Home Cinema - Anyone into it?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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I've always LOVED movies, part of the whole photography thing I guess, but I have never really had a full 5.1 system for various reasons.

Until this week! I actually ended up with enough speakers for 7.1 lol

Been watching movies pretty much every chance I get, did you know Friends has 5.0 surround sound? Alias has a 5.1 track but the West Wing only stereo? :(

But full on Dolby digital 5.1 or DTS films now sounds and feel on a completely different level and scale than they were previously when I watched them on my 24" iMac. Movies now have texture. Explosions shakes my sofa and feel it in my chest thanks to my new sub. The helicopter blades in Black Hawk Down is utterly frighteningly real with the vibration. The ginger kid tapping on the fish tank in Finding Nemo makes you think she is about to burst through the glass on your TV. It makes the whole movie experience more 3D than 3D glasses.

The best thing, the entire set up cost me less than my 5D2!

So, who else are into their films and any suggestion of a good sounding movie with a clever sound design soundtrack.

 
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War of the worlds the Tom Cruise one is a totally different movie in surround sound even managed to scare the dog
 
Try the long opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan - if you aren't ducking and trying to hide behind the sofa, then turn it up a bit more :)
 
Anything by Ridley Scott is good for sound and visuals. Most action movies are good for some gut rumbling - terminator, die hard etc. If you are into cars then Gone in 60 seconds is good for some car noises :)
 
Jon Chalk said:
Try the long opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan - if you aren't ducking and trying to hide behind the sofa, then turn it up a bit more :)
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Oh god aye :)
 
Welcome to movieheaven Mondo, Even quite mundane fims can take on a new lease of life when the soundtrack is felt :D
 
I thrive off hand me downs from my grandad who has always been into home cinema, I've always had his amp and speaker castoffs.

I really want his laserdisc player and collection but I can't see him parting with it :D
 
Jurassic Park in surround was one of the 1st films I watched with true surround sound....our sofa was about 6 foot away from where the surround speakers were and I tell you, we could hear footsteps, very creepy.
 
Some great films suggested already, the three I always take when I go to demo new kit (which is far to often) are

Black Hawk down
I robot (scene where he's in the car and the robots start jumping out at him)
Moulin rouge (something a bit different which normally sorts out the good and bad as far as speakers go)

Out of interest which speakers did you get?
 
Star wars with X-Wings, Y-Wings, Tie fighters et al all around you is rather good.
 
Thomasb1982 said:
Out of interest which speakers did you get?
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It started when my old Marantz PM6010 KI sig had a problem with the balance knob so I retired it.

Went on Ebay and bought a Musical Fidelity X-200 to replace it...and then I thought, what the hell....get an AV.

One Pioneer VSX-2021
One B&W LCR600 S3 Centre
Two B&W 602 S2 (existing)
Four B&W M-1 Surround
ONE BK XXLS400 subwoofer

Later...and I am complete.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
It started when my old Marantz PM6010 KI sig had a problem with the balance knob so I retired it.

Went on Ebay and bought a Musical Fidelity X-200 to replace it...and then I thought, what the hell....get an AV.

One Pioneer VSX-2021
One B&W LCR600 S3 Centre
Two B&W 602 S2 (existing)
Five B&W M-1 Surround
ONE BK XXLS400 subwoofer

Later...and I am complete.
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You have some very good taste, I have m-1s had them years. Can't beat them for size/sound

Also had some 602 s2 which I wish I never sold :-(
 
Star Wars Blu Ray is amazing in surround sound.

I have a 7.1 setup. Front stereo set are Castle Isis which I inherited from my dad when he got rid of them when my parents moved house (he kept his floor standers). The rest of the speakers are the B&W MT 25 set up. Powering with an Onkyo 608 amp and a nice Rega RP1 to spin my vinyl on.

Pretty much heaven.
 
Thomasb1982 said:
You have some very good taste, I have m-1s had them years. Can't beat them for size/sound

Also had some 602 s2 which I wish I never sold :-(
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The M-1 were discontinued so I got them at £70 each!

I am using only 2 at the moment for 5.1. I have moved the musical fidelity amp to power 2 of the M-1 for my bedroom at the moment.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
The M-1 were discontinued so I got them at £70 each!

I am using only 2 at the moment for 5.1. I have moved the musical fidelity amp to power 2 of the M-1 for my bedroom at the moment.
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That's a bargain price, you must be pleased.
 
Thomasb1982 said:
That's a bargain price, you must be pleased.
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I was, until I found out that I needed to buy the stands separately and for the life of me I can only track down 1 pair second hand (£100), had to buy one set new...£200 !

The Sub was my bargain buy though even though it was the only thing i got that was new with no discount.

The pioneer I had Severnoaks to match online price and knocked £200 off. The B&W centre I found a mint condition one on eBay supplied with rubber feet and bung for half the price of the current B&W offering (and review says the new one sucks), they gone backwards with the new Centre. The M-1 were all reduced.

The BK sub was new, but hand built to order, waited a month for it. Brilliant built quality. 12 inch drive powered by a 300W internal amp on spike feet. I am only running it in at the moment so not pushing it too loud but even then it is all so lovely and bassy!
 
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Whooooooa Mondo, you have the same B&W's as me :D

I bought mine when they first came out though so got stung for a wee bit more than you paid :(. I have mine coupled with a REL sub
 
BK used to make subs for REL and they rebrand them :)

The M-1 are good aren't they? Solid metal construction, it weights loads!
 
They are Ray, I used to change my kit regularly but since the B&W's arrived I've never even thought of changing them.
 
I started out with laserdiscs many years ago, which are now sitting unused at the bottom of a wardrobe. Must get round to disposing of them one day.

My main speakers are Definitive BP2000, each having its own 150w powered sub. They really are big. Then there's the main sub, a Miller Kreisel 300w. Centre is another Definitive, while the 2 rears are B&W Solids and a Mission centre rear. The amp is a Pioneer VSA-AX10 that almost needs 2 people to lift.

The sound is enough to shake the windows. In fact I was once powering it to its max with the Apollo 13 launch scene on laserdisc. A sizeable solid brass object the size of a melon and weighing over 7lbs vibrated off its table on to the no2 laserdisc in the set on the floor below and smashed it. I replaced it with the DTS version which was even better. I always choose DTS over Dolby.

For viewing I went big with a Panasonic 42in plasma in 2002, which, then, was huge. So was the price. It still works well but this weekend it will be retired for just yesterday I bought its replacement - a Samsung UE55D8000 55" 3D LED which will be delivered on Sunday. I stopped being an early adopter a while back and only now have gone HD.

I've found a lot of dvd sound to be disappointing, with little in the way of surround sound. But once in a while you find some real gems. As I said before, if you find a DTS option in the sound menu, then choose that over Dolby.
 
5.1 system here, KEF 104AB as mains, MS for center and rear (used to have MS mains and subwoofer as well, but those died), REL subwoofer.

46" Panasonic plasma, which is the mutts nuts in image quality short of a Kuro.

My (Sony) amp will do 7.1 but I've yet to buy the requisite extra speakers and given that my house is a building site at the moment while I do extensive redecoration, I'll be holding off on that.

Star Wars blu ray set arrived yesterday so I watched episode IV last night - awesome :D
 
Made my first "proper" venture into surround sound in 2009. Upgraded from a Sharp 5.1 kit (which to be fair wasn't that bad) to 7.1 set up:

Onkyo 606 amp
Tanoy SFX 5.1 speaker kit
Kef Q1 front speakers

Love the way it sounds but it'll often scare the bejeeesus out of the missus :lol:

Front speakers are now on stands
IMG_3631_Resize.jpg


The other two rear speakers are hidden in this shot but you should get the idea
IMG_3634_Resize.jpg


IMG_2346resize.jpg
 
oh go on then heres mine. its nothing particularly new, special and/or audiophillic but it sounds good to me :D


722Q4347 by neilgates, on Flickr

Pioneer PDP-436SXE 43" Plasma
Sky HD+ box
Yamaha DSP-A1092 Dolby Digital Amp
B&W Center
JBL Control One fronts and rears
Yamaha YST-SW120 Sub (not shown but where the flowers are)
 
Ronin (car chase)
Heat (the shoot out in the streets after the bank robbery)
Leon (the whole damn film is awesome)

All on blu-ray of course :thumbs:
 
I`m still running, and happy with my kef kht 3005 setup, with a denon 2311 amp. Never liked blu (hd dvd always played without fail, unlike blu), so sticking with my oppo dvd player :D

5th Element is always good for a sound test, also the opening scenes in Gladiator ....
 
My home cinema setup is the newer bit for me, started off with stereo stuff first.

I'm running:
Phillips BDP7500 bluray player
Denon AVR-1911 receiver (7.1 and will handle DTS-MA and Dolby HD Surround)
Monitor Audio Bronze 2 left and right
TDL Nucleus centre
Eltax subwoofer
Cambridge Audio Minx as surround and surround rears

Then theres the stereo stuff which is:
Naim Audio NAIT amp
Audiolab 8200 cd player
Michell Mycro (with Linn tonearm and Ortofon 2M bronze cartridge)
A/B'ed through the same Monitor Audio Bronze 2 speakers

They are both absolutely cracking but the Naim still has the edge...just it doesn't do surround sound!

In terms of sound reference; Terminator 2 is pretty damn good, the opening to Saving Private Ryan and I'd go for a bit of Sweeney Todd too for musical emphasis. In terms of picture, I thoroughly recommend The Dark Knight with its IMAX sections...amazing!
 
opening battle of Star Trek(2009 flavour) is awesome, the whole film is an audio trick-book, Ben Burt of star wars sound fame did the sound, and it is fantastic. Best bit actually has no sound, which makes it all the more impressive!

Transformers, the original one, helicopter and battle sequence at the beginning is ace too.

also live music.
 
Had my first "complaint" from my neighbour since getting my sub, was watching GI Joe and during one of the chase sequence in Paris there was a knock on the door. I dully turned it down. I didn't even think it was that loud and it was only 9pm. Lol. Bass does travel!
 
I've just upgraded my amp from a Sharwood to Sony, whata difference, in sound and control, 3x optical input, auto sensing, so it will switch to 5.1 automatically

:)
 
Gave up trying to connect my new plasma and 3D Blu Ray to my Hi-Fi with and AV set-up from the nineties. Kenwood Series 21 with mahoosive speakers.

Now own an Onkyo AV receiver and a set of 5.1 Tannoy speakers.
 
Got into home cinema back around 2000/01. A good redundancy package got me on the path.

Just upgraded to an Onkyo TX-NR609 from a 5 year old Pioneer VSX-515. Always been a fan of Pioneer since day one.....well not really day one as I started off with Harmon/Kardon. Continual problems with the H/K led me to exchange it for a THX Certified Pioneer VSX-909, and paired up with some rather nice KEF speakers. It pained me to sell it all when I moved to Canada :-(

But this newer Onkyo is just night and day compared to the Pioneer! Richer, clearer sound, which doesn't boom or screech like the Pioneer.

Just need to upgrade my 47" Phillips LCD now. And my JAMO speaker set.
 
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Mordaunt Short surround speakers with a Kef Centre and a Tannoy Sub, all hooked up to a Yamaha amp. Another 2 speakers to add, when I get a minute, to get 7.1 :)

Also have a optoma projector, which just adds that extra dimension, especially when watching films.
 
I bought myself a cheap 5.1 DTS system a couple of years ago and tbf through optical my films sound amazing. I was ducking everywhere when watching Bad Boys 2. Also Avatar sounds amazing aswell as looking class on bluray

Now Ive spent a lot on my camera, my next thing will be a new surround sound setup but for the now the one I have is spot on.
 
Also...the Onkyo system came out top on the Sky 1 gadget program.

It beat the Samsung & Pioneer systems
 
DjLukeW said:
I bought myself a cheap 5.1 DTS system a couple of years ago and tbf through optical my films sound amazing. I was ducking everywhere when watching Bad Boys 2. Also Avatar sounds amazing aswell as looking class on bluray

Now Ive spent a lot on my camera, my next thing will be a new surround sound setup but for the now the one I have is spot on.
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My HiFi is worth over £4,000 at rrp, i picked up various bits from Richer Sounds, eBay, Ex-demo and it cost me just over £2,500.

Cheap considering the amount of kit you can with that and my 85L/5Dii combined is easily over that and it fits on my palm!
 
Onkyo SR-606 amp with 5.1 Q Acoustics. Actually the .1 bit is an ancient Gale sub but I've discovered it's a rebranded something or other for Richer Sounds, sounds good though.
I run through the amp a turntable, blu ray player and a virgin box. Also have an Apple airport thingy which means I can play my ITunes library over the wifi via my IPad through the 5.1.

The tv is a 5 year old Panasonic 42 inch which until yesterday I was happy with. We walked through the tv dept. in John Lewis and saw the latest Samsung 46 inch offering, looked stunning...........................damn this gear lust ( oh, and roll on the Apple TV3!).
 
footman said:
Onkyo SR-606 amp with 5.1 Q Acoustics. Actually the .1 bit is an ancient Gale sub but I've discovered it's a rebranded something or other for Richer Sounds, sounds good though.
I run through the amp a turntable, blu ray player and a virgin box. Also have an Apple airport thingy which means I can play my ITunes library over the wifi via my IPad through the 5.1.

The tv is a 5 year old Panasonic 42 inch which until yesterday I was happy with. We walked through the tv dept. in John Lewis and saw the latest Samsung 46 inch offering, looked stunning...........................damn this gear lust ( oh, and roll on the Apple TV3!).
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I also have q acoustics speakers and sub, good value for money, decent sound :)
 
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