Speaker Questions...

[KalC]

Alright peeps! Need ur help here

Basically my mate is looking to setup a speaker system and asked me to help but im a total noob to this stuff, lol

Hes got a 42" plasma and wants to setup a good speaker system to go with it. He's got 2 speaker cables at the top of the room (living room) and he wants to attach some speakers to them. But I wouldnt know where to start?? i.e we dont know what type of speakers to go for, what bookshelf ones do i get?? Would i need an amp?? Also what type of setup would you recommend (5.1?? etc)

Any help would be great

[unrealrocks]

A budget is a good starting point

If its mainly for watching movies, a 5.1 setup would be a good idea.

How do you mean you have two speaker cables at the 'top' of the room?

[KalC]

Hes not too worried about the budget.

Sorry i didnt explain myself properly before, he has drilled two holes in both corners of the living room where he has fed some sort of speaker cable through it so he can get two bookshelf speakers in the corners attached to the wall. The cables are located on the same wall that the TV is on.

He also wants 2 satellite speakers behind the sofa, what i would like to know is how i would this sort of system would be setup?

thanks for your help

[KalC]

anybody?...

[redlight]

You mean
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonys-STRDG5...617664-8039113

paired with these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-SA-VE15...617664-8039113

Thats just an idea.
If you pay a bit more you can get an reciever with hdmi.
Speakers is each to there own but a good active subwoofer is a must for good sound.

[KalC]

ohhh i see. So thats all the equipment i would need? Just an amp and speakers with a sub. Basically the setup would go like this then:

TV>>Amp>>Speakers and Sub

Would this mean alot of trailing wires along the floor? sorry for being a pain with all the questions, just totally new to all this.

Lets just say my budget is around £300-400 quid, what equipment would you recommend/good for money?

[SiM]

This has HDMI 1.3...

Speakers... B&W and Kef are good

[KalC]

nice. Im plannin on buying from richersounds (got my samsung plasma from there), what equipment would you recommend from their website? and also what type of interconnects to use?

[redlight]

Reciever
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=YAMA-RXV359
or
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=DENO-AVR1507

Speakers
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...pid=SONY-SSP88
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...ANN-EFX5.1-SIL

Dont go for anything to expensive first time out as you will probably want to change after you have it a while.
It take a while to figure out how you want stuff to sound
Do not get carried a way with the my naim is better than yours syndrome with the high end stuff for most folks it is just a waste of money.
Its like recommending a 8800Ultra when a 8800gts is plenty.
Buy what suits your ears not a fancy name with a fancy price tag .
If you are deterimed to buy some high end stuff make a list and hunt down a shop where you can hear them side by side.

[Zak33]

OK...you need audio outputs from the telly...but frankly as the telly is not the normal source of the sound, its more likely you need audio outputs from a DVD or a set top box.

Audio comes in two formats.
Stereo -> 2 channels
More than stereo! - > 2.1 (the .1 means a bass box with 2 channels) or 4 channel or 5.1 or 7.1 etc etc on forever.

Most TV's , videos and set top boxes only put sound out in stereo. Look for a pair of coaxial plugs , red and white.

DVD players output a digital signal either by a single black coax or by a fibre optic plug socket (SPDIF, which stands for Sony Philips Digital Interface, as they invented it)

I have to say, that while 5.1 is amazing if it's right, it's bloody awful if it's wrong. A stereo cd player will NOT normally throw out 5.1 signals. Nor will a telly. Nor a video, ever.

I'd rather have a really good pair of STEREO speakers at the front, either side of the telly, than a 5.1 system thats pants.

And you can run anything on them...music, telly, video etc.

Right.....you need:

A source of your sounds (as described)..what is it?
An Amp (with lots of inputs so you can plug in stereo from telly, set top box, cd player, game console, etc etc and switch between them)
Interconnects (stereo leads from source to amp)
Speakers (bigger is sometimes/often better to a certain extent, and book shelf speakers dont always sound much good, as they're often tiny and tinny)
Cable (thicker is better, but we''ll do that later)

IF you got a surround sound amp, you would be able to upgrade to other speakers another day, for rear and bass etc.
Dolby Pro Logic and PRo Logic II takes a stereo signal and splits ou the voice for a centre channel (speaker under telly screen) and front right and left (you guess) and rear left and right (inveted mono sound, but adds to ambience, good
for footy matches)
Dolby Digital and DTS are digital encoidngs on DVD's that need decoding and playing through 5.1 channel system

Speakers sound best on the floor Small ones on stands, big ones that stand themselves. Wall mounts and bookshelf speakers are less effective. Unless the book shelf is floor standing, not wall mounted, in which case, result!

What will this really be for? What hardware is he using? VHS videos? CD player. Does he use a DVD player to play music too? What set top box does he use?

[Zak33]

redlight points out a great amp there.


http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...026c9f0dd3a999
Thats a good amp, with lots of inputs(6 lots of stereo). It'll take a stereo signal and make a surround out of it (Pro Logic) for normal telly ot have some pizzazz.
It takes a coax digital input (most dvd players) and 2 fibre optics (did you know PS 2 has one of those?)
It therefor decodes the signals from DVD films and makes proper surround sound (5.1) for which you'll need 5 speakers and a bass box (like some of those shown in redlights links)

However....they'll not sound great for music.

For just stereo, and good vibes....these are a bargain at £80.

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...KEF-CRESTA3CCH

Plug those into the amp listed, or just a stereo amp and you'll be happy (for a year)

[redlight]

Good speakers there Zak and good advice. I only recommended the speaker systems because he said he wanted speakers behind the couch.
I changed my amp/reciever three times before I found the one I wanted.
As for speakers I have various Sony, Wharfdale and Mordaunt Short all mixed up over a couple of rooms and I am still not nearly happy with one setup.
Sound systems are like pcs it will never be right and what is great for one it sounds rubbish to somebody else.
Me I use the excuse my hearing is not as good as it used to be and I cant tell the difference between my mates ultra expensive Naim(how much for that speaker cable) and my setup.

[redlight]

Sorry to hijack your thread Ace. Zak since you seem to know a bit what do you reckon to these.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-NC5...0465844&sr=8-6

I ordered them at the weekend.

[Zak33]

sadly...I know nothing about Noise Cancelling, except what Lotus did in the 80's, which was not a lot.

[sitalchauhan]

I have got a Denon amp and it has lasted me years and still sounds great. If you get a decent receiver now, it will last you for ages! I think one of the most popular ones at the moment is the " Sony STR-DA1200ES". Also, have a look down at AVForums as there is loads of information there that will help you to decide.

[KalC]

Zak---

OK...you need audio outputs from the telly...but frankly as the telly is not the normal source of the sound, its more likely you need audio outputs from a DVD or a set top box.

Audio comes in two formats.
Stereo -> 2 channels
More than stereo! - > 2.1 (the .1 means a bass box with 2 channels) or 4 channel or 5.1 or 7.1 etc etc on forever.

Most TV's , videos and set top boxes only put sound out in stereo. Look for a pair of coaxial plugs , red and white.

DVD players output a digital signal either by a single black coax or by a fibre optic plug socket (SPDIF, which stands for Sony Philips Digital Interface, as they invented it)

I have to say, that while 5.1 is amazing if it's right, it's bloody awful if it's wrong. A stereo cd player will NOT normally throw out 5.1 signals. Nor will a telly. Nor a video, ever.

I'd rather have a really good pair of STEREO speakers at the front, either side of the telly, than a 5.1 system thats pants.

And you can run anything on them...music, telly, video etc.

Right.....you need:

A source of your sounds (as described)..what is it?
An Amp (with lots of inputs so you can plug in stereo from telly, set top box, cd player, game console, etc etc and switch between them)
Interconnects (stereo leads from source to amp)
Speakers (bigger is sometimes/often better to a certain extent, and book shelf speakers dont always sound much good, as they're often tiny and tinny)
Cable (thicker is better, but we''ll do that later)

IF you got a surround sound amp, you would be able to upgrade to other speakers another day, for rear and bass etc.
Dolby Pro Logic and PRo Logic II takes a stereo signal and splits ou the voice for a centre channel (speaker under telly screen) and front right and left (you guess) and rear left and right (inveted mono sound, but adds to ambience, good
for footy matches)
Dolby Digital and DTS are digital encoidngs on DVD's that need decoding and playing through 5.1 channel system

Speakers sound best on the floor Small ones on stands, big ones that stand themselves. Wall mounts and bookshelf speakers are less effective. Unless the book shelf is floor standing, not wall mounted, in which case, result!

What will this really be for? What hardware is he using? VHS videos? CD player. Does he use a DVD player to play music too? What set top box does he use?

Whoa loads of info here! Just what i was lookin for, right basically it will be used mainly for watching sky as he has sky+ box (but the sky box isnt in the same room, hes ran a RF cable from the sky box to the 42" which is in another room) and dvd's as he has a dvd recorder in the room aswell...and when im over his we'll be on the ps3 lol

But yeah, thats all the hardware he has connected to the TV. Where would we get the audio outputs from then? the TV? Link of the Tv...(http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=SAMS-PS42E7H)

He did want a 5.1 setup, 2 speakers on the wall by the TV as the TV is wall mounted, the centre speaker below the TV, 2 speakers behind the couch and a sub as well. However, if the amp has to be connected to the sky+ box would that mean he would have to stick with the stereo speakers running from the TV???


Redlight---

Reciever
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...id=YAMA-RXV359
or
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=DENO-AVR1507

Speakers
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...pid=SONY-SSP88
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...ANN-EFX5.1-SIL

Dont go for anything to expensive first time out as you will probably want to change after you have it a while.
It take a while to figure out how you want stuff to sound
Do not get carried a way with the my naim is better than yours syndrome with the high end stuff for most folks it is just a waste of money.
Its like recommending a 8800Ultra when a 8800gts is plenty.
Buy what suits your ears not a fancy name with a fancy price tag .
If you are deterimed to buy some high end stuff make a list and hunt down a shop where you can hear them side by side.

Thanks for the links! Was just wondering how big are those speakers? Are the dimensions similar to bookshelf sizes? They look similar to size of my speakers that I setup on my PC (http://www.creative.com/products/pro...&product=14090)

A bit of a technical question...as he has wooden flooring as opposed to carpet, the bass response should be better right??

The speakers dont have to be anything special by the way, just something that sounds good and with decent bass response...but not too much, want to keep the windows!