Er, yes, it is...

hahahahah smoooothe

Mergatron reckons it's the right thread.

I've got to get myself a cape. I've always felt my life lacked a cape.

That's hippy, good luck getting it off of him.

shric sharc also wears capes.

merge?

Can anyone advise me what would be a reasonable price for my system, I'm going to change it for a 1 box system due to the littl'un's increasing mobility and replacing my carpets for wood flooring leaving nowhere to hide cables. The system is:

Creek A50 amplifier
Pure DAB Tuner
Monitor Audio Bronze speakers
Mission sand-filled stands
Chord Company and QED interconnects
NAD C521 CD - This has an intermittent fault, if left unused for a period of time it takes a few goes to recognise a disc.

All bought August 2004.

Would I be better splitting?

Good as anywhere I guess, I'm looking for a stereo rack, preferably nice wooden probably modular

I quite like the walnut finish on this http://www.hifiracks.co.uk/hi-fi-racks/2/podium-reference

but the price makes me want to double check before pulling the trigger, does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks

If anyone's interested I saved about £200 quid on this by buying the unfinished pine and applying some walnut stain. looks great really pleased with it.

@ SE London dj types: There's a DJ hire shop in Anerly, moved into new premises on Penge Road recently - does anyone know the name please?

I asked in the any questions thread, not realising there was a thread for this. So I'll ask again. I'm not an audiophile, I listen to music on my tinny laptop speakers. But I'm starting to think about getting something a little bit more decent, but not dropping huge amount of money on it.

I want a system that will easily play music (ideally from my ipad or laptop), will take the sound from my TV, and my playstation 3.

So I was thinking something like:

Samsung HT-D5530 5.1ch 3D Blu-ray Smart Hub Home Cinema: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

What do people think. I know you can spend thousands one good audio, but it should be ok right?

Looking at
AV I/O
HDMI Out:Yes
Composite Output:Yes
Component Output:Yes
SCART Out:No

of HDMI Input:2

of Audio Input:1

of Optical Input:1

of Coaxial Input:0

Headphone Jack:No
MIC Jack:No

that's your tv and ps3 connected ok, how would you hook up the audio on your digital tv input?

I asked in the any questions thread, not realising there was a thread for this. So I'll ask again. I'm not an audiophile, I listen to music on my tinny laptop speakers. But I'm starting to think about getting something a little bit more decent, but not dropping huge amount of money on it.

I want a system that will easily play music (ideally from my ipad or laptop), will take the sound from my TV, and my playstation 3.

So I was thinking something like:

Samsung HT-D5530 5.1ch 3D Blu-ray Smart Hub Home Cinema: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

What do people think. I know you can spend thousands one good audio, but it should be ok right?

no, no no.

You don't need all that digital crap. Spend your budget on the best integrated amp and (2)speakers your can afford. It will have enough inputs for all your devices and sound much, much better.
eg. I've just pulled the basics from sevenoaks,
http://www.ssav.com/products/productdetail/Marantz+PM5004+%3Cp%3E+Amplifier+%3Cp%3E+(Save+%26%23163%3B60)/part_number=PM5004/1765.0.4.3.46510.46510.0.0.0?pp=8&sort_selection=price_low_high&
http://www.ssav.com/products/productdetail/Monitor+Audio+Bronze+BX2+%3Cp%3E+Speakers+%3Cp%3E+(Save+%26%23163%3B24)/part_number=BX2/1765.0.4.3.40360.83413.0.0.0?pp=8&sort_selection=price_low_high&

Or alternatively look second hand for some great deals, but I can't stress enough to avoid cheap home cinema stuff.

^ You should also consider buying an AV receiver and floor standers as you'll be plugging in a TV & PS3...

Something like this is cheap (ish) but has plenty of options:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/sony/strdh820/sony-strdh820
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/monitor-audio/bronze-bx5/moni-audio-bx5-wal

Hook up an apple TV to this as well and you've got all your music, film and TV episodes from your computer streaming directly.

Looking at
AV I/O
HDMI Out:Yes
Composite Output:Yes
Component Output:Yes
SCART Out:No

of HDMI Input:2

of Audio Input:1

of Optical Input:1

of Coaxial Input:0

Headphone Jack:No
MIC Jack:No

that's your tv and ps3 connected ok, how would you hook up the audio on your digital tv input?

Well, I have a sky+ box. I assume I would just connect from the sky box and the playstation to the TV via HDMI, and then onwards from there using the digital audio?

Or alternatively both the ps3 and the sky box into the receiver, and then on from there with hdmi?

I have to admit I don't know very much about such systems

^ You should also consider buying an AV receiver and floor standers as you'll be plugging in a TV & PS3...

Something like this is cheap (ish) but has plenty of options:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/sony/strdh820/sony-strdh820
http://www.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/monitor-audio/bronze-bx5/moni-audio-bx5-wal

Hook up an apple TV to this as well and you've got all your music, film and TV episodes from your computer streaming directly.

That looks good, but that costs twice as much as the samsung home cinema system. As I say, I'm not an audiophile, I don't need great audio, just something better than tinny TV/laptop speakers.

no, no no.

You don't need all that digital crap. Spend your budget on the best integrated amp and (2)speakers your can afford. It will have enough inputs for all your devices and sound much, much better. #'

^This - buy 2nd speakers - they are already run in - just avoid ones with a foam speaker driver surround as these perish. 60's/70's speakers British brands like Goodmans, Leak, Tannoy are generally a good bet.

This is a good guide: http://www.tnt-audio.com/guide/index.html - a bit out of date now as some of the stuff suggested has become pricier and more collectable

£2/300 quid on a reasonably well chosen 2nd hand system will blow away pretty much most systems up to £1000 with ease.

You have to remember, that despite most manufacturers claims speaker and amp technology hasn't really moved on a huge amount in the last 40years

Well, I have a sky+ box. I assume I would just connect from the sky box and the playstation to the TV via HDMI, and then onwards from there using the digital audio?

Or alternatively both the ps3 and the sky box into the receiver, and then on from there with hdmi?

I have to admit I don't know very much about such systems

You'd have to plug everything into the Samsung thing and then plug that into the TV unless you just use it as an optical output...

That looks good, but that costs twice as much as the samsung home cinema system. As I say, I'm not an audiophile, I don't need great audio, just something better than tinny TV/laptop speakers.

You can find cheaper alternatives on both the speakers and the AV receiver but it really is the best option for upgradability and compatibility.

You'd have to plug everything into the Samsung thing and then plug that into the TV unless you just use it as an optical output...

But, it would work right?

It would but I wouldn't recommend it.

The AV & speaker setup is more interchangeable / compatible / future proof and also has the added benefit of being much better quality.

you already have the ps3 as your blu-ray player, just get a decent amp & speaker set from richer sounds, loads of deals to be had there

Yeah, I went to richer sounds just now.

They recommended a Yamaha RXV371 amp, £200 and a pair of Cambridge Audio S70 Floorstanding speakers, also £200 to start with.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/yamaha/rxv371/yama-rxv371-blk
http://www.froogle.richersounds.com/product/floorstanders/cambridge-audio/s70/camb-s70-blk

He said the Yamaha have better sound quality than the ones of a similar price, and as you say it's much more expandable later.

Though he did say the sound quality on the Samsung would be fine, just I would lack the expandability later.

What do you think?

My main concerns are to bring it up to a full 5.1 system, with equivalent Cambridge Audio speakers is going to cost another £400-500.

Is this 2.0 setup going to be better than the Samsung one to start with? As I say I'm not an audiophile, so I may never expand it.

Also the amp on this is much bigger, and to be honest looks a bit ugly. The speakers look fine, the exception being the matching subwoofer, which is a huge box. I have no idea where I would fit it in my room.

At least the Samsung one is compact.
So

Also, is there no issue with mixing manufacturers. I thought Samsung TV and home cinema system would be a good fit, but now I would have Samsung TV, Yamaha amp, and Cambridge Audio speakers...

make no difference whatsoever, I've got Samsung tv with cambridge audio amp etc etc

^ Same... Samsung TV, Sony amp, Cambridge Audio speakers, PS3, Sky+ HD & and Apple TV.