Topic: Suggestion for AV Receiver and Speakers

[Lantis]

hello po sa mga gurus...

I am sick with SARS because of reading pinoydvd threads and I'm starting to build up my very own HT hehehe.. I already bought a Toshiba 32WL66E and a Pioneer 696AVS, now I am hunting for speakers and ampli.. very newbie po!  I was browsing on the threads and I am just looking for satellite speakers kaso lang the old posts are, well kinda old na hehehe some of the links are not working.. maliit lang yung room maybe 5 x 5 meters?  Also an ampli to match the speakers.. may tanong pala ko dito.. why do I need an ampli if I have an analog 5.1 output on my DVD player?  Hindi ba pwede isaksak na lang don hehehe... saka sa ampli pala I am planning to buy an HD-A2, so an HDMI connection would be a-ok (ok rin naman kung wala!).  Budget for amp and speakers around 25k.. or maybe more depending sa SARS... thanks in advance! 

Addendum: di ko nakita yung nasa taas na post too excited hehehe...! Sir Matz! saan mabibili yang satellite speakers you mentioned and how much? TIA!

[MAtZTER]

They are being sold in many different stores so you have to look around A/V stores.

Among the above, the JBL SCS, being the cheapest is already at 20+k. HDMI receivers are in the 40-50k vicinity, so you might need to add to your 25k budget. Or wait just a bit more because cheaper , lower model (or price class) HDMI capable receivers are coming soon.

[Lantis]

They are being sold in many different stores so you have to look around A/V stores.

Among the above, the JBL SCS, being the cheapest is already at 20+k. HDMI receivers are in the 40-50k vicinity, so you might need to add to your 25k budget. Or wait just a bit more because cheaper , lower model (or price class) HDMI capable receivers are coming soon.

for satellite speakers such as these, do I really need receivers for this or can I directly connect it to my dvd player? (Pioneer 696AVS)  If yes, any receivers in mind without HDMI?

[MAtZTER]

for satellite speakers such as these, do I really need receivers for this or can I directly connect it to my dvd player? (Pioneer 696AVS)  If yes, any receivers in mind without HDMI?

Of course, receivers give the wattages to power the speakers, DVD players only give the signal. unless your speaker system is powered (i.e. nextbase, xenon). But separates will still sound better than these powered speaker systems.

Any entry level receiver will do w/ the satellites. I would recommend Denon, Onkyo or HK w/ the JBL sats.

[Lantis]

Of course, receivers give the wattages to power the speakers, DVD players only give the signal. unless your speaker system is powered (i.e. nextbase, xenon). But separates will still sound better than these powered speaker systems.

Any entry level receiver will do w/ the satellites. I would recommend Denon, Onkyo or HK w/ the JBL sats.

Sige I'll be checking on JBL SCS 200/260 and an HK 240 (or HK 245 I saw one in Amazon with HDMI sana meron dito :-D)

[Lantis]

Sige I'll be checking on JBL SCS 200/260 and an HK 240 (or HK 245 I saw one in Amazon with HDMI sana meron dito :-D)

I inquired for quite a bit and researched more on the speakers.  I narrowed down my choices to Wharfedale 9 HCP and JBL 200/260, and for the receivers HK 245 or 340.  Wharfedale has 6 ohms and JBL has 8 ohms.. malaki ba yung difference nun? and for the subs of both Wharf has 150w and JBL has 100w.  Should I go for Wharfs since I will use it primarily on HT?  Sa receiver naman, maliit lang kasi yung difference between 245 and 340 price.. should I go for 245 with HDMI or 340 with more power? or anybody can recommend an equivalent receiver?  My overall budget would be around 50k (ayan tumaas na si Sir Matz kasi eh sabi dagdagan hehehe ). Gagamitin ko to with my Pioneer 696 and hopefully pag my budget na ulit Tosh A2 Danke, danke!

[MAtZTER]

and for the subs of both Wharf has 150w and JBL has 100w.

this is why I liked the JBL, even if the spec is just 100w, it can outbang the Wharfe SW150, and I like it loud since I use it for HT only.

But for speed & finesse (specially in audio), I find the Wharfe better (ganda!). But on very loud HT scenes, nagvivibrate yung kaha sa unit that I installed for my friend's HT. I had to turn the volume down.

Should I go for Wharfs since I will use it primarily on HT?

If primarily for HT, the JBL is good enough, I believe the wharfes will prolly outperform it in music.

should I go for 245 with HDMI or 340 with more power?

245 is enough IMhO for satellites & little bookshelves. But if you have budget left, I would recommend the 340, as I always recommend to get the best receiver your money could buy. The 300 series is also said to be warmer sounding than the 200 series. 5w across all 7 channels in an all channels driven rating is not a "small" difference. Also IMO, in case you go into audio next time or want bigger speakers, you wont need to upgrade if you have a 340.

Is the HDMI also capable in audio? Cuz not all are, most are video capable only. If that is the case, I find the HDMI useless, as I would prefer to plug the HDMI direct to the display na lang instead of using 2 HDMI cables (one to AVR, one to display...useless if no audio)

Bottomline: buy which one is better sounding / performing to you.

If I had a budget like yours & dont have any limitations on design & space (I needed mine to be compact kasi), I would prefer the Wharfes + 340.

Equivalent receivers, yamaha 659 or the upcoming HDMI capable 661. Denon 1900 & Onkyo 600 series.

[Lantis]

Bottomline: buy which one is better sounding / performing to you.

If I had a budget like yours & dont have any limitations on design & space (I needed mine to be compact kasi), I would prefer the Wharfes + 340.

Equivalent receivers, yamaha 659 or the upcoming HDMI capable 661. Denon 1900 & Onkyo 600 series.

Bottomline it is.

Taking the plunge, I have just auditioned Wharfedale with Denon and I went for it   Medyo sumobra sa budget but I went for:

Wharfedale 9.5, cs and 9SR
Denon 1907

I am still undecided with Velodyne VX10 for the sub... my original plan was to go all Wharfs but Sonny of SGT is really giving me a good price of the set, hehehe...  Any thoughts on this?

[Ferl]

sa wakas nagkaroon na sin ako ng yamaha na unit.i got the rx-v557 on sale with free ns-p116 speakers for just Php 21936 in conversion na yan.nagsale kc sa aDawliah for the lat day and naisip ko na kunin na.im planning ow to follow the advice of the gurus of this forum to look for a better speakers like whaf to pair it kc yung free itatabi ko nalng for my separate set up.mga sir mukhang ibaba ko yung budget ko sa sub ano ba ang maganda ganda na medyo mura lang lower than velo brands.i will be pairing this one with wharf.

[John E.]

congrats on your rx v-557 

im no PDVD guru but if i could suggest a sub lower than velo i'd go for a DQ12 there are a couple being sold at B&S section. one being sold by sir simple.

...or you can simply just save for a velo vx-10 (sa SGT mas mura ata) but that's just me.

congrats! enjoy your new gears!

[Mrk]

congrats on your rx v-557 

im no PDVD guru but if i could suggest a sub lower than velo i'd go for a DQ12 there are a couple being sold at B&S section. one being sold by sir simple.

...or a '12 konzert sub i saw in mega mall at "the listening room".

...or you can simply just save for a velo vx-10 (sa SGT mas mura ata) but that's just me sabi nga nila just my 2 cents (borrowed phrase)!

congrats and hope you enjoy your new gears!

yung DQ12 na luma dynaquest na rabadge now as konzert

same na same yung design except for the logo

[Ferl]

now i finalized my set up with the rx-v557 na ireregalo ko to be paired with wharfedale 9 series as follows

Front:   9.4 as adviced ng karamihan dito as compared to 9.5 Price: Php 9,700
Center: 9CM                                                                  Price: Php ---
Rear:    9.2                                                                    Price: Php 7,000
Sub:     velo 10                                                              Price: Php ---

pwede po ba makahingi ng feedback. Entry level lang po kc regalo ko sa father ko. I admit I havent audition these speakers pero as far as I have read from here mukhang tama lang yung match nya na hindi mag suffer ang rx ko. Also, pwede po bang makahingi ng current price sa mga units in ---.

I believe if makapag bakasyon na ako dyan sa pinas I will have time to audition these units at mapakinggan ko talaga ang performance nila. For now Im just trying to hear from the people around here base in thier experiences. Maraming salamat po in advance. I hope hindi ako ma SARS. ahehe

[John E.]

It is because for me, after experiencing all of these, I believe one's satisfaction can never be compromised. In this hobby, often we say we will acquire something within our current budget only and be settled with it. But often that does not become true, does it? After a while, one will think if this really is the best that can be acquired for the money. You're thoughts will run around the idea that, if only I had been patient and saved a few more or put in a little more cash I could have had this other product or the next higher model which had these more features, and so on and so forth. Then after only a few months you would already be contemplating on the next upgrade. Afterwards, when you look back in the end, you then realize that you have spent so much already in upgrading this and upgrading that in just a year or even a few months, that the total amount of money could have bought the best product already.

Whew, what was that?! Oh, ignore that. That was just me griping. 

i just love this part! sometimes the itch does'nt take a year...sometimes complating takes just takes a couple of weeks specially if you often browse through PDVD.

this is the same best advise i could give aside from trusting your ears and not browsing much on the HT gallery (para di nakaka ingit). 

[Weng!]

mga master,

i just bought an evo10, evo center and evo8 from cybermms recently.   

what AVR can you recommend (with pre-outs) that can power them evo's adequately? i prefer not to overkill the AVR as of now so i will have funds to buy an FS and the power amp in the future. regarding the sub, i am eyeing on the velo. the setup will be in a 5x5 meter untreated room mostly used for HT.

is it necessary to upgrade to FS if having a good sub?

dahan-dahan lang me sa pagbuo at sana di kaagad ma sars ,

thanks,

weng

[MAtZTER]

A matching mid level HK 300 series would be good for your HT/audio preference.

i prefer not to overkill the AVR as of now

I believe in (& recommend) getting the best receiver your money can buy. I do not believe in such a thing as "overkill" 

is it necessary to upgrade to FS if having a good sub?

For a small room: NO need (but if you really want...)
For a 25sqm room: pwede din
For very big rooms: Dapat

Also, Top model receivers can fill your room w/ sound, BS or FS. I once heard a HK630 (top model) power mini bookshelf speakers & fill up the whole JBL showroom in Mega.

Just my 2 cents 

[Weng!]

thanks for the recommendation matz.

what i meant with overkill is that i don't want to spend extra money now for an excess headroom when in the future the avr's amp section will not be used when i add a power amp.

what avr models to check that has a pre-outs:
hk -300 series and up
yamaha - ??
onkyo   - ??
denon   - ??

 

[av_phile1]

Pre-outs are often found in mid to high end receivers.  But I heard even the Marantz entry level has one.  Check that brand as well.

[Weng!]

Pre-outs are often found in mid to high end receivers.  But I heard even the Marantz entry level has one.  Check that brand as well.

thanks av_phile1

[MAtZTER]

thanks for the recommendation matz.

what i meant with overkill is that i don't want to spend extra money now for an excess headroom when in the future the avr's amp section will not be used when i add a power amp.

what avr models to check that has a pre-outs:
hk -300 series and up
yamaha - ??
onkyo   - ??
denon   - ??

 

Yamaha 1000 series
Onkyo 700 series
Denon 2000 series

More than just the headroom, you have to consider the processing power of these models. Getting the lowest model w/ pre outs is not the same as getting a higher model w/ a higher processor, future power amp considered.

Anyway, even if you get the higher $1k model, there will still be improvements (from the onboard amp) if you use good power amps. As sir AV said, specialty (like power amps) has its benefits.

Thats why I always recommend to get the best receiver your money can buy, the lowest mid levels (mentioned above) being the most practical for me, as they usually use the same processors as the top range models. 

just my 2 cents

[Ferl]

mga sir, ano po bang av reciever ang mainam sa infinity primus 250?

[newbie pa rin]

I heard infinity match with an HK.
OK sya for HT.

[dts-HD 3D]

mga sir, ano po bang av reciever ang mainam sa infinity primus 250?

Yes, 99.9% HK.

I have Yamy 659 before but my Primus sounded thin esp. on multi-channel, pure direct is another thing tho'. I noticed a big improvement when I switched to HK340.

[Ferl]

mga sir gaano po ba ka totoo na yung infinity primus models madaling bumigay ang tweeter? yung school mate ko kc in college now working in a very famous home theater shop in cebu told me this one. he told me na mas maganda pa ang quality ng jbl speaker for hk.feedback naman po.

[[r]ichkri3g]

In my case, the power amps came in last. and my plan was to still have 7 channels (or 4 surrounds) working, with the amps powering the front 3 channels and the receiver powering the 4 surrounds. My, the difference from using a regular receiver alone was  .

sir MAtz, would you still recommend this even if one would just use BS speakers for the fronts?

ummm let's say B&W's 685 BS? 

[MAtZTER]

sir MAtz, would you still recommend this even if one would just use BS speakers for the fronts?

ummm let's say B&W's 685 BS? 

Lets answer through an experiment I did. I am using THX BS speakers now & before I connected it to my Yamaha 7x130w THX receiver. Ok naman, cant complain.

One day I tried hooking up the BS speakers to my 5x100w Rotel power amp. There was still a considerable improvement (though not huge as the difference w/ FS IMhO), even though the rotel had a lower power rating. Probably its bec. good quality power amps, with their own robust power supplies, can still tend to outperform their receiver counterparts w/c share everything (preamp, amp, etc,) w/ one power supply (squeezed into one small casing). Maybe cuz Rotel uses torroidal transformers (duno the technical side of this) blah blah blah x10 ... LOL

So in short it kinda depends on your pursuit for perfection or level of satisfaction... and budget of course. In my level of addiction to the hobby  , only a power amp will do. But if you are not very particular in this hobby, then you dont need power amps.

I heard that B&W's shine with Rotels. Its a match made in heaven they say. I read somewhere that the B&W's dip to below 4ohms (puts a big strain on the power supply) w/c is no problem for power amps. But I am not sure if its still the same case w/ the new 6 series speakers.

I would recommend that you try using a good receiver first, then when budget allows, get a power amp after some time. Stereo will do, let the receiver handle the other channels.This way you can appreciate the difference instead of buying it all at once.

Better yet... BORROW one from a fellow member. 

[[r]ichkri3g]

sir MAtz, as always your inputs are greatly appreciated. 

in the B&W website, the smaller HTM-62 center channel speaker is recommended for the 685 bookshelf speakers.

is it ok to use a bigger HTM-61 center channel speaker for the 685's?

[Bodacious Cowboy]

I don't know if anyone has already asked this and what answers were given, but I'd like to know your ideas about a home theater set-up that's "spouse friendly" meaning, in my case, it shouldn't be hard on the budget and the speakers should be unobtrusive, not count as part of the furniture.  We're having a house built and the home theater will be placed in the family room.  Right now, I have a dedicated home theater room in our townhouse so I have satellite fronts and surrounds.  The family room will be twice as big as the room I have now.

Should I go HTIB? wireless speakers?  Stick with satellites or use bookshelf speakers (I have two that I use for music). I really don't want to mount speakers on the wall but I also don't want to have speaker stands. 

Thanks in advance.

[MAtZTER]

Exact room size? Budget? (be generous! )

Remember that bigger rooms need more powerful ( ergo more expensive receivers or power amps) to power properly. Thus it might not be budget friendly. If you use your HT/family room a lot for movies, games & music, be generous in your expenditure for your new HT, as it will bring you many years of enjoyment. there are many "Pogi" floorstanders out there that can be approved by the missus (for your 2x bigger family room).

Read magazines like Electronic Home (been buying em lately), there are a ton of ideas there for wife approved HT's. But you have to have a deep pocket though.

Or go through the HT gallery of this site for cheaper DIY ideas. 

[Bodacious Cowboy]

Thanks, Matzter!  Could I impose on you by asking for specific recommendations?  The room is rectangular, 28 x 12 feet. 
I think using my AE bookshelf speakers (on stands) as front speakers will be fine but I might have a problem having the same type of speakers as surrounds as I really do not want to mount them on the walls.  If I put them on stands, my wife will definitely think of them as unsightly.

Right now, I'm leaning towards getting a Yamaha sound projector so that I wouldn't have to bother with surrounds. It would cost me P40,000 for the YSP 800 and P75,000 for the YSP 1100.  I have been warned, though, that although these sound projectors can generate surround sound, they cannot approximate the results given by a real 5.1 or 7.1 system. 

Now given the above, what speakers would you recommend? Floorstanding or bookshelf?  What AVR?  I am willing to buy new equipment but I do not want to break the P70k limit. 

Thanks again.

[MAtZTER]

I dont see why you should worry much since you are still in the process of constructing your house, there are so many WAF (Wife approval factor) design options available for you in HT & int design mags (and the pdvd HT gallery). All you need is to adopt them to your new home.

As early as now, plan your cable management already while its under construction! You will appreciate this advice very much in the end!

Take note that the high pitched YSP needs a sub badly. So your budget still didnt include that.

Your room is around 30+ sqm already . You will really benefit from using separates w/ floorstanders. HTiB's & sats are out of the question.

Ideally, you will need a powerful receiver ($800-$1200 class) or power amps (plus 2-3 subs) for a room of that size. But thats ...ideally. This is dependent on your level of enthusiasm for HT.

If you arent choosy to your HT experience, w/ 70k just get an entry level 7.1 FS setup, a good 12" sub and the cheapest AVR w/ preouts ... for the meantime. Pre outs are for future connection to power amps, in case your taste evolves & you find the power of the receiver "lacking", specially in that big room of yours.

If you are a choosy one, ya really needs to brings up your badyet... and you will really do a lot of research here. Remember that a well executed HT will bring you years of enjoyment.