AV Setup
06 December 2005, 12:32 PM
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AV Setup
Ok, following on from a thread earlier about budget ways to setup your av, i thought of asking, nay, seeking acceptance for my av setup which i am going to purchase over the xmas , hopefully in the sales.
slag me of for bragging or simply just add your advice, i would like to hear what you peeps think of this setup.
Note, the room is only 22ft x 11ft, pretty much rectangular. wooden floors and large windows that run along the two adjacent sides.
Screen 43" or 50" Pioneer Plasma usual model with HDMI connects.
Morduant Short Genie Cinema Speakers
Denon AVR Amp 1906
1 x technics 1200 on its own shelf for what vinyl i have left (not much)
Pioneer 575 DVD player.
Connection to PC via co-ax. for home movies and movies.
PS2/xbox via optical
All sited on a 5 glass shelf stand with spikes brought from tottenham court road for about £250.
Cables cabled, speakers down one side of the room.
Interconnects, usual stuff, dont scrimp but not the most expensive.
I also have 2 x Cerwin Vega VS10 400W speakers on Atacama stands that i am not sure of whether to keep or replace with the genie. They are very large in size and sound and possibly a bit overkill, may have to ebay them. How about paving slabs? also need filling, has shot taken over from sand?
I mainly listen to MP3 and watch DVD, not too much telly, however i will have SKY+. Some movies are divx so i am not expecting the greatest from them.
Any comments, anything not worth paying for? anything else to add. or how about waste of time, no good.
i havent been on here for a while so i apologise if someone did this last week.
slag me of for bragging or simply just add your advice, i would like to hear what you peeps think of this setup.
Note, the room is only 22ft x 11ft, pretty much rectangular. wooden floors and large windows that run along the two adjacent sides.
Screen 43" or 50" Pioneer Plasma usual model with HDMI connects.
Morduant Short Genie Cinema Speakers
Denon AVR Amp 1906
1 x technics 1200 on its own shelf for what vinyl i have left (not much)
Pioneer 575 DVD player.
Connection to PC via co-ax. for home movies and movies.
PS2/xbox via optical
All sited on a 5 glass shelf stand with spikes brought from tottenham court road for about £250.
Cables cabled, speakers down one side of the room.
Interconnects, usual stuff, dont scrimp but not the most expensive.
I also have 2 x Cerwin Vega VS10 400W speakers on Atacama stands that i am not sure of whether to keep or replace with the genie. They are very large in size and sound and possibly a bit overkill, may have to ebay them. How about paving slabs? also need filling, has shot taken over from sand?
I mainly listen to MP3 and watch DVD, not too much telly, however i will have SKY+. Some movies are divx so i am not expecting the greatest from them.
Any comments, anything not worth paying for? anything else to add. or how about waste of time, no good.
i havent been on here for a while so i apologise if someone did this last week.
Last edited by cactus jim; 06 December 2005 at 11:12 PM.
06 December 2005, 03:31 PM
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Targa DP5100x
plays divx movies as well as the usual host of stuff,
can be made region free via a dvd, and has built in progressive scan, and
dollby 5.1 & dts decoder..
and 7 in 2 card reader..
and under £20
Mart
plays divx movies as well as the usual host of stuff,
can be made region free via a dvd, and has built in progressive scan, and
dollby 5.1 & dts decoder..
and 7 in 2 card reader..
and under £20
Mart
06 December 2005, 09:44 PM
#6
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Pioneer plasmas are 43" and 50" 
IMHO ditch the Cerwin Vega's. They were never the most subtle of loudspeakers, LOUD being their most memorable feature. More suited to nightclubs than home use
Don't bother about the DD/DTS decoders in any DVD player, their almost always $h!te and it's much better to feed a decent AV amp (the Denon will be superb) via coax.
IMHO ditch the Cerwin Vega's. They were never the most subtle of loudspeakers, LOUD being their most memorable feature. More suited to nightclubs than home use
Don't bother about the DD/DTS decoders in any DVD player, their almost always $h!te and it's much better to feed a decent AV amp (the Denon will be superb) via coax.
06 December 2005, 11:14 PM
#7
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Originally Posted by corradoboy
Pioneer plasmas are 43" and 50"
IMHO ditch the Cerwin Vega's. They were never the most subtle of loudspeakers, LOUD being their most memorable feature. More suited to nightclubs than home use
Don't bother about the DD/DTS decoders in any DVD player, their almost always $h!te and it's much better to feed a decent AV amp (the Denon will be superb) via coax.
IMHO ditch the Cerwin Vega's. They were never the most subtle of loudspeakers, LOUD being their most memorable feature. More suited to nightclubs than home use
Don't bother about the DD/DTS decoders in any DVD player, their almost always $h!te and it's much better to feed a decent AV amp (the Denon will be superb) via coax.
what are my options then, do i use the genies for audio or do i need separate audio speakers at all. i love my music but i only listen to mp3 quality stuff.
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06 December 2005, 11:49 PM
#8
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GIGO - Garbage in, garbage out. Even with £20k of audiophile equipment, if you feed it poor quality source material it will sound poor. MP3 won't sound as good as a full bitrate CD, or a quality turntable (Linn, Mitchell etc).
For music hi-fi, when setting up any system a level of balance needs to be attained. It's no good thinking that adding some £8k Wilson Benesch speakers to a £100 mini system will give spectacular sound. The general consensus is to spend the most on the source (CD) then comes the amp, and then the speakers. For example, with £1k to spend it would be best to appoint £400 to the source, £300 amp, £200 speakers leaving £100 for cabling. The rules can be bent of course, but the benefits may be placebo. I paid £450 for speakers to go with a £300 amp back in '88, but when I auditioned the equipment it was by far the best solution, and herein lies the key word ; AUDITION. Only you know what you want and expect for your budget and your music tastes.
In the AV world things are a little different. The screen tends to be the more expensive item, except in some very high end systems. Then the speakers, but their cost is more indicative of the sheer number required (I have 7.1). Amps come next usually, and again the price reflects the amount, but this time it's the amount of processing and channels to be amplified, and lastly the source. Some of the £20-80 DVD players can be as good as £1k machines, and I have heard of many AV nuts using them in very exotic systems to great satisfaction. After all, they are only reading the disc. The audio is fed directly to the amp for all the hard work, and with HDMI the picture goes direct to the screen.
The Denon amp you mention I am sure will be very good. They all are. And the same can be said for MS speakers. The Pioneer DVD and plasma too are very good indeed. DVD players aren't generally very good at music (apart from Arcam), but given that you are only used to MP3's played through Vega's, you will probably experience a significant quality jump. I don't think you'll need any extra speakers.
I use my main floorstanding stereo speakers within 2 systems. An audiophile Cyrus CD/amp set-up, and a Pioneer AV set-up with an Ixos amp switcher. Music in surround is fun, but when you switch back to a quality stereo set-up the focus is more on the music and quality of sound and recording than on entertaining effects which actually detract from the sound quality.
For music hi-fi, when setting up any system a level of balance needs to be attained. It's no good thinking that adding some £8k Wilson Benesch speakers to a £100 mini system will give spectacular sound. The general consensus is to spend the most on the source (CD) then comes the amp, and then the speakers. For example, with £1k to spend it would be best to appoint £400 to the source, £300 amp, £200 speakers leaving £100 for cabling. The rules can be bent of course, but the benefits may be placebo. I paid £450 for speakers to go with a £300 amp back in '88, but when I auditioned the equipment it was by far the best solution, and herein lies the key word ; AUDITION. Only you know what you want and expect for your budget and your music tastes.
In the AV world things are a little different. The screen tends to be the more expensive item, except in some very high end systems. Then the speakers, but their cost is more indicative of the sheer number required (I have 7.1). Amps come next usually, and again the price reflects the amount, but this time it's the amount of processing and channels to be amplified, and lastly the source. Some of the £20-80 DVD players can be as good as £1k machines, and I have heard of many AV nuts using them in very exotic systems to great satisfaction. After all, they are only reading the disc. The audio is fed directly to the amp for all the hard work, and with HDMI the picture goes direct to the screen.
The Denon amp you mention I am sure will be very good. They all are. And the same can be said for MS speakers. The Pioneer DVD and plasma too are very good indeed. DVD players aren't generally very good at music (apart from Arcam), but given that you are only used to MP3's played through Vega's, you will probably experience a significant quality jump. I don't think you'll need any extra speakers.
I use my main floorstanding stereo speakers within 2 systems. An audiophile Cyrus CD/amp set-up, and a Pioneer AV set-up with an Ixos amp switcher. Music in surround is fun, but when you switch back to a quality stereo set-up the focus is more on the music and quality of sound and recording than on entertaining effects which actually detract from the sound quality.
09 December 2005, 08:30 PM
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Cheers CB, thats great advice, and you pretty much confirm that what i want is going to make me happy, as you say coming from mp3/vegas anything will be an improvement, and i loved what i had there.
i have listened to the setup already and really liked what i heard, i just wanted a sanity check that i wasnt burning dosh on tosh.
i think i may budget for a separate cd player also as i do have lots of cd's too, however in recent years i have nto used them as i have burnt them all to itunes for ease of management. it sounds like its best sacking off that and listening to my favourite UNKLE albums on cd instead. i assumed that digital was digital therefore that would sound better than a cd. can anyone explain that more?
looks like ebay for my CV's.
anyone got any experiences with pioneer tvs? some people say dont risk the ones with built in freeview and others say they dont go wrong. my freeview box is shat and goes wrong all the time, are the built in ones the same?
now the fun part, buying it all. that will be great fun this xmas with all the retailers desparate for sales.
anymoreinput, good or bad??
i have listened to the setup already and really liked what i heard, i just wanted a sanity check that i wasnt burning dosh on tosh.
i think i may budget for a separate cd player also as i do have lots of cd's too, however in recent years i have nto used them as i have burnt them all to itunes for ease of management. it sounds like its best sacking off that and listening to my favourite UNKLE albums on cd instead. i assumed that digital was digital therefore that would sound better than a cd. can anyone explain that more?
looks like ebay for my CV's.
anyone got any experiences with pioneer tvs? some people say dont risk the ones with built in freeview and others say they dont go wrong. my freeview box is shat and goes wrong all the time, are the built in ones the same?
now the fun part, buying it all. that will be great fun this xmas with all the retailers desparate for sales.
anymoreinput, good or bad??
09 December 2005, 09:00 PM
#10
Scooby Regular
A good trick with Pioneer plasmas is to find the cheapest online retailer who actually has a shop (check their 'contact' link) and then use their postcode to find the nearest store on the www.johnlewis.com website. Phone that store and quote the cheap retailers price and ask them to price match, and by buying from JL you will benfit from a free 5yr warranty. After you have ordered you can ask to collect the set at your local store or pay for your local store to deliver it from their stock. At worst you may have to go pick it up from a remote store, but the saving will be big enough along with the guarantee to justify some expense.
As for the 'digital' question, MP3's are compressed files and so lose some of the finer resolution. How much depends on the settings you have chosen in iTunes (check 'preferences'). Y There is the option to rip to AIIF files which are uncompressed, but that defeats a lot of the object of iTunes. The best solution is to use MP3 for car/mobile use where quality isn't the prime objective and use CD's for serious listening.
HTH
As for the 'digital' question, MP3's are compressed files and so lose some of the finer resolution. How much depends on the settings you have chosen in iTunes (check 'preferences'). Y There is the option to rip to AIIF files which are uncompressed, but that defeats a lot of the object of iTunes. The best solution is to use MP3 for car/mobile use where quality isn't the prime objective and use CD's for serious listening.
HTH
09 December 2005, 11:13 PM
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cheers mate very helpful, however one question still begs, even after the relatively poor quality of my vegas and mp3, will the MS really sound that good for music,especially electro/breaks/bass that i like? i can imagine it re-producing film sound well, but could you really have a party with a cinema system?
10 December 2005, 01:17 AM
#12
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I've never heard the MS set-up, and I am not into dance music whatsoever. My tastes and knowlege in hi-fi come from a love of acoustic instruments played by musicians, well recorded to be replayed and enjoyed in good equipment. Without meaning to be derogatory, in my ears an electronic sound can be replayed through anything and it it will sound as it should, because in truth it has never really existed. From keyboard to recording it simply travels down the wire. What is heard in the recording studio is just however their set-up replays it. I prefer to hear something which has actually lived. A guitar (of which there are countless variations, all sounding different and unique) string (which could be nylon or steel, and of countless types) plucked (in countless ways) in a room (which will obviously vary) and picked up by a mic (again, different types) and balanced/recorded/mixed by an experienced technician can obviously have an infinate variation of audible ambience. A quality hi-fi system will expose these nuances to the enjoyment of the listener. Electronic dance style music, I believe, does not need such a sophisticated method to replay. As long as the bass digs deep, the treble pierces your eardrums and there is some stuff to hear in the middle, I don't think quality matters so much as volume usually. The CV's are party speakers, whereas the MS's will provide pretty good music and very good surround, but with small drive units, very small cabinets and a quite small subwoofer I wouldn't think it will outperform any nightclub systems.
If you want to be able to 'rock da house' then you may be better looking at speaker packages which have large floorstanding front speakers, possibly also with sub reinforcement. My system has 2 Mission 764i floorstanders which can produce more than enough bass without the need for a sub, even on movies. I have Mission DS77 (I think) l/r and rear surrounds which are quite small and a Mission CS77 centre to make up a 7.1 system fed by a Pioneer VSX811. As I stated earlier, the front Mission 764's can also be switched to be fed by a Cyrus II/PSX amp for stereo audiophile music listening. This set-up seems to outperform all the sat/sub systems I have heard to date. Have a look at something like THIS. As I say, without hearing the MS I cannot comment on whether it is any better for dance music than the Mission set-up in the link, but you really should go and audition some systems before committing many thousands of pounds to it.
If you want to be able to 'rock da house'
then you may be better looking at speaker packages which have large floorstanding front speakers, possibly also with sub reinforcement. My system has 2 Mission 764i floorstanders which can produce more than enough bass without the need for a sub, even on movies. I have Mission DS77 (I think) l/r and rear surrounds which are quite small and a Mission CS77 centre to make up a 7.1 system fed by a Pioneer VSX811. As I stated earlier, the front Mission 764's can also be switched to be fed by a Cyrus II/PSX amp for stereo audiophile music listening. This set-up seems to outperform all the sat/sub systems I have heard to date. Have a look at something like THIS. As I say, without hearing the MS I cannot comment on whether it is any better for dance music than the Mission set-up in the link, but you really should go and audition some systems before committing many thousands of pounds to it.
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