Looking for best Speaker & AVR Atmos setup for £1600-£1800

Hey gasp, sorry to be a pain with all the questions, but i have 2 more before i pull the trigger on the MA Bronze kit.

My first question is in regards to the FX rears, for atmos do you think it would be better getting these swapped out for Bronze 50's for Atmos effects ? or will the FX be better for general surround sound effect especially if it's just a DD 5.1 or DTS:X track ? or do you think the FX will still be better given that my sofa is pushed right against the wall ?

Lastly but probably the most important question for me :- Is room calibration using the Audyssey MultEQ XT a fairly straight forward process ? This is probably my biggest concern given that i've never done it before. In general i'm a fairly technical person as i work as IT Data Centre engineer, so deal with technical stuff on a daily basis. I just dont want to buy the AVR & MA set, if if it's difficult to get it setup right.

Just wish speaker manufacturers would move with the times and start including Mic's in their speakers to allow for "Auto Room Calibration" like the Sony HT-A9's as it would make it a bit easier for noobies like me to get into the hobby.

Both would work fine, but if you buy 50s you need the cheap speaker stands like Fisual Dynami Duo 60cm (check the link i posted earlier, 60£/pair in three finishes) and you need to place them ideally in the rear corners so they are not close by. I think it would work great then. However if you planned to place them each side of couch directly then i wouldn`t warm up for the idea as they would be very directional shouting near ears so close to listeners where as the FXs has two tweeters firing each direction so it would be helpful if near by. The decision is fully yours, which ever feels best and which also looks better as this is living room not man cave. You can only get the FX speakers in black or white. With the white the grille is greyish. If you buy 50s which are bit cheaper also then there is more finishes to choose from (click on the small pics):




The Denon comes with cardboard mic stand and mic, then with 100% silent room you place it first in main listening position (opposite to tv) and then 2nd and 3rd each side about 30-50cm tight area, the on-screen display tells you each phase so it`s very easy to setup. You don`t have to run the total of 8 mic positions. It plays different test tones so you will step out and make sure there is no noises or other folks in the house as it`s sensitive. There is however some things we need to change afterwards from the menu and before you run need to check speaker placement are optimized same as subwoofer. Nothing to worry about, we help members here daily with settings so ask away always, there is no silly questions.

Are you still ok with the idea of swapping the subwoofer? If you watch lots of action/scifi/horror/war etc. type flicks or tv-series then it would be worth every penny. As you changed to floorstanders the total cost will be higher. Just keep in mind that choosing floorstanders doesn´t change anything with the sub, you still want better one. Either the SVS or the Monolith 10 THX would be awesome to put a smile on your face.
 
Hi Gasp my room is fairly small and my sitting distance from the sub will only be 9ft, so i honestly think the included sub should more than enough.
 
i honestly think the included sub should more than enough.
Not really, although I guess it depends if you actually care about hearing everything on a movie's soundtrack at the level it was mixed at without distortion. If you do, you'll need sufficient SPL output at 20Hz for your room size and listening level and I doubt that any Monitor Audio packaged sub even extends to 20Hz, let alone have any meaningful output there.

If it's the MA Bronze W10 you're looking at then its frequency response specs are -3dB@33Hz / -10dB@28Hz. Given this it probably only has any significant SPL output capability from about 35Hz upwards so you'd almost be missing out on a whole octave of content.

Compare this to SVS PB-1000's FR of 19Hz-270 Hz ±3dB and Monoprice 10" THX's FR of -6dB@18Hz-200Hz.

Hopefully you can see why these SVS and Monoprice subs are in a totally different league performance wise.
 
Well this has been a disastrous morning - I went to richer sounds for my demo that i had booked and it hadn't been setup, so was less than happy to drive a 30m round trip for nothing.

On the way back i called into my local Peter Tyson shop and had a really a very poor experience. The sales guys were just completely disinterested and extremely rude as mid discussions about my requirements on 2 occasions i got ask if could just wait, so they could go and speak to other customers.

I could see what was happening, these other customer were turning up in very flashy cars, so the sales guys were clearly thinking that the other customers must have much deeper pockets and were no longer interested in dealing with me. In the end i just walked out.

So i'm done with the whole avr & speaker route - i'm just going to buy the new new Samsung HW-Q990B when it comes out next month.

Hi there,

I saw your comments on the thread and was obviously most concerned to read of your poor experience at one of our branches.

So that I may investigate further, and resolve the matter to your complete satisfaction, please could you PM me with some more information?

Sincere apologies again, hope to hear from you soon.

Tom Griffiths
Head of Customer Service
Richer Sounds
 
Not really, although I guess it depends if you actually care about hearing everything on a movie's soundtrack at the level it was mixed at without distortion. If you do, you'll need sufficient SPL output at 20Hz for your room size and listening level and I doubt that any Monitor Audio packaged sub even extends to 20Hz, let alone have any meaningful output there.

If it's the MA Bronze W10 you're looking at then its frequency response specs are -3dB@33Hz / -10dB@28Hz. Given this it probably only has any significant SPL output capability from about 35Hz upwards so you'd almost be missing out on a whole octave of content.

Compare this to SVS PB-1000's FR of 19Hz-270 Hz ±3dB and Monoprice 10" THX's FR of -6dB@18Hz-200Hz.

Hopefully you can see why these SVS and Monoprice subs are in a totally different league performance wise.
Hi Mr Wolf,

Unfortunately I'm limited to a certain budget, so there must always be compromises. My original budget was £1600-£1800 and adding that Monoprice sub would push me way past my original budget.

The Denon & Bronze 200 pack i'm looking at is £1469.99 so only leaves about £300 in the budget - which i'm thinking i would keep for a set of AMS front down firing speakers to give some height effects using DTS:X
 
Hi there,

I saw your comments on the thread and was obviously most concerned to read of your poor experience at one of our branches.

So that I may investigate further, and resolve the matter to your complete satisfaction, please could you PM me with some more information?

Sincere apologies again, hope to hear from you soon.

Tom Griffiths
Head of Customer Service
Richer Sounds
Hi Tom,

Dont worry about it - it is what it is and to be honest it's given me more time to put the brakes on a bit and think a bit more about what i want as my room layout is less than ideal.
 
Hi Mr Wolf,

Unfortunately I'm limited to a certain budget, so there must always be compromises. My original budget was £1600-£1800 and adding that Monoprice sub would push me way past my original budget.

The Denon & Bronze 200 pack i'm looking at is £1469.99 so only leaves about £300 in the budget - which i'm thinking i would keep for a set of AMS front down firing speakers to give some height effects using DTS:X
Tbh given what you currently have even the included sub will be a step up for bass and you can always upgrade to a better sub later. With advances in technology you are getting a decent starter setup and even the sub will be a lot better than the crappy ones that came with these type of speaker sets years ago.
 
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You could ask whoever you're buying from to swap the sub with the atmos speakers, or remove the sub entirely - for an appropriate discount, obviously - and then put all that money towards a better sub.
 
Hi Gasp my room is fairly small and my sitting distance from the sub will only be 9ft, so i honestly think the included sub should more than enough.

It`s not even about loudness alone as there is going to be different feel even with moderate listening levels.

Remember what i said earlier about asking the dealer bundle deal price without the sub. It will drop about ~200£ if W10 is taken out i would guess. Also if you send email to Monoprice UK there is good chance that you get discount code if you ask for it specifically for the "old" Mono 10 THX model. The new model is called M10 V2.

Most members here would agree that better subwoofer would be lot more important to get right than pair of upfiring speakers which can be easily added later. Swapping the sub is going to be hassle selling old first etc.
 
Hi Tom,

Dont worry about it - it is what it is and to be honest it's given me more time to put the brakes on a bit and think a bit more about what i want as my room layout is less than ideal.

Thanks for the reply, I understand. However, I would be extremely keen to find out which branch let you down so I can at least address this with them to ensure the same thing is not repeated in the future.

If you would be so kind as to drop me a PM with the details I'd be most grateful.

Many thanks

Tom Griffiths
Head of Customer Service
Richer Sounds
 
Just to add emphasis to what @Gasp3621 is saying, the phrase "night and day difference" is massively overused on this forum but when it comes to the differences between the subwoofers you're considering that's exactly what you're talking about. The performance difference between those subs is not subtle at all and the better ones will significantly increase your enjoyment levels. By comparison, AVRs almost all sound the same unless they're being over-taxed. I'd rather have 5.1 with a decent sub than any higher channel count with a bad one.

I would be extremely keen to find out which branch let you down
In the interests of balance, I'd just like to mention that I've always received a fantastic service from various RS branches I've dealt with over the past 25 years or so. And I'm not the easiest customer to please either. :)
 
Well this has been a disastrous morning - I went to richer sounds for my demo that i had booked and it hadn't been setup, so was less than happy to drive a 30m round trip for nothing.

On the way back i called into my local Peter Tyson shop and had a really a very poor experience. The sales guys were just completely disinterested and extremely rude as mid discussions about my requirements on 2 occasions i got ask if could just wait, so they could go and speak to other customers.

I could see what was happening, these other customer were turning up in very flashy cars, so the sales guys were clearly thinking that the other customers must have much deeper pockets and were no longer interested in dealing with me. In the end i just walked out.

So i'm done with the whole avr & speaker route - i'm just going to buy the new new Samsung HW-Q990B when it comes out next month.

if ur gonna go soundbar, just buy an AVR and the 2 best tower speakers u can get (they'd be the second hand KEF Rs on the classfieilds if u can negotiate a good discount).

honestly soundbar isnt worth it unless ur gonna build a super ultra soundbar
 

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