pc via wired or maybe wireless network

to play the tv sound via something

to hook up the tv to the web for streamed tv iplayer

to hook up the tv to play movies from the NAS/pc/western digital tv live type box

to play internet radio / spotify

Am i best off getting something like Marantx PM6003 amp, Marantz CD6003, Wharfedale diamond 10.1 (can you guess where these possibilities came from!) and logitec squeezebox duet or would a home cinema receiver be a neater solution with HDMI connection to the tv and blue ray player even if I am only going to use 2 or maybe 2.1 speakers?

Would the Denon D-M38 micro system with upgraded speakers fullful my needs in conjunction with an ipod classic/squeezebox duet?

If i go the hi fi route what connection would be best from the tv to hi fi amp?

Maybe i should get a basic pc just for the media center type parts to above and connect that to the tv and amp. Would that be possible to connect that to the tv via HDMI and then the tv to hifi via something else?

Anyway thats a lot of questions but I'm stuck at the beginning of this process.

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the forums!

I suppose everyone's got their own theory about the route you should take; I'll give you an idea about what I'd do!

My old Sony/Mission budget 10 year old hi fi was significantly better than the budget home cinema i have in terms of sound quality (i've got a THX Logitech all in one 5.1 system). I think most AV receivers are pretty good at 2.0 sound, but will most likely fall short of a proper stereo amp. Small "style" speakers are nothing compared to a good pair of stand mounts.

If I were you i'd get a stereo amp (6003/RA-04SE/C326) and a half decent pair of hi fi speakers (BR2s maybe) then either a dedicated CDP or BDP (kill two birds with the latter). Then run the RCA connection out of the TV to the amp. It wouldn't be 5.1, but would sound pretty good. many good hi fi speakers are the front set of 5.1 systems (like B&W 685s), so you could always get an AV receiver and "the rest" of the speakers at a later date when money allows.

something like that should start off a good hybrid hi fi/home cinema and allow you to differentiate the two systems as you save up your earnings.

 

[robg1976]

im not that familiar with av stuff but i can give you a tip that might help. you have to remember a £300 stereo amp will sound better than a £300 av reciever, why well av amp have 5,6,or even seven channels to amp. so they cost more to get the same stereo sound a £300 amp will play music better than say a £800 av reciever, so my point is av will cost you more. and in my hummble opinion watching a film with stereo sound thats top quality rather than an avarage av set up will be better any way, and when you want to spin the silver discs and listen to your music you will be rewarded with great sound, if you have to go down the av path try and get an amp from a well known hi-fi stable the likes of cambridge audio nad and marantz do some great home cinema kit and they still give a good hi-fi performance. mainly because these brands have their roots in hi-fi .

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. I think i will stick to the hifi stuf as i think stereo sound is all I am after.

So I will go for a decent budget amp and speakers. It took a little while but i figured out DBP means blue ray player or blue disk player. Will playing music CD's on a DBP sound OK? I guess as you go up the price chain of DBPs most of the improvements with extra cash are in the AV side and 3D so are any DBP's concidered better for their music abilities than others. WHF seem to rate the Sony ones. Maybe i should move over to the other forum for this area.....

Thanks anyway.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

jono76:
Thanks for the replies. I think i will stick to the hifi stuf as i think stereo sound is all I am after.

So I will go for a decent budget amp and speakers. It took a little while but i figured out DBP means blue ray player or blue disk player. Will playing music CD's on a DBP sound OK? I guess as you go up the price chain of DBPs most of the improvements with extra cash are in the AV side and 3D so are any DBP's concidered better for their music abilities than others. WHF seem to rate the Sony ones. Maybe i should move over to the other forum for this area.....

Thanks anyway.

jono76:
Thanks for the replies. I think i will stick to the hifi stuf as i think stereo sound is all I am after.

So I will go for a decent budget amp and speakers. It took a little while but i figured out DBP means blue ray player or blue disk player. Will playing music CD's on a DBP sound OK? I guess as you go up the price chain of DBPs most of the improvements with extra cash are in the AV side and 3D so are any DBP's concidered better for their music abilities than others. WHF seem to rate the Sony ones. Maybe i should move over to the other forum for this area.....

Thanks anyway.

BDP - Bluray disc player.

I would go, stereo amp, external DAC, Popcorn Hour A-200 with hard drive installed, bluray player and speakers.

Example.

Stereo amp - Creek Evo - circa £300
Speakers Monitor Audio BR5 - £299
DAC - take your pick, there are a few around the £100-£250 range. You will need one with a few inputs.
Bluray player - Sony BDPS370 - £99
Popcorn Hour A-200 with 1tb drive - £250

This will enable you to connect your screen to the BDP and the Popcorn Hour via hdmi. For audio, you could have coaxial from the BDP to the DAC and USB from PCH to DAC. Then stereo cables from DAC to amp. You can play CDs through the BDP and with DAC's help, a decent sound. Better sound through the PCH with lossless music files. Films and tv through the BDP and PCH. Job done!

 

[Anonymous]

agreed-done!

all you've got to do is warm up the old credit card now!

 

[bay24]

For a neat less box heavy option I would consider the avi neutron 2.1 set up. £1300 gets you some very good hifi speakers and a sub with a amp and DAC with lots of digital inputs for tv, streaming, bluray. Because of the internal DAC you shouldn't need an expensive disk spinner as this does all the conversion. There would be lots of inputs left for an airport express or squeezebox if you wanted as well.

 

[Anonymous]

aahhhmmmm i gooo for Hifi. . .hehehehehehe

 

[Anonymous]

My suggestion would be to go for a decent amplifier and set of speakers. If you would like suggestions on these then post what sort of sound you like eg. warm; deep; bright; tight etc.

If you add on a decent DAC (rdac, dacmagic, m1dac) you can then run a number of digital sourced into the amp with a decent signal quality.

 

[Anonymous]

if you can upgrade over time, you will plan a better system. I would not recommend buying everything you think you want at once.

An example would be:

Pick your speakers first based upon style you like.

Pick Amplifier which matches this.

Logitech squeezebox plus use existing iphone under £100, leaving maximum budget for amp and speakers.

Later I would add Dac Magic for circa £200 quid and have optical out of TV to ensure hifi is being used when watching all TV including Blueray. You could easily get by with existing DVD player you might have - what TV do you have?