Want to create cinema and work around a few problems

[mattpower3000]

Hey guys, my best friend has asked me to put up a post here, because he feels this is the best place to get independant advice and that if he goes to my local dealer whom i trust he will just try to sell him what he has. Anyway he has recently moved into a new house and he has a spare room around 10x15m which he wants to convert into a cinema type thing. I did advise him to have a full size snooker table instead but he has chosen to ignore me.

He also wants to incorporate his hi-fi into the system, which sounds tricky. He wants 7.1 surround, so he has looked at the Denon AVR-1906 reciever coupled with the new Toshiba SD350E DVD Player. He is then going to couple this up to a range of 600S3 B&W's (my influence he adores mine), and is thinking of a pair of 603 S3 up front, LCR 600 S3 in the centre, 602.5 S3 at the back (not the greatest but they are perfect second hand for £110) and some 602 S3 at the side.

Now the layout of the room 10m will be the width and 15m the length, perfect cuboid in an effect, the cinema will be controlled from the rear, and has 2 rows of 2 seater sofas, the back row raised slightly. He's into the idea of a projector as you get more size for your money and he likes the whole idea of re-creating a mini cinema, budget isn't that high, looking at Screenplay 4805? We are more audio than visual people so he doesnt know and i can't advise him scenario lol.

Other than popcorn is there anything we have forgotten? Ah yes the problem, he wants to put his hi-fi into the same room.

He has:
Rega P5
Rega Cursa Pre
Rega Exon 3 Monoblock x 2
Naim CDX2
B&W 804S Speakers
Pure DAB of some kind.

Now he could just put the speakers in, and they would be not be in use during AV stuff. Or he doesnt have to get the 603 S3's, could he have the 804's as the 2 mains and some how by-pass the AV amp for audio? Would this damage the speakers, and would it sound not as good because they are not from the same range. On paper it should blow a complete 600 series apart?

Just general opinions needed really

Regards

Mattpower + friend Frankie

 

[mattpower3000]

Please guys some ideas!!

 

[jaxvon]

Ha, welcome. How are things over on your side of the pond?

Anyway, I think you've got it mostly figured out. I think one might want to opt for a higher-up model of a receiver, due to the large size of the room.

Have you also considered Yamaha (don't know about pricing over there...it might be atroicious)? The Yamaha receivers in the RX-V line are known to have very good preamp outputs, allowing your chum Frankie to still utilize his monoblocks with the AV system. As far as integrating the preamp, I don't think that's going to work without a switch box (switcing between the Rega Pre and the AV pre outs going to the monoblocks).

And the only other thing I didn't see was a subwoofer. If your friend is serious about a home cinema, a subwoofer is a MUST. There is no getting around it. Unfortunately, I don't think the high-value subwoofers we can get here in the States (SVS and HSU) are available there... If this were a music only system, you might consider REL, as they are high quality, AND you'd be supporting a business at home. But alas, you'd have to spend quite a bit to get the output and depth needed for that room and theatre application.

However, Axiom Audio has recently started selling in the UK. Their products are also high value. Your friend might want to look at their EP500 subwoofer. It received rave reviews here at Audioholics and is £717, shipping included.

As far as the projector goes, the InFocus is a popular choice at that price, as is the Optoma H31. Has your friend considered the cost of a mount, cabling, and screen as well?

And one last question, what is a "Pure DAB of some kind"?

Whew.

 

[mattpower3000]

Thanx for replying, with writing so much we missed out the subwoofer, it was intended to be an ASW675. His Pure DAB Radio was the DRX702ES.

However you have made him think, at what price range do the amp that would allow the rega's to pass through them?

And would he need to monoblock all his speakers or could he do just the front two for instance if he chose to?

Finally is anyone running a system that has speakers from different ranges in (e.g B&W 800's, 700's, 600's)?


Regards

 

[AVRat]

For your purpose, the Denon AVR-3805/3806 or Yamaha RX-V2500/2600 and maybe even the Rotel RSX-1067(on your side of the pond) should work well with that speaker setup. Don't know what pricing looks like over there.

You may be able to integrate the stereo system as part of the HT setup. As you said, it is tricky because it involves two volume controls, one on the receiver and one on the Rega Cursa. "I THINK", you could go from L/R pre-outs of the receiver into an unused tape input of the Cursa. The surrounds are then powered by the receiver, no need for mono-amping the surrounds.

However you have made him think, at what price range do the amp that would allow the rega's to pass through them?

Could you clarify this statement?

 

[jaxvon]

AVRat, I don't think you'd want to hook the pre-outs of the AV receiver to the Tape-In on the Rega. The dual volume controls is just asking for trouble.

As for the question regarding the monoblocks, you can just use the monoblocks to power the front two speakers and use the receiver to power the rest.

I'm personally not a fan of the B&W 700 speakers. I listened to the 704 bookshelves and found them to be very bright and somewhat unclear in the midrange (my opinion only, do not take it as the Gospel). I didn't compare them against other B&Ws, but from what I've read of others' opinions, the 704s don't present very much improvement from the 600s.

 

[westcott]

Please guys some ideas!!

Well, if this is a dedicated room, you may also want to think about light control, power protection\isolation, cabling, lighting, sound abatement, remote control IR\RF, racks\cabinetry, and a whole slew of things I can't remember.