To buy or not to buy

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › To buy or not to buy

insane

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#112663 16-Dec-2012 22:48

OK so its time to add some sound into our house, and am looking for something decent but not necessarily a full 5.1 setup.
A friend has paired a set of KEF Q500's or Q700's and a Onkyo TX-NR616 AV receiver which sounded great, but what else are people going for these days to use with the TV and for playing music? Also do I really need to spend ~$2000+ for nice clear sound or is there a way better way to go about this (minimal clutter is a must too to get it past the boss's approval)

Regs

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#733325 17-Dec-2012 00:38

I have kef eggs, all wall mounted, paired with an onkyo txsr702 amp. the combo works well and the eggs are cheap now at only $1000 from jb hifi (they cost $2000 - $3000 a few years back)

http://www.kef.com/html/en/showroom/home_theatre_speakers/KHT2000.3/overview/
http://www.jbhifi.co.nz/jb-hi-fi-home-audio/speakers/kef/5-1-channel-speaker-pack-sku-23237/

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insane

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#733388 17-Dec-2012 09:27

Yeah I saw someone mention those in another thread here a few weeks back (may have been you), my problem is my lounge/dining room is annoyingly large ~60 square meters and trapezoid in shape (tv on the short side) so I have no where to realistically mount anything on the wall.

Dunnersfella

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#733430 17-Dec-2012 10:54

Don't put big speakers in a shoebox, and don't put small speakers in a warehouse...
Also, do not be fooled into adding surround sound for the hell of it. A 2-channel stereo setup will out perform a home theatre system for music 95% of the time.

huckster

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#733460 17-Dec-2012 11:52

I have an Onkyo NR515 and have had quite a few problems with HDMI connections, blank screens no audio after standby.

After a couple of firmware updates, it appears to have settled down. It could in part be due to my old-ish Panasonic plasma, but be warned. Many friends have older Onkyos and are very happy.

Have a read through: http://onkyoproductsupport.forumotion.com/

EDIT: There is a new forum now: http://forums.onkyousa.com/ but the old one is still there. A lot of people appear to have resolved their problems with the latest firmware.

insane

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#739542 3-Jan-2013 00:09

Picked up the Onkyo NR515 from JB as they had it for a good price, probably a new range soon to be on the horizon. Now just need to sell some camera gear to pay for the q700`s :-)

With just two q700's do you reckon I'll need a separate sub woofer?

tukapa1

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#739559 3-Jan-2013 06:45

I've got the Q900 (recently bought) paired with a top of the line Pioneer AV receiver.

If you're using the system as a stereo (2 channel) system mainly for music in the right sized room for those speakers then you won't need a subwoofer.

The Q series are well known for their decent bass and for music should do everything you need.

If the 700's are the same as the 900's (and I presume they will be) they will need a bit of wearing in before they sound mint.

driller2000

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#739618 3-Jan-2013 10:30

WARNING!! - this is obviously an entirely personal opinion ie. mine : )

bit i simply cannot stand sub sat systems - have not heard one i like - as while the highs can be ok - the subs that come with them are normally underwhelming - often boomy / muddy and the mid bass is ALWAYS missing from these sets

imo - for the same money, a decent set of floorstanders (or bookshelfs on stands) will murder the equivalently priced sub sat system - every time

so if you could convince the boss re floorstanders / bookshelfs it will surely sound better

that said - take all "advice" as that - ie. merely the opinion of one person

so, as always - audition both - and buy what sounds best to you and the BOSS : )

good luck and have fun

insane

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#739792 3-Jan-2013 16:00

oh I'm set on getting floorstand speakers, just wanted to see whether I would need a sub to supplement them. I looked straight past the sub/sat combos :)

I did listen to the Q700's briefly at JB but they didn't exactly have everything setup properly, and there was a lot of ambient noise. So far only the Sony store in Newmarket has had a really nice sound room, and to be honest the package Sony had actually sounded great, just hadn't heard of the speaker brand they had.

JamesL

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#739811 3-Jan-2013 16:49

If you're in Auckland then I'd recommend going to visit John @ Paul Money, I recommend going to the Mt Eden store.

They have a good selection from value for money to obscene wtf are you spending that much money which you can audition.

If you're going to be watching movies I'd definitely recommend a sub, if you listen to dubstep/dnb/etc I'd also recommend a sub.

I've got two 2.1 systems, one with a 12" Velodyne and another with a 10" Velodyne.

Dunnersfella

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#739870 3-Jan-2013 19:41

Sony stores often stock Polk speakers in-store.
There's effectively 3 ranges you'll find in stores in NZ. Harvey's have the TSi range, Sony has theirs (slightly higher spec'd) and I believe either one can also stock the LSi range (very nice, but they're playing in some serious loud speaker territory for 5.5k floor standers).
For the amp you picked up, I'd look for some highly efficient speakers, and judging by the size of your room, definitely look at floor standers, not stand mounts.

insane

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#739945 3-Jan-2013 22:36

Dunnersfella: Sony stores often stock Polk speakers in-store.
There's effectively 3 ranges you'll find in stores in NZ. Harvey's have the TSi range, Sony has theirs (slightly higher spec'd) and I believe either one can also stock the LSi range (very nice, but they're playing in some serious loud speaker territory for 5.5k floor standers).
For the amp you picked up, I'd look for some highly efficient speakers, and judging by the size of your room, definitely look at floor standers, not stand mounts.

I think the ones I saw had the name 'i Acoustics', or 'Q Acoustics' or something along those lines, was $1999 for the two floorstand ones which is outside my budget anyway. The Jamo C607's at the same price also sounded pretty good to me.

I've heard my friends KEF's, which were actually the Q900's, and given my non-musical ear and average AMP I just want something that won't completely suck when I show it off to the Mrs :)

Thanks for your help, been reading your other comments on bi-wiring in another thread and will give that a go too to squeeze every little bit of goodness from them.

Camera lens is on TM, hopefully it sells before my birthday so I'll have something to plug into my AMP. Speaking of which, Blu-ray players, does brand/model make much difference when it comes to audio quality?