Advice wanted re. AV amplification

[wosl]

Couldn't bring myself to use "home theatre" in the title, since this is going to be a small scale thing, and because, well, because it's the sort of phrase used by cunts.

Want to experience films more satisfyingly than I'm able to, currently.  At the moment I either watch on a blu-ray/network player hooked up to a TV without any sort of externally attached amplification, or on a laptop with headphones.  I don't have the space, budget to do justice to, or inclination to go 5.1 or 7.1 (I mostly watch old art-house stuff, i.e. films with mono or two-channel soundtracks), but a decent little 2.1 or 3.1 system, just to give the audio a bit of poke and weight, appeals and is within reach.  I'll also be using it to play or stream a bit of music; the performance won't have to be up to audiophile-pleasing levels, just decent.  The room this will go in measures something like 3 m (W) by 4 m (L) by 2.5 m (H).  I have up to a grand (or just over), to throw at this.  Think I've decided on the speakers (small bookshelves and a centre from one of the ranges done by Q Acoustics, with probably a sub-woofer to follow), but not the receiver, yet (it'll probably be one from Sony or Denon).

What set-ups do some of yous use?  How have you dealt with the problem of positioning speakers and accommodating speaker cable runs in awkwardly-sized or furnished rooms?  Wireless speakers?  Running the cable under floorboards or attaching them to skirting-boards, or just letting them snake conspicuously?  I can't really do anything too structurally invasive, since I'll probably be selling and moving in the mid-to-long term.

Tips and stories (pictures too, if you like) welcomed.

[spamwangler]

probably get murdered by audiophiles for this, but one of my favourate setups ive had for watching tv has been a pair of these:


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-MS40-Digital-Monitor-Speakers/dp/B000IKSIOM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508867282&sr=8-1&keywords=behringer+ms40

Behringer MS-40s - theyre supposed to be studio monitors, but they behave much more like hi-fi speakers, - one of them is powered, the other is passive, and theyre bookshelf sise, so for watching tv in stereo at home, theyre really handy, and have a decent fullrange sound, - watched twinpeaks 3 with these and they were certainly doing the job!

theyre only about £150 new, so maybe you want to find something a bit more high tech - usually studio monitors are a bit 'flat' sounding for tv watching, but the ms40s have bass and treble controls, and more than loud enough, and in my opinion decent sounding

[spamwangler]

sorry meant to add a picture



theyre one active speaker, and the other one is a passive - so connections are really simple, only one speaker needs power, and then run a single phono lead to the other speaker

[wosl]

Thanks for that.  They get a very good review rating.  They're a wee bit big for the size of space I've got in mind, though; also, the likely spacing of the speakers would be problematic in terms of distance the phono connector would have to span (I'm planning to stand-mount them).  I think the speakers part of this going to be plainer sailing than the amp bit (I feel fairly settled about some Q Acoustics; they tick the boxes in terms of performance, size and price, and reasonably priced in-house made stands are available).  It sounds as though you have to go the dedicated AV receiver route, but what size and how powerful, I'm not sure.  There are several that seem much-of-a-muchness around the £400-£600 mark, and then there's a sudden marked hike in price, as the companies renowned for mid-level audio separates wade in.  The ones within range seem to have a lot of bells and whistles, though; I'd rather the money went towards getting the basics done really well, rather having a lot of added streaming options and booster effects that I won't be taking advantage of.

[spamwangler]

yea i can understand the appeal of separates in your situation. are the speakers passive or active?

another thing ive seen a few friends using for hi-fi amplifiers are these guys:


https://www.thomann.de/gb/tamp_s100.htm

a nice compact power amp if you dont need any EQ or bells and whistles, - a few friends have used them for hi-fi amps and theyre quite nice
theyve only got volume controls on them, 4--8 ohm switchable, the t.amp stuff are really nice budget PA/Hifi stuff. if youre after something with a bit more of an eq/channel option, have you checked out any of the cambridge audio hifi amps? theyre really reliable and nice too

[surreal]

What set-ups do some of yous use?  How have you dealt with the problem of positioning speakers and accommodating speaker cable runs in awkwardly-sized or furnished rooms?  Wireless speakers?  Running the cable under floorboards or attaching them to skirting-boards, or just letting them snake conspicuously?  I can't really do anything too structurally invasive, since I'll probably be selling and moving in the mid-to-long term.

Tips and stories (pictures too, if you like) welcomed.

My living room is kind of odd as the TV is in the corner and I've had to put the speaker around the room as best I can - still works ok, loses a bit of the dynamics but as it's just for TV I'm not that fussed - I have a separate room with a projector for movies.  I used some flat speaker cable which is stuck to the wall above the skirting and painted over so you can't see it.  Got it from Richer Sounds which is where I always get my stuff. 

Regarding speaker placement, don't worry too much if you're just looking to beef up what you have now, and most reasonable AV amps usually have a "speaker setup" with a microphone which sets optimal levels based on where you sit.  My amp in the living room is not expensive and has this feature, so may be worth looking for that.

[Sebastian Cobb]

t-amps are alright but I'd consider getting a used NAD amplifier, they're fairly cheap these days.

My mate recently managed to make a good system out of a used pair of b&w's and a used NAD amp, both bought cheap on ebay.

I've got my telly plugged into my cambridge amp and a pair of Kef speakers. They're set up for listening to music and are actually both to the right hand side of the telly, but it doesn't seem to matter too much, it still makes a massive difference compared to the tinny inbuilt speakers and you still get a stereo effect.

[spamwangler]

Yea NAD are ace

[Dex Sawash]

Sony has the fucking worst remote controls and menu systems.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Sony has the fucking worst remote controls and menu systems.

I think Sony have been living off their name for quite a while now really.

[Cuntbeaks]

I loved my NAD 314 amp, until it died, a really exciting and involving sound. Replaced it with a reasonably expensive Arcam amp and it never thrilled me like the NAD did.

If you are looking for a quality home cinema experience I would recommend a Linn AV5103 preamp, quite literally the deal of the century. These bad boys retailed at 4k and can now be had for £200 or so. It also has a built in, high end DAC, so you can bypass the internal one on your current source with great results.  You will need a power amp to partner it, a Linn LK140 works very well but any brand of power amp would br compatible. The main advantages of having a seperate pre and power, is control. Everything just sounds much more precise and occupies the space that it was meant to. It is also a very high end stereo preamp and this is why i bought it and it works superbly.

You get a lot of bang for your £200, yes its more of a faff to set up, but it is very flexible and has 5.1 capabilities if required in the future.