Hi all,
I am a total newbie to hi-fi and I'm wondering what speakers would suit my needs (good quality for money but relatively low budget (US$700~) for a Denon AVR-689 AV receiver I have just bought.
I would like to be able to switch between a 7.1 home theatre set-up and a 2-zone setup, that is 5.1 in one room + 2 in another room, playing 2 different things.
For the package, I'd like to have 2 tower front speakers (not the compact or satellite ones) 3 ways (tweeter-mid-woofer) because I would use the AV to listen to music too, like vinyls, CDs, MP3s etc., therefore excluding all other speakers for that purpose. However, do you suggest I go with 2 way ones (tweeter-mid) and use the subwoofer instead, so when I use the system for home theater I don't have 2 woofers overlapping (the ones in a 3way set of front speaker + the subwoofer)? or is that not a problem? because, if it's not, I'd rather listen to music via 3way front speakers, over 2way+subwoofer...
as I said, I'm new to these things and I barely know what I'm talking about
As for the other 2 speakers in a second room, I'd like to have them wireless, but the AV doesn't support wireless speakers natively.. Is there any solution to this?
I'd also like to be able to control tracks, volume etc. from the other room.
I have a MacBook, so I was thinking, is there any add-on that would allow me to do this? That is, being in the second room, and, of the following:
with the MacBook, and send sound wirelessly to the AV in the main room, which in turn sends the sound back to the 2 wireless(ly connected -somehow) speakers in the second room?
OR
Hook up a USB HDD to the AV via some sort of add-on and control tracks, volume etc from the second room
OR
if none of the above is achievable, connecting the MacBook to the AV and just control tracks, volume, etc. from the second room
OR
Is the following an option?:
Get an iPod + an iPod dock for the Denon and control tracks from the MacBook?
Ideally, though, I'd prefer a way to play things out of my MacBook from the second room or using a USB HDD, in both cases being able to remotely control things from room 2 (so I don't have to waste money on an iPod + dock)
Also, are there any speakers that can serve both as stereo speakers in room 2 -leaving the main room in 5.1- and that I can reintegrate in the 7.1 set-up in the main room if need be?
Possibly wireless, as I said before, so I wouldn't need to run meters of cable through walls and play around with wires whenever should I want to do the room2-2ch/room1-7.1ch switching trick mentioned above.
What would you guys recommend for these purposes?
I don't particularly care about power, I am more concerned about clarity and spectrum of sounds. Obviously, something that honours the quality of a Denon AV. Especially when I use the AV for music via the 2 big front speakers (with or without subwoofer, you tell me
), particularly with LPs.
And lastly, because my Denon doesn't carry the audio signal via the HDMI outputs, but only video, would I be better off -quality wise- to
1) connect all devices to the TV via HDMI and run only one optical out from the TV into the AV
OR
2) connect all devices to the AV's HDMIs for video + optical and coaxial cables for each of them for audio + 1 HDMI out just for video into the TV?
Solution 1) is surely more convenient, but I was wondering if there is any sensible advantage in going the solution 2) way, all the Dolby/DTS-stuff etc...
Devices would be a terrestrial HD PVR, an HD SatBox and a PS3 for games/DVDs/BluRay(possibly SACD, but that's a long story..)
to sum up
- good quality (but not TOO good ) tower front speakers
- decent quality subwoofer and surround satellites
- solution for 2-zoning
Many thanks for a kind reply! and sorry for the long post
