Recommendation For A Decent Sound System.

[ngunadi 2]

Sorry but not a lot of info out there on these Sunfire dynamic subs it seems. Go give them a listen.

Report back as I will be after a sub in a couple of months .

Hopefully my centre speaker (Wharfedale WH-2) will be up for sale before the end of this month as I get a replacement.

RB

Bro .. raising hand for ur centre speaker .. let me know how much. Hope got space for it under my tv.

[ugene512 0]

Bro .. raising hand for ur centre speaker .. let me know how much. Hope got space for it under my tv.

Hey,

Me too is doing up a HT in my house, But i will be using speaker from this brand call live-wall. basically it is install into a false wall and you have plaster or wallpaper it. Quality wise is fantastic comparable to those floorstanders , to my ear it is about above avg.

I feel it would be **** cool not see the speaker but can hear them

[RimBlock 0]

Bro .. raising hand for ur centre speaker .. let me know how much. Hope got space for it under my tv.

PM'd you.

RB

[Drexter 0]

I am really puzzled which receiver to get. Onkyo 609 or 708. Is 708 more future proof than 609? Do I need pre amp in future?

[RimBlock 0]

I am really puzzled which receiver to get. Onkyo 609 or 708. Is 708 more future proof than 609? Do I need pre amp in future?

Haha.

Why Onkyo and not Denon or Yamaha ? .

First digit in the model number is the series (level), last digit is the revision. 608 is series 6 revision 8.

So ....

609 is one level lower then the 708 but is one revision newer.

First look at the 609 from Audioholics here. It has networking and streaming functions and uses the same upscaling chip as the Oppo 93 and can be controlled by your iPhone (if you are the sort of person who buys an iPhone ). Looks good but I would wait to see what Yamaha and the others come out with first before jumping on it.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Hey,

Me too is doing up a HT in my house, But i will be using speaker from this brand call live-wall. basically it is install into a false wall and you have plaster or wallpaper it. Quality wise is fantastic comparable to those floorstanders , to my ear it is about above avg.

I feel it would be **** cool not see the speaker but can hear them

From a physical standpoint it would be hard to see how in wall speakers can rival a floor stander but you can get good in wall speakers which are up to the level of lower bookshelf speakers. Burying speakers in the wall here would require a false wall with all the stability / reflectional issues due to fixing to a structure that will have a fair amount of flex in it and lots of undampened space behind it.

Not a bad compromise for the high wife approval factor (WAF) but not likely to rival decent AV speakers.

Links to any reviews ugene ?

RB

[mars73 0]

Hey,

Me too is doing up a HT in my house, But i will be using speaker from this brand call live-wall. basically it is install into a false wall and you have plaster or wallpaper it. Quality wise is fantastic comparable to those floorstanders , to my ear it is about above avg.

I feel it would be **** cool not see the speaker but can hear them

Hi,

I think I know where you saw this, but I shouldn't mention it here I guess. I had a quick demo of it too. Was also told that an in-wall subwoofer will be coming soon.

To my ears, I didn't like the sound, esp for music. But my benchmark is the Monitor Audio RX8 and possibly GX series so I guess sound quality wise, there is no way the live-wall can ever rival those. Music is important to me.

I suppose for HT its not too bad. Cool factor is definitely there. My concern is what if you wanna change speakers later if for any reason you are dissatisfied with the sound or want to upgrade, tear out the wall??

[ugene512 0]

Hi,

I think I know where you saw this, but I shouldn't mention it here I guess. I had a quick demo of it too. Was also told that an in-wall subwoofer will be coming soon.

To my ears, I didn't like the sound, esp for music. But my benchmark is the Monitor Audio RX8 and possibly GX series so I guess sound quality wise, there is no way the live-wall can ever rival those. Music is important to me.

I suppose for HT its not too bad. Cool factor is definitely there. My concern is what if you wanna change speakers later if for any reason you are dissatisfied with the sound or want to upgrade, tear out the wall??

Ya.. true. I think the ones u hear are the onsia brand. Recently, they just did up a new show room which using the Live-wall series. I hope u are not refering to the live-wall series as using the onsai to listen to music is yucks. Not sure if you have listen to the new setup, which i think is quite good at least to me la hehe.

Also i agree with you "touch wood" if there is anything wrong with the speakers then have to remove out from the wall haha.. at most patch the hole and wall paper it back lor

heheh additional costs la.

[mars73 0]

Ok, as Bluefly is busy or MIA here is some more sense for power amplifiers.

So you have a one box solution... pre-amp and power-amp and controller (switching input etc) all in one box. This is your integrated amplifier. Now imagine you want home theatre as well, you need to have all the HDMI / DTS / DD decoding chipsets etc also included. This all costs money and which parts do you think cost the most ?. More cash is likely to go on the AV tech side of things rather than the signal amplification side of things. So you have a cheap(ish) amp with the AV decoders and controllers but everything is all crammed in to one box. There is interference / distortion all being added by the fact that the cheaper components are all crammed together in a single box. If you have a midrange av amp then you may well have pre-outs which will enable you to use the AV amp as just a pre-amp (or partial pre-amp) and attach a power amp to handle the upping of the signal in a cleaner manner as the circuitry is held in another box away from all the other interference. The components are also likely to be of higher quality as the cost of the product is for just the power amplification part. You can also upgrade the power amp part of the setup, mixing and matching with other manufacturers as better products come along without the need to re-buying the AV decoder tech which you already have.

Thanks for clarifying! I suspected something along these lines =)

Now if you wanted to be really funky, you could get something like the Arcam A85, attach it to the pre-out of the AV amp and set the Arcam to power amp mode. Then if you wanted to listen to CDs you would have the CD player directly attached to the Arcam and switch it to integrated mode and get better quality sound by bypassing the AV amp totally. You can even bi-amp the fronts for that truly funkilicious feeling on a budget. More reading here. There are surely other combinations that would work as well from other manufacturers, you would just need to find them.

Bro, you read my mind!!

This is precisely what I'm thinking of doing. Except Arcam amps seem really expensive (at least those with the power amp direct in, or HT bypass option or something similar). For the current line up, I think only A38 has that, and I was quoted $3k!!! Yikes.

Other amps wtih this function I'm looking at include those from Marantz and Cambridge Audio.

So I'm thinking of getting AVR first (with pre-outs). Then add on a good stereo integrated later when I have funds.

Funny thing is for both movies and cds, I'm using the same source - Oppo 83SE =)

It is now widely believed (apart from within power amp devotes) that a comparable priced integrated amp should perform as well as a pre-power combination. The pre/power combo will allow you to upgrade a bit at a time though and gives a bigger wow factor for all your male friends. Doesn't have quite the same effect on the ladies though .

So for the purpose of home cinema, adding a power amp to your AV receiver (if it has pre-outs) will add a better quality power section resulting in (hopefully) a cleaner signal without the need to pay to replace the AV decoding electronics in a integrated amp.

RB

So if I go down this route, I would not be getting a separate power amp. However, the power rating for the integrated stereo amp is likely to be significantly lower than a separate power amp (in fact, it is likely to be the same wattage per channel with the AVR, on paper at least). Hopefully this would not make a significant different to movie sound quality.

[ugene512 0]

From a physical standpoint it would be hard to see how in wall speakers can rival a floor stander but you can get good in wall speakers which are up to the level of lower bookshelf speakers. Burying speakers in the wall here would require a false wall with all the stability / reflectional issues due to fixing to a structure that will have a fair amount of flex in it and lots of undampened space behind it.

Not a bad compromise for the high wife approval factor (WAF) but not likely to rival decent AV speakers.

Links to any reviews ugene ?

RB

Links tgo review ar ? hmm

http://www.anthemavs.co.uk/product/live-wall-lw1218-speaker

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-cinema...kers-range.html

http://www.cepro.com/best/details/lw1218/

This is all i can get from the net, i think it is quite cool as we cant see the speaker at the same time not sacrificing alot for the sound.., hehe do give it an audition and let me know how u feel.. heeh

[RimBlock 0]

Thanks for clarifying! I suspected something along these lines =)

Bro, you read my mind!!

This is precisely what I'm thinking of doing. Except Arcam amps seem really expensive (at least those with the power amp direct in, or HT bypass option or something similar). For the current line up, I think only A38 has that, and I was quoted $3k!!! Yikes.

Other amps wtih this function I'm looking at include those from Marantz and Cambridge Audio.

So I'm thinking of getting AVR first (with pre-outs). Then add on a good stereo integrated later when I have funds.

Funny thing is for both movies and cds, I'm using the same source - Oppo 83SE =)

So if I go down this route, I would not be getting a separate power amp. However, the power rating for the integrated stereo amp is likely to be significantly lower than a separate power amp (in fact, it is likely to be the same wattage per channel with the AVR, on paper at least). Hopefully this would not make a significant different to movie sound quality.

As per the link I posted previously, someone is bi-amping with a couple of Arcam 9s which should be affordable second hand if you can find them . There is an Alpha 9 on UK Ebay for around S$500-S$600 and they will post worldwide. Depends on what else is available that may be better for the price. There are also some FMJ P25s on there.

The AV amp should be able to work out the bias settings for all speakers whether some are going through a separate power amp or not with its setup program. As long as there is not a significant difference in power you should be fine.

RB

[RimBlock 0]

Links tgo review ar ? hmm

http://www.anthemavs.co.uk/product/live-wall-lw1218-speaker

http://www.avforums.com/forums/home-cinema...kers-range.html

http://www.cepro.com/best/details/lw1218/

This is all i can get from the net, i think it is quite cool as we cant see the speaker at the same time not sacrificing alot for the sound.., hehe do give it an audition and let me know how u feel.. heeh

Ok, so no reviews then . First is a product description, second is a notification of a new product and the third is a report of the product winning an award.

To be fair they look much higher quality that the standard in wall speakers as they are a flat panel and are meant to be hidden under the wall covering and so are completely invisible so not even a speaker grill is visible

UK pricing is around 590 pounds each so they are in a high price range (stereo = 1180 pounds or S$2.4k).

Would like to see a review still. Hopefully some will surface sometime going forwards.

Thanks for pointing them out ugene.

RB

[Drexter 0]

Haha.

Why Onkyo and not Denon or Yamaha ? .

First digit in the model number is the series (level), last digit is the revision. 608 is series 6 revision 8.

So ....

609 is one level lower then the 708 but is one revision newer.

First look at the 609 from Audioholics here. It has networking and streaming functions and uses the same upscaling chip as the Oppo 93 and can be controlled by your iPhone (if you are the sort of person who buys an iPhone ). Looks good but I would wait to see what Yamaha and the others come out with first before jumping on it.

RB

Is multi eq also important?

Why Onkyo? Cos they(the shops) recommended Onkyo for HTS.

[RimBlock 0]

Is multi eq also important?

It is for seting up the amp to take in to account your speakers abilities and the room acoustics.

It is therefore helpful for setting up.

Why Onkyo? Cos they(the shops) recommended Onkyo for HTS.

Have you tried any others ?. Shop owners are not only there for your good . You need something to compare against or how do you know you have the best for your pleasure. Some people prefer Onkyo, some prefer Denon, some prefer Yamaha after listening. If Onkyo was the clear winner then why do these other brands still sell after demos.

Not trying to make your choice harder but try not to discount any of the main brands until you have at least listened to them.

RB

[ugene512 0]

Ok, so no reviews then . First is a product description, second is a notification of a new product and the third is a report of the product winning an award.

To be fair they look much higher quality that the standard in wall speakers as they are a flat panel and are meant to be hidden under the wall covering and so are completely invisible so not even a speaker grill is visible

UK pricing is around 590 pounds each so they are in a high price range (stereo = 1180 pounds or S$2.4k).

Would like to see a review still. Hopefully some will surface sometime going forwards.

Thanks for pointing them out ugene.

RB

No prob!! just to share it, its an alternative