What Home cinema set-up?

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I recently bought a temporary LG3000 LCD 19” HD-ready TV for £200 after moving back to the UK. Although not by any means the best TV it still produces a decent picture at a good price. I now feel I need to place this in the bedroom and improve my TV enjoyment (in the lounge) at night by upgrading. I noticed that the colours are very artificial on this LCD, too unrealistic for my liking, and that there appears to be glowing and jagged edges around players when watching a football match. I actually prefer the colour on my old television than these new LCD ones.

I am not a fanatic when it comes to home cinema and I certainly keep my head to the ground by sticking to a reasonable budget. I rarely upgrade so when I buy something I expect it to last before moving with the times. I have a budget of £700 for a full-HD TV (between 37” to 42”), £50 for a HDMI cable, £800 for the speakers and receiver (5.1), and another £100 for the remaining cables and connections. Total budget £1,650.

I have been checking out the jargon but I’m still somewhat bewildered by all this fast moving technology on TV’s. I will be subscribing to Sky+HD so maybe this will have a factor in choice of TV and receiver. Plasma seems to be my choice of preference with its clarity in true black and accuracy in colours. Although I like brightness, LCD is too much for me. It would also be handy to known if I’m watching a football game where the score line is displayed for longer than 1hr will this possibly result in screenburn on a plasma?

The speakers should be able to handle all types of movies (not so much action, perhaps more along the lines of “lost in translation”) as well as music. The styles of music will vary greatly from hard dance to chill-out and rock. I’m still in two minds as to whether DTS HD Master Audio is the better one over Dolby TrueHD for the receiver. The availability is mind blowing and I desperately need to be pointed in the right direction. All this jiggery jargon doesn’t help me either. I think I’ll leave this one to the experts. Although, I have done my research and the Panasonic TH-42PZ80B (£690) looks a bargain plasma. The receiver of choice for me seems to be between the Sony STR-DA2400ES (£440), Yamaha DSP-AX863SE (£600) and Onkyo TX-SR875 (£600). For speaker packages it’s between Audica CS-System 1 (£550), KEF 2005.3 (£600), Mission M-Cube (£580), Q Acoustics Q-AV (£580) and Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 (£450). What home cinema system?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[professorhat]

JayProducer:It would also be handy to known if I'm watching a football game where the score line is displayed for longer than 1hr will this possibly result in screenburn on a plasma?

No worries on this front I can assure you - screen burn would take days / weeks and all new TVs have features built in them to pretty much prevent it happening unless you try and force the issue!

JayProducer:I'm still in two minds as to whether DTS HD Master Audio is the better one over Dolby TrueHD for the receiver.

You'll want an amp which can do both. Basically, all Blu-Rays I know come with either a Dolby TrueHD or a DTS HD Master Audio soundtrack (or an uncompressed soundtrack), but never both. So in order to ensure you can get HD audio on any disc, you definitely want both. But virtually all new HC amps above £400 these days will have both covered.

JayProducer:The receiver of choice for me seems to be between the Sony STR-DA2400ES (£440), Yamaha DSP-AX863SE (£600) and Onkyo TX-SR875 (£600).

Given your needs, the Sony and Yamaha are definitely the better choices (Onkyos tend to be quite forward which is great for action blockbusters, but probably not best for more subtle soundtracks). However, unfortunately these amps are pretty much end of life and thus extremely hard to find but their replacements have yet to be released or reviewed so are kind of unknowns. If you can, I would hold on before deciding on your amp. If you can't and can't find the Sony or Yamaha, other amps to audition would be the Denon AVR-1909 and the Pioneer VSX-1018AH, plus the Marantz SR-5003.

JayProducer:For speaker packages it's between Audica CS-System 1 (£550), KEF 2005.3 (£600), Mission M-Cube (£580), Q Acoustics Q-AV (£580) and Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1 (£450).

If you can fit a more traditional setup in your lounge like the Q Acoustics 1010i set, this would definitely be superior to the style speakers like the Audica, Missions and KEFs mentioned. The Acoustic Energy Neo 5.1 setup is also quite a bargain at the moment if you can stretch to it, though obviously I recommend auditioning the speakers with the amp once you've chosen which one you want, especially for ensuring the music is up to your required standard.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I read the reviews on these receivers and the Sony seems to be bright whilst the yamaha warm. So what speaker package would be better suited to these receivers?

 

[Anonymous]

Any assistance on this matter with choosing my speaker package with the correct receiver?

 

[lobby]

Have you changed your budget as you mention that you have £800 for speaker and amp, then mention the Onkyo 875 at £600. From previous auditions i found that the Q Acoustics and Kefs have sounded best using an Onkyo amp. Options you have are Kefs 2005.3 in silver for £499 and Onkyo 606 for less than £400 or you could look at the Q Acoustic 1010i and Onkyo amp or maybe a Denon. If you go for the Q Acoustic 1010i and upgrade fronts in future to the 1030i or 1050i something like the Onkyo 876 would be better then the 606. So take this into account other sub sat packages Tannoy Arena lites at £399 and traditional speakers Tannoy f1 customs and maybe F4 customs for fronts. Q Acoustics punch highter than their price tag, but make sure you have room for the centre it's quite large fro a budget package add the 1030i and you will get great stero performance. Good luck

 

[Anonymous]

I may be able to stretch my budget. I have decided that the Yamaha and Sony receiver will be the better choice. The Onkyo may be too forward for me in action. The Yamaha is discontinued I read so I may be going with the Sony one. Plus it is a lot cheaper.

So say I have the Sony receiver which is a tad bright in the top-end and is very musical (good clarity). The Kefs 2005.3 are also musical but has warmth with dialogue speech and a controlled top-end. The kefs seem to be able to handle both movies and music well.

I decided that the speaker choice will be between the Kefs 2005.3 and Q Acoustic 1010i.

So would the Sony Receiver suit the Kefs or Acoustic? Im thinking the Sony will go best with the Kefs - but this is a guess. I cant find a shop in Cardiff city centre that has this lot so I can go in a listen to the set-up.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Jay, As another guy mentioned you have kinda blown your own budget when you started looking at the Yam 863 and the Onkyo 875 both at £600 which would only leave you £200 for a full 5.1 speaker system which clearly wouldn't be enough cash and certainly not get you anything good enough to make the purchase of either amp warranted. Though it maybe that you're suggesting you're prepared to extend your budget a little hence thinking of the more expensive amps, you would be in danger of miss-matching in the quality stakes however if you go the way you suggest and would be better saving the cash.

The original idea of Sony 2400 plus the 1010i's is a better match in quality for around the £800-£850 mark for both items, as for how they would sound together you would do well to go to a decent hifi shop and audition them together.

I have a suggestion for you which I posted to another chap the other day as he was in a similar situation and I found some very very well priced items that was just about within his price range and would sound far far better than the one box system he was thinking of. I will direct you to that thread to save re-writing it all here.

The thing is you can get a hell of a lot for your cash if you really look around as I have just done myself, it can be mind numbing but it can be worth it, you may have to not be as ridged with your choices but you don't have to drop in quality to save big bucks.

I was originally after an 863 Yam but they are next to impossible to get hold of, I have rung every dealer I could find on the net and most say no chance, others say they have them on order. However I dicided to forget it when one guy admitted that that order had been placed with Yamaha back in February for 10 and they had received 2 over that entire period.

I personally have bought a 42" Full HD ultra slim Hitachi UT42MX70 TV (only 3 star rated on here but bear in mind that's a review based on a £1500 price), an Onkyo 876 amp/receiver, a full Tannoy F1 Custom 5.1 (bookshelfs) but with the TS-10 sub rather than the TS-12, and a Sony BDP-S350 blu ray player and I got all this, brand new not refurbs before anyone suggests such, for a mere £1645 total.

Some may say oh I would have gone for this... and I think the such and such is better than the... but for £1645 you really would struggle to better it, yes the Onkyo 876 is perhaps on the overkill side but there was nothing available of the same value to justify not going for it and it allows for me to go to bi-amped floorstanders in the future if I wish.

If you want a breakdown on any of the above let me know and I'll point you in the right direction but my suggestion to the other guy is currently on page 5 of this forum the link if it works is http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/262798.aspx or you can search for the title which is "Cinema in a box with HDMI IN Sub £500".

I suggested some Wharfdale speaker to him as they are cheap at the moment though the 1010i's mentioned are great though they are £100 more.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the link. Ive been reading all the reviews and ive also notivced some people have the Sony amp I suggested with the same kef speaker package and seem to love it as a combination. I will check out that link you gave me and see what else I can come up with.