When Do I Buy, What Do I Buy, How do I Allocate My Budget?

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Aug 10, 2019
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Hi all

Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere (this is my first thread on here as I only joined today) I have looked around briefly and haven't seen this specific issue discussed elsewhere in recent times.

In December I began looking into Home Cinema as I would like to improve my viewing experince at home. I currently have a Pioneer PDP-428XD Plasma TV, a Pace Sky HD box and an old Sony DVD Player. I also have a Nintendo Wii.

I had decided to buy a Panasonic DMP-BD80 Bluray Player, Yamaha DSP-AX863SE AV Reciever and KEF KHT 2005.3 Speakers. However when I started to search for these items earlier this week I came across the discussions on here about the poor availability of the (now deleted) Yamaha reciever and have been unable to find one anywhere.

I therefore begun looking into alternatives and this is where I started to struggle with the wealth of information and large gap in prices between What HiFi award winners. When looking for a different amp the alternatives seem to be around the £400 mark and have been trounced by the £600 Yahama in the WHF tests (Sony / Onkyo / Denon / Pioneer) and the next step up from these cheaper models (Onyko TX-SR875) is around the £1,000 mark which is a massive difference.

I then started to question my other choices as well as I tried to make my budget stretch as far as possible. Should I buy a cheaper amp and stick with the KEF's? Should I buy a more expensive amp and cheaper (Q Acoustics 1010i 5.1) speakers? Should I buy a more expensive amp with different speakers? How good is the Q-AV speaker system?

I was therefore wondering if someone could tell me:

What general rule of thumb should be used when deciding what % of your budget should be spent on each (Player / Reciever / Speakers) component?

What amp should I look at now?

Should I wait for the replacement Yamaha's to be launched?

Is there a noticable difference between Speakers & Style Speakers?

I don't have a budget set in stone but as you can see I had originally planned to spend about £1,500 on these 3 items.

Thanks in advance.

xx
 

lobby

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Welcome to the home of homecinema, £1500 is a good budget providing you have a decent space, i would definetly go for traditional speakers every time over sat sub package. I was lucky in getting a great buy on the Quad-lites their small and compact and sounded much better to me then the Kefs and Q Acoustic speakers, but then they should normally at a £1000 down to £450. Any way i would look at these Tannoy mercury customs F1 and F4 up to £800 you could get a refurbished 875 for £500 and rest for blu-ray player. For something smaller the MA Vectors at £575 could possible be the next best package under £1000 and getting good reviews from the retailers add the 876 for £699 and rest for cables and blu-ray player. Yet to be reviewed by what hifi but a smaller version of the HD radius range.If this package is for movies then the Onkyo is a great amp, not so good with music so you may prefer to wait for the newer Yamaha's and Denon's. As a rule their isn't one for prices just being sensible but with a budget of £1500 you could spent £400 on amp and a £1000 on speakers or the other way round, the 875, 876 could drive speakers from that price upto £10000 +. Try an audition if you can and do some more research good luck.
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks for the quick response and welcome to these forums Lobby
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Your reply was very helpful and has given me some new products to consider, just a few more questions if you or somebody else can help me:

Where did you manage to find the Quad-Lites from at that price?

How much do I need to worry about buying a refurbished AV unit?

Are there any retailers that you can recommend that are known for doing a discount for purchases of this size or that are consistently cheap in the first place?

Thanks again
 
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Anonymous

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BTW this system is to be used mainly for watching films / TV etc although one of my Sonos Zone Players will be connected to the amp in case I want to listen to any music in this room for time to time.
 

simonlewis

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You won't be able to find the Quad L-ites package at that price anymore, they were being discontinued twelve months ago which was why they were half price.
 
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Anonymous

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Personally ming i would go for the Kefs and the panny and spend as much as possible on the amp. I have the kefs in my lounge which is 6m x 8m and i only have my sub on half volume and sats quite low. Any higher volume wise and my neighbours two doors away might have something to say!

It really feels my room with sound and am very happy with the set-up, cant recommend enough. The more expensive systems especially speaker packages would be better suited to a detached house. Anyone who is mid-terrace/flat or semi is gonna struggle playing their more powerful kit without upsetting someone.

Hope this helps
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks Soulstyle

I don't live in a detatched so that does help, the panny is a definate now and I am tempted by the KEF's as my wife is more likely to tollerate them as I am moving out some Mission floorstanders from my Hifi to make room for them so she's hoping the replacements will be less intrusive.

Just wish I could source the Yamaha 863 from somewhere as I think it would be suited to my movie and Sonos systems.
 

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