Home Cinema System

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Yeah a new 50" Monster Plasma TV

Also a nice lovely Xbox-360  :D

Time to get my computer on to wireless too need my 360 to hook up to the net and I don't want cable all over the shop.

Now all I need is a nice surround sound system, not found one I like yet, anyone any suggestions for one  £500 or less for one. Have checked the normal places on-line like Curry's & Comet, dunno where else to look got to be reliable & trustworthy.

[Temujin]

Yeah a new 46" Monster wonder if I can cope with it  

blimey  :shock:
I live in big house but I've not got enough room for a tv that big.
We were looking at HD tvs today and reckon a 20" or 23" would do us fine

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Well it was either that or a 56" rear projection TV, but they're not as good really as a plasma TV, plus it would not fit in to the area where my TV is now.

Just measured and 46" will fit in just nicely, no more squinting at my current TV. Don't do inches I do CM's so good job I just measured

Now does anyone have a suggestion for surround sound  Any retailers or places you have used before, pref something I can look at on the Internet

[Temujin]

Now does anyone have a suggestion for surround sound  Any retailers or places you have used before, pref something I can look at on the Internet

Do you just want surround sound or home theatre?
You can even get home theatre with hard disk and DVD writer

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Home theatre is probably the best option, just having trouble finding one it doesn't help that I'm shattered and should really be a sleep, rather than browsing the net. May have to go to bed and try looking again in the morning

[UBT - Mikee]

Richer Sounds used to be the place to go - not sure if they're still up to scratch. Might be worth a look.

[DJH@GB-Ro]

Don't you want it to be HD ready?

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Don't you want it to be HD ready?

It is

HDTV Signal Compatible to display HDTV content

All the reviews and Specs I have read from the manufacturer and people who have bought it from various websites have all stated it is HDTV

[DJH@GB-Ro]

Is displaying HD content different to being an HDTV  :?:

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

There are two types of HDTV with either one type of connector or another they both do the same job

[UBT - Timbo]

Yeah a new 46" Monster wonder if I can cope with it   .

Hi David,

You DON'T REALLY want on of those do you??????

Sad fact is that 50% of my business is that I work in the Consumer Electronics trade and as such, I can tell you that if you want the best Plasma, then the brand name on it is Pioneer.... Forget the rest, the Pioneer sweeps them all away.

Now all I need is a nice surround sound system, not found one I like yet, anyone any suggestions for one  £500 or less for one. Have checked the normal places on-line like Curry's & Comet, dunno where else to look got to be reliable & trustworthy.

Now you've really got my interest up...!

I'm afraid that "nice surround sound system" and "£500 or less" are mutually exclusive. A good surround sound system that is worth it's "weight" will cost more as it needs to be properly designed and have a half decent power supply to make it "tick". Some of these "HTIB"'s (Home Theatre in a Box) systems from the major Jap brands are so poor (sound wise) that they just don't cut the mustard. They are fine for the "mass market", but if you want something half-decent that'll last, then you do need to consider spending a little bit more.

As you're in Halifax, pop into Huddersfield Hi-Fi at 3-5 King Cross Street.

Check out the Denon kit especially. If they still do Yamaha, then that's a good 2nd choice.

regards

Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Richer Sounds used to be the place to go - not sure if they're still up to scratch. Might be worth a look.

Hi Mike,

Richer used to be the place to go. But nowadays, I'm not so sure. They are now starting to heavily feature their own brands more nowadays (such as Cambridge Audio) or brands they import themselves (e.g. Sherwood), and as such they are not really giving as much unbiased advice these days, as Julian Richer is still trying to corner the market and kill off the likes of Sevenoaks and others.

So, if you know what you want and go to Richer coz they've got what you actually want, then that's fine. But if you go there with no knowledge of what YOU want, then you'll be sold what THEY want to sell to you...!

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Thanks for the advice there, have not bought it as yet just got to wait for cheques to clear etc etc before I have access to money

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

As you're in Halifax, pop into Huddersfield Hi-Fi at 3-5 King Cross Street

They do have a branch in Halifax so saves me going over to Hudds

[UBT - Timbo]

They do have a branch in Halifax so saves me going over to Hudds

Err... King Cross Street is IN Halifax - it's why I suggested them.....!

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

 :oops:  I saw Huddersfield & thought you meant the actual branch in Huddersfield not the one in Halifax  :oops:

I thought what I may do is get a cheapish one for now as my ears don't know any difference, and save up for as nice expensive one.

Can't wait for my money to clear, would have got a computer but I have one of them and thought I need a new tellie 1st of all, so looks like its another computer next year now

[UBT - Timbo]

I thought what I may do is get a cheapish one for now as my ears don't know any difference, and save up for as nice expensive one.

Well it's true that if you're not too bothered about overall sound a HTIB or similar will do the job, in the end it depends on your motivation and the long term aims as regards sound.

AV kit, like cars, loses a lot of it's value as soon as you've bouight it, or as soon as the "next big thing" comes along.

It happened with Dolby Pro-Logic, when Dolby Digital came along. Suddenly all the Pro-Logic kit was seen as "unsaleable", which it was.

Nowadays 5.1 systems are 2-a-penny, as the chipsets and electronics are available at low cost prices. (Economies of scale, etc). But corners still get cut, as most Jap firms believe they'll sell more, if THEIR product is £10 cheaper than someone elses.

And in the end, "quality" goes out the windows as brands shave pennies off the prime cost, in order to sell more cheaply.

By all means look at the cheaper brands for now, but my guess is that you will get very cheesed off with the lack of any performance, esp. if you use it a lot. Sound is important to people and you don't need to be an audiophile to be able to decide whether you like a sound or not. That's why a good mid-priced system might save you money, over buying an "el-cheapo" starter system - cos you'll be throwing the cheapie away within 6 months I guess......! Can you afford to do that?

Can't wait for my money to clear, would have got a computer but I have one of them and thought I need a new tellie 1st of all, so looks like its another computer next year now

TV's tend to have a long-ish lifetime, so that's why I suggested buying something half-decent as you'll really notice the difference over time.

And I KNOW, that no one has ever regretted buying a Pioneer screen - they simply are awesome. Sure, you pay a little bit of a premium over the other brands, but boy, what a picture.....esp. if you have HD source such as Sky or a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player in mind.

And remember that for now, the only true UK HD source is Sky (there are a few others, such as Canal+, if you have another satellite box).

Even the new HD players will only upscale to say 720p or 1080i from a source that is only usually 480/576p - until such time as the movie studios release movies in HD format. And they'll only do that once copyright protocols are established and proven.

So, all the "media hype" about HD, is really only benefitting Sky HD subscribers for now. Give it another year and it'll be much better.

(I believe that HD will not come to Freeview until at least all the analogue channels are gone, as HD needs far more bandwidth than Freeview has at present. Isn't it strange that 2012 is when all analogue TV will be switched off and we have the Olympics that year - sounds like a great marketing opportunity for new Freeview HD boxes to launch....)

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Cable do TVDrive which I will be getting beginning of next year.

3 tuners watch 1 program record 2 others can't go wrong with that, it really does look quite good, so going to try that out for a month of 2 once I get it

[Gary]

Hello Halifax - lad

Have a look at these AV systems for under £500

http://www.hifistore.co.uk/category.php?qsCat=COMSYS

[Temujin]

By all means look at the cheaper brands for now, but my guess is that you will get very cheesed off with the lack of any performance, esp. if you use it a lot. Sound is important to people and you don't need to be an audiophile to be able to decide whether you like a sound or not. That's why a good mid-priced system might save you money, over buying an "el-cheapo" starter system - cos you'll be throwing the cheapie away within 6 months I guess......! Can you afford to do that?

Its worth noting also that with the kit at the cheaper end DVD playback also suffers.
In general its ok but when the player switches between layers there can be a noticable delay (frozen screen) of a second or so.
I've got a (now ancient) Sony Dav-S1 which never delays but guys at work who bought cheaper kit nearly all suffer from it.

[UBT - PaulC]

Enjoy the xbox360 too Halifax-lad! You should have an amazing time with it on that plasma

I've hooked mine up to the 42" NEC plasma we have here at work. It makes such a difference  :lol:

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Enjoy the xbox360 too Halifax-lad! You should have an amazing time with it on that plasma

I've hooked mine up to the 42" NEC plasma we have here at work. It makes such a difference  :lol:

Really looking forward to it I have now altered my mind totally I'm getting a 50" Plasma Screen, it has 2 HDMI ports (HDTV), its not a Pioneer but for what I want its good enough. Future proof kind of.

Also spotted a Denon for approx £600 turns out when I was looking yesterday I was that tired I kept over looking it.

So my mind is made up now, roll on the gaming with Xbox 360. Just need to get down PC World to get my wireless cable router and USB stick for my PC, they have a deal on at the moment so its cheaper than what my cable company can provide me with

[UBT - Timbo]

Really looking forward to it I have now altered my mind totally I'm getting a 50" Plasma Screen, it has 2 HDMI ports (HDTV), its not a Pioneer but for what I want its good enough. Future proof kind of.

Just make sure it will display at least 720p AND 1080i.

Some so-called "HD-Ready" screens will only do 720p....!

This will then make you more future proof...! Also be aware that the larger size plasma screens need more cooling and hence check on the fan noise that some produce. (You might care to visit a shop selling large plasma's and put the back of your hand about 1 cm from the front screen on the plasma - for some, you won't need any extra "room heating", as they pump out quite a bit of heat !! And some fans are a bit noisy....!

Also. Be aware that a 1080i image on a 42" screen will look better than a 1080i image on a 50" (as the "pixels" are closer together....!). As such, the optimum viewing distance for a 50" will be further away from the screen than a 42" - so if your room doesn't allow you to sit far enough away, the larger screen may appear to give a worse image, as the eye will not merge the colour pixelation. IIRC, the optimum distance for a plasma is approx 1.5-2.0x the diagonal. So, for a 50", you need to be approx 6½-8 feet away.

regards,

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Just make sure it will display at least 720p AND 1080i.

Some so-called "HD-Ready" screens will only do 720p....!

Checked the manufacturers website for the fact sheet and it does indeed do both of the above.

Also took a walk down to Comet & PC World to take a look at the sizes, I wanted to make sure it would not be too big (bit hard to imagine in your head whilst browsing the net)

Now all clear in my head that its a suitable size.

Must say was not impressed with the video Comet had on to show off there Plasma's it was all grainy, so went to PC World just to makes sure it was not my eyes  :lol:  PC World had a better quality video showing that really did show off the potential of Plasma TV's.

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

All on its way arriving tomorrow, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday

[James Box]

All on its way arriving tomorrow, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday

We're not going to see you for awhile then

[UBT-mark3346]

All on its way arriving tomorrow, Saturday, Monday & Tuesday

going to need the superglue then?

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

We're not going to see you for awhile then

Depends how addicted I get to the Xbox

going to need the superglue then?

Kind of like an Ikea product  Just getting bits from different retailers so they're all arriving different days

[UBT-mark3346]

I thought it was the new improved Royal Mail.....They still break everything but at least they let you know in advance when the bits will be arriving  :lol:

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

All arrived & part set up, had to go to IKEA to get a new TV stand the old one would not have been able to take the weight of the TV.

Also need to go and buy a few audio leads etc etc, to hook everything up to my cinema system, cables every where at the moment, downstairs looks so messy.

Pretty good picture will have to get my HD cable box at some point the normal signal is quite rubbish really once you have watched something in HD, the Xbox 360 is pretty amazing, also need to pick up a digital audio cable to plug that in to the sound system.

[UBT - Timbo]

All arrived & part set up, had to go to IKEA to get a new TV stand the old one would not have been able to take the weight of the TV.

Also need to go and buy a few audio leads etc etc, to hook everything up to my cinema system, cables every where at the moment, downstairs looks so messy.

Pretty good picture will have to get my HD cable box at some point the normal signal is quite rubbish really once you have watched something in HD, the Xbox 360 is pretty amazing, also need to pick up a digital audio cable to plug that in to the sound system.

Hi David,

I got back late last night from exhibiting at the What Hi-Fi/Stuff Show in London. Was a long 4 days, having to set-up, meet punters all day long, sell them stuff and then pack it all up and bring it back to the office last night....

Saw a demo of the new Toshiba HD-XE1 HD-DVD player - very impressive. Ditto the new Pioneer 5000 plasma screen - boy, do I want one of those, but at £6k, it can wait until I can receive a decent range of HD signals from somewhere....!

The shame is that there'll only be limited HD signals available from broadcasters for a while yet. Sky/Telewest/NTL will do their bit, and until the movie studio's start releasing films in HD, there won't be much available to show off the screen technology.

They also had the PS3 there, but I didn't see it working. S'posed to be very good.

If you want some DECENT HD cables, let me know as I import and distribute a particular brand of these in the UK. Send me a PM and I'll let you know more, as I prefer not to use this forum as an advert for my business.

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

The shame is that there'll only be limited HD signals available from broadcasters for a while yet. Sky/Telewest/NTL will do their bit, and until the movie studio's start releasing films in HD, there won't be much available to show off the screen technology

It is a shame seen as though the normal signal is inferior, will be a good day when the signals from the channels all turn to HD, the only ones I know of doing HD are some Sky Channels, National Geographic, BBC have a channel of two they are trialling.

On another note I watched a DVD last night through the player on the cinema system seen as though I have not connected anything else as yet, the sound quality was amazing.

I didn't half get confused  :oops:  Could hear things I never would be able to do with normal speakers, birds tweeting, people in a pub with there conversations in the background, at 1st I thought it was someone outside  :lol:

Can't wait to hook up the Xbox 360, the sub-woofer was rumbling away last night, sounds like it is going to be suited to playing games to get the atmospheric sounds going, my sofa was rumbling at one point along with the rest of the room

[UBT - Timbo]

It is a shame seen as though the normal signal is inferior, will be a good day when the signals from the channels all turn to HD, the only ones I know of doing HD are some Sky Channels, National Geographic, BBC have a channel of two they are trialling.

This is to be expected for now, as the new technology takes a while to seep through and become "normal". In the short term, the early consumer adoptors will be blown away by the quality, but not by the quantity of material. Obviously most broadcasters are already sorted for the hardware, but have to downscale the image in order to transmit via the analogue system. 'Course, Sky with their HD sport channels are already ahead of the game....

Talk is that the BBC are already re-training their make-up departments, in order that they are aware of the extra pressure they will be under, to make the "celebs" look good via a HD camera.

On another note I watched a DVD last night through the player on the cinema system seen as though I have not connected anything else as yet, the sound quality was amazing.

I didn't half get confused  :oops:  Could hear things I never would be able to do with normal speakers, birds tweeting, people in a pub with there conversations in the background, at 1st I thought it was someone outside  :lol:

Can't wait to hook up the Xbox 360, the sub-woofer was rumbling away last night, sounds like it is going to be suited to playing games to get the atmospheric sounds going, my sofa was rumbling at one point along with the rest of the room

It's very easy to make a home cinema system sound "impressive". But making it sound "natural" takes time and effort, so that all the relative "sound balances" are just right, in terms of both relative volume (fronts to centre, rears to fronts, sub to centre, sub to fronts,) as well as tonal balance (so the bass or treble is not too accentuated). You can get a sound pressure meter to help with the relative volume, but tonal balance is down to experimentation with the actual postion of the speakers in the room. Sometimes, you may only need to move the speakers a little and then everything "snaps into focus" (if you're lucky). I once bought a huge pair of Tannoy Berkeley speakers and it easily took me 6 months to get them to sound "good" in the flat I was in at the time. Once "there", they were never moved again, until I upgraded to something better.

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

Just got the speakers on the floor for now, in the process of buying some wall mounts to put them on, once I have them all in the correct places I can then tinker with it.

The Home Cinema System (Denon, see I did listen), has a facility in there to set how far away the speakers are to set a time delay for the surround sound.

Now I may be getting carried away with myself  :roll: , does anyone know anything about 7.1 surround sound  I guess Tim will.

Is 7.1 any better Whats the benefits

My manual talks about it, it has outputs for it which need to be connected to another Power Amp, then a further 2 speakers, didn't know that Home Cinema systems could do that only ever heard of it for PC's

[UBT - Timbo]

Just got the speakers on the floor for now, in the process of buying some wall mounts to put them on, once I have them all in the correct places I can then tinker with it.

Take your time to position the speakers first, as once they are on the wall mounts, you are going to be stuck (or you'll have a wall full of screw holes as you change the positions of the brackets.

The Home Cinema System (Denon, see I did listen), has a facility in there to set how far away the speakers are to set a time delay for the surround sound.

The time delay settings are to help ensure that the sound from the front, centre and back, reaches your ears are the same time. Sound travels through air at a much slower rate than light and hence the effects of having some speakers closer to you and others further away is more noticeable. You can calculate the exact time delay, but some of the better systems do it automatically ("auto setup"), by allowing you to plug in a microphone at your preferred seating postion, and then they send a tone to each speaker in turn and measure the time it takes between sending the signal to each speaker and then hearing it via the mic....!

Now I may be getting carried away with myself  :roll: , does anyone know anything about 7.1 surround sound  I guess Tim will.

Is 7.1 any better Whats the benefits

My manual talks about it, it has outputs for it which need to be connected to another Power Amp, then a further 2 speakers, didn't know that Home Cinema systems could do that only ever heard of it for PC's

The majority of films are now recorded in 5.1, which is front left, centre (for voice) front right, rear left, rear right and subwoofer (the .1 bit).

Some systems can generate a 7.1 "sound", by using the front and rear sounds and creating an effects channel, which drives 2 side channel speakers - the whole idea being to immerse you in a sound "field" and fool your ears that the film soundtrack is truly coming at you from all directions.

Of course, in an ideal world, you'd have maybe tens of drive units mounted all around the room, (and at different heights), with each driven by it's own amp. This would be much closer to "reality", but the cost would outweigh any benefits (and not including the cost of recording this to start with). It's also impractical...  

For most people, 5.1 is more than good enough and is a good balance between cost and filling your room with speakers.

The new HD-DVD players will offer 7.1 soundtracks, but of course as any back-catalogue material (most likely) wasn't originally recorded as 7.1, they will just be re-mixed 5.1 soundtracks. In time, the movie studios will perhaps make new films in 7.1, once they know there is the supporting hardware available.

A word about setting up.
Most importantly, if you have "small" speakers as the rears, then in the set-up menu of the receiver, make sure you "tell" the amp which size of speakers you have. Small speakers have little bass, so by telling the receiver that they are "small" means the processor will direct any bass that was destined for the rear channels and will instead direct bass to the subwoofer. This will ensure you don't overpower the rear speakers (which might damage them!).

regards

Tim

[James Box]

Tim certainly knows his stuff and I agree with everything he said.

With 2.4 children, it'll be a long time before I can spend serious cash on my home entertainment system again. Enjoy it while you can!

I currently have KEF's original THX home theatre speakers and they rock my house

[Gary]

fact is that my 50% of main business is that I work in the Consumer Electronics trade

regards

Tim

Hi Tim,

Forgive me for asking , do you have any thing to do with Arcam products ?

I have an int amp that needs a repair, the local dealer where I bought it from no longer trades, and another doesn't deal with Arcam.

Gary

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi Tim,

Forgive me for asking , do you have any thing to do with Arcam products ?

I have an int amp that needs a repair, the local dealer where I bought it from no longer trades, and another doesn't deal with Arcam.

Gary

Arcam are about 5 minutes drive away from my office !!

And I do know most of their upper management, so if you want me to help out, I'll try.

PM the details of what you have and what's gone wrong and I'll speak to someone I know there about it....!

regards

Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

I currently have KEF's original THX home theatre speakers and they rock my house

I was partly involved with the design of those speakers when I was working for KEF at the time !!

And I wrote the instruction books for them.....!

Interesting info: Believe it or not, but KEF wanted to use the Uni-Q drivers as part of the design of their THX speakers, but as Tom Holman disagreed with Laurie Fincham (KEF Technical Director) about the vertical dispersion characteristics, so KEF used discrete drivers, instead of Uni-Q for the LCR speakers.

And now Laurie Fincham is Tech Director at THX !!!!!!!

regards

Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Tim certainly knows his stuff and I agree with everything he said.

Thanks for the vote of confidence....

Having worked in hi-fi since 1978, as a retailer, installer, manufacturer and now distributor, I think I know my stuff.

Just don't ask me too many questions, else I might just fill up this forum with wise-cracks about most of the people I know in the industry  :oops:

regards

Tim

[James Box]

I currently have KEF's original THX home theatre speakers and they rock my house

I was partly involved with the design of those speakers when I was working for KEF at the time !!

And I wrote the instruction books for them.....!

Small world

A friend of mine had a ton of vibration problems with the THX subwoofer due to wooden floors. I think he partially solved it by using putting it on top of a concrete paving stone  Thankfully I have a solid concrete floor and the only thing I worry about is disturbing the neighbours

[UBT - Timbo]

Small world

A friend of mine had a ton of vibration problems with the THX subwoofer due to wooden floors. I think he partially solved it by using putting it on top of a concrete paving stone  Thankfully I have a solid concrete floor and the only thing I worry about is disturbing the neighbours

You won't believe this, but when we used to do hi-fi shows during the late 80's & early 90's, we took along with our demo kit, 4x 24" paving slabs, specifically to put under the speakers we were demonstrating so as to make them sound better......!

These helped mostly on wooden floors, and enabled us to adjust the bottom spikes (of the speakers) "properly" so they were stable.

Many people were surprised at this and often asked us "why" and many came back the next year to say it had improved their "sound"....!

I should've got commission from the paving slab company !

regards

Tim

[DJH@GB-Ro]

Sad fact is that 50% of my business is that I work in the Consumer Electronics trade and as such, I can tell you that if you want the best Plasma, then the brand name on it is Pioneer.... Forget the rest, the Pioneer sweeps them all away.

Hi Tim, Just ordered one of these:

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/62 ... index.html

The best in its price range in store (of course went home and ordered online!)

[UBT - Mikee]

£1400! Some people got more money than sense! I only say that 'cos I can't have one!

Mother just bought this this morning. Bit of a bargain as it's £999 in store! She could have got it a bit cheaper but she wanted it NOW! Sound quality is a bit naff though. I told her to get a 'Pioneer' but would she listen!?

[UBT - Timbo]

£1400! Some people got more money than sense! I only say that 'cos I can't have one!

Mother just bought this this morning. Bit of a bargain as it's £999 in store! She could have got it a bit cheaper but she wanted it NOW! Sound quality is a bit naff though. I told her to get a 'Pioneer' but would she listen!?

And now who's talking about money and sense... as for a "bit cheaper" ????

If you click the link it says:

Samsung  LE32N73BD
£799.95 online

and £999.99 in store......

For the £200 saving, she could surely have waited a few days for delivery?

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

I am very happy with my Phillips 50" Plasma fits in the room very well, the picture is great

[UBT - Timbo]

I am very happy with my Phillips 50" Plasma fits in the room very well, the picture is great

Did you hear about the insatiable woman who swam the Irish Sea as she thought that a 14" Murphy was a well hung Irishman.....!


(this is an old electrical store joke, as "Murphy" used to make TV's !!)

Glad you're happy with your Philips 50 inches  :) !!!!

regards

Tim

[UBT - Halifax-lad]

 :oops:  :lol:

[UBT - Mikee]

And now who's talking about money and sense... as for a "bit cheaper" ????

Wasn't my money she spent (just the inheritence ) She used 'click and collect' so she had the £200 saving.

Had to have it today - has no patience and her main 7 year old TV blew up!

[UBT - Timbo]

Wasn't my money she spent (just the inheritence )

Had to have it today - has no patience and her main 7 year old TV blew up!

Let me guess - she wanted to watch "Strictly Come Dancing" (or whatever it's called......)....!

That's why I'm online now, while my "better half" watches Mark R and Co. dance the night away in all their sequins and lace....

Oh well. Might just have to buy something off eBay to keep myself happy....!

regards

Tim