Setting up a home cinema system

[mutt k]

I assume that there must be one or two in the PH collective who have experience of setting up a home cinema system.

I have just had a quote for supply and installation of such a system including a 42" Pioneer plasma screen TV and a Bose Lifestyle entertainment system. Prices for the equipment are pretty close to retail so no problem there; man's got to make a profit after all.

Some pretty pricey cabling has been specified, which judging by it's cost has been woven from the hair of the bastard offspring of a union between an angel and a unicorn, or possibly even the wing'd horse of chavtat

What stuns me though is a £1400 charge for system design, wiring schematics and a 1st, 2nd and 3rd fix of cables, loudspeakers and AV equipment

I am presuming that the wee is being extracted here? Surely it is a case of take it out of the boxes, cable it up, plug it in and off we go with Terminator 2 followed by Star Wars?

[parrot of doom]

Do not get a Plasma screen unless it can accept HD signals. Or you'll end up with a lame duck. Blu-ray or HD-DVD will be with us very soon, and Sky will be transmitting HD films and sporting events next year.

You need a vertical resolution of at least 1080 lines, I think horizontal resolution is about 1920.

Your best bet right now is to get an LCD screen.

Trust me, go and see a HD setup - you'll be astounded.


Also, don't be suckered into spending lots on interconnects and speaker cables. Surround amps are notoriously bad at provided hifi quality stereo, so just stick with nice-but-not-extortionate interconnects, and £1 per metre speaker cable.



Check it out:

www.wmvhd.com/

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Wednesday 16th February 20:47

[wannanicecar]

If it's the Pioneer 435 then it is a very good screen (have the 434 myself) - Cable choice is important with these screens, but not as important as a lot of people make out.

I have my freeview box currently connected up to the TV via a 'Not very high quality' scart lead (Think it cost me £15) and I cannot see any difference between that scart lead and the one that I was previously using that cost £60.

Anything to do with audio or video and some people will tell you to spend £000's on cables etc, but unless you demand the absolute best possible signal etc, then don't bother and save te money!!

[thebluemonkey]

£1400 is a bit much though if they are CEDIA approved then this is to be expected. For speaker cables there is nothing quite like CAT5 cabling this side of £60-70 per metre in my opinion. If you go on a search of google then you can find loads of information about them. They take a while to make up but sound the business and cost peanuts. If you're being charged a lot for interconnects then make sure they are at the very least Teflon coated as the back of a Home Cinema will be a very harsh place to have badly sheilded cables and preferably silver wired too.