Hi All. I'm replacing my ageing Sony STR-KS1100 all in one system with something new. The living room is now 6mx6m and c. 2.8m high. TV centred on one wall and sofa directly in front in the centre of the room. Whilst I know I don't have the ideal set-up just now I have placed all of my satellite speakers in the corners of the room at ceiling level pointing towards the sofa with the centre channel below the TV and the sub in the corner. All of those locations have been wired and I really don't want to be moving stuff about if I can avoid it.
The vast majority of what we need is for watching movies with some music and a nice turntable attached. I have opted to go with the Denon AVR-X2600H over the Sony STRDN1080 receiver for no other reason than the Denon looks to be more connected/ future proofed AND it has a dedicated phono input to allow me to tidy up some cabling. I'm totally stumped with speaker choice however. Having looked through a lot of websites/ reviews and forum posts I'm still undecided and potentially even more confused between the Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2, the Q Acoustics 7000i Plus or a self-build Radius system suggested by Richer Sounds last week.
I'll start off by saying that I haven't listened to any of the options I'm about to discuss below as my local retailers do not have them set up for demo. I was initially settled on the Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2. I could simply place them all where I have pre-wired my current set up. I have considered purchasing another pair of satellites and placing them at the same level as the centre channel to act as left/ right and then using the pair at high level in front as the Atmos pair but I have no idea whether you think that is a sensible compromise. The alternative to that is the Q Acoustics 7000i Plus set-up. Slightly more expensive but I cannot determine whether that is justified from the reviews I've read. I'm not after an audiophile experience and my other half will kill ANY attempt to put large speakers anywhere. It's not the money that concerns me (although I don't really want to spend silly amounts) but I would like something discrete. I assume you'll tell me anything I'm going to put in will be night and day from my current set up but this is going to last me 10 years or more so I'll happily stretch if it's the right thing to do.
I was speaking with Richer Sounds in Edinburgh and they suggested the 7.1 setup I refer to above. With the budget suggestion above they went on to suggest maybe building my own system using the Q Acoustics Radius range with a Tannoy TS2.8 sub (initially). 225 centre channel below the TV with a pair of 90's left and right at the same level. I could then use 2 pairs of the 45's at ceiling level opting to utilise the front high levels as the Atmos channel. They were quite up front that it was a significant step up from both options I had been looking at but in their opinion it would offer the best movie and music set up for my needs AND future proof me like the receiver would.
Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2 plus additional satellites £799
Q Acoustics 7000i Plus plus additional satellites £920
Monitor Audio Radius £1300
All the prices above are before any bundled deal of which there are a few just now (for the first 2 options at least). Can any of you offer insights? Is scaling up to the radius sensible for what I need? As a novice I presume picking separates offers the best quality v best price from bundled systems? Apologies if I've missed any essential information. I can add more if needed..
The vast majority of what we need is for watching movies with some music and a nice turntable attached. I have opted to go with the Denon AVR-X2600H over the Sony STRDN1080 receiver for no other reason than the Denon looks to be more connected/ future proofed AND it has a dedicated phono input to allow me to tidy up some cabling. I'm totally stumped with speaker choice however. Having looked through a lot of websites/ reviews and forum posts I'm still undecided and potentially even more confused between the Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2, the Q Acoustics 7000i Plus or a self-build Radius system suggested by Richer Sounds last week.
I'll start off by saying that I haven't listened to any of the options I'm about to discuss below as my local retailers do not have them set up for demo. I was initially settled on the Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2. I could simply place them all where I have pre-wired my current set up. I have considered purchasing another pair of satellites and placing them at the same level as the centre channel to act as left/ right and then using the pair at high level in front as the Atmos pair but I have no idea whether you think that is a sensible compromise. The alternative to that is the Q Acoustics 7000i Plus set-up. Slightly more expensive but I cannot determine whether that is justified from the reviews I've read. I'm not after an audiophile experience and my other half will kill ANY attempt to put large speakers anywhere. It's not the money that concerns me (although I don't really want to spend silly amounts) but I would like something discrete. I assume you'll tell me anything I'm going to put in will be night and day from my current set up but this is going to last me 10 years or more so I'll happily stretch if it's the right thing to do.
I was speaking with Richer Sounds in Edinburgh and they suggested the 7.1 setup I refer to above. With the budget suggestion above they went on to suggest maybe building my own system using the Q Acoustics Radius range with a Tannoy TS2.8 sub (initially). 225 centre channel below the TV with a pair of 90's left and right at the same level. I could then use 2 pairs of the 45's at ceiling level opting to utilise the front high levels as the Atmos channel. They were quite up front that it was a significant step up from both options I had been looking at but in their opinion it would offer the best movie and music set up for my needs AND future proof me like the receiver would.
Monitor Audio Mass 5.1 Gen 2 plus additional satellites £799
Q Acoustics 7000i Plus plus additional satellites £920
Monitor Audio Radius £1300
All the prices above are before any bundled deal of which there are a few just now (for the first 2 options at least). Can any of you offer insights? Is scaling up to the radius sensible for what I need? As a novice I presume picking separates offers the best quality v best price from bundled systems? Apologies if I've missed any essential information. I can add more if needed..