Bose and bang and olufsen

Drexl Spivey

Hi all,

I'd be interested in setting up a really good home cinema system for the living room.

I heard that Bose was the best. Can anyone tell me what the average prices are for a 5.1 speaker system? Also, where in Dublin can you buy this brand?

Also, what screen would be the best (size will be 42"-45") : plasma, lcd, sony, sharp, ??

Finally, someone mentioned 'bang and olufsen'. I ve been to their website and the home cinema systems look very cool. What kind of pricing can you expect for this brand and where can you buy their products?


I'd like to spend 5000 euros ....

Any tips or adice from the experts (YOU) are very wlcome

cheers

Beruthiel

Jeff Bond wrote:

Hi Also, what screen would be the best (size will be 42"-45") : plasma, lcd, sony, sharp, ??

come on folks, help out here!
I want to have a fuk of cinema in me gaf
is lcd better than plasma, and if it is, why?

pH

For a start Bose and B&L are newbie high end brands. Real Audiophiles stay well away from them, they're overpriced rubbish.

LCD generally gives a better picture than plasma, but both can look artificial compared to the CRT set you're used to. But for a particular price the plasma screen will be bigger. 42" plasmas are common, 42" lcds are not.

You'd really need to see and be happy with the Tv before you buy. However most Irish shops have rubbish signals coming into theire display models.

Buy a few 'Home Cinema' magazines in easons, go here (avforums) and read for a while. It will give you a gist of whats good in the UK market.

We're just about to begin the HDTV revolution with Sky coming next year and HD blue-ray/HD-DVD movies coming soon. Trying to buy a HD set now is tricky and you will pay a serious premium for the privilege.

chopster

Regarding B&O stuff since you're in Dublin they have a showroom across the Ha'penny bridge beside the Budget Travel shop , can't remember the name of the quay though i'm sure you do.

Armen Tanzarian

You can get your Bang and Olufsen stuff on Bachelors walk just over the hapenny bridge or in Donnybrook. For 5 grand you'll only get a 22" lcd, really smart looking tv tho. Also it can be difficult to mix and match stuff with B&O, ie: you buy a B&O tv you buy B&O speakers to go with it. You'd need to buy speakers that have their own built in amp and power source to run effectively with B&O. Ive had numerous different tv's over the years and nothing compares to the clarity of a B&O screen, they buy their crt tubes of Philips and then tweek them. You do pay more but you'd expect to pay more for the latest in design and innovation also service is the best service I've ever received with any product, My brother knocked my beocenter 5 over, B&O came out and fixed it for free, I had had the tv for 3 years.
You should drop in to B&O to see their display model with the full surround sound, get the to put on pearl harbour, the bit with all the planes and guns it'll scare the **** out of you

I would avoid any type of Plasma or Lcd, quality nowhere near as good as crt, Plasma tv's have issues with long life ie 6 years use and most of them are shot, I know toshiba have a long life model ie: they say it will last 10 - 12 years.

On that budget I'd look at getting a projector or a rear projection tv, if you go the projector route make sure it has 1 or more dlp chips, try Infocus for the projector and I'd stick with Bose for the sound, Bose do good home cinema packages, friend of mine has a bose home cinema system (6.1), nice system, great for movie nights. You can get that at peats parnel st. Peats can be expensive so make sure you get a deal if you buy there.

Best of luck with the new system

rabbitinlights

Avoid B+O and Bose. They are way over priced for what they do. They may look very nice but you could buy a much better sounding system for half their price, If you must have one of them, B+O is the lesser of the 2 evils.

Apart from how much you want to spend, what are you looking for? small wall mounted speakers or large floorstanders? IF your budget is €5K and you want a large LCD/Plasma which is good quality, your not gonna have much left over for the audio.

S.

TCP/IP

If anybody is looking for particular advice on plasma screens please PM me and I will fill you in I am just to tired to write a big post if it does not answer the correct questions that people want. Check out the gadgets forum for info on plasma screen. But feel free to PM me and I will help as best as I can

redman

I got a great Monitor Audio system (neat but great sound) from Richers Sounds in Belfast delivered to me in Dublin.

Well worth a look in!

Redman

lifebook

get yourself a Harman amp for starters, Ive had quiet a few to date and the harman is just so much more complete that the others ive had. The sound from some of the high end AVR models is amazing but you will prob spend most of your budget on it

Mordaunt speakers are extremely nice to (especially the THX certifed stuff)

If you want the extreme FUK off cinema you so elegantly talk about get a projector for the sheer experience of it all. Huge 12ft screen using a high lumen DLP projector is second to none

Drexl Spivey

thank you all for your feedback.

It seems that It all depends on personal taste. Some of you will say that Bose is the best, some other that Bose is overpriced ..

So I ll take one advice here : I ll buy a home cinema mag and see what info I can take in from it.

Also, as for the screen, I didn t know that CRT TVs were better quality. In that case, i might go for a crt as it is cheaper as well.

Today i ll go to bang and olufsen just for the criac ( i am not sure the pricing will make me laugh though!).



Take it easy.

commited

Dude,
Dont buy anything without experiencing it first, and experiencing it against lots of other stuff.

I'd avoid buying Bose or B&O like the plague..
Visit cloney Audio in blackrock

optiplexgx270

pH wrote:

For a start Bose and B&L are newbie high end brands. ... they're overpriced rubbish.

Got anything to back this up?

delly

Knowing that Sony are a high street brand, they probably won't get much votes, but i got a 5.1 system there a while ago which i would recommend. The model is DAV-SR1 and has 700watts of sound. I think you can get them for around €400 or so, and i would consider the sound quality excellent as well as very, very loud. It brings a whole new benefit to been detached.

Its probably not hi-end enough for the OP's liking, but to anybody else out there who wants good sound for small money, check it out.

Sparky

bose is ok, ive 2 bose speakers and they have some power, B&O is seriously expensive but does have good sound, my mate has the beosound 9000 with 2 sets of beolab 6000's and the sound is large and has good depth for such small tall speakers

C Fodder

For a good quality home cinema 5000 yoyos wont buy you much B&O,will buy you some good bits from Bose but with careful mix and match of the best compatible components that suit your chosen room you will have an OK system. Also spend a few euros on the acoustics of the room (could be better value in the long run than electronics that date).

Buy kit with standard fitings/mountings even if it isnt the very best you can afford today because tomorrow you may be able to afford better!