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Tan

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Hi

I am looking to upgrade my home-cinema set up.

I currently have KEF Egg speakers, Rel Sub and Yamaha Receiver.

I am a big fan of B&W speakers so am looking at the 686 S2 speakers for the fronts and rears and a HTM62 S2 for the centre, though am yet to go and listen to them.

What other brands should I be looking at and listening to?

Regards

Tan
 
I had Kef Eggs in my original set-up. I upgraded to a SVS PC13-Ultra sub-woofer and Monitor Audio A10 surrounds and an A40 centre channel. The difference was quite something. :) My system is powered by a Pioneer SC LX86.
 
I have Monitor Audio speakers throughout and they are great - cabled for 6.1 though I only run 5.1.

I learned early on that the important speaker is the centre as it carries the dialogue, and much of the soundtrack detail, so I upgraded the centre from the bronze range to the silver range.

Very happy :thumb:.
 
We have a dedicated cinema room. All speakers except the sub are B&W with CM8 and CMC2 for the front stage which is sublime, especially when used for just music. As said above the centre stage is the most important.

We have CM1 (new type) for surrounds and CCM 382 in the ceiling for Dolby Atmos which IMO is good but should not dictate a cinema build. Sub is a Monitor Audio RXW12. All powered by a Pioneer SC-LX59 and Panasonic PT-AT5000e

If you have the room for floorstanders then give them a listen. Your local Audio-T or Superfi will usually have a listening room. The CM series is just so detailed, brings a new lease of life to music.
 
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Try MK,not cheap but amazing for HC . Not so good on music however !
 
B&W are very good .

Also audition some of the higher end Tannoy systems .
 
I use some B&W Golds. GD10's IIRC. Highly recommended. Running them in 2.1 mode paired with a Cambridge Audio amp and a Tannoy sub. I've got them either side of the TV and dialogue is fine even though I'm not using a centre. Originally bought for an audio set up and needless to see very good for music.

Failing that you can't go wrong with B&W.

Edit; I've got some mid-price Tanoys in the other room and for their size they pack a real punch. They need the centre to work properly so that room is 3.1.
 
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MrPoseidon said:
Try MK,not cheap but amazing for HC . Not so good on music however !

Another vote for MK - especially the subs - and the 'back story' behind the business makes them sound better....!

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK
 
I use some B&W Golds. GD10's IIRC. Highly recommended. Running them in 2.1 mode paired with a Cambridge Audio amp and a Tannoy sub. I've got them either side of the TV and dialogue is fine even though I'm not using a centre. Originally bought for an audio set up and needless to see very good for music.

Failing that you can't go wrong with B&W.

Edit; I've got some mid-price Tanoys in the other room and for their size they pack a real punch. They need the centre to work properly so that room is 3.1.

The centre ties the dialogue to the screen rather than it getting muddled into the rest of the soundtrack.
 
We're just in the process of building a dedicated cinema room and would agree on the B&W speakers- I'm running a 7:2 system with a 3.2m screen.

Haven't got the subs yet but when its (finally) finished it should be fab.

J
 
Amongst all the great audio being discussed on the video side, I'd recommend Kodi which is a slick, robust, configurable media player for movies, TV shows, hosted or streamed. Can run on a Raspberry Pi or low cost unit. Plenty of varied hardware with Kodi pre-installed, available online. Even my non-technical mates love it.
 
Do you have to pay to view Codi? Also I have a really good sound bar and sub, from J Lewis.
 
I was a Kodi fanboy for years up until I got a decent telly, I've struggled to find anything 4K or come close to HDR from Kodi. So much so I signed up to Amazon prime and Netflix :eek:

I run it via PC, connect via HDMI and the graphics card even supports 4K and HDR... but it's leagues away from what I'm getting from the paid subscriptions

Oh and Kodi is free (was questioned above)
 
Thanks for all of the input chaps.

I have ordered a B&W CM Centre S2 as they didn't have it in stock. Am deciding what to do for the fronts a rears, listened to the 686's and liked those. But am thinking if 685's up front and 686's for rears would be better.

The other option I am thinking about is leaving the current Kef's as rears and getting some CM1 S2's for the front.
 
We're just in the process of building a dedicated cinema room and would agree on the B&W speakers- I'm running a 7:2 system with a 3.2m screen.

Haven't got the subs yet but when its (finally) finished it should be fab.

J

Photos please - I'm liking a 3.2m screen :thumb:.:thumb:
 
I was a Kodi fanboy for years up until I got a decent telly, I've struggled to find anything 4K or come close to HDR from Kodi. So much so I signed up to Amazon prime and Netflix :eek:

I run it via PC, connect via HDMI and the graphics card even supports 4K and HDR... but it's leagues away from what I'm getting from the paid subscriptions

Oh and Kodi is free (was questioned above)

What you really mean is you failed to find any hooky streams or decent quality downloads to run through Kodi :)

Kodi is just a piece of software that organises and plays 'your' media but can also use 'add-ons' to provide streaming services, the majority of which are hooky and low quality even when HD res.

I personally use it on my htpc/server to play blu-ray remuxes which are literally the unmolested files straight off a blu-ray, full bit rate and HD audio...and to watch the footie ;)
 
b1g1an said:
What you really mean is you failed to find any hooky streams or decent quality downloads to run through Kodi :) Kodi is just a piece of software that organises and plays 'your' media but can also use 'add-ons' to provide streaming services, the majority of which are hooky and low quality even when HD res. I personally use it on my htpc/server to play blu-ray remuxes which are literally the unmolested files straight off a blu-ray, full bit rate and HD audio...and to watch the footie ;)

I have most add-ons you can think of, the only thing I have no qualm with is the football stream there's no ghosting whatsoever with the live football, infact that's the only remaining thing that looks brilliant. Blu Ray files look terrible, compared to the blu Ray disc or the same film streamed in HDR making the Kodi stream look like an old asbestos documentary
 
We're just in the process of building a dedicated cinema room and would agree on the B&W speakers- I'm running a 7:2 system with a 3.2m screen.

Haven't got the subs yet but when its (finally) finished it should be fab.

J

Same size as ours :cool:
 

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