Compiling a first home theatre setup

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91 posts

Master Geek

#416773 13-Dec-2010 21:54

Rollux: I have the whafedales diamond 10s, pioneer amp and 2 panasonic plasmas.
I can heartily recommend all these - perfect for what I use them for (Blurays, TV, music - in that order)

Just make sure your music is in a high bitrate - otherwise you'll cringe when you play them thru something decent!

My set up in the lounge (listed in my sig) has cost $7300 inc cables, however I have made this over the last 3 years. Also my HTPC has taken $2k of that budget!

Have fun and enjoy your new setup - whatever it turns out to be. :)

I recently bought The Wharfedale 9.5 floorstanders. And can definitely vouch for cringing at low quality audio. Just spent a painstaking amount of time re-ripping my entire CD collection to iTunes in lossless format...

In regards to the OP with you'r budget you should have no problems finding a good setup. I have spent about 5k on mine so far and am very happy....But be warned once you start building a system you won't be able to stop...lol

jjnz1

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#416797 13-Dec-2010 22:23

elldizzle:
Rollux: I have the whafedales diamond 10s, pioneer amp and 2 panasonic plasmas.
I can heartily recommend all these - perfect for what I use them for (Blurays, TV, music - in that order)

Just make sure your music is in a high bitrate - otherwise you'll cringe when you play them thru something decent!

My set up in the lounge (listed in my sig) has cost $7300 inc cables, however I have made this over the last 3 years. Also my HTPC has taken $2k of that budget!

Have fun and enjoy your new setup - whatever it turns out to be. :)

I recently bought The Wharfedale 9.5 floorstanders. And can definitely vouch for cringing at low quality audio. Just spent a painstaking amount of time re-ripping my entire CD collection to iTunes in lossless format...

In regards to the OP with you'r budget you should have no problems finding a good setup. I have spent about 5k on mine so far and am very happy....But be warned once you start building a system you won't be able to stop...lol

IMO Wharfdale speakers are very soft, and I tell everyone I know to stay away from them. They don't seem to have the crispness compared to other brands. It's like listening to a live brass band with your head in a box.(not klipsch either,-that's way to harsh IMO).

As with what the others have said, don't under estimate the amount of time needed to sample a good set of speakers. Also the environment plays a big part, make sure you go to multiple store with different set ups. I think LV Martin let you exchange too..?

I own a Samsung 40" LCD series 6, onkyo receiver and b&w 602's, and it took me ages to find this set up. (I even install home theatres for my clients). I had a limit of around $7K but didn't need it, don't just buy something because it's expensive, not always the best.

I can also agree with the cable ploy, I have personally tried HN monster $200 cables with my own $30 hdmi cables and no-one can tell the difference without guessing.

Also, spending a lot of money on a home theatre set up, an HD source is a must, Bluray,HD-HTPC whatever.

timmmay

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#416806 13-Dec-2010 22:33

jjnz1, I quite like the Wharfedale Vardus speakers, even though they're not high end they're still better than a $400 Panasonic stereo I bought 5 years ago ;)

For me, with a decent entry level set, what would you upgrade and what would you upgrade to? I heard someone say once center and sub. Let's say it's for half music half movies.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#416811 13-Dec-2010 22:41

Lizard1977 - I truly do not envy the path set in front of you...
The different tastes / opinions in the audio + visual spectrum are enough to drive you batty.
What makes it worse, is I've sat down and listened to a set of speakers that totally underwhelmed me one day, but impressed me considerably the following... (B&W's for the record)

Not only do our ears play tricks on us after a busy day at the office / job site.
There's also a lot of research that points out that we simply don't have good enough audio memory to take in the entire sound spectrum when comparing speakers... or in other words, we're often mis-lead to hear things that just aren't quite there.
This alone is one reason why top end audio stores continue to have a market. After all, people will often strive to find the 'perfect' system...
Chasing the dragon much?

Rollux

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#416821 13-Dec-2010 22:56

And of course it depends what receiver they are connected to as well, just to make it difficult.

Lounge:
WIN7 HOME x64 HTPC - E6420 2.13Ghz - 4Gb 800MHZ PATRIOT RAM - ASUS HD5670 1GB
ASUS P5B-VM MOBO - LG BLU-RAY DRIVE - BG3595 TUNER - 1.5TB STORAGE
PANASONIC 42" FULL HD PLASMA - PIONEER VSX1019AHK RECEIVER - WHARFDALE DIAMOND 10 SPEAKERS

Man Cave:
XBOX 360 MODERN WARFARE 2 EDITION - PANASONIC 37" PLASMA - SONY MONSTA 5.1 SURROUND SYSTEM

elldizzle

91 posts

Master Geek

#416872 14-Dec-2010 06:57

Rollux: And of course it depends what receiver they are connected to as well, just to make it difficult.

Absolutely. In the case of my Wharfedales maybe even more so. I have mine hooked up to my Onkyo Receiver (507). And have also had them hooked upto a friends Audiolab 2 channel amplifier. And they sound completely different...
Hmm Now to find some Receiver upgrade money?....

Dunnersfella

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#416894 14-Dec-2010 08:20

elldizle - Can you bi-amp your Onkyo?
If you can, you could effectively connect a 2 channel amp to your Onkyo, then use the 2 channel to power the two front speakers, while the Onkyo runs the video + centre, rears and sub...
I honestly have next to no idea about your Onkyo's specs... but it'd be worth looking into.

Samsung

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Jaxson

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#416898 14-Dec-2010 08:32

Wharfedales have always filled the gap where you want better sounding speakers for a bit more than rubbish ones. Not saying they are the best, but they are renound for offering significant bang for your buck. I've owned the 9.5 and 9.6 models and completely rate the 9.6's for what you loko to be trying to achieve.
http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2005/wharfedale_diamond9-6.shtml

I'm sure there are others out there now in that same category. There's a bloke Ctrl + Z who went through a similar experience recently (speaker wise that is). Could be useful to have a read of what he found perhaps?
http://www.audioenz.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=11170&highlight=wharfedale&page=4

When do you take over the house?
I'm in Palmerston North so let me know if you want a hand with anything.

Lizard1977

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#416930 14-Dec-2010 09:54

We find out tomorrow whether our offer is unconditional, and if it is, then we take position at the end of January. We're renting at the moment, so we're planning to overlap by a couple of weeks, so we can get some stuff done on the house (like papering the lounge, new aerial installed, new oven, etc) and move in gradually rather than all in one rush. Thanks for the offer Jaxson, I'll keep that in mind.

Dunners - I'm enjoying the anticipation of a great setup, but you're right about it driving me crazy, trying to sort out the different pieces of kit. I had a similar experience last year when I built my new computer, having not kept up with the latest tech and trends. This is even worse, though, as sound is so subjective. I guess because I don't really have a high benchmark to compare against, I'd be happy with anything, and I'm really just making sure the gear I buy isn't a lemon or overpriced. Provided it's good quality and reliable, and able to handle the task, then the subtlety of one brand or model over another can be swept to one side until I've developed an ear for the sorts of thing I like, and can be addressed at upgrade time.

I'm intrigued about bi-amping. Until I started this research, I had never heard the term. I read through the manual for the Pioneer VSX-920K, and it mentioned bi-amping. It described it as hooking up the rear-height speaker outputs to the low-frequency terminals of bi-amp capable front speakers, which I interpreted as routing the unused power/signal from a 7.1 setup back into the front speakers of a 5.1 setup, to boost the low-end frequencies at the front. Is this right? Because what I read above seemed to suggest you actually had two physical amps, hooking both up to the same set of speakers...

Rollux

362 posts

Ultimate Geek

#416942 14-Dec-2010 10:08

Both ways are bi-amping.
Bi-amping basically involves having one amplifier driving low frequencies and another driving the high. You can do this with either 2 seperate receivers or using the otherwise unused "amps" from the rears.
I will be doing the latter for my Whafies as the amp is capable. I don't imagine there will be a huge, or even noticeable, improvement - just going to do it cause I can!

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#416960 14-Dec-2010 10:38

Using the two unused connectors of a 7.1 system will have a marginal benefit... but most likely, only when you're in distortion territory.
Using a second amplifier is where you can truly see a benefit. Especially if you discover that most of your listening has swayed towards two channel music... or if you just so happen to upgrade to some particularly hard to drive front speakers ;-)

elldizzle

91 posts

Master Geek

#417172 14-Dec-2010 17:55

Dunnersfella: elldizle - Can you bi-amp your Onkyo?
If you can, you could effectively connect a 2 channel amp to your Onkyo, then use the 2 channel to power the two front speakers, while the Onkyo runs the video + centre, rears and sub...
I honestly have next to no idea about your Onkyo's specs... but it'd be worth looking into.

Only has surround back pre-outs and subwoofer. Can bi amp using the surround left and surround right channels. But im still only using the Onkyo for all of the amplification and audio processing.
Hence why I would like to upgrade to a much nicer receiver in the next year or so..
The receiver was actually bought on a bit of a whim....Didn't do much research bar reading online reviews.
It's o.k These are mostly used for Movies anyway...

Lizard1977

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#423069 31-Dec-2010 20:57

Hi everyone, back again for more advice, but first a quick update:

We got the house, and we take possession on 31 January. We'll be doing some minor repairs in that first week and installing a new UHF aerial for Freeview, to replace the broken aerial the house currently has. The budget for the home theatre setup is about the same ($8000) but if possible I'd like to keep it closer to $7500. The gear will need to come from Palmerston North stores, and will need to be able to be paid off over an interest free period of about 18 months (though we've got a little flexibility there through other purchases we're planning...

Right - so here's what's decided and what's not:

Decided
TV - will be the Panasonic TH-P50V20 50" plasma. Most people I've spoken to have spoken very highly of it, and seeing it in store it looks to be really good. The only thing I haven't done yet is test it with one of my own DVDs, but I'm fairly confident it's the best choice.

Recorder - will be the Panasonic DMR-BW880G. On the expensive side, but is the only thing that offers what I'm after: Freeview, a large HDD, Blu Ray playback. I can live with the limitations around BLu Ray recording, which are unlikely to be a major. Multiple devices will pose a headache with the unit and space we've got, so the all-in-one gets preference.

Undecided
Amp/receiver - one store recommended the Yamaha RX-A1000, which is very nice but also very expensive. I liked the iPod integration/control when I first saw it, but since then I've realised it's not likely to be that important. Someone here suggested a cheaper alternative with iPod control, the Yamaha VSX-920, which looked alright, except it's now jumped up in price the last 4 weeks by about $300. I also learned it doesn't have ARC. I'm not sure what this is - I think it allows the audio signal from the TV to travel back down the HDMI cable and output to the speakers connected to the receiver, meaning that what is being played back through the TV, such as a movie on a USB stick, will make use of the full speaker set, rather than just the puny TV speakers. Is this right? If it is, then this sounds like a very useful and desirable feature? Am I right?

Speakers - leaning towards the Jamo S606 speaker pack with the 250W. I haven't really listened to anything else, but as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm coming from nothing at all in the speaker department, so it's probably going to be easy to please my ears... My main interests for the setup will be movies and TV, with some music on the side (the whole spectrum, from pop to rock, and spoken word - comedy shows). It's probably about a 70/30 split in favour of movies and TV.

So - what I'm looking for is a suggested package of components that I can look into, and go into stores and ask them to put together a total price (and hoping to take advantage of the sales over the next few days). Within my $7500-8000 budget, I also need to allow for cabling (which will include the speaker cables, HDMI cables, and a multiboard/surge protector), so I'm reserving about $700 for that...

What's your suggestion, keeping in mind the information above, the need to use Palmerston North suppliers, and the budget?

Cheers (and have a Happy New Year!)

Lizard

Dunnersfella

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Uber Geek

#423091 31-Dec-2010 23:21

The ARC - or the Audio Return Channel, allows audio to be sent from the TV via HDMI rather than analogue or optical cable.
The benefit?
One less cable, that's about it...
As you most likely won't be sending HD sound from the TV to the amp, the additional benefit of the HDMI's bandwidth won't help you whatsoever, so it'll essentially only save you around $40 - $60 in cabling... not a big deal in the scheme of things.
So yeah, ARC isn't the biggest thing in the world, especially as your sound source will by in large be your BluRay Freeview recorder - connected via HDMI.

Lizard1977

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#423129 1-Jan-2011 08:56

Right, thanks, so it's just a substitute for an optical cable from the TV to the amp. Was I right in my description of what it's used for, i.e. outputting the sound from the TV source to the amp, to improve on the otherwise puny speakers of the TV? I imagine it's useful if you were watching TV through the TV tuner as opposed to, say, using the TV tuner on the Blu Ray recorder, to still get the benefit of the full speaker setup. Or if you were playing back a movie through the USB port on the TV? If I can get the same effect with an optical cable, then I can live without ARC.

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