living room sound V girlfriend

scargill

moving to a new house shortly and trying to suss out what home cimema system I'm going to put in. Want to decide before the floors go in so I can hide cables, etc.

Girlfriend would be happy if there was just a telly in the corner with one remote. I want to get a decent sound system for playing dvd, music, etc.

I'm thinking of going for something like this....

Bose 3-2-1

Five speakers are replaced by two. A single media centre including an integrated DVD/CD player, AM/FM tuner with RDS, amplification and signal processing, replaces a stack of electronics. A patented Acoustimass® module hides easily in a corner or behind your furniture. In addition, everything is easily connected with just three wires and a power cord, making set-up a snap.

I've been to Peats and it sounds great - speakers are small and gf will be happy if they are on stands.

She doesn't know it yet but I am eventually going to buy one of these also:
Kiss Digital Video Recorder DP-558, 200GB

Ideally I want to end up with as few components as possible and I want decent sound, dvd playback, hard-disk recording and dvd recording.

Anyone any opinions ? I know when I get the Kiss device I'll end up with two dvd playback devices (Bose and Kiss).

pH

This is a personal opinion, but I'd avoid BOSE like the plague!. Basically it's overpriced junk with a serious marketing budget giving the impression that it's good stuff.

Someone stop me buying a BOSE
BOSE Opinions

If you really don't mind spending 1,000 and have to have the 1 box solution, small speakers, no wires because of G/F then go for it. But you're buying a sound system for all the wrong reasons.

The KISS is first rate though - Buy the Kiss and spend the remaining 400 on a small decent surround sound system would be my advice.

scargill

pH wrote:

This is a personal opinion, but I'd avoid BOSE like the plague!. Basically it's overpriced junk with a serious marketing budget giving the impression that it's good stuff.

I've read the links - and I'm aware of the BOSE bashers out there, but to my untrained ear it sounds great !? (Audiophiles can roll their eyes now)

pH wrote:

If you really don't mind spending 1,000 and have to have the 1 box solution, small speakers, no wires because of G/F then go for it. But you're buying a sound system for all the wrong reasons.

OK - I do agree with you here - but there has to be some sort of trade off. If I was living in a bachelor pad with an unlimited budget I would have a great setup. But in the real world the other half has a say in how much clutter goes into the living room and how much money is spent on it (when other rooms are carpetless, curtainless, etc !!)

pH wrote:

The KISS is first rate though - Buy the Kiss and spend the remaining 400 on a small decent surround sound system would be my advice.

could you recommend some other surround sound systems. (I'm not actually all that bother about 'surround' sound. decent stereo sound will do just fine.)
and do I have to get an amp with these ? the less boxes the better !

Sidane

That KiSS yoke looks like a sweet piece of kit. Bit pricey at 600 though.

On the topic at hand, I've no real advice to offer!

scargill

Sidane wrote:

That KiSS yoke looks like a sweet piece of kit. Bit pricey at 600 though.

if you are interested its available for €507 here

andy1249

Okay , heres the story , seeing as you have that kind of budget , why not spend it on something thats really good , heres a link to the latest technology , and the beautiful thing is its Girlfriend friendly , cos there are no wires , instead the unit bounces sound ultrasonically into position , I kid you not , this is one long unit that sits on top of the TV , and produces genuine 5.1 surround with no wires !! Its 1400 euro though , but its quality and not Bose , Bose really is rubbish !!

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/audio/yamaha-ysp1-digital-sound-projector-025818.php

Heres another link with brochures and reviews

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/av/products/digitalsoundrojector.html

I dont have one yet , but I want one for Christmas !!

pH

If you're going for an all in one 2.1 system consider the Denon M51 DVS at around 600 on the old interweb rather than a bose 3-2-1 at 1,000 from peats

amazon reviews of BOSE 3-2-1
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/electronics/B00005T3JX/customer-reviews/002-4517153-2559207

Home Cinema review of Denon
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displayreview.php?reviewid=5485

I believe KEF do a nice all in one 2.1 as well though it's pricier and KEF stuff can be tricky to find online
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/technology/reviews/kefkit100.html

These still leave you with an additonal box when you buy the KISS, and I guess you could argue that the BOSE has a radio.

I'd still buy
KISS player
Standalone A/V receiver
Nice speakers

My live in lover is quite happy with a 7.1 set of Monitor audio Bronzes and a Yamaha RX750 amp - maybe you're just not treating yours right

scargill

Many thanks for that pH. The Denon looks like it will do the job nicely for me. Looking at the spec on the Denon website the D-M51DVS seems to have a radio built in also. Silly question...
When I connect the Kiss device to the Denon will it play movies in 'virtual' surround sound or will this only work if movies are played on the the Denon ?

Tenshot

I bought a set of Tannoy EFX 5.1 speakers recently (to replace my old Tannoys due to space reasons).

I'm pretty happy with them - not as good as the old set (which were great!) but very acceptable for the price and size. Note that stands are not included - they're quite expensive add-ons but well worth getting.

thesteve

If you really want to frighten the missus, start talking about a projector

Idleater

I would definitely NOT recommend BOSE, I found the build quality is surprisingly poor, the cd tray in particular felt like a €79 powercity ghettoblaster rather than a €1000 hifi system.
The thing to note that if you are putting the TV in a corner, those reflecting "5.1" systems will not work properly. They are designed to work in a square/rectangular room (rather than a rhombus/diamond shape when you put the tv in a corner).

You would be much better using a set of traditional speakers like these.
If you are putting down flooring, then you could put the wires under it, which makes it very neat and I am sure that the speakers can be wall mounted if needs be.
Personally, big speakers give a better fuller sound, and can look archetural if you try. I have my floorstanders "out in the open" and the discreet bookshelf rears are relatively hidden on the other side of the room. The sub is the thing that you are going to have to try to "hide" but since it is non directional, that is easier to do, eg behind the couch.

L.

scargill

nereid - the tv is going to be in the corner of a rectangular room - to one side of the fireplace, the same as 95% of sitting rooms !
Am I wasting my time with the Denon then ?

Those Mission speakers are good alright - but I'd have to get an amp - the all in one solution of the Denon will suit me better I think - if it'll sound ok in the corner of my room.


confused now !

Idleater

scargill wrote:

nereid - the tv is going to be in the corner of a rectangular room - to one side of the fireplace, the same as 95% of sitting rooms !
Am I wasting my time with the Denon then ?

Those Mission speakers are good alright - but I'd have to get an amp - the all in one solution of the Denon will suit me better I think - if it'll sound ok in the corner of my room.


confused now !

Hi scargill,

Apologies, I don't mean to confuse you and you are certainly not wasting your time with Denon - they are a very good brand!
The tradeoff that you have to make is the space vs cost. The Denon (which I would wholeheardedly recommend above the BOSE anyday) is a great all in one system and will do the job adequatly. However the "virtual" sound reproduction from 2 speakers cannot possibly compare to the "actual" surround sound from 5 dedicated speakers. That is the given. Against that is of course that you have to run wires to the speakers throughout the room.

What it will come down to is how much of a sound purist you are. The only reason I mentioned the Missions was because they are a small size "normal" speaker package which might make them more GF friendly.

The Missions (or any standalone speaker set) will need an amp and I suppose your seperate DVD Player now that I think of it, which the Denon comes as standard with.

I would consider the missions a high end "home cinema in a box" all in one solution that you find in Dixons/Currys/Peats. And the Denons would also fit into that category but with the "virtual" sound as previously mentioned.

Hope this helps,
L.

pH

Dolby Virtual Speaker as used by Denon does not rely on reflected sound from side walls to provide the rear virtual speakers.

Yes in any room some sound reaches the ears via reflection this but this system does not require it.

It is worth pointing out that to get the best out of this system you will need to be sitting in between the speakers at a particular location in the room, not way to one side looking at the TV sideways - as so many livingrooms are setup!

Idleater

pH wrote:

Dobly Virtual Speaker

I just checked out the website and was reasonably impressed.

As a solution to the original poster's problem of less boxes and less clutter I would think that this should adequatly suffice.

While I agree that surround sound was achieved, I would still go back to my comments that no "virtual" surround sound can compare to an actual 5.1 (or 6 or 7.1) speaker setup. It simply is not possible. There are a couple of examples on the Dolby website (the super speedway example) that has a couple of examples of sounds that should be "behind" but actually appear in "front" and the some speech examples that should be in front are not.

A multiple speaker setup (with a calibrated amplifier) could overcome the small sweetspot that the two speaker system results in, which would also allow the speakers to be placed at the edges of the room with varying power going to the different speakers.

As I said, it depends entirely on how much of an audiophile you are.

L.

scargill

i'm going to ensure that the speakers are equidistant from the TV and that the sofa will be straight in front of the TV (well, at least where I'll be sitting anway !)

Thanks for steering me away from the Bose and onto the Denon - saved me around €400 - I can buy the Kiss sooner than I thought !!

pH

I agree wholeheartedly nereid, and I almost suggested taking the thread to the personal issues forum to see if a solution to the girlfriend problem could be found

These virtual systems are never going to match a really nice and well setup 5.1 system, however if he's going down this path the Denon seems to be a better buy.

scargill wrote:

When I connect the Kiss device to the Denon will it play movies in 'virtual' surround sound or will this only work if movies are played on the the Denon ?

Yes the KISS has a digital audio out, and the Denon a digital audio in, so it will produce the virtual sound from a 5.1 DVD or Dolby surround TV broadcast from the KISS player.

Fallschirmjager

scargill,

i have a cunning plan..... :eek:

find out a film (but it has to be fairly recent) that she loves

then if you can goto one of the big centers with the favourite DVD. it has to be a minimum of 5.1

bring it into one of the places nice and early, nice breakfast, sunny days, loads of compliments, , go so far as to promise a days shopping with her :rolleyes: (what u will have to do is prostitute yerself for a whole day)

then...nice and early before all the knackers arrive...

sit her down in the comfy sofa, bull**** the sales guy so he leaves you alone (basically plan this)

play the movie and watch her wonder...

some womens idea of technology is a 15 inch black and white tv so u will have to get her to change her idea....oh play the movie just before the part she likes....

the questions she will use :

this is expensive (i.e. i could get a lot of shoes for this)


that is where the components come in. by buying seperates, you can build it up...slllllooooowwwwwwllllyyyyy

of course you will have to let her talk you dowN TO THE RIG YOU WANT...


good luck bro!!! all the brothers here are with you!!!

Linoge

scargill wrote:

if you are interested its available for €507 here

Technik Direct are good, I think they're one of the biggest if not the biggest in Germany.

Received it about a week ago. Got it for E499 because I quoted this site **** . dont be tempted to buy off this site though. I was gonna buy it off him on ebay, asked him to sell it to me for the same price as site. He said he would but outside of ebay to avoid fees. He doesn't take credit cards or paypal.], but his feedback was good so I thought fnck it. I issued a bank transfer then emailed him to say it had gone through. 3 hours- no reply. Asked a question about the power, 2 more hours- no reply, so I pulled the payment. That was 3 weeks ago and he still hasn't replied to my email! I was lucky

Anyway, I bought this even though my credit card was just about maxed out. My gf was well pissed off. When I got it I put her mp3's on it then showed her how to pause Neighbours. Now shes telling her friends how cool it is! lol