Home cinema setup for movies and music
Discussion
Does anyone use their 5.1 surround AV amp for music as well? I am after a solution with surround for films and PS3, but also as a hi-fi for stereo music (CD and MP3). The music is in some ways more important to me than films, although I do fancy surround sound as well! I can't really do both separately as I don’t want the clutter – so my options are a stereo amp, foregoing the surround aspect but having good music sound quality, or buying an AV amp. I am leaning towards the latter.
However, I have done some research which suggests that music quality may not be that good from AV amplifiers which worries me. One question I have is whether this is likely to be noticeable to me having never had a hi-fi separates system, only fully integrated mini systems things (The AV forums and the like seem a bit audiophile to me!) So... what sort of sound quality would, say, a £300 AV amp and £3-400 speakers be on a par with – cheapy separates, good mini system or rubbish one for example?
I'm looking at a Yamaha amp (667) as they seem to have a more natural sound from what I've read. Could I then get two front bookshelf type speakers for left and right and then a sub and smaller satellite speakers for the remainder of the 5.1 set? Can the amps switch easily to two speaker stereo if you want it? I've no idea how to choose what speakers either (and what would complement what). You can see I'm quite confused and very much a novice, so any advice or suggestions of what you would do would be great!
However, I have done some research which suggests that music quality may not be that good from AV amplifiers which worries me. One question I have is whether this is likely to be noticeable to me having never had a hi-fi separates system, only fully integrated mini systems things (The AV forums and the like seem a bit audiophile to me!) So... what sort of sound quality would, say, a £300 AV amp and £3-400 speakers be on a par with – cheapy separates, good mini system or rubbish one for example?
I'm looking at a Yamaha amp (667) as they seem to have a more natural sound from what I've read. Could I then get two front bookshelf type speakers for left and right and then a sub and smaller satellite speakers for the remainder of the 5.1 set? Can the amps switch easily to two speaker stereo if you want it? I've no idea how to choose what speakers either (and what would complement what). You can see I'm quite confused and very much a novice, so any advice or suggestions of what you would do would be great!
If you want to use your system for music as well as TV/games you need to test the system with your ears. Set your budget (which you have), use reviews as a starting point and then go and listen to what you may wish to buy. If you are happy with what you hear, buy it.
As with a lot of things in life what one person likes another dislikes.
As with a lot of things in life what one person likes another dislikes.
I had a similar issue about 10 years ago when I set-up my AV set-up, as I didn't want thousands of speakers but still wanted a dedicated amp for music.
Ended up with a Yamaha DSP E-800, processor which amps centre, and rears ..... and sends signal to my Roksan Kandy amp, which powers the l&r channels at the front....
More details here .......
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/reviews/hardware/yammy80...
a few on ebay circa £30...
Ended up with a Yamaha DSP E-800, processor which amps centre, and rears ..... and sends signal to my Roksan Kandy amp, which powers the l&r channels at the front....
More details here .......
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/reviews/hardware/yammy80...
a few on ebay circa £30...
Edited by Hoover. on Friday 27th May 13:43
Get yourself a cheap AVR with 'pre-outs' on the front channels and a decent stereo amp with either a 'uniti-gain' AV input or failing that use a Beresford Speaker switch (read about it HERE
Then connect all your stereo sources to the stereo amp and the signals never go near the AV amp
Then connect all your stereo sources to the stereo amp and the signals never go near the AV amp
I used to keep everything separate with an Arcam Alpha 8/8P bi-amp setup into Mission 753 floor standers for the music and a Yamaha DSP-E800 for the movies.
Last year I wanted to upgrade the music side and almost as an afterthought auditioned the Denon 3808 Home Cinema amp to find it sounded incredible with music too. It is flexible enough to allow me to bi-amp the speakers when in stereo mode with double the power of my old setup and does absolutely everything better. For 5 channel surround the difference is immense.
I still think that £ for £ a dedicated hifi amp will clearly outperform a cinema amp on a stereo test but not everyone has the space or funds to separate them and it's my recent experience that the compromise is nowhere near as sever as it used to be.
Last year I wanted to upgrade the music side and almost as an afterthought auditioned the Denon 3808 Home Cinema amp to find it sounded incredible with music too. It is flexible enough to allow me to bi-amp the speakers when in stereo mode with double the power of my old setup and does absolutely everything better. For 5 channel surround the difference is immense.
I still think that £ for £ a dedicated hifi amp will clearly outperform a cinema amp on a stereo test but not everyone has the space or funds to separate them and it's my recent experience that the compromise is nowhere near as sever as it used to be.
I compromised.
PS3, Freesat for the TV element and a Squeezebox providing the music via optical. All into a Denon 1910 which was a similar budget to what you mentioned at the time. I also auditioned an Onkyo but the quality of the music reproduction was much better on the Denon whilst the 5.1 was very similar. Sometimes I run mine in stereo 2.1 and sometimes in 4.1. As the amp also has a 2nd zone I guess I could wire up some more suited speakers if I wanted to just for music.
It's never going to be audiophile but it's fine for most general listening.
Go and listen to the amps you are interested in, don't just read about them. A good shop will set it up and swap stuff round until you get a combo you like.
PS3, Freesat for the TV element and a Squeezebox providing the music via optical. All into a Denon 1910 which was a similar budget to what you mentioned at the time. I also auditioned an Onkyo but the quality of the music reproduction was much better on the Denon whilst the 5.1 was very similar. Sometimes I run mine in stereo 2.1 and sometimes in 4.1. As the amp also has a 2nd zone I guess I could wire up some more suited speakers if I wanted to just for music.
It's never going to be audiophile but it's fine for most general listening.
Go and listen to the amps you are interested in, don't just read about them. A good shop will set it up and swap stuff round until you get a combo you like.
Very interesting thread OP!
I've been in this quandry myself and still haven't decided on final bits and pieces. I listened to a CM8 system with a Pioneer VSX LX52 AV amp, thinking that spending a grand on an AV amp would do the job on the music level.
The movie sound was ok but whole thing was a massive disappointment for listening to music. I've since started looking at CM9s and MA GX200/300s but still haven't a clue for the rest.
There is the choice of going high end AV with something like an Arcam AVR600 to get movies and music from the same amp although you could argue that this is overkill for the centre and surrounds unless you go high end for these too. Mid-range AV amp with preouts into a decent power amp as mentioned above (I'm looking at Roksan, Rotel, Cyrus etc) or go seperates with a 5 or 7 channel power amp and seperate processor/preamp.
It's a jungle out there!
I've been in this quandry myself and still haven't decided on final bits and pieces. I listened to a CM8 system with a Pioneer VSX LX52 AV amp, thinking that spending a grand on an AV amp would do the job on the music level.
The movie sound was ok but whole thing was a massive disappointment for listening to music. I've since started looking at CM9s and MA GX200/300s but still haven't a clue for the rest.
There is the choice of going high end AV with something like an Arcam AVR600 to get movies and music from the same amp although you could argue that this is overkill for the centre and surrounds unless you go high end for these too. Mid-range AV amp with preouts into a decent power amp as mentioned above (I'm looking at Roksan, Rotel, Cyrus etc) or go seperates with a 5 or 7 channel power amp and seperate processor/preamp.
It's a jungle out there!
TEKNOPUG said:
First things first, what are you planning to use to feed the amp: SKY HD, PS3, Blu-Ray, DVD, HD telly, Radio etc etc?
At the moment...standard Freeview TV
PS3 via HDMI for games and blu-ray
DVD via HDMI
Wii via component
ipod via some sort of dock
Probably a separate CD player at some point
I'm not a massive film watcher, I mean I'm not a huge action movie fan or anything, but I do use the PS3 a lot for games.
Separate amps for music with pre-outs etc (whatever that is
) is what I'm trying to avoid. I also know that you can get pretty good AV amps for big money, but I don't want to spend more than about £800 on the whole kit!I guess the answer is spend a fair bit of time at Richer Sounds and try stuff out (are there any other shops where you can do this? I'm in the south... Dorset/Hampshire way)
Bullett said:
I compromised.
PS3, Freesat for the TV element and a Squeezebox providing the music via optical. All into a Denon 1910 which was a similar budget to what you mentioned at the time. I also auditioned an Onkyo but the quality of the music reproduction was much better on the Denon whilst the 5.1 was very similar. Sometimes I run mine in stereo 2.1 and sometimes in 4.1. As the amp also has a 2nd zone I guess I could wire up some more suited speakers if I wanted to just for music.
It's never going to be audiophile but it's fine for most general listening.
What sort of speakers do you have? bookshelf, satellites etcPS3, Freesat for the TV element and a Squeezebox providing the music via optical. All into a Denon 1910 which was a similar budget to what you mentioned at the time. I also auditioned an Onkyo but the quality of the music reproduction was much better on the Denon whilst the 5.1 was very similar. Sometimes I run mine in stereo 2.1 and sometimes in 4.1. As the amp also has a 2nd zone I guess I could wire up some more suited speakers if I wanted to just for music.
It's never going to be audiophile but it's fine for most general listening.
This set, B&W MT25 The speakers are wall mounted with the cable through the wall. There is a picture of my room on the show us your set up thread.
Found it. http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Found it. http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Edited by Bullett on Saturday 28th May 15:03
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