Help with moving from stereo to HT speakers

N

NAH

Guest
Been following the discussions with interest and hope someone here can give me some advice. Sorry for the long post!

Just bought a 50" Panny panel and now need to upgrade my stereo set-up for 5.0 or 5.1.

I have CDM1NTs driven by a Primare 30.1 amp. A great HiFi which I would recommend to anyone who doesn't play 90% dance music.

Initially I thought I would buy a separate HT set-up - a set of KEF 5005's and drive them with a Denon 2805. But I am concerned that this won't have enough power to fill the room (6m x 12m - but HT set-up only in one half of the room).

So now, having read some of the threads here, I though I would be better buying some larger front speakers and a matching centre and moving the CDM1NT's round for rears.

As I already have the 1NT's I thought it best to stick to B&W and was thinking the following:

1. 703's plus center - 1NT's for rears
2. 703's plus centre plus sub - 1NT's for rears. Do I need the sub with 703's?
3. 704's plus centre plus sub
4. 1NT's plus centre plus DM600's for rears plus sub

I will try to find somewhere to listen to the various speakers.

Appreciate any views on these options before I start.

Do any of you have a similar set-up?

Any better alternatives to the B&W's (given I already have the CDM's)?


Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Neil
 
You will need a sub with any of those speakers.

I don't think you need to stick to B&W, the front rear match is far less important the the front 3 match. Having said that either the 704 or 703 would be a good choice, I was impressed when I demoed them (although I prefer the Electras in the end and am using my old 602s as rears).

It is a pretty big room, you may well need floorstanding fronts. I don't know how loud you are likely to listen though.

If you go with any of them though I would suggest something better than a 2805 to power them, either a higher end receiver (a 2nd hand Pioneer AX10 for example) or a 2nd hand pre/pro and power amp.
 
Thanks for the response.

Indeed if I ditch the sat/sub combo idea I will need more power to drive the speakers.

I was thinking of the Denon 3805 or similar. Using the preout for the fronts into the Primare amp. The centre and rears being driven by the Denon.

I have an Arcam Alpha 8 amp which I could also use to run the rears or centre, then perhaps the 2805 would be enough. Is this a crazy idea? Will the different 'sound colour' of each amp ruin the tonal match of the HT set-up?

Again any help welcome.

Cheers,

Neil
 
If you want to get fully involved with movies and feel the juicy bits as well as hear them you will need a subwoofer. I had a pair of CDM1NT's that I didn't keep for long as I thought that the matching centre was too large.

A couple of months later I bought an AV rack that would have housed the rather large centre quite easily under my TV set

If you can fit in a decent B&W matching centre why not keep your existing main speakers exactly where they are as they are good speakers (no need to tell you that) and buy something else for rears. Perhaps even another pair of the same speakers.

Subwooferwise - the world is your oyster and you are only restricted by the size that you are willing to accomodate and the price that you are willing to pay. B&W make some excellent subs as rags and Stellavision are sure to tell you if they see this thread.
 
NAH

I cant imagine anyone who's running your present 2.0 set up is ever going to be happy with a 'relatively' low cost sub/sat 5.1 system - an Anthony Gallo mix and match system using Due, A' Diva and Micro's may just about do the trick; though at a cost.

How about starting with a decent quality AV Pre Amp/Processor (Atlantic Technology P-2000) using that to 'manage' your two stereo amplifiers to start with and giving you the option to add in amplification to take you up to 7 channels of surround sound.

You may even find the P-2000 is 'clean' enough when its in Analogue Bypass mode with your HiFi sources that you can forgo your HiFi amp at some stage.

I'd add in another pair of B&W speakers plus an active sub to give you a 4.1 system that can grow into 5.1 or 7.1 as required - the Atlantic Technology P-2000 will allow you to create a phantom centre until such times as your budget allows an additional speaker and channel of amplification.

Best regards

Joe

For exclusive Atlantic Technology pricing see - http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142513&referrerid=11056
 

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