Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Stereo/Home Cinema Enthusiasts

[nelly]

A bit of thread hijacking.................. but don't suppose anyone has a set of 5.1 speakers lying arond they don't want have they.
I'm looking around for a set. I've been looking at KEF 2005's or maybe one of the Mission sets at around the £300 mark.
Small and unobtrusive is the key. I don't have room for floor standers unless they are very slim.
Will be running them off a Denon AVR 2051.

[TP]

Originally posted by Mr_S
Get yourself an SPL meter from Maplins and a copy of AVIA or Digital Video Essentials for the setup. (both audio and video). A camera tripod's also useful but not essential.

It's worth the expense and the effort getting it right. Quite often when a setup is carried out by ear, the rear channels are set way too high, and the bass is too low, causing a muddy soundfield.

ASF Video calibration is also worth every penny, but you can afford it

If you don't want to buy the kit just yet, you can borrow mine for a couple of days.

Errr ... I wouldn't have a clue what I was doing with all this stuff. I reckon I'd probably make a meal of it!

I was actually thinking of getting them to set it up for me!

[Mr_S]

It's a sight easier than faffing about with AD & Exchange.

And a lot less complex than poncing around with PRINCE2.

Getting it professionally setup isn't cheap though. ASF runs at around £300 for 2-3 hours work, and the audio side of things would probably work out about a similar rate. ASF you can't do yourself, but the audio you can, and it's easy.

[andys 900ss]

Hi TP,

Looks like a good setup there.

I used to be a serious audiophile and was really happy with KEF's uni-q speakers which have the tweeter in the centre to focus better, but found they rattle it little from new, they went back 2-3 times still to no avail.

But I then tried some B&W's and found how much better they were, although also test driven some Missions which were out of my price range.

So I ended up with B&W floorstanders with Centre & Surround to match and very expensive interconnects and bi-wire cables.

A Sony receiver followed the demise of my QUAD setup (blown it up!!) and then moved house, couldn't fit the floorstanders so brought a Sony Surround system with little satelites and BIG sub which actually sounds not that bad.

Most my home stuff is Sony now as I cant fault it, but had problems with my DJ kit Denon cd players 'wearing-out' so I brought some second hand Sony players which work perfectly.

B&W kit still in loft, I really dont want to let them go...

My advice is, try the kit out and take your time over deciding what you want, then track the stuff down in What Hifi for a good price, although we have a Sevenoaks and Richer Sounds near us in Nottingham and they are very competative.

One offer I got was that 'I buy the stuff, take it home and if I dont like it, return it for a full refund'.

Andy

[TP]

Patience has never been my strong point ... so I've bought it all now. I did listen to pretty much everything though.

Hopefully it will be delivered for this weekend. In the end the final spec is:

Arcam AVR 300 - running in 5.1 though and 'bi-amping' the front speakers for audio
Arcam DV79 DVD/CD player
Monitor Audio RS1 front speaker pair
Kef KHT 2005 (eggs) centre channel and two rear satellites
Kef KHT 5005 sub
QED cabling everywhere



I can't wait to get this setup and cranking!

[Simon Reed]

Nelly.i've got a JBL 5.1 surround setup,4 sale,with a Sub,amp the lot speakers arn't massive,around 5" x 7" x 5" £150.00 takes the lot mate,or it will go on e-bay !