cmoore
Standard Member
Hello all,
your opinions and guidance please... I am looking into buying a completely new system for both home cinema and music. I have read all of the magazines I could find, been to the various local hifi shops, spoken to friends and read this forum. As you can imagine I am now very confused. I know this is all personal preference but the collective experience here might be able to distil some of this into viable packages that work well together and I can test further.
So requirements:
I want to take a relatively large step up from what I have today (will come on to that in a moment). The main purpose is HC but it would be nice if music sounded good too. Ideally after spending the kind of money that this is going to cost I don't want to visit my friends houses and then come home and want to throw my new kit away. So I am up against Arcam DAVE/PAM, Dynaudio audience speakers and arcam 88 plus dvd player (plus some £1000 dedicated cd player - but thats not for my world).
Overall budget is a bit flexible but trying to get as much change as possible from £10K (was 8K when I first looked but seems to be creeping).
So I am after a plasma screen (I will add a projector sometime later).
A DVD player to drive this that can also give me good results with CDs and maybe DVD Audio when it is worth it.
An amp to drive it all - ideally a receiver rather than separates for the sake of space, simplicity and functionality, but would consider separates if worth while.
Then of course the seemingly hardest of the lot, speakers.
What I have today:
Denon AVR3300 Receiver.
B&W 600 series speakers (602 front 601 rear matching centre - I forget the number)
Rel Strata II sub
Pioneer 525 DVD
Sony 41 rear projection tv (it really is quite good before you all cast dispersions on it)
What I have been pointed towards:
Plasmas seem come down to Panasonic PW6 vs the Pioneer 434. I went to see them both in the same shop on Saturday but only had 15 minutes left before closing. I will have to go back for a longer look. They were using Lord of the Rings and my impression was the that Pioneer had better colour but the black and overall contrast of the Pannywas better. There was also a slight flicker on the PW6 whereas the 434 was rock solid. Both with DV88 plus via component. This view was brief so I am going back with the 5th Element as it has a variety of conditions for testing them. Bonus for the 434 is higher res and media box.
DVD seems to come down to Denon 2900, Pioneer 757i and the Arcam DV88 plus. Everything points at the Arcam being the winner in quality for both DVD and CD. This is of course all ruined now with the impending arrival of the Pioneer 868 with HDMI.
Amps start getting a little harder with contenders being the Pioneer 5axi or 10axi, Denon 11 or 1, Rotel receiver 1075?? or Rotel separates, Hardon Karmon receiver and of course the Arcam avr300. There is obviously two price points going on here and if I can get away with the £1500 one the great otherwise its a jump up to the £2500 one. Much difference? Only one person has had anything good to say about the Arcam AVR200 so mixed opinions about hopes for the AVR300. Main hope there is that with such poor sales of the AVR200 Arcam will make sure the 300 is right. If I go down the route of Pioneer screen and the 868 then the amp would look good and share the ilink connection but just read a thread that inferred that the denon a1 is clearer and has the slight edge over the 10axi. Is the 10axi worth it from the 5axi which in itself seems to be a 3axi with ilink.
Speakers... how hard is this bit?? Almost ready to give up now! Obviously shops recommend their brands but this is what I found: Dynaudio audience could be a good bet clear and good range. M&K are the av speaker maker and nothing would be better. Now the man who doesn't sell them almost spat on me for mentioning them saying they are dreadful for hifi and I should choose hifi speakers and then add the matching surround speakers. He suggested I hear PMC FB1 and associated (transmission line mixed thoughts here too) and some Ruark speakers for around £2K as well. Now I also note that many people posting here seem to have Kef Reference or Mission something or other. Very confused in this area as to what to even test. The PMC sub is £1500 and all other speakers are recommended with a Rel sub. Also they say mine is not that different to bother replacing. Oh this all started because I saw the B&W CM6 package - looked very nice, but alas I am told that they do not sound as good as they look.
Of course another requirement is that it must all look good in my lounge!
I know there is a lot here, but if you could even point me in the right direction for a few bits that would be very much appreciated.
If I have missed something that would help shout and I will add the info. If you read this far then thanks for taking the time with this.
Thanks in advance,
Chris.
your opinions and guidance please... I am looking into buying a completely new system for both home cinema and music. I have read all of the magazines I could find, been to the various local hifi shops, spoken to friends and read this forum. As you can imagine I am now very confused. I know this is all personal preference but the collective experience here might be able to distil some of this into viable packages that work well together and I can test further.
So requirements:
I want to take a relatively large step up from what I have today (will come on to that in a moment). The main purpose is HC but it would be nice if music sounded good too. Ideally after spending the kind of money that this is going to cost I don't want to visit my friends houses and then come home and want to throw my new kit away. So I am up against Arcam DAVE/PAM, Dynaudio audience speakers and arcam 88 plus dvd player (plus some £1000 dedicated cd player - but thats not for my world).
Overall budget is a bit flexible but trying to get as much change as possible from £10K (was 8K when I first looked but seems to be creeping).
So I am after a plasma screen (I will add a projector sometime later).
A DVD player to drive this that can also give me good results with CDs and maybe DVD Audio when it is worth it.
An amp to drive it all - ideally a receiver rather than separates for the sake of space, simplicity and functionality, but would consider separates if worth while.
Then of course the seemingly hardest of the lot, speakers.
What I have today:
Denon AVR3300 Receiver.
B&W 600 series speakers (602 front 601 rear matching centre - I forget the number)
Rel Strata II sub
Pioneer 525 DVD
Sony 41 rear projection tv (it really is quite good before you all cast dispersions on it)
What I have been pointed towards:
Plasmas seem come down to Panasonic PW6 vs the Pioneer 434. I went to see them both in the same shop on Saturday but only had 15 minutes left before closing. I will have to go back for a longer look. They were using Lord of the Rings and my impression was the that Pioneer had better colour but the black and overall contrast of the Pannywas better. There was also a slight flicker on the PW6 whereas the 434 was rock solid. Both with DV88 plus via component. This view was brief so I am going back with the 5th Element as it has a variety of conditions for testing them. Bonus for the 434 is higher res and media box.
DVD seems to come down to Denon 2900, Pioneer 757i and the Arcam DV88 plus. Everything points at the Arcam being the winner in quality for both DVD and CD. This is of course all ruined now with the impending arrival of the Pioneer 868 with HDMI.
Amps start getting a little harder with contenders being the Pioneer 5axi or 10axi, Denon 11 or 1, Rotel receiver 1075?? or Rotel separates, Hardon Karmon receiver and of course the Arcam avr300. There is obviously two price points going on here and if I can get away with the £1500 one the great otherwise its a jump up to the £2500 one. Much difference? Only one person has had anything good to say about the Arcam AVR200 so mixed opinions about hopes for the AVR300. Main hope there is that with such poor sales of the AVR200 Arcam will make sure the 300 is right. If I go down the route of Pioneer screen and the 868 then the amp would look good and share the ilink connection but just read a thread that inferred that the denon a1 is clearer and has the slight edge over the 10axi. Is the 10axi worth it from the 5axi which in itself seems to be a 3axi with ilink.
Speakers... how hard is this bit?? Almost ready to give up now! Obviously shops recommend their brands but this is what I found: Dynaudio audience could be a good bet clear and good range. M&K are the av speaker maker and nothing would be better. Now the man who doesn't sell them almost spat on me for mentioning them saying they are dreadful for hifi and I should choose hifi speakers and then add the matching surround speakers. He suggested I hear PMC FB1 and associated (transmission line mixed thoughts here too) and some Ruark speakers for around £2K as well. Now I also note that many people posting here seem to have Kef Reference or Mission something or other. Very confused in this area as to what to even test. The PMC sub is £1500 and all other speakers are recommended with a Rel sub. Also they say mine is not that different to bother replacing. Oh this all started because I saw the B&W CM6 package - looked very nice, but alas I am told that they do not sound as good as they look.
Of course another requirement is that it must all look good in my lounge!
I know there is a lot here, but if you could even point me in the right direction for a few bits that would be very much appreciated.
If I have missed something that would help shout and I will add the info. If you read this far then thanks for taking the time with this.
Thanks in advance,
Chris.