Budget AV amp & speakers for odd shaped room

speedalini

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Hi,

I have recently bought a Samsung LE40C650 TV and a Sony BDPS370 blu-ray player - now all I need is some decent speakers and an AV receiver and so I would be grateful for some advice. From reading various posts on this forum there seem to be a few options from Q Acoustics (1010i) and Sony (STRDH800/10?), respectively, for my budget of under £500. The trouble is the room they're going in is an odd shape and so I'm worried they won't do themselves justice...

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The shape of the room means that the front speakers would be very close to the side of the TV and the rears would be very close to the back of the sofa... Would this have a particularly detrimental affect? The other option could be to go down the soundbar route...

Thanks in advance
 
Forgot to mention that the TV is not 3D compatible so don't need that functionality from the amp - so the Sony STR-DA2400ESB could be a winner, although it eats into the speaker budget...
 
The layout of your room is going to mean some compromise on positioning of speakers etc. so you may not get the best performance possible but it will still be better than a soundbar or the TV speakers.
Since you have so little space at the rear I would consider some dipole/bipole speakers for rear speakers. However, it will be hard to get these in a system within your budget. Have you considered getting a 2.1/3.1/3.0 system to start i.e. get the fronts and an AVR with maye a sub. You could then get the rears as funds allow. This would mean concentrating your budget on a few better quality items and hence a better end result.
The 2400 is currently a great price and is probably less than the 810 hence you will get a better sound for less money.
 
crikey, I'd never heard of those until now! Yeah I'd definately consider starting with that sort of setup and progressing from there - can you recommend any of those type of speaker? Yes it seems the 2400 is a lot of amp for the money - does it lack any other recent features, besides 3D support, that might be useful compared to a newer model?
 
The only other thing that 1.4HDMI does is the return audio which would mean withb the correct TV youi would only need one HDMI from the TV to the reciever. This will only be an issue if you plan to use the internal tuner on the TV. If you have a sky box or similar than the return audio will not be a feature that will be useful. Without it and using the internal TV tuner you would need an audio connection as well from the tv to the reciever i.e. an optical cable ot pair of phono cables. Other than that the 2400 will have all the features you would ever need.
As for speakers you could buy normal speakers. For Sony I would look at Tannoy (F or V series), Wharfedale (Diamond 9 or 10), Q Accoustics (1010 or 2000 series) or Kef (iQ or eggs). You could then buy either just a pair of floorstanders or standmounts for 2.0 or get a matching centre from the same range to make 3.0 or add a sub to either of the 2 previous options to make it .1. The Sony 2400 (as will any AV reciever) will work perfectly well in any of these configurations.
 
Ok great, thanks. My TV has an integrated freeview HD tuner so the return audio would be a useful feature. If I added on the cost (~£20?) decent optical cable (better bet than phonos?) would the 2400 still be the best choice compared to an equivalently priced newer, return audio equipped model?
 
The 2400 is definately worth paying the £10-20 for an optical cable. You would need to probably spend double the current price of the 2400 (around £500) to get a similar performing 1.4 HDMI reciever.
 
Just been to Richer Sounds and now more confused than ever - so many conflicting opinions :confused:

I ran through my current setup (which includes a Humax PVR 9200T), budget and room layout. My suggestion of the Sony STR-DA2400ES receiver and Boston Acoustic XS speakers was practically derided - former difficult to setup and latter apparently has a poor centre speaker.

Instead I was shown the Onkyo TXSR 608 and Tannoy SFX5.1 combo. The former being very easy to use, having excellent sound quality and video upscaling, THX certification and support for '3D' sound - i.e. 2 extra raised front speakers (Dolby Pro Logic IIz?). The Tannoys were, in his option, much better than the Bostons mainly due to the centre and the tweeter I think. For these I was quoted a discounted ~£600, ~£100 over budget.

Contrary to a lot of what I have seen on this forum, I was advised to spend a lot more than I was expecting on the amp rather than the speakers. What makes me slightly suspicious of this recommendation was that the quote also included a £39.99 HDMI cable!! :nono:

Any thoughts? :lease:
 
I am not surprised by Richer Sounds pushing Onkyo as they have a reputation for that. I would also question why they are pairing such cheap speakers with the 608 since it really deserves better speakers. The Tannoys are budget speakers while the sound quality from the Bostons has been compared favourably by a few members here against the Q Accoustics 1010i (these used to sell for £500 and are a level above the Tannoys).
I feel you have been given bad advice by Richer Sounds in this instance. You could see if they will let you listen to the combination to see if it sounds OK to you. Personally I would pair the Q Accoustics 1010i as a minimum to the 608. The Tannoys imho are better paired with the Onkyo 508 or below since you will not get the best from the 608 with them. I would stick to your guns and get the 2400 as originally wanted.
 
sounds like a plan! In terms of music playback - the sony lacks the fancy iPod dock into universal port feature but, if I can stream it straight from my PC to the blu-ray player or TV then to amp and speakers, I'm not losing out am I? Especially as I would be able to navigate through it with its remote via the TV screen (one of the main advantages of these from what I gather...) plus I could probably stream higher bitrate files if I can find a suitable format
 
You can buy an ipod dock that will connect to any AVR. I have an Onkyo Ipod dock that attaches to my Arcam reciever. It has its own remote and on screen display as well as charging my ipod. You could also get something like a Logitech squeezebox to also stream direct from your PC.
 
You can buy an ipod dock that will connect to any AVR. I have an Onkyo Ipod dock that attaches to my Arcam reciever. It has its own remote and on screen display as well as charging my ipod. You could also get something like a Logitech squeezebox to also stream direct from your PC.

ah ok cool, I was under the impression (Richer Sounds again I'm afraid!!) that it was the universal port connection that allowed the on (TV) screen display and navigation etc. I've got wireless dongles for my blu-ray player and TV and have streamed .aac files to both - am I right in thinking there would be no point getting a dock or any other streaming hardware for better quality?
 
almost ready to unleash a Sony STR-DA2400ES from amazon! :thumbsup: One nagging doubt I have is the 4 threads worth of users who have had trouble with theirs, particularly from amazon it would seem. Could it be mainly down to the confusing manual or are there loads of dodgy ones of these around?
 
The amazon trouble is fairly recent and is not repeated thru out the four parts of the owners thread, the vast majority of these threads are people asking for help with setup not actual faults. Popular receivers get the longest threads as more people have questions to answer.
 

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