lackadaisical Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Evening folks. I finally have the savings for a home theatre system! (Takes a quick look at possibilities...umm help!) My current equipment includes a Pioneer Kuro 4208, PS3 and MySkyHDi. I am looking to add a reciever and 5.1 speaker set-up, working to a total budget of $3000 to $4000. This system will be used almost exclusively for film viewing; in other words, the split between film and music will be around 99:1. I would like to focus more on clarity of sound at any volume, rather than ability to push up the volume (my wife is not a fan of teh loud). The visual aspect is somewhat important as I don't want my lounge dominated by 2001-like black monoliths. Finally, once I make this purchase other priorities mean that I won't be able to upgrade for around 5 years. With all that in mind I'm leaning to a combination of the Onkyo 607 with KEF2005.3's. Is there anything inherently silly about such a set-up? I could push out to the 706 and/or the 3005's (or have these been superceded by the 3005SE?). Would either of these separately, or in combination, produce a noticable step up sonically? or do the limitations of the PS3 come into play? All the praise for some floorstanding speaker packages around the same price point as the Kef's, like the Jamo S606's, does give me pause for thought; would there be a noticeable step up in quality to overcome my qualms about the looks? Thanks for reading through this long post and thanks in advance for any comments, advice, mild derision... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frizzup Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Another way of looking at this...... Given the PS3 is your bluray/dvd/cd transport for your home theater setup then consider looking at a heavily discounted or even 2nd hand receiver, i.e last years models. With the PS3 doing all the bluray/DVD decoding then streaming PCM to the receiver you do not need all the new gee wiz decoding capabilities in this years new receiver models. You are burning money on features you do not need. A PCM/2xHDMI input capable receiver will do you fine. Look for last years Onkyo, Yamaha or Pioneer....then you'll have more to spend on the new speaker combination. A better proposition in my opinion. Regards frizzup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lackadaisical Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 @Frizzup. Hmmmm...really interesting comments. The salesman who gave us a demo today made a similiar comment. We listened to the Kef's hooked up to the 607s and a Denon 2809. Much perfered the sound via the Onkyo and had assumed the same difference would apply between old and new models. Now realise we weren't using a PS3 as the source. Thanks for the suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie1553552694 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 You certainly wouldn't need a big amp to drive the S606s. But then again, it depends if you have a big enough room for such speakers. The difference in sound between the Jamo and KEFs is significant. The laws of physics are pretty hard to beat... It's pretty evident that the significant other likes the styling of the KEFs. What do your ears tell you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lackadaisical Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Sigh. One reason I’ve been putting off upgrading is that HT is Diderot’s dressing gown x1000. Here I was thinking either downgrade the receiver OR put the PS3 on trademe and use the proceeds to help update to a new player. Now you point out that if I go with something like the Jamo’s I might not need a receiver like the 607 (have I understood that correctly?). Oh well, back to the drawing board… Haven’t heard the Jamos yet. It's actually me who isn’t keen on a full system. My wife is nonplussed. One day I'll be able to have a dedicated medai room but while I still need to combine a lounge and home theatre in the same space I have to weigh up several considerations. I knew that a sub/sat set up was a compromise but I think the Kef’s look more elegent and might give more flexibility if it had to be moved into a different space (we rent). I was hoping that the feedback would be “Yes, the Jamo’s, or something like them, will be better - but so significantly so”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frizzup Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 lackadaisical;96663 wrote: Sigh. One reason I’ve been putting off upgrading is that HT is Diderot’s dressing gown x1000. Here I was thinking either downgrade the receiver OR put the PS3 on trademe and use the proceeds to help update to a new player. Now you point out that if I go with something like the Jamo’s I might not need a receiver like the 607 (have I understood that correctly?). Oh well, back to the drawing board… Haven’t heard the Jamos yet. It's actually me who isn’t keen on a full system. My wife is nonplussed. One day I'll be able to have a dedicated medai room but while I still need to combine a lounge and home theatre in the same space I have to weigh up several considerations. I knew that a sub/sat set up was a compromise but I think the Kef’s look more elegent and might give more flexibility if it had to be moved into a different space (we rent). I was hoping that the feedback would be “Yes, the Jamo’s, or something like them, will be better - but so significantly so”. The PS3 is a very capable Blue-ray/DVD player, less so CD but your 99/1 requirement fits the PS3 strengths. You do not want to spend dollars replacing the PS3 for movie/film, its a very good solution for your primary needs and you already own it. So get the balance right between receiver/speakers and in my view spend more on the speakers, for WAF, aesthetics, and sound quality. Speakers tend to last people years, a piece of furniture, receivers are seen more like an appliance. frizzup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopal Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 lackadaisical;96638 wrote: With all that in mind I'm leaning to a combination of the Onkyo 607 with KEF2005.3's. Is there anything inherently silly about such a set-up? I could push out to the 706 and/or the 3005's (or have these been superceded by the 3005SE?). Would either of these separately, or in combination, produce a noticable step up sonically? or do the limitations of the PS3 come into play? All the praise for some floorstanding speaker packages around the same price point as the Kef's, like the Jamo S606's, does give me pause for thought; would there be a noticeable step up in quality to overcome my qualms about the looks? Thanks for reading through this long post and thanks in advance for any comments, advice, mild derision... The 706 is a far superior amp to the 607. They look very similar on paper, but sound very different in practise. Also the 3005SE speakers are a giant step up over the 2005s and respond very noticeably to amp upgrades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crozzy Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 noticed on TM the other day a Pioneer LX70 AVR at $1700 which isn't bad buying... the LX70 is last years model and retailed for $3995 from memory.... had great reviews and got product of the year from TONE magazine.. and good international reviews... but as someone mentioned... go listen with your ears... I am obviously biased.. but prefer my Pioneer to anything else that I have heard to date.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lackadaisical Posted July 15, 2009 Author Share Posted July 15, 2009 So - the feedback I’m getting, from here and other sources, is that I should devote as much of my resources to selecting the best speakers possible to suit my ears and other requirements. And if I keep the PS3 as the source then last year’s receiver models are a good match AND free up funds for the speakers. Would it be better then to purchase a suitable receiver that I can use as a control when testing different speakers? Or is the combination of speakers and receiver too variable for this to be useful? Related question - do different makers go for a consistent type of sound between their various receivers or is the difference more by price point than maker? (or, again, are individual models too variable?). In other words, given we liked the Onkyo more than the Denon in the demo, taking into account the limitations of a quick demo, is it likely we would have the same preference with last year’s models? (Apologies if these are newbie-type questions.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan1553552671 Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Gopal;96716 wrote: Also the 3005SE speakers are a giant step up over the 2005s and respond very noticeably to amp upgrades What about the differences betwen the 3005 versus the 3005SE? (My sister's contemplating the 2005.3s, and I think the performance of either of the 3005s would need to be signficantly higher for her to think about the additional cost ). Cheers Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopal Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 jonathan;96771 wrote: What about the differences betwen the 3005 versus the 3005SE? (My sister's contemplating the 2005.3s, and I think the performance of either of the 3005s would need to be signficantly higher for her to think about the additional cost ). Cheers Jonathan 3005 vs 3005SE... nothing to get excited about. I'm certainly not planning to upgrade my 3005s. The difference is very minor and either version is far superior to any variant of the 2005 speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyrs Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Gopal;97161 wrote: 3005 vs 3005SE... nothing to get excited about. I'm certainly not planning to upgrade my 3005s. The difference is very minor and either version is far superior to any variant of the 2005 speakers. I haven't heard either variant of the 3005s, but have read reviews indicating go for the SEs everytime. I'm still very impressed by by 2005.2s so if the 3005s are better, then they must be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lackadaisical Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 An Update. Took the advice of some posters here and had a demo of the Jamo S 606 pack (connected to a Marantz SR5003) and it was noticeably better, to my ears, than the KEF 2005’s. A same detail that stood out was the quality of the dialogue. I’ve also lined up demos of some Audio Pro and Atlantic Technology sub/sat systems so it’ll be interesting how they compare. I’ve narrowed the choice of receivers down to the Marantz Sr5003, Denon 1909 or Onkyo TX_SR607. Partly because they seem the entry point for the Dolby HD etc (for a bit of future proofing) but mostly because the demos I’ve had of them were good. I don’t think I’ll be able to do a back to back test of any of them so any comments on those three would be appreciated. Finally, I realised that I hadn’t thought about cables. What considerations (technical/budgetary etc) should I have in mind regarding these? As always, thanks in advance for any comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Davey Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 extremely broad rule of thumb, 10% of the system value put towards cables. $500 of cables on a $ 1000 system would be overkill, as would $ 100 on a $ 10,000 system be underkill. Ultimately though go with the cables that seem to give you the result that you like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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