Steve Perriam

looking to get a new denon home cinema setup and wondering where online to purchase from.......

had it ordered but been let down really badly by Unbeatable (proving they aint!) and wont have it for xmas now

been looking at various websites......

superfi / empire direct / hi-spek / sevenoaks sound and vision etc etc

anyone recommend where to buy ?

Cheers

djuk

Try http://www.av-sales.com - they get very good write ups and seem to have a half decent range of denon kit.

andymar00

try www.richersounds.com they also have shops in most large towns with demo rooms

Andy

Daryl

Nexnix.co.uk are very good, based in Horsham, Sussex, but also do internet sales.

Steve Perriam

no joy with any of those unfortunately but cheers for the links.

Type-R

www.hyperfi.co.uk

Did me a great deal on on my AV setup !

Chip

Try www.creative-audio.co.uk

Highly recommended.

Chip

logiclee

I bought a Denon AVR-3805 from www.soundandvisiononline.com earlier this year. They weren't the cheapest at the time but they had stock. Hi-Spek strung me along for ages with delivery dates and in the end I cancelled.

To be honest I've bought from nearly all the mainstream suppliers, superfi, Empire, Hi-Spek, Sound and Vision, HiFi Bitz, Hi-Way, Richer Sounds, Robert Whyte, Unbeatable, etc.
Never really had any problems other than an amp that was damaged on delivery, was all sorted quickly by Hi-Spek but only after several phone calls.

You could also try www.prcdirect.co.uk

Cheers
Lee

Steve Perriam

hyperfi had a weird website ! no search / product listings just pdf files of pages that look like mag adverts !?!?

prcdirect had stock yesterday but would not ship til january ?!?! so left it for now with them and they wanted £450 so were expensive to.

i'll check out the other 2 though :-)

would just like to get an order placed with someone today and then they can arrive whenever given bank holidays etc....

Bakerman

I have used www.avland.co.uk in the past and were fast/competatively priced and helpful.

GarethE

iTrader: (1)

I've used www.discounttv.co.uk ... very competitive on price with a very good service for the Teac hi fi I bought

Steve Perriam

just checking out hificonfidential as well.......... cheers for the replies

paulr

I bought mine online and wish i hadnt,get it local,bargain them down and get them to set it up PROPERLY.

Steve Perriam

paul, where did you buy online ? what went wrong ?

i might now go to a local shop and check out a few items. always nice to see it but the prices put me off.

paulr

Steve,what i mean is that my amp has about 50 connections at the back and the instruction book is about 2 inches thick...and with a dvd recorder etc, to add in,i wish i'd got it local and got them to set the whole thing up properly setting speaker distances,subwoofer levels etc.It cost me nearly 2k.
As for prices,try to get them to price match,or at least come down a bit.
My final point is i originally got my dvd player online only to find it was an import with a german instruction book.sent it back.

logiclee

That's a good point Paul, always make sure when you buy mailorder or on-line you are getting a UK product. Some products made for other markets do not have all the UK features and some even have a different sound.

As for the setting up I find that the best part, nothing better for mind and body than twiddling and messing with settings for a few hours.

Hifi and HomeCinema are far easier than In Car Entertainment anyway.

Cheers
Lee

Steve Perriam

yeah good point on UK spec equipment.

i'll take a look this week now we're home from doing the xmas away thing !

would be nice to get it setup but we're not planning on spending enough to probably interest anyone coming out to us to do it !

cheers for the replies though

paulr

depends on how much you are spending as to wether it needs setting up,and wether its an all in one or separates?
separates,you can get a good setup for say 1k,then i'd say get it set up.
i havent any real experience of all in one systems.

ScoobyJawa

I had this problem a few months back. I wanted their DHT-500SD and it was awaiting delivery at denon and pretty much all online places had queues for orders for when stock came in at denon. Cheapest was 399, most expensive 499 the rrp. Went on Comet site and low and behold there it was for 426, plus 4 quid delivery from my local store. (have to order online though as its a special web price). And due to the network Comet has, they had 3 left in their stock, so they shipped one down to my local branch that then delivered it to my door.

Have to say its the first time I've been impressed with the service of one of the big chain stores

Chris L

How have you found the Denon setup ScoobyJawa? Thinking about replacing my Sony system which is not overly good if I'm honest. Separates would be better, but space dictates that an all-in-one would be more practical and some of the Denon stuff I've heard is amazing.

logiclee

My system is probably pushing £10k all in but I still cabled and set it up myself. Has been built up and upgraded over a many years though. Started out with a pro-logic system and Laser-Disc in the days before DVD, Dolby Digital and DTS.

I suppose being an Electrical Engineer and spending a lot of time doing similar stuff with PLC controlled £multi-million projects does help me a little bit. It all depends on the individual. My Brother in Law can just about set his £2k system up but doesn't have a clue about cabling. My Dad has my old setup which is still very decent, he has all on operating it never mind setiing it up.

I've done around eight other systems for friends, family and workmates.
Can't say I've been that impressed with the cheaper end of the all-in-one systems. Not that much better than a decent Dolby Digital TV IMO.

Cheers
Lee

Chris L

Very true Lee, but then I've heard some badly setup separates, that sound appalling! Obviously you're more tuned into this than most people and I'd love to go for the separates, but I honestly don't think I've got the room (most of my hifi seps are still in the loft!). Denon is one of the few manufacturers who seem to have made a decent stab at all-in-one systems. For the money, they do offer terriffic sound and picture quality.

ScoobyJawa

Hi Chris

Personally I think its superb Absolutely stonking sound quality for the money, and has all the inputs and outputs I need plus the bonus of being more upgradable than most other all-in-one systems as you can add subs, centre rear speaker for 6.1 etc. The only weak point I think is that it could probably do with an active rather than passive sub to make it sound as best it could. In my room though it would be wasted so I'm happy. It has progressive component output so plugged into my Panasonic PWD6 plasma the DVD picture quality is outstanding
Other friends have better amp/speaker set ups etc and they all comment on how the Denon should cost twice the price, and is closer than they would like to their much more expensive set ups So I think I made the right choice! Having a 5 star review in What Hi-Fi can't be bad either

logiclee

Chris,

I've not demo'd the Denon so I can't comment, the one's I've tried have been at the cheaper end of the all in one scale.

To be honest I like Denon stuff that's why one of their amps sits at the heart of my set up.

Happy listening.

Cheers
Lee

mad_dr

If you're after an all-in-one Denon system, this one is pretty good:

http://www.web-quality.ch/WQ/DSB_Anb...ndenID=DenonUK

Taken from www.denon.co.uk. It's only got 2 speakers and a sub but it uses Denon's own "virtual surround" system which does a very passable job of surround. Nicely built too.

Steve Perriam

Paulr. 1k was my separates budget which is of course way down the low end of the market. But that was not my wifes idea of a budget so i started looking for a decent one box system of which the denon seemed to be a pretty good system for the cash....well for £400 online anyway...

Scoobyjawa : good comments. supposedly you can upgrade it with an active sub. what sort of setups do your friends have to compare it against ? i'm only looking at a 1k set of separates so with your comments it looks like i wont get a system that much better !!

Chris L

mad_dr - I'd seen that one too. I was a little sceptical as this kind of virtual surround sound is usually to be found on low end minis etc. I have read some stonking reviews of this system though. Might be worth a trial...

ScoobyJawa

Its worth it guys Steve, yep, can indeed be upgraded to active sub, has all the outputs ready for it, plus the centre rear as I previously said. I think the rear is about 40-50 quid. As I said, I make do with the passive, and it is fine in my application (bedroom) as its not too big and don't want it to annoy next door/downstairs too much, but in a living room it may benefit from active.

I guess the main system is my mates Yamaha 5.1/DTS amp (top of the range 3 years ago) and 800 quids worth of KEF speakers. They are better, though I'm not sure worth the extra cash to me, especially when you'd need to factor in a DVD too. (I wanted DVD also to utilitse the progressive input into my plasma).

They do have a new system out, the 550SD, but that was a fair bit more when I was buying, though that is supposed to be equally as good. I believe most reviews comment that you'd be hard pressed to find a better all-in-one

Happy shopping!

Steve Perriam

Scoobyjawa : Yeah i've seen reviews of the Denon 550SD......£750 rrp ? from what i've read its not particularly worth the extra. general view seems to be the 500SD is the dogz for £750 i think i'd definitely go separates.

my only concern for the 500 is our 'living room' is open plan - lounge / dining room and kitchen all in one big open area so will i need more power / bigger sub / sats etc than the denon or any one box solution ?

I was looking at some KEF speakers if i went the separates route - probably the 1005 series as £800 is way over my budget ! (or mission or wharfdale)

Nick

Thanks for the link.

I've got a Sony TV with quite poor sound quality. Could I use this type of system to increase the sound quality for the TV in general, including when watching Sky, DVD or VCR? Or does this stuff only work for DVDs?

Oh, I've used http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/ who are pretty good.

Regards
Nick