£5k budget for good cinema set up - possible?

[Skyway]

Hopefully moving house soon to a house with a large room which I would like to turn into a cinema room. I am completely new to this so could I get a decent set up for around £5k and if so what sort of kit would I need?

[RobDickinson]

What do you need?

You need a screen? If so what type and size?

Then bluray player/media PC thing + AV amp + 5.1 speakers.

£5k should be enough really depends on how far you want to push things.

£1k tv
£300 bluray
£1k amp
£2k speakers/sub
rest sundries.

[Skyway]

Thanks for that.

Would a projector with pull down screen be doable?

[Some Gump]

OP, totally doable. In fact, doable to an especially awesome standard.

Now, what I'm about to say will be argued against in every AV forum ever - feel free to consider or reject as you see fit...

The thing is, the whole AV world is full of gimmicky ste. Everyone gets told to chase the latest and greatest dolby version etc etc - but whatever you buy will be old hat in 2 years, and you;re living there for 5 or more so...

Instead of getting whatever the latest is, get 1 generation behind. Go pre / power (well, processor - power), and get good speakers. This way, you can get vastly better performance than if you had whatever the current fad is. Rotel make bombproof and great sounding power amps, and ebay is full of them. Hell, you could even get Arcam FMJ if that's your style. Any amount of last gen processors from various brands are also available - but don't overlook getting an integrated that has pre-outs - plenty of Denon and Yamaha bits go for pennies on fleabay.

Next, if it's a dedicated room, do it properly. That means buy the perforated screen, centre correctly positioned etc. 75+% of "show off your cinema" threads have woefully placed centres that physically can't sound good no matter what the speakers are. Same with the sub. Middle of the wall, preferably 2 subs middle of opposing walls.

All in, 3-4 grand will get you the noise part to a standard that would cost 10k in Sevenoaks now. That leaves 1k for a nice projector and sundries =)

[tankplanker]

Taking the buying old stuff one step further, stick with just two speakers to start with then add in more later on when funds allow. Reason being you'll get far better speakers that way, two really good speakers will give you a better sound stage than five and a sub cheaper ones.

The one area I'd advise caution over buying second hand is 4k with HDR, its a fair big step up if you have decent kit. I'd strongly recommend auditioning a good screen + 4k bluray setup as replacing the screen/player later will be expensive.

[Evolved]

I'd say without a doubt!

I did it for far less and while it's not going to rival some builds, it's more than enough for me.

VT65 brand new - £2.5k
BK sub - £300
Yamaha RXV673 - £200
Monitor Audio Radius, front, rear and centre - £600
Plus wall mounted connection points and wires in the walls.

Looks and sounds great for the money, I even had the screen calibrated and it's still under your budget, granted some of the gear was off AV forums, so if buying new you'd be looking at more money but with the change you could look at a projector too.

[NorthDave]

Some Gump said:

OP, totally doable. In fact, doable to an especially awesome standard.

Now, what I'm about to say will be argued against in every AV forum ever - feel free to consider or reject as you see fit...

The thing is, the whole AV world is full of gimmicky ste. Everyone gets told to chase the latest and greatest dolby version etc etc - but whatever you buy will be old hat in 2 years, and you;re living there for 5 or more so...

Instead of getting whatever the latest is, get 1 generation behind. Go pre / power (well, processor - power), and get good speakers. This way, you can get vastly better performance than if you had whatever the current fad is. Rotel make bombproof and great sounding power amps, and ebay is full of them. Hell, you could even get Arcam FMJ if that's your style. Any amount of last gen processors from various brands are also available - but don't overlook getting an integrated that has pre-outs - plenty of Denon and Yamaha bits go for pennies on fleabay.

Next, if it's a dedicated room, do it properly. That means buy the perforated screen, centre correctly positioned etc. 75+% of "show off your cinema" threads have woefully placed centres that physically can't sound good no matter what the speakers are. Same with the sub. Middle of the wall, preferably 2 subs middle of opposing walls.

All in, 3-4 grand will get you the noise part to a standard that would cost 10k in Sevenoaks now. That leaves 1k for a nice projector and sundries =)

I work in the industry and that is what I would do in your position. Second hand AV kit is worth peanuts and good stuff from a few years ago is still good stuff. If you decide to upgrade bits in the future you will probably get back what you paid. I'd avoid a pull down and go fixed - acoustically transparent as mentioned above sat over a false wall.

I'd be looking on AVForums, ebay and local hifi shops for good second hand kit.

Enjoy the build process - I wish I had room for a dedicated cinema! Do a build thread and if you need any advice post up, there are some knowledgeable folk on here.

[anonymous-user]

RobDickinson said:

What do you need?

You need a screen? If so what type and size?

Then bluray player/media PC thing + AV amp + 5.1 speakers.

£5k should be enough really depends on how far you want to push things.

£1k tv
£300 bluray
£1k amp
£2k speakers/sub
rest sundries.

I'd not spend £2k on speakers. Technology hasn't moved on very much in the past 20 years and you can get some cracking second hand ones in mint condition from eBay. That's what I did. ProAc studio speakers are quite cheap and sound amazing.

For a sub, look no further than BK.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 7th July 21:03

[ChrisNic]

Some Gump said:

OP, totally doable. In fact, doable to an especially awesome standard.

Now, what I'm about to say will be argued against in every AV forum ever - feel free to consider or reject as you see fit...

The thing is, the whole AV world is full of gimmicky ste. Everyone gets told to chase the latest and greatest dolby version etc etc - but whatever you buy will be old hat in 2 years, and you;re living there for 5 or more so...

Instead of getting whatever the latest is, get 1 generation behind. Go pre / power (well, processor - power), and get good speakers. This way, you can get vastly better performance than if you had whatever the current fad is. Rotel make bombproof and great sounding power amps, and ebay is full of them. Hell, you could even get Arcam FMJ if that's your style. Any amount of last gen processors from various brands are also available - but don't overlook getting an integrated that has pre-outs - plenty of Denon and Yamaha bits go for pennies on fleabay.

Next, if it's a dedicated room, do it properly. That means buy the perforated screen, centre correctly positioned etc. 75+% of "show off your cinema" threads have woefully placed centres that physically can't sound good no matter what the speakers are. Same with the sub. Middle of the wall, preferably 2 subs middle of opposing walls.

All in, 3-4 grand will get you the noise part to a standard that would cost 10k in Sevenoaks now. That leaves 1k for a nice projector and sundries =)

This has always been my approach and works well, there isn't a chance that I could have bought my kit new but have some really nice bits that I have picked up over time. Something to remember is that if someone has spent £2k on a piece of equipment they will generally look after it so condition tends to be really good or I've just been lucky.

For a 5k I'd stick to 5.1 and go for something like...

Sony HWxx projector (there are various 10, 20 etc but are all fairly similar and I'm still happy with my HW10) circa £1000
Fixed screen - in my experience far better than a pull down. £200
A set of M&K speakers, if you could find some MP150's are great for fronts then add a pair of surrounds £1500
Anthem amp £800?
BK sub £400
I know nothing of blu-Ray players but plenty of budget left.

That's basically the system in my living room, I don't find it lacking in any areas and that's compared to a dedicated setup with some more serious kit.

[anonymous-user]

I would add if you want an AV amp, I can highly recommend the Yamaha Aventage series. Super pieces of kit that work wonderfully with music or film.

[RobDickinson]

wormus said:

I'd not spend £2k on speakers. Technology hasn't moved on very much in the past 20 years and you can get some cracking second hand ones in mint condition from eBay. That's what I did. ProAc studio speakers are quite cheap and sound amazing.

For a sub, look no further than BK.

He didnt ask about used, though its always a good option.

IMO tv's and electronics are now cheap consumer stuff not worth really investing in so much, even AV amps you hit diminishing returns pretty quickly and they get out of date fast now.

Speakers are still where its worth spending money on because you get what you pay for with them.

I like the idea of using older amps though they can be hard to balance and there isnt much in the way on non integrated AV processors now either.

Buying 2 speakers and adding to later is IMO a bad way for home cinema as you'll want the same type of speaker to keep the sound balanced.

[Some Gump]

Had a quick look on fleabay.
My money would be tempted by this combo:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Serie...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Monitor-Audio-gold-G...

Or if you prefer wood..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Speak...

Total 1550 so far..

Then I would add:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...

Call it 2k..

And run it all biamped, fed by this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Onkyo-PR-SC5509-9-2ch-A-...

£2700..

Add 2 decent subs (£400 a piece), or one monster:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Miller-Kreisel-Subwoofer...

total spent £3500

The above system would be pant wettingly good - and leaves 1500 quid in your budget for vision / source.

It also assumes you are detached, because max volume would be obscene =)

[RobDickinson]

Some Gump said:

Had a quick look on fleabay.
My money would be tempted by this combo:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Serie...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Monitor-Audio-gold-G...

Or if you prefer wood..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Speak...

Total 1550 so far..

Then I would add:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...

Call it 2k..

And run it all biamped, fed by this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Onkyo-PR-SC5509-9-2ch-A-...

£2700..

Add 2 decent subs (£400 a piece), or one monster:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Miller-Kreisel-Subwoofer...

total spent £3500

The above system would be pant wettingly good - and leaves 1500 quid in your budget for vision / source.

It also assumes you are detached, because max volume would be obscene =)

I have MA silvers, the golds are awesome, that would be a kick ass package.

[davek_964]

I used to have MA GS10s as my main front stereo speakers, and they really are superb for the money. I replaced them with something roughly 5 times the price, and although the replacements are better the difference is quite small.

I recently went from 5.1 to 7.1 and am using the GS10s as side speakers. A little larger than I want but excellent sound.

[Frances The Mute]

As mentioned, that budget will get you a very decent level of equipment and performance. You just need to spend time working out exactly what you need.
If you were prepared to look at used equipment, you could really put together a monster system.

Either way, thorough planning is the best way to ensure you get what you really want, first time without issues.
I'd also suggest you join AVForums if you haven't already done so. There's a wealth of knowledge and ideas to help you decide.

[mikeiow]

Some great advice here!
I would personally investigate the perforated screen option: probably great if you are a long way back from the screen, but we took a look in Richer Sounds a while back and the perforations were VERY visible to me!
A pal has recently got a new projector sending a bigger picture....& actually, from my perspective, it was too big (something I previously thought impossible - "fill the wall", I thought!).....

We are probably still a year off sorting our lounge out to be a "part time cinema".
The other piece of the cost puzzle is any furniture and any work needed by sparky etc (I would be pretty useless at cabling up a ceiling projector!)......

[AC43]

Some Gump said:

Had a quick look on fleabay.
My money would be tempted by this combo:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Serie...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Monitor-Audio-gold-G...

Or if you prefer wood..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monitor-Audio-Gold-Speak...

Total 1550 so far..

Then I would add:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RMB-1066-6-channel...

Call it 2k..

And run it all biamped, fed by this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Onkyo-PR-SC5509-9-2ch-A-...

£2700..

Add 2 decent subs (£400 a piece), or one monster:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Miller-Kreisel-Subwoofer...

total spent £3500

The above system would be pant wettingly good - and leaves 1500 quid in your budget for vision / source.

It also assumes you are detached, because max volume would be obscene =)

Get in! :-)