What do I need??

[finlay666]

Originally Posted by SiM

Only problem with that is that you won't get the HD audio formats (unless you use 6-8 analogue cables... yuk... but if you don't mind this, then go for it...
Also there is nothing wrong with getting a second hand receiver too.

Well my mobo has coax and optical (and new soundcard will support both) so cabling shouldnt be too bad (360 will use optical too as I can split off the sound as I found out today)

I'll pop into richersounds tomorrow/tuesday to see what there is, how much etc and to have a listen

Hopefully I will be able to try a few out to see what my choices are. I think I will see how it goes, might still go for an HDMI one, annoyingly the one that seems very good is $300 or so from the USA, and £323 from pixmania......


Cheers for the suggestion Glenn (cs: s player ?) but I would need the following connections:
1 or 2x optical
1x component
0 or 1x HDMI

I think that I'm right in thinking that co-ax from my mobo/soundcard would be better than optical? I think my best idea is seeing what Richersounds suggest for my budget, same for speakers, I had a look in the AV Forums classifieds however they are all too far away, and I feel a little anxious buying from a forum I have never used before.

[SiM]

Coax is the same as optical in quality... but neither can carry lossless multichannel sound formats that come with bluray movies...
Optical is a bit more fragile that coax, but there are no other differences...

Regarding AV forums, they are quite safe as long as you exercise standard forum trading caution
TBH, if you post this same thread there, you will get a much better and more detailed response... Its full of AV geeks!

[finlay666]

Well I'll go to richersounds later today, see what my choies are, then join up on AV forums

edit:

Pioneer VSX-1017-K - Sound and Vision Online

look good? Price is £100 cheaper than richersounds and is top end of my budget

[BigGlenn]

Originally Posted by finlay666

Cheers for the suggestion Glenn (cs: s player ?)

Aye, that's me Finlay Can be found on the usual server

[finlay666]

Originally Posted by BigGlenn

Aye, that's me Finlay Can be found on the usual server

Cool, I'll be on when my wireless internet is sorted out, can't get online atm with my pc/360/psp which is a pita

[SiM]

Originally Posted by finlay666

Well I'll go to richersounds later today, see what my choies are, then join up on AV forums

edit:

Pioneer VSX-1017-K - Sound and Vision Online

look good? Price is £100 cheaper than richersounds and is top end of my budget

That looks like a good amp for £100 below that price (I wouldn't get it if it costs over £200 though). It has HDMI switching although it doesn't process sound over HDMI...

If you can stretch to £210, the Onkyo 505 is a better buy

[finlay666]

SiM my nearest store is in Leeds

I'm in newcastle that is over 80 miles away

richersounds are £250...how to get £40 off? apparently the offer has ended too

[SiM]

Originally Posted by finlay666

SiM my nearest store is in Leeds

I'm in newcastle that is over 80 miles away

richersounds are £250...how to get £40 off? apparently the offer has ended too

Try to get richer sounds to price match anyway... If you can convince them that AV sales would do it for £210 inc then they should match it hopefully...

[SiM]

finlay666, this might be worth considering...

[finlay666]

Gah I only just read this again!

Went and bought a Pioneer VSX 1017AV

Went to richer sounds and managed to haggle to the av receiver, £75 speakers and 4m of cable for the price of the receiver

seem to have problems getting the sound from my xbox to come through though, it is VERY quiet, and that is hdmi + sound to monitor, then monitor to receiver (dont have optical yet)

Same for my pc sound wise

it should be fine on it's side though right?

[bigblue]

Originally Posted by finlay666

Went and bought a Pioneer VSX 1017AV

Nice bit of kit

seem to have problems getting the sound from my xbox to come through though, it is VERY quiet, and that is hdmi + sound to monitor, then monitor to receiver (dont have optical yet)

Do you mean stereo audio out from the monitor ? How exactly are you hooking it all up ?

it should be fine on it's side though right?

The amp ? Probably, the majority are, though I wouldn't really recommend it, nor would many people who repair hi-fi Get it on a hard, flat surface with plenty of ventilation

[finlay666]

Originally Posted by bigblue

Nice bit of kit

Do you mean stereo audio out from the monitor ? How exactly are you hooking it all up ?

Well as for placement of the receiver I dont have much choice, simply because my neck kills from looking at my monitor on top of my amp last night

the sound out was that the HDMI goes into the monitor, then (on my old system) was fed into my pc speakers by the speaker out connection on my pc, need to get the optical breakout as I have optical, and my HDMI already

Need to get another optical/coax cable (any real difference in 1m?) for my pc too

[bigblue]

I'm still confuzzled ! Doesn't take much though

Did you buy a surround speaker package to go with the amp, or just stereo ? Is your 24" monitor a Dell ? With all the AV jacks ? Audio out etc ? What exactly does it have?

The way I'd hook it all up (sockets allowing) would be...

A PC
= DVI cable to monitor & optical cable to amp
A Nintendo Wii
=RGB Scart or component to monitor & stereo phono from monitor to amp
An Xbox 360
=HDMI to monitor & optical to amp
(Possibly) a laptop
=VGA or DVI to monitor & 3.5mm (headphone) to stereo phono into amp. Or digital audio out if you buy a posh lappy !
An iPod (again at a push)
=If just for audio purposes either a dock or 3.5mm to stereo phono into amp. If for video, definitely a dock and a S-Vid+stereo audio cable into amp

Any use ?

Amazon have relatively reliable Belkin optical cables for £7 or so, I tend to find the mega-cheapies fall to bits.

[finlay666]

Just stereo speakers, couldnt afford a full setup

PC is set up like that (well phono currently as I have to order the optical cables)

360 I'm getting the special hdmi bit tomorrow, need to split off the sound

I'll need to see how much I can get them for from work, we have a load of returned ones that people bought but didn't need etc