AV + speakers to go with Toshiba HD-DVD + Samsung 1080p Screen in £250-£500 range?

spanky2k

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First of all, apologies for the long title, so many threads appear on here looking for recommendations that I don't think people bother clicking on them without knowing what kind of price range etc will be asked for.

Right, I'm thinking of getting a new set up. For various reasons, I'll be replacing pretty much everything. So far I'm pretty sure I've decided on the Samsung LE46M87BD/LE46M87BDX 46" 1080p LCD set and the soon to be released Toshiba HD-EP30 HD-DVD player although I may stretch on the latter to the HD-EP35 if anyone can give me good reason to, particularly in regard to the main brunt of this message.

Can anyone give me any recomendations on an av amp + speakers combo in the (roughly) £250-£500 price range, specifically to match well with the above equipment, a Wii and maybe Sky HD. I don't mind switching around a bit on the TV though so everything doesn't *have* to be piped through the amp.
Things I'd really like although are probably not possible in this price range are: upscaling of all inputs and specifically component to HDMI, upscaling to 1080p (long shot), black piano look or something nice (basically not silver). Right now I'm not particularly interested in 6.1 or 7.1 unless anyone can convince me otherwise (since I think all HD content is 5.1 right now). I also don't really care about things like digital radio and I don't really want something with a dvd player built in (because it'll never be used).

Any ideas?
 
Spanky

For that price range I think the Song STR DG910 does most of what you want but I don't believe it upscales to 1080p.

Sony STR-DG910 specs here

Key points from the spec that might interest you:
"Video Up-conversion to HDMI . You will need only one HDMI cable to your TV and just switch the video sources on your receiver."

"A V SYNC (Variable Fixed)
YES (variable 0-200ms)

Assignable HDMI Video IN
NO

Assinable Component Video IN
NO

Input Signal (Up to)
1080p

Output Signal (Up to)
1080p

Sampling Freequency (96kHz 48kHz)
96kHz

Upscaling (HDMI Component)
NO/NO

Video Down Converter (Digital Analog)
NO

Video Up Converter (S Component HDMI)
NO/YES"
 
Thanks for that DannyB!

I did a bit more searching around and I saw that the Onkyo 605 is only £300. People seem to love it on here although I'm not sure if it does scaling so I'll look into that and the Sony you mentioned a bit more.

Does anyone know if you can get a half-decent surround set of speakers for under £200?
 
For £300 that's a nice price.

Reckon you will be selling your amp short if you spend that much on speakers, but then we do live in the real world sometimes so it will be interesting to see what people say. I would like to spend 400ish on my next speakers. More would be great, but I have a wedding to pay for :suicide:
 
Thanks for that DannyB!

I did a bit more searching around and I saw that the Onkyo 605 is only £300. People seem to love it on here although I'm not sure if it does scaling so I'll look into that and the Sony you mentioned a bit more.

Does anyone know if you can get a half-decent surround set of speakers for under £200?


£300? Where? I was looking for this but the cheapest I could find was the full £399.

Cheers
 
Ahhh nuts, you're right, £399 not £300. The STR DG910 was £300.

The Sony doesn't appear to have component input though, which I'd want for the Wii since I don't think the Samsung LCD TVs have component in.

Speaker wise I was thinking of the Tannoy EFX5.1 Speaker set for £214.95 or the Mordaunt Short Avant Premiere speaker set for £299.90 although I'm really beginning to head out of my original budget. Basically I wanted to get the Samsung 46" + HD-DVD + Amp + Speakers for under £2000. The girlfriend is already very unhappy that I want to spend £1250 on a TV, she doesn't know about the HD-DVD + new surround system yet!

Right, the things I can imagine wanting to hook up to the TV/AV system are now: HD-DVD, Sky HD, Wii, possibly an Apple TV or Mac Mini, maybe at some point an Xbox Elite although I doubt it. I think amp wise component to hdmi conversion is a necessary, whichever method will give good sound from an HD-DVD player is needed and if possible, as many HDMI inputs as possible. I also don't really like the sound of the 650 downscaling 1080i to 720p but if I do everything via HDMI then that wouldn't matter.
 
....
The Sony doesn't appear to have component input though, which I'd want for the Wii since I don't think the Samsung LCD TVs have component in.
....

"Component Video In Out (Pass through) 3/1"

I think you'll find the DG910 has Component in, unless I have misunderstood your point? Component in is also fed out via HDMI if you so want it (or you can pass through if you want to for some reason)
 
Ha ha. Your pretty much in the same boat as me mate. I was only gonna spend about £500 for the speakers and amp, but things change, and the more I look into it, the more I wanna spend.

I've already spent £350 on my speakers (Wharfdale Diamond 9.1 surround set-up from superfly), with a view to adding the Wharfdale evo2 floorstanding speakers later :suicide:

Which then brought me to the amps. I was looking at that Sony for £300 aswell, but then after reading all the reviews about the 605 I am swaying more to that (well until someone told me to go for the 705 for a little more cash :suicide::suicide::lease::suicide:)

As far as going from 1080i to 720p are they not pretty much the same resolution? Some-one somewhere said that the 720p actually looks nicer than the 1080i anyway? He could be wrong, but I thought they were about the same (quality, depending on what your watching).


QUOTE:

To answer the question, it's important to understand the difference between 720p vs 1080i. A 720p signal is made up of 720 horizontal lines. Each frame is displayed in its entirety on-screen for 1/30th of a second. This is know as progressive scan (hence the 'p')The quality is like watching 30 photographic images a second on TV. A 1080i signal comprises 1080 horizontal lines but all the lines are not displayed on-screen simultaneously. Instead, they are interlaced (hence the 'i'), ie every other lines is displayed for 1/60th of a second and then the alternate lines are displayed for 1/60th of a second. So, the frame rate is still 30 frames per second, but each frame is split into two fields, which your brain then puts together subconsciously.

Most of the time interlacing works fine, but for fast moving images, such as sports like baseball and hockey it can cause problems which manifest themselves as a 'stepping' effect on-screen. Progressive scan signals don't have this problem and so are better suited to sports.
 
Those Wharfedales look pretty nice. Argh, this is all getting so expensive!! The 705 does have an extra HDMI port but I don't think there's anything else on it that I'd use over a 605 and £200+ extra for an extra HDMI port is kind of overkill. Hmmmm... maybe I should have a look for some cheaper amps that don't do as much scaling but do convert component to HDMI and have more HDMI inputs... long shot...

In regards to 720p vs 1080i, while I know that in sheer number of pixels per second they're pretty much the same, I'd guess that 1080i would look better than 720p on a 1080p screen.
 
Well, as said earlier, it depends on what your watching I suppose, as to what would look better....

As for the differences between amps...

Well, as this guy said :

On the 705 you get the following features in addition/instead of what you get on the 605:-

-THX™ Select2™ Certified.

-Cirrus Logic 192 kHz/24-Bit Audio DACs for All Channels.

-HDMI 1.3a Audio and Video Processing (3 Inputs and
1 Output)(as opposed to 2 in 1 out on 605).

-Three TI (Aureus™) 32-Bit DSP Chips for Advanced Processing (As opposed to a single chip on the 605).

-Audyssey MultEQ® XT (As opposed to 2eq on the 605).

-RS232, IR and 12V Trigger Connectivity

-Onkyo RIHD (Remote Interactive Over HDMI) for System
Control.

-6 Digital Inputs (3 Optical and 3 Coaxial) and 1 Optical
Output.

-Color-Coded 7.1-Multichannel Inputs and Pre Outs.

-Learning Remote
Control with Macros and Mode-Key LEDs.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

I personally think all of these are worth the xtra cash.


I think the learning remote sounds really nice, and the extra inputs would be very nice, maybe not for right now, but by the time I get my elite, ps3 and dvd player hooked up (well, bought first) that'll be them all used.

Plus the extra processing power, I think it would be worth paying the extra couple hundred pounds now rather than looking at replacing the unit with something that costs that much anyway, in a couple years.

Just my (well, and others) opinion though, and up to you what you do (obviously), but maybe that amp is too good for my speakers anyway, lol.
 
In regards to 720p vs 1080i, while I know that in sheer number of pixels per second they're pretty much the same, I'd guess that 1080i would look better than 720p on a 1080p screen.

Forget about the upscaling. The amps at that price won't make as good a job of it as your telly.

Incidentally, I believe there is a 'secret' menu on the Onkyo 605 that does allow it to upscale. It's not officially supported by Onkyo, though. Google it or search this forum for more info.
 

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