Av package

hi,
i'm contemplating some major system changes and wondered if there were any reccomendations for a simple amp / 5.1 speaker pack. tichy sub/sats are fine as are the ommision of dsp sound fields, 6.1 ++, dpl2, etc. the only things it must have are a digital in (optical or coax is fine), dd and dts decoding, and remote control volume.
price would preferably be about 200 quid and definately under 300 or it makes more sense to go with a richers marantz / tanoy package.
any suggestions?
cheers


julian

 

I'm using the AE Aergo P5 . Comes with processor & 5.1 speakers. I think about changing it then realise I don't need to. It does TV & film well enough. Only It's twice your budget

 

Julian,
Is this as an additional AV system or replacing the whole of your stereo? You are not going to give up on your speakers already are you?

Wolfie.

 

wolfgang,
no the ipls are staying put however i'm going to be making some big changes to the rest of my system which means my beloved dsp e-800 wil become redundant - as will my b&w center and mission dipoles. i want some tiny satelite speakers i can hide away to do a/v duty as i only really watch tv occasionally with movies a distant 3 place.
cheers


julian

 

Julian....Sorry to blatantly plug my amp but..... I've got a pioneer 912 for sale. It had pretty good reviews at the time & doesn't sounds too bad against amps at that price range. It does fall close to the Richer Sounds style of amp though.

I'll not take up any more of your thread but if you're interested, get in touch.

 

I've left my sig. as this illustrates my mix of hifi & av. I face the fireplace for music, and so main speakers are placed about them, and the tv (in other corner of room) for av.

In like the Gallo frontstage, as the balls are discrete, and are supplemented by the sub. My main speakers I use for the rear AV - and I move the furniture for dvd watching.

Before moving to a dedicated processor, I use the Denon AVR2802. This has all that is needed (5.1, 6.1, PL2, etc) complete with pre-outs that allow feed to stereo amp used for hifi. Its the right range, and there are more recent models.

* As it happens mine is available for sale - but my comments above are not tainted!!

 

julian, this is £300 @ superfi
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1314



looks like it has the spec u need. good luck with the search.

(ah, there's a mkII which is now a full-width box, and adds PLII, hence the mkI @ superfi for half price)

 

ditton,
i'm especially interested in your solution however my nap250 only has a single input so changing between hi-fi and a/v would be a pain if i wanted to use my ipl's as part of the a/v setup. the aego that tom and robert have pointed out are more what i'm after as i'll be able to stick the speakers in inconspicuous places and leave the a/v stuff totally out of the loop from the hi-fi. still the aego is right at the upper end of my budget but i'm sure there are others about - i'll have to buy one of the a/v rags and see if there is a 'best buy section'.
cheers


julian

 

The original Aego, that Robert linked to, has a very good sound but I felt the bass liked just that little bit of punch compared to the 2.1 version. I haven't heard the mk2 version.

imo you're best looking at a slim AV reciever- Pioneer VSXC300 or something, for around £150 then Mordaunt Short Premieres, @ £250

 

rory,
i'm all out for hideability and convienience - if they cost 200 quid i'd get a bose. i'm just not bothered about absolute multichannel sound quality anymore. the pioneer / m/s suggestion won;t fly as they cost too much. 200 quid is about as much as i want to spend 300 is the absolute maximum i will spend.
cheers


julian

 

...if you have cavity walls (stud partition), then you could go with in-wall speakers. If you have solid walls then check out some of the flat panel systems.

While not coming anywhere near the sound quality of free-standing loudspeakers, considering your priorities I would opt for either of the above.

You may want to take a look around some of the US magazines on AV/web sites as they are much further down the road than we are in the UK with discrete surround sound packages.

You could also consider in-ceiling speakers for the surround sound system too.

 

unfortunately only one wall is a 'stud' wall - the others are either external walls or the party wall (and i want to keep speakers away from that one for the sake of continued good neighbor relations). in ceiling isn;t really an oprion either however thanks for the ideas.
cheers


julian

 

Why not get/make/get made a simple A/B box?

 

i'm thinking one of these...
http://ws2.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=PANA-SCHT05

cheers


julian

 

That's a good price Julian. Panasonic are still listing it at £299.99. However, it's silver and it won't go with your curtains.

 

Ditton uses the front L/R digital outputs on his AV processor to a DAX Decade DAC to avoid the switching problem.

Regards
Gary

 

I went down the cheaper A/V route,but with kef eggs,got fed up with them after a short period of time,once you've had good speakers going to tiny satalittes is hard work,I'd keep your fronts,just get some rears.

 

That is exactly what I would and have done. I think Julian has a Yamaha E800 processor (and centre and surround speakers IIRC) so he could send the front output to his IPLs but I assume he wants to reduce the number of boxes he has and that's why he's looking at all in one solution.

 

You could also check out the Klegg systems - they sound very good on movies, Im not sure about music -as i was only give a very quick demo on that front but the M8's were much better than M6's but on movies i couldnt hear any differance.

 

i went with the panasonic solution in the end. as i'm extremely unlikely to get a record player i've decided to go with a dax decade dac / pre at the front of my system and ditch my preamp / psu. this menas my a/v system can;t be connected to the front pair.
must say that after a couple of days living with the panny i'm pretty impressed. it's a bit boom and tizz but perfectly ok for tv and the apollo 13 launch sequence (the only bit of a dvd i've tried as yet) was suitably loud. no it's not got the quality of the b&w / yam / missions / ipls i had before but it does the job just fine.
cheers


julian