Recommendation for home cinema

Abs77

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I am looking for some advice/inspiration on setting a home cinema set up on a budget.
My room is 3 x 9 m with ceiling height of 2.5m.

I am looking to buy a used AVR for about £250 (Yamaha or Arcam) and pair it with a decent speaker system.
It will be used only for movies or TV. I do not need 4K or music streaming abilities.

With regards speakers I would be happy to start with 2.1 system or 4.1 system foregoing the centre channel for the moment. The screen is 122 inch diagonal and I am hoping a decent R/L speaker should suffice. So to start with I would need a sub + front R/L speakers +/- wall mounted satellites for rear surround (Like KEF101 or similar).
I am hoping to spend £500 or less for speakers. Probably be looking to buy used or even open box etc.

any recommendations would be highly appreciated.

A
 
It`s very hard to give recommendations for used gear, but what i have heard and can recommend would be Monitor Audio Bronze 2 which would fit your budget. They are overall enjoyable speakers for low price and fairly easy to drive also. Someone at London selling new pair for 170£, you would also buy 600mm tall speaker stands for them! I would assume 30£ is plenty for used stands. Check the top plate size. I will link one option which would be ideal with Bronzes.


If you aren`t familiar with them, read few reviews:


Subwoofer is something i wouldn´t buy used as you never know if the amp dies soon. You have about 300£ left from your budget so KLH Windsor 12" ported would be good pick. Well let`s put it this way, there is nothing better for the price new while keeping in mind the larger room size of yours and your use. American Audio is AVF advertiser so not some dark dealer either.
 
It`s very hard to give recommendations for used gear, but what i have heard and can recommend would be Monitor Audio Bronze 2 which would fit your budget. They are overall enjoyable speakers for low price and fairly easy to drive also. Someone at London selling new pair for 170£, you would also buy 600mm tall speaker stands for them! I would assume 30£ is plenty for used stands. Check the top plate size. I will link one option which would be ideal with Bronzes.


If you aren`t familiar with them, read few reviews:


Subwoofer is something i wouldn´t buy used as you never know if the amp dies soon. You have about 300£ left from your budget so KLH Windsor 12" ported would be good pick. Well let`s put it this way, there is nothing better for the price new while keeping in mind the larger room size of yours and your use. American Audio is AVF advertiser so not some dark dealer either.

Thank you for your very helpful reply. To be honest, I did not know about the monitor audio bronze 2 but looking at the reviews, it might just be what I need.
I was also considering the Q acoustic concept 20/Elac Debut 5.2/KEF 350 or the BW 607 or 606 - got so overwhelmed by the choices hence the post.
I take your point about the subwoofers - I bought a refurbished REL T9 from Richer Sounds for £500 with 1 year warranty and I was hoping to get one of their clearance subwoofer with warranty again.

Would you perhaps have any suggestion on a reasonable AVR - I was looking at the ARCAM AVR 350 or perhaps Yamaha RX-A 1010 or 1020? would they be any good or should I look to buy a newer AVR?

A
 
Thank you for your very helpful reply. To be honest, I did not know about the monitor audio bronze 2 but looking at the reviews, it might just be what I need.
I was also considering the Q acoustic concept 20/Elac Debut 5.2/KEF 350 or the BW 607 or 606 - got so overwhelmed by the choices hence the post.
I take your point about the subwoofers - I bought a refurbished REL T9 from Richer Sounds for £500 with 1 year warranty and I was hoping to get one of their clearance subwoofer with warranty again.

Would you perhaps have any suggestion on a reasonable AVR - I was looking at the ARCAM AVR 350 or perhaps Yamaha RX-A 1010 or 1020? would they be any good or should I look to buy a newer AVR?

A

Well known speakers on the list and if they go within your budget then by all means, although my preference would be on the larger models (Debut 6.2, Q350, B&W 606, Bronze 2).

So you had REL T9 but likely sold it as you mentioned you need sub now. With 500£ budget it`s not easy with speakers, stands and good sub. With your use being movies with big screen and nearly 30sqm room the woofer needs to be decent. The KLH is 12" ported sub which got some praise on sister forum AVSF in 7.2.4 KLH review. You can´t spend 500£ for BK Monolith which would be more ideal and i wouldn´t buy any small REL either or other cheapos from RS. The KLH has 5year driver warranty and 2years on amp!

Arcam AVR350 looks to be very old, 2006 released with HDMI 1.1 version. No support for DTS HD MA / Dolby TrueHD either, but more importantly i would be more worried how long it`s going to last.

I have had few Yamahas over the years and they are known from the reliability (even RX-V) so that would be my pick. Buy the latest model you can afford, most people feels that 1000-2000 range is the sweet spot. A1020 is 2012 model and has the better R.S.C YPAO correction. A1030 adds ESS DAC etc. The power output specs has been same since A1010 to this day (A1080) so the powersupply is same, just more features, better version of room correction, better DAC etc.

 
Well known speakers on the list and if they go within your budget then by all means, although my preference would be on the larger models (Debut 6.2, Q350, B&W 606, Bronze 2).

So you had REL T9 but likely sold it as you mentioned you need sub now. With 500£ budget it`s not easy with speakers, stands and good sub. With your use being movies with big screen and nearly 30sqm room the woofer needs to be decent. The KLH is 12" ported sub which got some praise on sister forum AVSF in 7.2.4 KLH review. You can´t spend 500£ for BK Monolith which would be more ideal and i wouldn´t buy any small REL either or other cheapos from RS. The KLH has 5year driver warranty and 2years on amp!

Arcam AVR350 looks to be very old, 2006 released with HDMI 1.1 version. No support for DTS HD MA / Dolby TrueHD either, but more importantly i would be more worried how long it`s going to last.

I have had few Yamahas over the years and they are known from the reliability (even RX-V) so that would be my pick. Buy the latest model you can afford, most people feels that 1000-2000 range is the sweet spot. A1020 is 2012 model and has the better R.S.C YPAO correction. A1030 adds ESS DAC etc. The power output specs has been same since A1010 to this day (A1080) so the powersupply is same, just more features, better version of room correction, better DAC etc.


Thanks again. I still have and use the Rel T9 in my living room paired with Rega RS 3 and Brio R - mostly for TV duties and vinyl + music. The living room has vaulted ceilings and no matter how hard I try - I cannot accommodate a large screen for home cinema. So I have decided to use one of the other rooms for home cinema. Hence the need for a new speaker system with sub and also the decision to buy used to keep cost down.
 

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