You mean I need more than a telly?

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Before I go off on one can I just applaud all the experts (WHF staff and end users) for their frequent involvement in these forums, it makes the difference between an interesting read and a critical reference site!

So - I've spent literally months viewing my shortlist of TVs and weighing up the pros and cons of each. I've finally settled on the Panasonic PX80, it gives away a little in most areas to the Pioneer and more expensive Panasonic PZ85 but it's also £400 cheaper which leaves a significant chunk of money to invest in the other components...That's why I've chosen a Panasonic DMP-BD30 to go with it

I have around £450 left to sort out the rest of the bits I need.....but I really don't know what that is! I'm presuming an AV Amp and speakers is all I need in addition? Is there anything else? Does the Bluray mean I need to consider anything special here? Would a one box like the Sony DAV-IS10 be alright or could I end up losing the benefit of the expensive Bluray player if it can't take and output 1080p? Would I be better off with the Onk 606 or is that going to end up upscaling only to be dsownscaled again by the TV??

In short - what should I pair this setup with and what does it need to be capable of? (Style speakers are a pre-requisite if Spousal approval is to be given!)

Apologies for the long rambling post but I really need help knowing what I'm missing and what I need to consider in those areas!

EvilTed

 

[professorhat]

Hi there

If you really want to take advantage of the Blu-Ray player, you need something which can accept and decode the HD sound formats via HDMI. Problem is, I'm not sure of anything which can do that for your budget. The obvious choice for the amp is the 606 (or even a 605 - if you can find one, it'll be cheaper than 606 and has this ability). The issue is, even if you find the 605 for £300, that's still only £150 for the speakers, which isn't going to get you anything worthy of the amp.

The Sony DAV-IS10 you mention is a great bit of kit for the price, but won't give you the HD formats. It will give you Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 though through your Blu-Ray player (via the optical in). These are still very good and, on your budget, I think it's the best system to go for.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Prof, really helpful post.

I'm not too worried about the speakers tbh. I can manage for a short time with the stuff I've got knocking around and get a 5.1 set up in a month or two. (Probably KEF2005)

Re: The 605, one of my main percieved benefits of the 606 was that it would scale everything (and passthrough the 1080p from Bluray) and give me the ability to simply switch inputs to the TV from a single point. Does the 605 also do this? I know it only upscales to HDMI, not 1080p but don't know if that matters with a non 1080p TV!

What difference will the amp/speakers set up make over the IS10? Clearly sound quality will be better but will the IS10 offer the other things I want?

 

[professorhat]

Okay, you're right - the big advantage of the 606 is the upscaling of sources to 1080i (fine as without a Full HD TV you don't really need 1080p upscaling). A 1080p signal, say from the Panasonic Blu-Ray player will be passed straight through as is to the TV. You didn't mention any other sources in your original post, but if you have some e.g. a Freeview box / PVR or Sky box, then you could hook all these up to the 606 and it will upscale them to 1080i and output the signal via the HDMI, thus giving you the ability to switch the video as well as the sound just using the amp.

The 605 won't upscale any other sources you have, but will act as a switch for them i.e. you can hook all your sources to it and it will output all the signals via the HDMI, but these will be in their native resolution, meaning the TV will be the one doing the upscaling rather than the amp. The 605 does"upconvert" any signal which means it turns an interlaced (i) signal to a progressive signal (p) e.g. 576i from a Sky box would become 576p when it reached the TV.

So the main advantage that the above gives you over the Sony, other than sound (which is the main advantage of course!), is video switching on both the 605 and 606 and upscaling on the 606. The Sony does neither of these except for its own in-built DVD which you probably wouldn't be using if you have the Panasonic Blu-Ray player. Make sure you check the specs of both the 605 and 606 though and ensure the one you're going for has the correct number of S-Video / Component / HDMI inputs that you'll need. Also, I believe WHF are aiming to get their review of the 606 up on this site by tomorrow sometime, so watch out for that.

Hope this helps!

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

Hi EvilTed. The Professor's already given you some great advice but I think the best thing that you can do is get yourself down to a dealer with a demo room is possible and hear for yourself. If you get the Panasonic Blu-Ray player, you should get a couple of great movies included - Cars and Ratatouille. Takes these with as demo discs along with one of your favourite dvds or music CDs and do a few comparisons.

I definitely back ProfessorHat's suggestion of the Onkyo. Mine's been a great servant so far and the new 606 looks like it could be even better value. For £700 you can get the new Onkyo and a decent set of speaker such as the Q Acoustics package I've got (on offer at Superfi at the moment). I definitely think that it's worth the extra outlay over the Sony package because of the extra flexibility and connectivity it gives you.

 

[FuzzyinLondon]

Sorry, just noticed you said style speakers. For around £200 you can pick up the JAMO A102-HCS5 5.1 package which the mag awarded with a prize last year.

 

[Anonymous]

Just found these for £166. That is an incredible price for 5 speakers and a sub of any quality. For something that seems to have had its share of acclaim that's astounding.

They're on the list....right next to the 606.

Whatever you do, don't tell the wife how much this lot all costs 🙂

 

[professorhat]

You may have purchased already, just wondering what "these" were...?!

 

[Anonymous]

I was looking into the Sony IS10 and comparing the Onkyo 606/605 also, great advice there! I am now being swayed towards the onkyo. Its just the overall cost with speakers thats going to be problem. But you get what you pay for I suppose!

 

[Anonymous]

Where did you get the jamos for £166?

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="professorhat"]You may have purchased already, just wondering what "these" were...?![/quote]

"These" were the Jamo A102's.

I found them for £166 (inc. Vat) at digital-fusion.co.uk but having just done a quick search for user feedback I think I'll pay a bit more and go somewhere reputable. Nothing but unhappy customers out there for these people.

 

[Anonymous]

For anyone that's interested in the Jamo H102HCS5 speaker setup.

I did order them from digital-fusion in the end and they arrived 3 working days later as described and perfectly packaged.

I spoke to the guy who runs the company (feels like a one man reseller) and he's certainly not going to win any customer service awards but for the saving he offers on these it's worth it if you are looking for a 5.1 style surround system on a budget.