Speakers for Sony STR-DN1040

silvasoul

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I have purchased a Sony STR-DN1040 after seeing it drop in price and will have a Gaming pc, PS3 and Sky+HD box connected to it and will hopefully be using it for a mix of things. I will mostly use it with movies/TV shows on Blu-ray or HD files, I will also be using this for music (all types of music but House, hip hop and RnB mostly) and gaming.

the speaker packages I have short-listed and why are as follows:

1. Boston Acoustics Soundware XS SE - low cost and small size means I can probably by a pair of bookshelf speakers alongside this too and use as a 7.1 too

2. Wharefdale DX1 HCP - Design, size is reasonable too

3. Monitor Audio Vector 5.1 - tested at £900 selling for £300~ should be good?

of course if you have other suggestions id be open to them but the max i can spend on them at the moment is £350, the less the better - unless there is a noticeable difference between sets. after advice from a friend I am leaning towards the monitor audio vectors, although if i go for these i will not be able to demo them as i will be buying them from an online store and richer sounds dont seem to have them but will have 7 days for a refund or exchange if i am not happy with them.

I guess I am looking for advice on:
- which ones would you go for and why ?
- would there be a huge difference between the Boston acoustics and others, bearing in mind I currently have no surround sound?
- would they be compatible and pair well with the receiver?
- what are your experiences with them ?
- are there other packages you can recommend?
- what cables would you recommend for them?

Thanks in advance !
 
Welcome to AV Forums, I'm quite new to AV Receiver set-ups myself, but I'll try my best to advise you.

I have a Yamaha RX-V675 AVR which is considered quite 'warm' sounding and I have paired it with the Monitor Audio Vector 5.1 Speakers which are considered 'bright' sounding, thus a good combination.

I think the Wharfedale DX-1 is considered to be a 'warm' sounding type Speakers and would pair well with the Sony 1040 AVR.

Although, people may say the Monitor Audio Vector Speakers are 'bright' sounding, I do think after several hours of driving them in, they do get better, so I'd go for the DX-1's or Vectors.

Also, consider the price of the brackets/mounts if you plan to put these up, some of these accessories can be pricey.
 
thanks!

my bedroom where this will be going is around 21ft x 14ft, I visited richer sounds in my lunch break from work to get some info , the rep couldn't comment on the monitor audio vectors as he didn't have them and hasn't heard them but said that the wharfedale ones might not be as good for the size as the monitor audio vectors, would this be the case?

i have attached a paint drawing of how my room is layed out if it helps, apologies my paint skills are crap ! and is not accurate. the tv is on a cantilever stand and used both in current position and on the dotted line.

also I have set aside money for cables and mounts, I most likely will be using two stands for the rears and may have the fronts either wall mounted or resting temporarily on a desk while I figure out what to do with them. what would you suggest for the fronts and center speaker, leave them on the desk so i can move them when tv is turned ? or wall mount and sit on the single sofa? i am ok with either
 

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It all depends on your room and getting it setup correctly in terms of Speaker placement, you don't want front or rear Speakers at different heights.

If you could, I'd have all 4 Fronts/Rears wall mounted, you can pickup Mounts for the MA Vectors for £12 on Amazon for a pair. Stands are good too.

Your room is quite big, I'll let some others comment on whether the Vectors or DX-1's will fill that size room.

I wouldn't leave them on the Desk so you have to move them when you turn on the TV, it's a poor idea, I'd definetly have the Fronts wall mounted if that is the case, it will help fill that big room even moreso and increase the sound range around the room. It helps when the Front/Centre are apart but not very far apart.
 
unfortunately i cant have the rear wall mounted, if i wall mount the fronts where the tv is flat against the wall, on the opposite side is the cupboard. so stands are the only other way that i can think of, unless i put them on the shelves inside the cupboard lol :p but that wouldnt be great as itd be the same as leaving them on the desk.

the wallmounts you mentioned, are they these ones?
Monitor Audio MASM Speaker Mount: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

also about the reciever positioning, would it be ok to place the amplifier on the desk next to the tv and the subwoofer under the desk ? or will it interfere with tv like this?
 
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You should've got the Yamaha RX-V675 which is also on offer at Richer Sounds at £269, then paired that with the MA Vectors.

Anyway, I don't think you'll have any major problems with the MA Vectors with the Sony mate, I'd go for them if you don't mind the looks, if you are going to use Stands the Wharfedale's would look better for sure, if you're going to be mounting them, then the Vectors should be great and I'd go for that.
 
unfortunately i cant have the rear wall mounted, if i wall mount the fronts where the tv is flat against the wall, on the opposite side is the cupboard. so stands are the only other way that i can think of, unless i put them on the shelves inside the cupboard lol :p but that wouldnt be great as itd be the same as leaving them on the desk.

the wallmounts you mentioned, are they these ones?
Monitor Audio MASM Speaker Mount: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

also about the reciever positioning, would it be ok to place the amplifier on the desk next to the tv and the subwoofer under the desk ? or will it interfere with tv like this?

The one you showed me, is '£13' per single Bracket.

Silver: B-Tech BT332 Home Cinema Speaker Wall Mounts (Pair) in Silver: Amazon.co.uk: Hi-Fi & Speakers
Black: B-Tech BT332 Home Cinema Speaker Wall Mounts (Pair) in Black: Amazon.co.uk: Hi-Fi & Speakers
 
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well, i have 30 days to return it if im not happy with it, bought the reciever after reading the reviews for £250~ new which seemed like a steal. I think ill try the vectors , looks wise im happy with both , the wharfedale ones do look better in my opinion but vectors are fine too.
missed those wall brackets, thanks alot for the help , much appreciated! ill update here when i get the speakers
 
unfortunately i cant have the rear wall mounted, if i wall mount the fronts where the tv is flat against the wall, on the opposite side is the cupboard. so stands are the only other way that i can think of, unless i put them on the shelves inside the cupboard lol :p but that wouldnt be great as itd be the same as leaving them on the desk.

the wallmounts you mentioned, are they these ones?
Monitor Audio MASM Speaker Mount: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

also about the reciever positioning, would it be ok to place the amplifier on the desk next to the tv and the subwoofer under the desk ? or will it interfere with tv like this?

That should be fine.

Btw, from what your telling me, it sounds like your trying to cram a 5.1 setup in a room.

Btw, if you don't mind me saying, from what you've told me it sounds like your trying to cram a 5.1 setup in a room that doesn't have that much space for the 5 speaker setup.

Why don't you go for a set of Floorstanders for the moment, you can get some decent Floorstanders for £300-350.

Or, what you could do is go for a 3.1 seperates package something like this, pair of Q Acoustics 2010i's for £130, matching Centre 2000ci for £115, and that leaves you with £105 to get a Subwoofer.
 
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no worries, yeah more or less i guess , it probably seems overkill but wanted a 5.1 for a proper surround effect for movies and gaming and didn't want a virtual surround system as i currently have a hifi 2.1 compact system that i want to replace that has it.
 
Wanted to ask , with the subwoofer would it be ok about 6" or 2ft away from a desktop pc and about a 1.5ft away from a wall mounted tv? it would cause any damage them would it?
 
It wouldn't cause any damage at all, all this stuff is properly shielded so it's all protected properly.
 
It would cause no damage to either item.
 
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You may pick any Fisual branded Subwoofer Cable from AudioVisualOnline from your price range and it's a single connector to single connector, you only use the right port on your Sub it's written in the manual for my Yamaha in this case.
 
ah just went over it, had bought everything from amazon and thought it was the wrong one after seeing a pic of the subwoofer from the back lol.

heres a list of the stuff i bought for it:

Subwoofer Cable: Fisual Subwoofer Cable - 3m - Pro Install Series: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Speaker Cable: 25m Quality 2 x 2.5mm Loud Speaker Cable - Multi-Strand: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

wall mounting bracket: B-Tech BT332 Home Cinema Speaker Wall Mounts (Pair) in Black: Amazon.co.uk: Hi-Fi & Speakers

Stands: Monoprice Satellite Speaker Floor Stand - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Banana Plugs: 24k Gold Connector Banana Plugs, Open Screw Type 24: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

thanks again for your help, really appreciate it :D cant wait to set this up tomorrow !
 
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That's pretty good, decent kit there. How much did you spend on this project including everything?
 
I've also purchased similarly to you, Yamaha RX-V675 £150, Monitor Audio Vector 5.1 £290, Speaker Cable £40 35m/2.5mm, Banana Plugs £12 Pack of 10, Sony BDV-E4100 £70, TV Stand £65, BT332 x2 £25.

I've managed everything just under £600, funny because the AVR itself came out at £500.
 
Sony STR-DN1040 - £254 inc delivery
Monitor Audio Vector 5.1 Package = £309 inc Next day pre noon delivery
Cables and Banana plugs = £40.39
Stands and wall mounts = £40.77

Total was around ~£644.16

thinking of getting cable hiding conduits too but not yet as I might be able to take the cable through the wall to hide it, if not off to B&Q I go.
 
also bought a few blu rays to watch and have a lot more to rewatch and do justice to
 
If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the Sony STR-DN1040 for that price. I was looking at getting one, and the cheapest I have seen it for is 299.95
 
ah just went over it, had bought everything from amazon and thought it was the wrong one after seeing a pic of the subwoofer from the back lol.

heres a list of the stuff i bought for it:

Subwoofer Cable: Fisual Subwoofer Cable - 3m - Pro Install Series: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Speaker Cable: 25m Quality 2 x 2.5mm Loud Speaker Cable - Multi-Strand: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

wall mounting bracket: B-Tech BT332 Home Cinema Speaker Wall Mounts (Pair) in Black: Amazon.co.uk: Hi-Fi & Speakers

Stands: Monoprice Satellite Speaker Floor Stand - Black: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

Banana Plugs: 24k Gold Connector Banana Plugs, Open Screw Type 24: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

thanks again for your help, really appreciate it :D cant wait to set this up tomorrow !

Did you get your Stands, how are they? I am also considering stands, before you bought the ones from Amazon, did you do any looking up on what others have used?
 
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hey , yeah I got the speaker stands. I have attached pictures of the set-up at the moment , its far from complete. I haven't hidden any cables as I wanted to test the speakers first before that and also desk is a bit wonky, haven't had time to straighten it :p.

I have mixed opinions about the stands, I am going to be returning them because I think there not really fit for purpose, granted they were cheap the quality of the stands isn't the best. Also in my opinion the stands might be suitable for smaller speakers - even though they say they support up to 2.2 kg, which is the weight of the speakers, but I carefully tried to see if they would go back to the upright position on their own if lightly tapped with the speakers. at the moment in the second image you can see I put 5kg Cast iron gym weights onto the stand and the polystyrene to not damage them and they seem more stable. whilst fitting the speakers the plastic that holds the speakers needs a screw to hole them in and using the ones supplied was a nightmare, the screw head broke off because they were cheaply made. so all in all , not really impressed with them, if you do go for them buy some better quality screws, also you may have to buy screws and washers for the monitor audio vectors in specific as mine did not come with any for their size.

the speakers and the amp however is just one word, WOW! they are so clear ! played music through it sounds awesome, watched Thor last night, same again. couldn't try them at high volumes as I finished making the box which the amp is sitting on and setting them up around 11 pm and didn't want to disturb the neighbours so will be doing that today.
 

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Thanks for the feedback, I'm having huge trouble with finding Speaker stands for these. Please do let me know what you decide to go for in terms of Stands for the Speakers, I'm interested.
 

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