About to order system, want a "sanity check"

DominicJ

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Situation
I have a sky HD box
A wii
An old dvd player
An LG 42LK450U

Goal
move the tv to the other side of the room
Add surround sound
set up sky anytime

Shopping List
F connector Satellite Cable 5m White x2
10M SHIELDED ETHERNET CABLE CAT5E STRAIGHT RJ45 NETWORK
10M RJ11 Broadband ADSL Modem Cable High Specification
Profigold Professional High Quality Toslink Spdif Cable 3m
PIONEERVSX521
PIONEERS-HS100


Thoughts?
The first three are to move the skybox
The fourth to connect the hd box the reciever

And the final two, the receiver and speakers, I'll pop into Richer to pick up, but thats the sort of price I'd be looking at.

Any thoughts?
Anything missing?
 
Hi.
TOSLINK cable is a bit expensive...
Believe the normal rule is to spend 1-3xAVR on speakers.
If you want to listen to the TV tuner via the AVR, you'll need another TOSLINK cable for that.
What digital outputs does your old DVD player have?
--
Regards, Iain.
 
DVD has scart and 3 lead composite output, along with l / r / svid

To be honest, not hugely bothered about the DVD player, if it wont output surround sound over the scart.
Dont have a normal tv receiver, its all just through the skydish.

If I set a budget for the AVR/Speakers/Amp of say, £400, what would people suggest?

Would I be better getting just a pair of speakers for now
Eltax CONCEPT 180 Black | Speakers Per Pair | Richer Sounds
And a much better AVR
Yamaha RXV671 Black | AV Receiver | Richer Sounds

I can then add speakers as I go?
 
If you are looking for a subwoofer for your surround sound system then you might want to look at the CamBridgeAuto S90 Black Subwoofer from Richer Sounds. The price of the subwoofer is £149.95
 
Hi.
SCART can only ever carry stereo sound. Am surprised the DVD doesn't have digital out; the few I've seen have had both coax and optical...
You should be aware there's not all that much broadcast with surround sound.
There are package deals for that budget, Onkyo HTS3505 Black | 5.1 Package System inc. Speakers excluding DVD player | Richer Sounds for instance.
Don't get me wrong; those Pioneers you picked initially will work, and will completely outclass your TV speakers. Would probably pick them over those Eltax ones.
But a ~200 AVR would more normally be matched with a ~400 set of speakers.
Of course, if the 100 set of speakers are simply something to start with, you can always plan to upgrade to new speakers in 2014.
--
Regards, Iain.
 
Ok, so how about splurging on an expensive AVR, like the ONKYO TXNR609 (is upscaling worth having?) and one of the cheap speaker packs?
Should be a big improvement on the current tv speakers, and I can always upgrade later?
 
You should be aware there's not all that much broadcast with surround sound.

I was under the impression the AVR would, if not create true "surround sound", send the same signal to each speaker?

But a ~200 AVR would more normally be matched with a ~400 set of speakers.

So would a £150 AVR and a £350 set of speakers be a better buy?
At ths point, I'm giving up not posting links, my attempts didnt work well anyway
Wharfedale DX1 HCP Black | 5.1 Speaker Package | Richer Sounds
Onkyo TXSR309 Black | AV Receiver | Richer Sounds

I suppose my original plan was that I could buy the expensive AVR, a cheap speaker pack, and then upgrade speakers individualy (if thats possible)
 
Hi.
You should be able to choose between standard stereo (surrounds silent), all channel stereo (surrounds mirror the front stereo), or matrixed surround (eg ProLogic 2, where basically a surround signal is hidden in the stereo signal). Even my Onkyo 22HDX has nearly two dozen listening modes.
--
Regards, Iain.
 
Echoing iaint, I would be surprised if the DVD player does not have some sort of digital output. Even an ancient Phillips player here from the early days of DVDs has a coaxial digital output. This would almost certainly be a major improvement on sound quality over a SCART connection.

How about a new BluRay player? There are some good but cheap ones available now. I just bought a Toshiba and I am very pleased with it.
 
It might be replaced at some point, to be honest, I dont really watch DVD's much.
Lets assume at some point I get a new BRP that'll run over HD wont it?

Anyway.
So, a £350-£400 AV should be matched with £1200 - £1600 of speakers is the general rule?
Something like
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 7000 LR SATELLITE SPEAKERS (PAIR)
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 2020i SPEAKERS (PAIR)
those?

So I buy the funky AVR now, and uprade speakers as and when I have £200 going spare.
Would having very good front and centre, and 4 fairly poor sides/rear sound, off?

Is there any point getting really good speakers for sky?
 
It might be replaced at some point, to be honest, I dont really watch DVD's much.
Lets assume at some point I get a new BRP that'll run over HD wont it?

Anyway.
So, a £350-£400 AV should be matched with £1200 - £1600 of speakers is the general rule?
Something like
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 7000 LR SATELLITE SPEAKERS (PAIR)
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 2020i SPEAKERS (PAIR)
those?

So I buy the funky AVR now, and uprade speakers as and when I have £200 going spare.
Would having very good front and centre, and 4 fairly poor sides/rear sound, off?

Is there any point getting really good speakers for sky?

I can't say anything about sound from Sky, I have no experience of it. I have Virgin. The sound is good at times, you occasionally get a Dolby 5.1 sound track. It is comparable to DVD quality however I now find DVD level audio disappointing compared to BluRay. I listen to a lot of classical music and I have succumbed many times to BluRays (sometimes audio only ones) of music that I have already on CD or DVD. So, unless Sky has much better audio than Virgin, you won't be getting the best out of a good system unless you go BluRay (or HD DVD if you want to be perverse, I have some great sounding HD DVDs).
 
These are good little speaker but they only have white left now and I was going to buy another pair black, damn. A pair of these retailed for £180 they are 100w power handling and sound great and they come with wall brackets in each box. When I bought 2 of them I phoned acoustic energy on their contact number so I didn't have to pay 2 postages. Be quick because they must be going to run out soon. 5 of them plus postage only £183.

Acoustic Energy Aego T Satellite - White - RRP £90.00 | eBay

And here you can see they are selling one for £89

Acoustic Energy Aego T Satellite Speaker (Single) at Audio Affair

Or here £99 for a pair in black.

https://www.forumhifivisual.co.uk/Speakers/Satellite/ACOUSTIC_ENERGY_AEGO_T_SATELLITE_1766.html
 
-- As an eBay Associate, AVForums earns from qualifying purchases --
It might be replaced at some point, to be honest, I dont really watch DVD's much.
Lets assume at some point I get a new BRP that'll run over HD wont it?

Anyway.
So, a £350-£400 AV should be matched with £1200 - £1600 of speakers is the general rule?
Something like
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 7000 LR SATELLITE SPEAKERS (PAIR)
Superfi - Q ACOUSTICS 2020i SPEAKERS (PAIR)
those?

So I buy the funky AVR now, and uprade speakers as and when I have £200 going spare.
Would having very good front and centre, and 4 fairly poor sides/rear sound, off?

Is there any point getting really good speakers for sky?

A lot of my viewing is sky and the sound quality is good if its in DD surround and the main channels are like sky1 ot living but if something is in DD depends on the programme, but other wise you get dolby digital 2 channel sound what is very good. My fronts are acoustic energy aelite 3's and aelite centre with the satellites as rears, I have a 5.1 set up and aelites sound good with sky and the 3's were £750 when released and the centre will set you back around £260 so its not a waste to have good speakers with sky.
 
Ok, new plan.
After looking at £450 AVRs and £2000 of speakers, its occured thats a bit crazy (on my wages anyway).

I'm thinking the as the AVR
STRDH820
The 5.1 Pioneer £100 speaker pack

Then I can pick up a couple of floor standers whenever RS has them on clearance.

Does that sound anywhere near possible?

Speaing of floor standers.

They seem to come with three, or even more, individual speakers in them, I'm assuming the AVR will either know, or not need to know, or can be told, that there are tweeter domes ect?

Thanks for all your help
 
Speaing of floor standers.

They seem to come with three, or even more, individual speakers in them, I'm assuming the AVR will either know, or not need to know, or can be told, that there are tweeter domes ect?

You wire the floorstanders as you'd wire any other speaker. THe internal wiring takes care of what frequencies to send where.

AS for your proposed amp and speakers, I'd suggest the DEnon AVR1912 rather than the Sony. The Sony is a good entry level amp, but not on par with the DEnon in terms of its audio performance. The Denon is a bargain at the moment and not that much more than the Sony.

I'd also avoid the Pioneer speakers. They are this cheap for a reason. I know it goes against your new plan, but still look at buying good speakers from the offset. I'd suggest Monitor Audio Vector or Q Acoustics 2000 rather than the Pioneer speakers for use with the DEnon. Dali Zensor would be even better, but quite a bit more money.
 
AS for your proposed amp and speakers, I'd suggest the DEnon AVR1912 rather than the Sony. The Sony is a good entry level amp, but not on par with the DEnon in terms of its audio performance. The Denon is a bargain at the moment and not that much more than the Sony.

Can but concur. I own them both and use the Denon as my main and Sony with my PCs. For little more money the Denon is better in a whole number of different ways.
 
I'd love to spend £1000 on an AVR and speakers, but the Mrs might complain a bit, and then kill me.

I accept the pioneer/yamaha speaker packs wont be brilliant, but they will be considerably better than what comes with the TV, wont they?

I'm coming round on the Denon, and can justify the extra £50
My worry is the next speaker pack is £179-£200

The Sony and the Tannoy SFX 5.1 mght sound better tommorrow.
But will they in 6 months when I want a pair of £400 floor standers?

I think the Denon and the £100 speakers provide the best option for growth.

If I'm wrong, cool, I'll buy a something else
 
Reading the 1912 owner forum, very impressive.

If we say £200-£250 for speakers, could I get a reasonable sub and pair of speakers for that?

What would people advise?
 
F leads have arrived. Both ends are male. Please advise...
 
Have you considered second hand?

A very very quick look at the first pages of the relevant sections of the classified section threw up these two (not a recommendation just an example!).

Speakers
lhttp://www.avforums.com/forums/spea...-sale-q-acoustics-2000-5-1-package-240-a.html

Amp
http://www.avforums.com/forums/ampl...7444-sale-award-winning-denon-avr-1910-a.html

My rules about buying off these forums are

1) research the item you are buying for known faults and check out reviews

2) search history for recent sales of same/similar items and compare prices

3) buy from someone with plenty of posts on the forums and multiple positive trades (read comments left by people who have traded with them in the past).

4) buy local to you and collect - that way you can demo before you buy and make sure everything is as described. Also cheaper than posting and safer in terms of damage.

David
 
Found couplers at Maplins, so TV moved, signal strength isnt great, its about 60% on both one and two, however quality is up at 95%.
Didnt chec before I moved it, but they dont appear problematic.

Popped in to richer on saturday, took the other half, which was probably a mistake.
Ended up with the LG one box kit, very very impressed with it.

Watched "The Girl who played with fire" on DVD last night, just through a DVD player and a HDMI lead, absolutly mega. A bit iffy in places, but thats probably a film issue, some of the "dramatic" music was really loud.

Watched AVATAR this morning, it was all I had on the Sky Box that was DD, and I'm watching Game of Thrones now, which isnt marked as DD.
Both had easily identifiable different sound tracks for each speaker, which was a pleasent surprise for GoTs.
Thanks for the help
 

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